Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from disheartening loss to Rockets

For the second straight game, Spencer Dinwiddie got the call down the stretch over starting point guard D’Angelo Russell. But unlike Wednesday night, there was no late magic from the fifth-year pro.

Dinwiddie was just 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter, committed three turnovers in the game and generally seemed to be as occupied with sniping at the officials as he did getting back and playing defense.

There is a lot to like about Dinwiddie’s game, but it would be really awesome if the former Pistons would stop behaving like a smaller Bill Laimbeer out there. Yes, sometimes you commit fouls, Spencer. No, you’re not a superstar and thus will not get all the calls you believe you should.

At some point, you really do just have to be quiet and play the game.

Jarrett Allen really could have benefited from more minutes on Friday, as he was doing a decent job contending with Houston big man Clint Capela.

But this is where coach Kenny Atkinson’s insistence on not playing Allen in tandem with Ed Davis becomes a factor. Davis needs his minutes, he’s a valuable part of the rotation, but those minutes always mean Allen isn’t getting more time.

There was no foul trouble keeping Allen glued to the bench for long stretches Friday night and there was the mystifying decision by coach Kenny Atkinson to go small in the late going, which allowed Capela to do pretty much whatever he wanted to down low.

It would have been one thing if Atkinson had lifted Allen to get another shooter on the floor. But while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is many things, a shooter is not one of those things.