After blowing huge leads in back-to-back games against Golden State and Charlotte, when the Nets got the Lakers down on Monday, they kept them down.
The Nets put together a slump-busting 111-108 victory over the Lakers before a sellout crowd of 18,215 at Barclays Center.
The win snapped a seven-game losing skid that was the longest in the NBA and tied for the Nets’ worst of the season.
“It’s part of experience, right?” coach Jordi Fernández said beforehand. “When I was a little kid, my dad would tell me all the time, ‘Don’t do this, otherwise you’ll get hurt.’ And guess what? I did it, I got hurt, and that’s how I learned. So, it’s [part of] parenting.
Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers looks for an opening as he is doubled teamed by the Nets during the second quarter on March 10. Charles Wenzelberg
“And our guys are great for the most part. They learn and they listen. And I don’t have all the answers. I’ll tell them, ‘You know, I’m wrong too.’ But … our guys care, and I know we can be a better rebounding team than we were last game. And our guys know that, so I trust them that they’re gonna come out with a better effort.”
Monday’s effort was impressive.
And the Nets (22-42) didn’t suffer in the lottery race either, staying half a game behind fifth-place Toronto, though falling even with Philadelphia in a tie for sixth.
Noah Clowney had 19 points and five rebounds off the bench in his second game back after missing six weeks with an ankle injury. Keon Johnson — who turned 23 Monday — and Cam Johnson had 18 points each.
Cameron Johnson #2 of the Brooklyn Nets goes up for a shot against the Lakers during the second quarter on March 10. Charles Wenzelberg
But it was defense that won the day.
The Nets piled up a 19-4 edge in points off turnovers.
That was more than enough to survive Luka Doncic’s triple-double (22 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists) and Gabe Vincent’s 24 points.
The Lakers were without LeBron James and former Net Dorian Finney-Smith.
But the Nets had their own worries, playing without Cam Thomas and Trendon Watford.
Day’Ron Sharpe of the Brooklyn Nets reacts on the court during the second quarter against
the Lakers on March 10. Charles Wenzelberg
And they did it on a seven-game skid, having blown a 22-point lead against the Warriors on Thursday and a 17-point cushion at the Hornets on Saturday.
This time, though, the Nets flipped the script and dug their way out of an early 15-point hole.
The Nets allowed a 12-1 first-quarter blitz in less than two minutes.
And an extended 26-9 Lakers run — capped by Jordan Goodwin’s running 3-pointer half a minute into the second quarter — left the Nets trailing 31-15.
LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers missed the game against the Nets on March 10. Charles Wenzelberg
But they responded with a 19-7 run, Cam Johnson’s 3-pointer giving them a 48-47 lead that they took into the locker room.
Then a 9-1 Nets run — capped by a Keon Johnson 3-pointer — gave them their biggest lead of the night at 59-51 with 8:24 in the third.
Unlike their past two contests, this time there was no meltdown.
An Austin Reaves 30-footer cut it to 106-103 with 38 seconds left, but Ziaire Williams’ layup with 13.3 seconds left to play let the Nets exhale.
Doncic’s contested 31-footer got the Lakers within a deuce.
But Clowney got free for a dunk and drew the foul on Vincent, and converted the and-one.
Cam Johnson could’ve iced it at the line with two seconds left, only to miss both free throws.
But Doncic could only get off a 77-foot heave that fell short.
