The Brooklyn Nets Friday will look to secure their first season sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in 4 years and just their 5th in their 43 seasons in the NBA.
The Brooklyn Nets will be seeking a second consecutive win overall and a season sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers, who enter play Friday night at Staples Center having lost four in a row and nine of their last 10 games.
The Nets (37-36) come in off the biggest comeback victory in franchise history, erasing a 28-point deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday 123-121, becoming just the fourth team in the NBA’s shot clock era, which began in 1954, to win after trailing by at least 25 points entering the fourth quarter.
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The Lakers (31-40) are one loss away from playoff elimination and have been scuffling of late, taking their fourth straight loss on Tuesday in dropping a 115-101 road decision to the Milwaukee Bucks.
D’Angelo Russell fueled the comeback for Brooklyn on Tuesday, scoring 27 of his career-high 44 points in the fourth quarter, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson won it for the Nets, converting a drive and layup opportunity with 0.8 second left.
Russell also had 12 assists and four steals, while Jarrett Allen went for 13 points and seven rebounds and Caris LeVert had six assists. Rodions Kurucs logged two blocked shots.
At Milwaukee Tuesday, the Bucks led by as much as 23 points in the third quarter before the Lakers got the deficit down to five points at 104-99 midway through the fourth period before Milwaukee pulled away.
Los Angeles shot just 38.4 percent on the night and turned the ball over 19 times. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope came off the bench to score 35 points for the Lakers, while JaVale McGee had 11 rebounds and two blocks and Rajon Rondo finished with 13 points and 10 assists.
Since entering the NBA in 1976, the Nets are 24-64 against the Lakers, who have the longest winning streak in the series at 11 in a row from Feb. 5, 2008, to Nov. 27, 2013. The Nets’ best stretch was four consecutive victories from Nov. 25, 1992, to March 18, 1994.
The highest scoring total for each team came in the same game, a 147-123 Lakers win at Inglewood, Calif., on Nov. 25, 1983.
Each team has a 27-point victory to its credit. The Nets got theirs at East Rutherford in a 98-71 win on Dec. 19, 2002, and the Lakers won in Los Angeles 120-93 on Nov. 25, 2008.
Shaquille O’Neal scored 50 points for the Lakers in a win at East Rutherford on April 2, 1998, while Stephon Marbury dropped a 50-spot for the Nets in an overtime loss at East Rutherford on Feb. 13, 2001.
The top effort by a Net in regulation time came at Piscataway on Nov. 2, 1977, when Bernard King had 39 points in a loss.
In the Brooklyn era, which began with the 2012-13 season, the Nets are 5-8 against Los Angeles, with each team having a three-game winning streak.
The Lakers have two, actually, most recently from Nov. 6, 2015, to Nov. 15, 2016, while Brooklyn won three straight from Feb. 23, 2014, to March 29, 2015.
In another case of both teams putting up their top totals against each other, the Lakers and Nets set their highs in a 125-118 Laker victory at Los Angeles on Nov. 15, 2016.
The Lakers have the largest win of the Brooklyn era with a 124-112 victory at Los Angeles on Nov. 3, 2017. Brooklyn’s biggest win was a 107-97 triumph at Barclays Center on Dec. 14, 2016.
The top individual scoring performance in the series belongs to D’Angelo Russell, who scored 39 points for the Lakers in a win at Los Angeles on March 1, 2016.
The Nets have had 30-point outings from two players. Brook Lopez did it three times (Feb. 5, 2013, at Barclays Center; March 29, 2015, at Barclays Center; and Nov. 15, 2016, at L.A.) and Deron Williams dropped 30 in a win at Los Angeles on Feb. 23, 2014.
*-Historical research courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.
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Here is how to catch the action between the Nets and Lakers Friday night.
Brooklyn Nets at Los Angeles Lakers
Staples Center, Los Angeles
Time: 10:30 p.m. Eastern
TV: YES Network
Live stream: NBA League Pass
The skinny
Availability
from NBA.com
Brooklyn: OUT–Allen Crabbe (sore right knee), Dzanan Musa (assignment, Long Island Nets), Theo Pinson (two-way, Long Island Nets), Alan Williams (two-way, Long Island Nets).
Los Angeles: PROBABLY–LeBron James (sore left groin); QUESTIONABLE–Josh Hart (right knee tendinitis), Lance Stephenson (left foot, second toe sprain); OUT–Lonzo Ball (left ankle sprain), Brandon Ingram (thoracic outlet decompression surgery, right arm).
Last meeting
Dec. 18 at Brooklyn: The Nets answered every time the Lakers closed to within one possession in the late going, never allowing Los Angeles to have the basketball with a chance to tie or go ahead, en route to a 115-110 victory.
Joe Harris and Jared Dudley hit baskets to push leads back out to two-possessions and D’Angelo Russell delivered a pull-up 3-pointer with 22.4 seconds left that helped ice it for Brooklyn.
Russell finished with 22 points and 13 assists for the Nets, while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 17 points and eight rebounds and Jarrett Allen also had eight boards and two blocks. Spencer Dinwiddie dropped 18 points with six assists off the bench.
LeBron James had 36 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for Los Angeles, while Lonzo Ball added 23 points before fouling out and Kyle Kuzma logged 22 points and 11 rebounds. Tyson Chandler had a pair of blocks.
What’s next?
Brooklyn: at Portland, Monday; at Philadelphia; Thursday; vs. Boston, March 30
Los Angeles: vs. Sacramento, Sunday; vs. Washington, Tuesday; at Utah, Wednesday