The Nets mustered all they had for 48 minutes but the wheels finally came off in the five minutes of overtime as the Dallas Mavericks became just too much for them to handle in a 129-125 loss on Thursday night.
Kyrie Irving did all that he could to match Mavs star Luka Doncic, who finished the night with 41 points in what has become a growing trend of opposing players having big games against the Nets. Irving’s clutch shooting in the final 12 minutes of the contest helped to force overtime and the Nets superstar had 37 points when all was said and done.
The Nets dropped to 1-4 in their first five games and are 0-1 on the year in the second game of a back-to-back. Brooklyn had struggled mightily last season with back-to-backs and went 3-11 in the second game last year.
Brooklyn had entered the night as one of four teams with just one win so far this season and had already continued a streak that has seen Brooklyn fail to have a winning record through their first four games for the past 15 years.
After Josh Green hit a quick three to open up the fourth, Irving quickly responded with five points to cut the Nets deficit to 93-90. Irving responded again later in the period when he hit a stepback jumper to pull the Nets within two with 8:20 left in the game.
Durant, who finished with 37 points on 12-of-21 shooting, hit a quick two with 7:02 left in the game and Irving followed it with a bucket of his own to cut Dallas’ lead to 100-99. The Nets managed to gain control of the game and led 110-106 before Doncic put up four straight points to tie the game back up.
Tim Hardaway Jr. hit a pair of free throws to put the Mavs back in front, but it was Ben Simmons who forced a turnover by Doncic with 12.4 seconds left in regulation and set up a game-tying slam dunk by Durant to force OT.
The Mavs quickly opened up a lead in the extra five minutes and Brooklyn was never able to even the game.
The loss was a valiant effort from a Nets team that had just suffered a tough loss the night before in Milwaukee and arrived back in New York late. Not many had expected the Nets to keep pace with a talented team like the Mavericks after the quick turnaround and continued work to create cohesion between the new Big 3 and offseason additions,
Brooklyn shot 46.2% from the field and 34.3% from beyond the arc, but they had been without their two sharpshooters in Joe Harris and Seth Curry. Outside of Irving and Durant, Royce O’Neale had another good outing for the Nets finishing with 10 points to go along with seven rebounds and two assists.
For more Nets coverage, visit amNY.com and our affiliate site at TheBrooklynGame.com
Off the bench, David Duke Jr. had 10 points as well to go along with five rebounds and an assist. Yuta Watanabe had six points and four assists.
It was a better night for Simmons, who turned over the ball just once while grabbing eight boards and adding four assists. The overanalyzed Nets star had looked more aggressive and had seven attempted shots on Thursday night.
