LOS ANGELES _ Sometimes, the Nets die by the 3-point shot, but every now and then, they splash down true from all angles, filling them with hope of victory. They hit eight of their first 10 3s in the fourth quarter to take an eight-point lead, but then, they missed their final five 3s as the Clippers roared from behind to pull out a 123-120 victory Sunday night at Staples Center.
Down three on their final possession, the Nets got the ball to Joe Harris, who went up for a tying 3 but was blocked from behind by Sindarius Thornwell. Harris recovered the ball for another desperate attempt that fell short in heartbreaking fashion.
The Nets cut a 15-point Clippers third-quarter lead to five by the end of the period. But after struggling from 3-point range, they suddenly caught fire, hitting six of the first eight 3s they put up in the fourth quarter to gain a 108-104 lead on Carroll's sixth made 3 of the game at the 6:18 mark.
Caris LeVert hit a pair of 3s in an 8-0 surge to make it eight of 10 from beyond the arc and give the Nets a 118-110 lead with 3:11 left. But the Clippers responded with an 11-2 run capped by a left-wing 3 from Austin Rivers for a 121-120 lead with 33.5 seconds left.
On the next possession, Clippers center DeAndre Jordan deflected a LeVert pass to teammate Tobias Harris, and then Lou Williams hit a fadeaway at the other end with 8.9 seconds showing for a three-point lead before the Nets' fatal final possession.
LeVert topped the Nets (20-44) with 27 points and shot 11 for 19. Carroll added 20 points, and Joe Harris finished with 19. D'Angelo Russell, who had only six points in 20 minutes, sat out the entire fourth quarter. Rivers led the Clippers (34-28) with 27 points, Tobias Harris netted 26, Williams totaled 21, and Jordan had 17 points and 15 rebounds.
The Nets arrived at Staples Center having lost 12 of their previous 14 games, including losses in the first two games of their current five-game trip at Cleveland and Sacramento that both went down to the wire. When they faced the Clippers three weeks earlier at Barclays Center during their prolonged slump, they suffered a blowout loss.
In that game, rookie center Jarrett Allen struggled against powerful former All-Star DeAndre Jordan, but coach Kenny Atkinson vowed that he wouldn't play the matchup game by using bulky 7-foot backup center Timofey Mozgov in Allen's place.
"If Jarrett Allen is going to be a starting center, he's got to learn how to play this guy," Atkinson said. "This summer, he's going to have a picture of DeAndre Jordan in his room, and he's going to do 10 more pushups."
The Nets got off to a rough start when they allowed the Clippers to jump to an early 10-0 lead, but they cut what eventually became an 11-point deficit to 32-31 early in the second quarter as LeVert led a surge by the Nets bench with 11 first-half points. But the Clippers closed on a 17-7 run that included 10 points from Tobias Harris for a 65-53 advantage at halftime.
Early in the third period, a Harris 3-pointer pushed the Clippers' lead to 15 at 70-55, but the Nets responded with an extended 27-16 push, including nine points from Carroll to shrink the deficit to 86-82 late in the third. Down by five, the Nets opened the final period with an 11-5 burst that included a pair of 3s by Dante Cunningham, the last of which came at 9:41 and put them in the lead for the first time at 97-96. Suddenly, it was game on.
