NEW YORK _ Paying some respect to the NBA's worst team before their game Wednesday night at Barclays Center, Wizards coach Scott Brooks said the Nets "haven't given in to their record." The Nets underlined that sentiment with their feisty fourth-quarter comeback from a 12-point deficit to force overtime, but their record only grew worse with a 114-110 loss that was their 11th straight and 22nd in the past 23 games.
Trailing 84-72 early in the fourth, the Nets fought back with a 17-5 run spearheaded by some hard-nosed plays by rookie point guard Isaiah Whitehead and forward Trevor Booker before a second-effort tip-in by Brook Lopez with 6:21 to play tied it at 89.
The Wizards regained a five-point lead, but the Nets came back with a 9-4 run to tie it at 100 on a bank shot by Bojan Bogdanovic with 41.9 seconds to play, and they made it to overtime when rookie Caris LeVert drew an offensive foul on John Wall with two-tenths of a second left in regulation.
The lead changed hands six times in OT and still was tied at 107 after LeVert made one of two foul shots with 1:33 left. But the Wizards got to the foul line and made six straight to build a 113-110 lead. They nearly gave it away when Wall chased an inbounds pass thrown to his backcourt and stepped out on the baseline with 5.9 seconds left to give the Nets a chance. But Bogdanovic missed a potential tying 3 from the left corner.
Bogdanovic topped the Nets (9-44) with 21 points, Lopez added 20, and they got double-doubles from Booker (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (13 points, 11 rebounds). Washington (31-21) was led by Bradley Beal (31 points), Wall (23 points, 12 assists) and Otto Porter, Jr. (20 points, 10 rebounds).
The Nets were playing the second of a back-to-back and their third game in four days, so they figured to be at a physical disadvantage against the Wizards, who had a day to rest after losing a thrilling overtime game at home to the defending champion Cavaliers. Washington's biggest physical advantage was in the backcourt with the All-Star pairing of Wall and Beal.
After the Nets got out to an early 16-14 lead, Beal got it rolling with eight of his 14 first-quarter points in a 15-2 run that gave the Wizards a 31-20 lead just before the end of the period. A baseline jumper by Beal in the second period pushed the Wizards' lead to 13, but the Nets responded with a 9-0 surge that included five points by LeVert to trim their deficit to 45-41.
But every time the Nets got close in the first half, the Wizards just pushed the pace with their backcourt. They led 59-49 at halftime, and Beal and Wall had 26 points and 10 assists (nine by Wall) compared to two points and two assists for starting Nets guards Spencer Dinwiddie and Randy Foye.
The Nets got off to a strong start in the third quarter with a 10-4 run that ended with a three-point play by Lopez to pull the Nets within four at 63-59. But Wall and Beal combined to score the next 11 Washington points to push the lead back to 74-64. The Nets pushed back with tough defense that led to an 8-0 surge to cut Washington's lead to 74-72 on a 3 by Justin Hamilton, but the Wizards scored the last five points of the period for a seven-point lead.
