Long Island Nets drop nail-biter to Oklahoma City Blue at Showcase

The Long Island Nets were outscored 6-0 in the final 1:22 Saturday night in a 112-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Blue at the NBA G League Winter Showcase.

The conference leaders in the NBA G League collided in Las Vegas Saturday night, with the Oklahoma City Blue scoring the final six points off the game to clip the Long Island Nets 112-108 at the league’s Winter Showcase.

Mitch Creek knocked down two free throws with 1:34 left to give Long Island (12-6) its last lead at 108-106, but Scotty Hopson scored on a mid-range turnaround fader with 1:22 left to tie it.

After Oklahoma City (15-4) kept a possession alive with an offensive rebound, Dez Wells canned a 20-foot pull-up jumper with 51.4 seconds remaining to give the Blue the lead for good.

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Kamari Murphy turned the ball over on an offensive foul with 31.9 seconds left and Creek missed a runner after a steal with 6.9 ticks remaining and Bryce Alford sealed the win for Oklahoma City with a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds on the clock.

Long Island’s final possession ended when Nuni Omot was called for an offensive goaltending violation.

The Nets led by as much as 13 points in the second quarter before settling for a 54-44 halftime lead, as they held the Blue to 32.7 percent shooting in the first half.

But Oklahoma City heated up in the third quarter, hitting 15-of-25 shots and outscored Long Island 34-26 to close to within two at the end of the period.

Neither team led by more than four points in a back-and-forth fourth quarter that featured six ties and five lead changes.

Long Island shot 40.4 percent on the night (40-for-99) and was 8-for-33 from 3-point range (24.2 percent). The Nets won the boards by a 53-49 margin. Each team committed 21 turnovers, with Long Island scoring 23 points, while the Blue had just 13 points off miscues.

The Blue hit 46.3 percent (44-for-95) on the night and were 8-for-31 (25.8 percent) from 3-point range.

The teams were even, 15-15, in fast-break opportunities, while the Nets outscored the Blue in second-chance points 19-16.

Creek led Long Island, scoring a G-League career-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Alan Williams, on a two-way contract with the parent Brooklyn Nets, finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds, but was just 8-for-19 from the floor.

Williams is second in the G-League with an average of 14.2 rebounds per game, trailing Alize Johnson of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, who is at 14.3 per game.

Shannon Scott scored 15 points with seven assists and three steals for Long Island. Thomas Wimbush came off the bench to score 18 points in 29 minutes, while Jordan McLaughlin tossed in 14 on a sub-par 5-for-23 shooting night, while adding six assists

The Blue, an affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder, was led by Deonte Burton‘s 21 points, four assists and three steals. Burton also had two blocked shots. Burton is on a two-way contract with the Thunder. Richard Solomon finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

The Blue blocked 15 shots in the game. Oklahoma City’s other two-way contract player, Tyler Davis, had three blocked shots off the bench. Davis played for Brooklyn in the NBA Summer League last July. Kevin Hervey blocked four shots.

The loss pushed the Nets out of first place in the Eastern Conference as they are now a half-game behind both Raptors 905 and the Westchester Knicks.

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Long Island is idle until Friday, when the Nets visit the Wisconsin Herd in Oshkosh, Wis., at 8 p.m. Eastern before heading to Washington for a matchup with the Capital City Go-Go on Saturday. Both games can be streamed on Facebook Live.