WASHINGTON _ For one night at least, the Nets found reassurance that their season didn't end when they lost go-to guy Caris LeVert for upwards of three months because of a dislocated ankle. Spencer Dinwiddie and D'Angelo Russell dusted off their go-to credentials, and the Nets' bench packed a powerful punch that helped them snap a three-game losing streak with a 115-104 win over the Wizards Friday night at Capital One Arena.
An 8-0 surge early in the fourth quarter pushed the Nets' lead to a high of 19 points at 103-84. The Wizards quickly cut the deficit to 13, but that's where the Nets put their foot on their opponents' neck and pulled away, never allowing their lead to slip below the final 11-point margin. The key was a strong defensive effort. After giving up 30 first-period points, they held the Wizards to 74 the rest of the way and 3-for-17 three-point shooting for the game.
Dinwiddie led the Nets (7-9) with 25 points and eight assists, Russell added 23 and six assists, Jarrett Allen totaled 16 points and 12 rebounds, and the Nets had a massive 56-31 advantage in bench points. The Wizards (5-10) got 25 points and 17 rebounds from Dwight Howard, 20 points from Bradley Beal, 18 from Kelly Oubre Jr. and 16 points and seven assists from John Wall.
The Nets' first game without LeVert on Wednesday was a rough loss to the Heat in which they got down early and stayed down. It was a rough spot because it was the first home game after a long four-game West Coast trip and there might have been an emotional hangover after losing LeVert.
"It was a double-edged sword, coming back from that tough west coast trip, and then the Caris thing," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. "Obviously, it's about Caris, but it's also about us mixing up lineups. I think our guys want stable lineups, their coach wants stable lineups, and it's just going to take (time). Hopefully we can start tonight getting off on the right foot. But I feel good where we are from the physical standpoint and this will be a good test tonight."
Besides LeVert, the Nets were missing Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (ankle), but center Allen returned after missing two games with illness. In the first quarter, the Nets leaned heavily on Russell, who scored 11 of their first 13 points, but for the fourth straight game, their defense was suspect. The Wizards shot 60.9 percent from the field on their way to a 30-26 first-quarter lead.
In the second quarter, it was Dinwiddie who stepped up, scoring 10 of his 16 first-half points, including three steals that he turned into fast-break layups. Without Hollis-Jefferson in the lineup, rookie Rodions Kurucs got into the rotation and added seven of his nine points in the second period to help fuel a strong bench performance that gave the Nets a 56-54 halftime lead.
The Nets were clinging to a one-point lead early in the third period when Russell banged home a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to trigger a 19-5 run that pushed the Nets' lead to 79-64. Russell scored eight points in that stretch, but his best play might have been a cross-court pass that found Joe Harris wide open for a corner 3.
Oubre sparked a Wizards push to within eight points late in the third period, but the Nets finished the quarter with a 6-2 burst that gave them control at 91-79 heading to the final period. After their lax play in the opening period, there was no mistaking how the Nets' defensive intensity increased as the game moved into the late stages, and it showed on the scoreboard.
