The Brooklyn Nets were in it till the very end, but came out on the wrong end of a close game, falling 103-96 to the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night at Barclays Center.
Shane Larkin had the Nets up 96-94 with 2:45 to play, but a series of slips and missed executions led to a 9-0 Bucks run down the stretch.
“It’s disappointing coming back down from 11, fighting all the way back into the game, get up by two, not to be able to execute down the stretch,” Larkin said. “To put that much effort and that much fight into the game and not be able to pull it out, it’s disappointing.”
Brook Lopez led the Nets with 18 points and nine rebounds, but the big man was forced out of the game with under five minutes to play after picking up his fifth personal foul. Though his absence didn’t hurt the Nets immediately – they grabbed a pair of two-point leads – it appeared to eventually catch up with them.
“Brook getting his fifth foul changed the dynamics of the game,” head coach Lionel Hollins said.
Lopez, who contested the call, was proud of the way the Nets “stuck together” through the adversity Monday.
“It was a tough situation late in the game,” Lopez said. “We played hard down the stretch and kept going. Our team stuck together and we gave ourselves a great shot.”
Hollins agreed that his team has taken strides, even if they haven’t been rewarded with a win, yet.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Hollins said. “We got better in a lot of areas and we got better from the first game to the last game to now. We just have to continue to get better.”
Joe Johnson had his best offensive game of the young season, dropping 14 points with six assists and three rebounds. Bojan Bogdanovic hit double-digits for the second straight game, draining 14 points including seven in the fourth quarter.
As a team, the Nets put up 33 and 32 points in the first and third quarters, respectively, but couldn’t replicate the effort in the second and fourth, hitting 15 and 16. Jarrett Jack (15 points, three rebounds, four assists) said the focus is for the Nets to avoid getting into comeback-type positions.
“We fought back,” Jack said. “Clearly we can’t keep digging ourselves into these types of holes, having to overcome those types of deficits. We have to learn and grow from it.”
“We scratched and clawed,” Hollins said. “It was a game we could’ve had.”
Jerryd Bayless had a game-high 26 points, including a game-high six three-pointers. Greg Monroe posted a double-double (23 points, 13 rebounds) and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 21 points.
The Nets head out on the road to face the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.
