Brooklyn Nets: One writer’s 10 favorite first-half Nets moments
By Phil Watson
Nov. 9: LeVert for the win … again
The Brooklyn Nets arrived in Denver on Nov. 9 on the heels of consecutive wins and with a chance to get back to the .500 mark.
The Nets — as had been their fashion early in the season — stormed out to a big early lead, going up by 11 in the first quarter and taking an eight-point lead into halftime after being up by as many as 14 points.
Then the Nets — as had been their fashion early in the season — watched that advantage disappear in the third quarter before bouncing back to enter the final 12 minutes up by six.
Brooklyn had appeared helpless in the third quarter to slow down Denver’s dynamic big man, Nikola Jokic, who had scored 14 points in the period.
But they figured out a way to slow him down when it mattered, holding Jokic — who finished with 37 points — to just three in the fourth quarter on 0-of-3 shooting.
D’Angelo Russell helped the Nets early in the fourth quarter, but down the stretch, Brooklyn leaned once again on Caris LeVert.
LeVert gave the Nets a 106-104 lead with a turnaround fade with 1:55 left, but Denver scored the next six points to go up 110-106 with 1:03 to play.
Spencer Dinwiddie nailed a pair of free throws with 56 seconds remaining before Jamal Murray missed a pull-up jumper at the other end. At the other end, LeVert got the ball on the wing and penetrated before finding a wide-open Jarrett Allen for an uncontested dunk to tie the game.
Denver lost the ball with 22.1 seconds left when Jokic was called for a traveling violation and after a timeout, Brooklyn put the ball … and the game in LeVert’s hands.
He penetrated once again before pulling up for a game-winning jumper with 0.3 second remaining.
Malik Beasley‘s desperation turnaround 3 was off the mark and the Nets had their third straight win and a .500 record.