Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from Big Pendulum win over Hawks

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The Brooklyn Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday, 116-100, in the process setting a new mark for the biggest come-from-behind win of the Brooklyn era.

Go ahead. Call it a comeback. The Brooklyn Nets won’t even mind.

The Nets (21-22) erased a 19-point second-quarter deficit on Wednesday, coming from behind to beat the Atlanta Hawks 116-100 for their eighth win in their last nine games at Barclays Center.

The win enabled Brooklyn to jump past the idle Miami Heat (19-20) into sixth place in the Eastern Conference by a few percentage points. The Nets are now a half-game up on the eighth-place Charlotte Hornets (19-21), who were also idle on Wednesday.

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With a 113-100 loss on the road to the Los Angeles Lakers, the ninth-place Detroit Pistons (17-22) now trail the Nets by two games. The Orlando Magic (17-24), in 10th place, fell three games in back of Brooklyn with a 106-93 loss on the road to the Utah Jazz.

Meanwhile, with a 123-106 win at home over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Washington Wizards (17-25) remained in 11th place, but are within 3½ games of Brooklyn and three games behind the Hornets.

The Nets improved to 11-11 at home after beginning the season with 10 losses in their first 13 home games and won for the 12th straight time when leading an opponent by at least 10 points. Brooklyn is now 20-8 in those games.

It was just the second time this season, however, that the Nets won a game in which they trailed by double-digits and their first since their 120-119 overtime win over the Detroit Pistons on Oct. 31, when they were down at one point by 10.

The previous largest comeback win in the Brooklyn era came when the Nets erased an 18-point deficit on Nov. 29, 2016, to beat the LA Clippers 127-122 in double overtime.

It was their biggest comeback overall since the New Jersey Nets beat the Golden State Warriors 102-100 on March 30, 2012, after trailing by 19 points.

Brooklyn is now 2-16 this season when they trail by at least 10 points in a game.

What made Wednesday’s result more interesting is it was the fourth game this season in which the Nets both led and trailed by double-digits in the same game.

Because I’m not good at naming things, I call these Big Pendulum games (wide swings, it makes some sense).

Brooklyn is 2-2 in those games. The Halloween night win over Detroit was the first victory and Wednesday’s win over the Hawks (12-29) was the second.

The losses? The first was the 103-100 loss on opening night at Detroit — yes, both meetings with the Pistons have been Big Pendulum games — and their 101-91 loss to the Utah Jazz at home on Nov. 28.

The Nets return to action Friday night back on the road when they visit the Toronto Raptors, who lead the Milwaukee Bucks by a half-game in the standings even as they trail them by percentage points (the Bucks have three games in hand).

Tip off from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto is set for 7:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday after Brooklyn won the first meeting of the season between the teams on Dec. 7 at Barclays Center.

That 105-105 overtime win ended the Nets’ eight-game losing streak and launched their seven-game run the other direction.

Sort of the ultimate Big Pendulum.

Here are the player grades from the win over Atlanta.