NEW YORK _ The Nets absorbed a gut punch when they lost Jeremy Lin to a ruptured patella tendon in the first game of the season, but they got up off the mat and responded with a fourth-quarter comeback that ended in a 126-121 victory over the Magic in the home opener Friday night at Barclays Center.
The game was tied at 106 midway through the final quarter, but D'Angelo Russell put on a show for the fans, scoring six straight points, including an off-balance bank shot, as the Nets built a five-point lead with 1:23 left. Terrence Ross hit a 3 for the Magic with 14.9 seconds left to make it a one-point deficit. But after Allen Crabbe made two foul shots for the Nets, Evan Fourier missed a potential tying 3 in the final second and Trevor Booker sealed the win with a pair of foul shots.
Booker led the Nets (1-1) with 17 points and 11 rebounds, DeMarre Carroll and Russell also had 17, Spencer Dinwiddie totaled 16, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 15 points. Nikola Vucevic was an unstoppable presence for the Magic (1-1) with 41 points and 12 rebounds.
In the first of 81 games without Lin, coach Kenny Atkinson tabbed Crabbe to start in the backcourt with Russell, and both Joe Harris and rookie Jarrett Allen, neither of whom played in Wednesday's season-open blowout loss at Indiana, found their way into the playing rotation.
But fair or not, in the absence of Lin this season, the spotlight inevitably will fall on Russell, the No. 2 overall pick in 2015 who was acquired in the Brook Lopez trade. When Russell was with the Lakers, his point guard skills drew criticism, but Atkinson likes what he has seen.
"I haven't been with D'Angelo that long, but I see a smooth transition to being a pure point guard," Atkinson said. "He sees the floor well, shoots it, understands the game, really has done a good job kind of translating what we're trying to do offensively."
Russell delivered a more measured performance against the Magic than he did in scoring 30 points at Indiana. He didn't dominate the ball and he got teammates involved, but he had seven turnovers. It was a 25-11 spurt from the second unit led by Booker and Dinwiddie that gave the Nets their biggest first-half lead at 41-34.
