NEW YORK _ If there is one NBA team that is like a late closer in thoroughbred racing, it's the Nets. The problem is that they often are coming from so far back, they can't get to the finish line first.
After digging a 28-point third-quarter hole, the Nets teased their crowd once again Saturday night at Barclays Center by fighting back in dramatic fashion to force two overtime periods. But they were out of gas in the second OT session, missing their first nine field-goal attempts as the Pelicans pulled away to a 138-128 victory.
The Nets (19-38) had three players top the 20-point mark, including Allen Crabbe (28), Spencer Dinwiddie (24 and 10 assists) and D'Angelo Russell (21 and nine rebounds). All-Star Anthony Davis led the Pelicans (29-26) with 44 points and 17 rebounds, Rajon Rondo had a triple-double (25 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists), Jrue Holiday added 22 points and Nikola Mirotic had 21. The Pelicans outscored the Nets in the paint, 70-38.
The Pelicans still had a 17-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Nets made one of their characteristic late charges. A 21-6 run, including six points each from Dinwiddie and Russell, cut the Pelicans' lead to 108-106 with 5:05 left.
When Dinwiddie drove and was fouled to complete a three-point play with 1:46 left, the Pelicans' lead was down to one at 114-113. They had a chance to take the lead, but a short jumper by DeMarre Carroll teetered on the rim and fell out with 1:07 to play.
But after Davis made a pair of foul shots to give the Pelicans a three-point lead, Nets coach Kenny Atkinson drew up an inbounds play that put the ball in Crabbe's hands, and his sixth made 3-pointer from the left corner tied the game at 116 with 12.2 seconds left in regulation. Davis missed a tough jumper at the other end to put the game into overtime.
Crabbe hit a pair of 3s in the overtime period to give the Nets a 122-118 lead, but a three-point play by Holiday with 1:15 left tied it again at 1:22. The Nets regained a 124-122 lead when Joe Harris got wide open under the basket on an inbounds play with 54 seconds left, but Holiday tied it again with a jumper. The Nets had the ball and a chance to win as the final seconds ran down, but Carroll turned it over, and the Pelicans called timeout with 3.9 seconds showing.
Carroll made up for it on defense, hounding Holiday into shooting after the buzzer to force a second OT period, but they were outscored in that session, 14-4, thanks to 1 for 11 shooting.
The Pelicans lost one of their All-Star big men when DeMarcus Cousins suffered a season-ending knee injury, but it hardly mattered against the undersized Nets, who were without injured Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (groin) and Caris LeVert (knee). Davis was dominant from the moment he controlled the opening tip and scored the first basket over Nets rookie center Jarrett Allen.
The opening period ended with Davis hitting back-to-back 3s for the Pelicans, the last a 41-foot buzzer-beater for a 34-22 lead. The Pelicans led by as much as 22 points in the second quarter before settling for a 72-52 halftime margin. Their size advantage was evident from their dominance in rebounding (30-20), points in the paint (42-16) and second-chance points (15-5).
As if Davis wasn't enough of a problem in the middle for the Nets, they also could not contain Pelicans point guard Rajon Rondo, who had 16 points at halftime on 8 for 10 shooting plus seven assists. A 17-9 Pelicans run to open the third quarter quickly pumped their lead to 28 points.
But that's when Russell suddenly got going to score seven straight Nets points to kick start a 24-16 run. Crabbe hit four 3-pointers during that stretch as the Nets trimmed their deficit to 12 points late in the third quarter. That set the stage for the Nets' fourth-quarter comeback charge.
