NEW YORK — It was never going to be easy.
Saturday’s matchup against the Detroit Pistons was one the Nets circled on their proverbial calendar. After all, their last game in Detroit — a Feb. 9 loss that marked both a rock bottom and turning point for the season — sounded the alarm for a team that looked disinterested in competing a month ago.
Veteran forward Jeff Green said the team “owed” the Pistons a loss.
It took everything these Nets have developed since that defeat to deliver on Green’s decree. The Nets built leads and surrendered them in a yo-yo-like fashion for their 100-95 win over the Pistons on Saturday. They are winners of 12 of their last 13 games since the loss in Detroit.
The Pistons never went away. Kyrie Irving and James Harden hit tough shots all night, but Detroit started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run, chipping into a lead the Nets built as large as 12. The Pistons hung around and hit timely shots, ultimately taking a one-point lead in with under three minutes to go. But the Nets were able to get stops, something they were unable to do down the stretch a month ago.
Irving (18 points) and Harden combined for 42 points but the two superstar scorers missed six 3s apiece. DeAndre Jordan scored 14 and Landry Shamet added 15 points off the bench on 3-of-3 shooting from downtown. Shamet’s emergence as the reliable shooter he struggled to be earlier in the season has been a blessing for a Nets team that has needed consistency on the perimeter. After shooting 25% in December, 32.7% in January and 40.5% in February, Shamet is shooting 14 of 25 from deep for 56% in March.
Harden finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and scored the Nets’ last 10 points. He notched his ninth triple-double of the season since joining the Nets in a trade in mid-January. He is now three triple-doubles shy of Jason Kidd, who holds the franchise record of 12.
The Nets have won four games in a row, and will take their momentum to Madison Square Garden on Monday for a game against the Knicks.
