Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from near miss in New Orleans

The Brooklyn Nets did everything Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans but get the win. Here are the player grades from a great night spoiled.

For all but 20 seconds over the final three quarters of their Friday night game at Smoothie King Center, the Brooklyn Nets led or were tied with the New Orleans Pelicans.

The first 18 seconds of that span were at the beginning of the second quarter, before Spencer Dinwiddie canned a 3-pointer to give Brooklyn a 33-32 lead. It was the last two seconds that left a nasty bruise on the psyche in a 117-115 loss that dropped the Nets to 2-3.

For as hard to watch as the final 24 seconds or so was, it’s important not to let the finish cloud too badly what was a terrific performance by the Brooklyn Nets in a hostile environment against a playoff-caliber team from the powerful Western Conference that is off to an undefeated start.

The Nets handled All-NBA big man Anthony Davis at the offensive end. They rebounded well. The overall defense, despite the high score of the game, was solid. The mistakes in the final 24 seconds don’t negate those efforts.

The Nets had four players inactive for the game in New Orleans: DeMarre Carroll (right ankle arthroscopy), Treveon Graham (left hamstring strain), Rodions Kurucs (left ankle sprain) and Alan Williams (assigned to Long Island Nets).

Kenneth Faried was a late scratch due to illness and rookies Dzanan Musa and Theo Pinson did not play.

Here are the grades for the 10 guys who did.