Long Island Nets get back on track with blowout of Windy City

The Long Island Nets led by as much as 25 points Friday night and were never threatened late in a 113-99 road victory over the Windy City Bulls.

Mitch Creek scored 19 points off the bench and the Long Island Nets took blew away the Windy City Bulls Friday night at Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill., for a 113-99 NBA G League victory Friday night.

With both 2018 draft picks from the Brooklyn Nets in tow on assignment from the parent club, Long Island led 25-18 after one period and second-round pick Rodions Kurucs went for nine points in the second quarter as the Nets opened their lead to 62-43.

Long Island (5-1) kept its foot on the gas in the third quarter, opening up a 25-point lead by the quarter break, 87-62, before Windy City (4-6) closed the gap a bit in the fourth quarter.

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Kurucs started at center in place of two-way contract player Alan Williams, who was rested. He played 15 minutes and finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including canning his only 3-pointer.

First-round pick Dzanan Musa went for 16 points and also blocked two shots in 30 minutes, but was just 7-for-19 overall and 2-for-6 from 3-point range.

Brooklyn’s other two-way player, Theo Pinson, played 32 minutes and had nine points on 3-of-6 shooting, hitting 2-of-4 from deep.

Creek, an Australian playing his first season in the U.S., led the Nets with 19 points in 33 minutes off the bench. First-year pro Jordan McLaughlin added 17 points and four assists in 24 minutes in a reserve role.

Veteran pro Drew Gordon finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds for Long Island, while Shannon Scott had four assists and Kamari Murphy blocked two shots.

Rawle Alkins led Windy City with a game-high 29 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Reserve Joe Kilgore blocked two shots. The Bulls only assisted on 15 of their 40 made field goals, with no one having more than two dimes.

Long Island shot 45.3 percent for the game (43-for-95) and was 10-for-30 (33.3 percent) from 3-point land. Windy City hit just 41.2 percent (40-for-97) and was an icy 6-for-29 (20.7 percent) from long range.

The Bulls did have a 19-16 advantage in points off turnovers, as the Nets turned it over 12 times to just 10 for Windy City. But Long Island out-rebounded the Bulls 59-44, including 11-5 on the offensive window, and put up 12 second-chance points to just four for Windy City.

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Long Island plays the back end of the Midwest back-to-back Saturday night at 7 p.m. Eastern when they take on the Grand Rapids Drive, an affiliate of the Detroit Pistons, at DeltaPlex Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. The game can be seen on Facebook Live.