The Nets were disappointed by their 1-3 Western Conference road trip, but found the remedy for their ills Tuesday night back at home. New Jersey led nearly wire-to-wire and, despite being pushed into overtime, bounced back to beat the Atlanta Hawks 107-101. Brook Lopez and Devin Harris combined for 59 points to snap the Nets’ three-game skid.
Winning time: Harris’ 3-pointer with 1:07 left in overtime was the biggest shot of the game for the Nets (5-9), putting them up six. On the other end of the floor, Harris drew a charge on Josh Smith in the final minute with the Nets up four that helped preserve their lead.
How the night was won: Brook Lopez has had a number of nights this season that have left the Nets scratching their heads. Tonight was not one such evening. His 21 first-half points, the highest scoring total for any Net in any half this season, got the Nets started on the right foot and they never looked back. The Nets led by as many as 12 in the first half and by eight at halftime.
A reason they were able to sustain the lead was a huge edge in free throw attempts. New Jersey took 33 to Atlanta’s 13, and the Nets converted 76 percent of their tries. The Hawks’ (8-7) game against Boston the night before may have had something to do with it, which is something the Nets will have to contend with when they face their quick turnaround having to go to Boston for tomorrow night’s game. The free throw shooting helped the Nets cancel out a scalding 9-of-15 3-point shooting performance by the Hawks.
Kris Humphries, as per his usual, provided the energy and rebounding, finishing with yet another double-double and helping the Nets compete inside with Al Horford and Josh Smith.
The Nets shot 48 percent from the field and had just 10 turnovers despite playing the extra five minutes. They also tallied 20 fast break points to the Hawks’ 12.
Player of the game: Lopez finished with 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting and 8-of-10 free-throw shooting to go along with nine rebounds.
Key stat lines:
New Jersey
- Devin Harris: 9-of-17 shooting, 3-of-7 3-point shooting, 27 points, 9 assists
- Kris Humphries: 12 points, 14 rebounds
- Anthony Morrow: 2-of-5 3-point shooting, 13 points
Atlanta
- Jamal Crawford: 8-of-14 shooting, 3-of-3 3-point shooting, 21 points, 5 rebounds
- Josh Smith: 20 points, 7 rebounds
- Joe Johnson: 6-of-18 shooting, 16 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists
- Al Horford: 14 points, 10 rebounds
One takeaway from tonight’s game: Brook Lopez got a hair cut at some point between the end of the trip west and tonight’s game. It worked.
Notes: Anthony Morrow qualified for the all-time 3-point shooting percentage list by sinking his 250th career 3-pointer. He’s shooting over 45 percent for his career and ranks second behind Steve Kerr out of all qualifiers for the career mark … Terrence Williams was out of action after playing eight minutes in Denver in New Jersey’s previous game … The Nets will travel to Boston to take on the Celtics tomorrow night before having two days off for Thanksgiving.