Nets face new challenge in 4th quarter without Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant

BROOKLYN — With less than a second left on the clock, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn drew up a play with his team down 101-98. In a moment like this a week ago Vaughn would have drawn up a play to get the ball to Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant.

This time around, that wasn’t an option for the Nets. Instead, he crafted a play to get the ball to Spencer Dinwiddie, and although he hit the deep three-point shot, the basket was waved off and Brooklyn lost 101-98.

The moment was a reminder of the new era the Nets find themselves without Irving or Durant.

“I thought it was good,” Vaughn said. “So you take a look at the last two plays. Great execution by our guys. We got Mikal (Bridges) a look at the rim that didn’t go. Nic (Claxton) almost had a tip for that and then we executed at the end. The shot was for Spencer. He had to reach a little bit to kind of get it in his wheelhouse and that cost us a point second or so. Good call by the ref but great execution by our guys at the end of the game.”

Fourth quarters have been an interesting time for the Nets and in recent weeks that had turned into one of Irving’s best times of a game. He had developed into a bit of a closer for Brooklyn, putting up crucial baskets late in games to help the Nets separate themselves from their opponent.

Brooklyn found itself in another hairy situation on Saturday as they took their foot off the pedal in the fourth being outscored 25-16 and allowing an 82-76 lead to slip away. However, they didn’t have a superstar to bail them out.

“Yeah, I think it’s interesting. I think first of all if we can keep guys in the one-on-one that gives us a chance,” Vaughn said about the fourth-quarter scoring issues. “So that piece of it and then just reflecting back quickly without watching the game already, I think we had some good looks. And so whether that was Spencer’s dunk at the rim, his layup attack, Mikal had a good look, we had to open threes and so we could still play at a pace and create shots for each other, I think that’d be all right for us.”

Who gets called upon in those crunch times situations will be a bit different than it was before, but new additions such as Bridges and Dwiniddie will likely to the first called to step up in those spots.

Bridges was already seeing an expanded offensive role in Phoenix before he was traded and he expects that to continue now in Kings County.

Yeah, I think so, but it’s just kind of just being aggressive. That’s the main thing,” Bridges said. “And we got a lot of guys that go play, but I just you know, whatever happens, we’ll play. Whatever play we run I just try to be aggressive and try to make a play each time. I feel like I’m capable of, I just work hard and just try to trust my game.”