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Russell Westbrook wrecks the Nets' upset bid
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January 23, 2018 10:55pm
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Russell Westbrook is the reigning league MVP, and he gave a reminder of just how valuable he is Tuesday night.
He helped erase a double-digit Nets lead, and then hit the eventual game-winning shot with just three seconds left. And when Spencer Dinwiddie, who had given the Nets the lead moments earlier, missed a last-ditch shot at the buzzer, Brooklyn trudged out of Chesapeake Energy Arena with a stinging 109-108 loss.
Despite leading by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, the Nets were outscored 35-23 in the fourth. And even after Dinwiddie's drive with 7.8 seconds to play gave them a 108-107 lead, it turned out to be short-lived. It died after just four seconds, when Westbrook — who poured in a game-high 32 points — killed it.
While guarding Westbtrook, Dinwiddie collided with Paul George — a well-conceived pick — and the MVP drove baseline to hit a contested layup over Jarrett Allen with 3.3 seconds remaining.
"You know how in the NFL they say the receiver can't cross and hit the defender out of nowhere? It was a very similar situation to that," Dinwiddie said. "He just ran, and I was running after Westbrook because he had the ball, and I just hit something. I fell or almost fell.
"It is what it is. I've got to get stronger, run through … but at the same time the risk is if I run him over it's probably a foul on me. It's life. That's Russell Westbrook and that's Paul George, and I'm Spencer Dinwiddie."
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson looks to make a move on Carmelo Anthony.NBAE/Getty Images
Dinwiddie's desperation 3 missed with three-tenths of a second left and the Nets fell to 18-30.
"That's the growth process. The team that makes the least mistakes usually wins. We just gave them too many, broke down too much. It's hard to win on the road giving up 35 points in the fourth," coach Kenny Atkinson said. "It's a learning process for this group: The coaches, the players. Tough lesson. You'd like to bring it home up 15, but I don't think we got the defensive stops necessary."
Joe Harris led the way for Brooklyn with a team-high 19 points. But unlike their Dec. 7 meeting in Mexico City, when the Nets stormed back to dominate the fourth in a 100-95 win, this time Brooklyn faded in the final 12 minutes.
"Until that point we'd done a good job really imposing ourselves defensively," Harris said. "We just didn't do a good enough keeping up with what we'd established in the first three quarters."
George didn't played in that Mexico City meeting, but Tuesday he had 16 of his 28 points in the first quarter to spot OKC to a 30-26 edge. But the Nets responded with a 33-15 run. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson's fadeaway gave them a 59-45 lead just before the half, and his free throws pushed it to 68-53 with 8:20 to go in the third.
Westbrook rallied Oklahoma City (27-20), with eight points in a 12-0 spurt to cut the Nets' lead to three. Clinging to a 73-68 edge late in the third, Brooklyn ran off 10 straight points for an 83-68 cushion. But they couldn't hold it.
Down the stretch, who knew Raymond Felton would be the most dangerous ex-Knick on the floor? With Westbrook, George and Carmelo Anthony (10 points) resting, he scored every point in OKC's 10-4 run.
Westbrook came on and pulled OKC even at 95-all, and hit consecutive jumpers for a 99-96 lead. With the last few minutes back and forth, Dinwiddie drove for a go-ahead layup with 7.8 seconds left. But they couldn't close it out, and OKC won its fifth straight.
"We can't let the bench come in and [go] on like a 13-0 run. We can't let them do that," DeMarre Carroll said. "At the end of the day we've got to learn from it. We battled, we competed, we're getting better. But now we've got to learn how to close out games like this against really good teams."
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