SALT LAKE CITY _ If you had told the Brooklyn Nets they would snap out of a four-game losing streak with two road wins on a tough five-game trip through the Western Conference, they might have taken it before they left. But when they arrived Saturday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena to face the Utah Jazz, they had a chance to turn it into a winning road trip.
That's what made their failure to win the second game of a back-to-back after a big win Friday night in Portland somewhat disappointing. Even though the Jazz was missing injured center Rudy Gobert, they snapped their own four-game losing streak with a 114-106 win over the Nets, who lost D'Angelo Russell with 2:35 left when he landed awkwardly on a drive.
The Nets (5-8) cut an 18-point, third-quarter deficit to eight points early in the fourth quarter, but still trailed by 13 with slightly more than four minutes left. That's when they dug down for an 11-2 run, including six points by DeMarre Carroll, to cut the Jazz lead to 108-104 with 1:23 left to play.
Russell had a big night with 26 points and he shot 10-for-17. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 19 points, Carroll had 15, and Trevor Booker scored 12. Utah (6-7) got a big night from rookie Donovan Mitchell with 26 points, Derrick Favors had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Rodney Hood scored 19, including a 5-for-8 effort from three-point range, and Joe Ingles had 17.
Coming off their tough-minded win at Portland with an undersized and outmanned lineup, the Nets arrived in Utah brimming with optimism about the prospect of a winning five-game road trip. Coach Kenny Atkinson, who began the trip wondering what had happened to the cohesion the Nets showed _ especially on offense _ in the preseason, was upbeat.
Asked what he saw from the Nets that he liked, Atkinson said, "Our competitiveness, our defensive grit, our unity as a group. I thought we lost it. Having guys in and out of the lineup was part of it, but I felt like we had those couple losses at home that were not great losses. I felt like we lost something. I think we all were searching.
"I said before we left that the challenge for us is can we bring it together on this road trip? We had lost four in a row. To be 2-2 and go into this game against Utah, it would be great to give a good performance. I think we've improved on this road trip. I feel good about that whether it's a win or a loss tonight."
The return from the injured list of forward Booker was a boost, but backup point guard Spencer Dinwiddie sat out with a tightened hamstring. Booker's energetic play was at the heart of a 21-8 first-quarter run that included eight points each from him and Russell to overcome an early eight-point deficit.
But the Jazz scored the final five points of the quarter for a tie at 25, and that began an extended 25-4 run that gave Utah a 45-29 lead midway through the second period. Hood was especially hot with 14 points in that stretch, including four three-pointers. The Jazz's lead reached a high of 18 in the second period, and the Nets reached halftime trailing, 61-45, after shooting 37.5 percent, including 25.0 percent from three-point range.
The Nets made a push in the third quarter when Russell scored six points in a 15-5 run that cut their deficit to eight, but the Jazz responded with back-to-back threes by Raul Neto and Ingles to stop the bleeding. But Isaiah Whitehead came off the bench to score six points in a 10-2 Nets run that cut their deficit to 85-77 with 11:12 left in the game.
