Long Island Nets ride herd on Wisconsin for getaway win

The Long Island Nets took the suspense away quickly Tuesday, opening with a 16-0 run en route to a 130-124 NBA G League win over the Wisconsin Herd.

It was an early start Tuesday for the Long Island Nets and they basically made it an early finish, as they opened the game with a 16-0 run and never trailed en route to a 130-124 NBA G League victory over the Wisconsin Herd at Nassau Coliseum.

The 11 a.m. Eastern start time was to enable the Nets (8-3) to get on the road quickly for a three-game trip that begins Thursday against the Canton Charge, a game that was originally scheduled for Nov. 16 but was postponed when the Nets couldn’t get off the island because of bad weather.

The hapless Herd (1-11) did make it interesting in the final minute after trailing by as much as 25, cutting the Long Island (8-3) lead to three on James Young‘s finger roll with 14.9 seconds to go.

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Wisconsin got a break when Theo Pinson‘s pass was stolen by Trevon Duval, but Duval returned the favor by stepping out of bounds.

Pinson made three of four at the line in the final 10.1 seconds to finish it out.

It was a sloppy game on both sides as the early lopsided nature of the game coupled with the morning start led to some stretches of bad basketball. The teams combined for 41 turnovers, 21 by the Herd and 20 by the Nets.

Wisconsin scored 33 points off turnovers compared to 30 for Long Island. But the Nets held the Herd scoreless for the first 4:36 of the game before Young rebounded his own missed jumper and made the putback layup.

Prior to that the Herd missed their first 10 shots and turned the ball over twice. The Nets opened up a 42-20 lead at the end of the first quarter and were up 71-56 at the half.

Wisconsin never went away and played well over the final three quarters, but by then the damage had been done.

Pinson, with the club on a two-way contract with the parent Brooklyn Nets, led Long Island with 26 points to go with six rebounds and six assists in 32 minutes, hitting 8-of-15 overall and 3-for-6 from 3-point range.

Dzanan Musa, Brooklyn’s first-round pick who was reassigned to the G League affiliate after Monday night’s NBA game, added 20 points and 10 rebounds with four steals in 35 minutes. He was 7-for-17 overall and 1-for-8 from deep, but hit 5-of-5 at the line.

Brooklyn’s other two-way player, Alan Williams, scored 11 of his 17 points in the first quarter and played just 17 minutes in all. He had eight rebounds and was 7-for-10 shooting.

Jordan McLaughlin was re-inserted into the starting lineup in place of Shannon Scott after McLaughlin had a huge game against the Lakeland Magic on Sunday. He finished with 16 points, seven assists and two steals.

Young logged game-highs of 32 points and 12 rebounds for the Herd to go with four steals and two blocks. Christian Wood added 21 points and three blocks, while Duval had 19 points to go with seven assists.

Long Island shot 48 percent (47-for-98) in the game, including 9-of-35 (25.7 percent) from 3-point range and had a 76-68 advantage in the paint and a 23-14 edge in fast-break points.

Wisconsin hit an even 50 percent (50-for-100) and was 8-for-27 (29.6 percent) from deep, with a 21-18 edge in second-chance points.

The Nets led 104-83 entering the fourth quarter before the Herd rallied to make the final outcome interesting.

Long Island’s game with at Canton on Thursday is set for a 7 p.m. Eastern tip from the Canton Memorial Civic Center before the Nets move on to play the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on Friday and have a rematch with Lakeland on Sunday.

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The game at Canton can be seen on the ESPN+ streaming service.