DALLAS — The Nets started out the season closer to road kill than to road warriors. But they’re starting to figure out how to win away from Brooklyn, with the latest example a shorthanded, come-from-behind 109-104 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday night.
DeMarre Carroll called the game a must win earlier in the day, and coach Kenny Atkinson pulled his veterans aside beforehand and tasked them with leading their injury-riddled team. That’s exactly what Carroll and Trevor Booker did, making key plays down the stretch as the Nets won before 19,327 at American Airlines Center.
It gave the Nets a 2-1 road trip, and they have bounced back from losing their first four away from home this season to having split their last eight.
“It was [huge]. You hate to say there are big games in an NBA season because it’s so long; but that’s what we talked about, getting two wins on this trip,” said Atkinson, whose team overcame a 10-point hole early and terrible free-throw shooting late.
“It was definitely important,” Spencer Dinwiddie said. “Coach stressed to us before we even got here that we’re trying to be a good team, and good teams would expect to go into Dallas and end this road trip 2-1. He set the precedent. It was just on us to follow suit as a unit, as a team, and we were fortunate enough to do that.”
Dinwiddie had 19 points and six assists, playing the final 5:49 with five fouls. Carroll, back after missing the previous game with upper-respiratory woes, had 15 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter. And Trevor Booker had half of his 16 points and 10 boards in the pivotal final eight minutes.
“Coach talked to the veteran guys and told us we needed this, and we’d have to lead this team if we wanted to win. That’s exactly what we went out there and did,” said Booker after the Nets grinded out the road win without Jeremy Lin, D’Angelo Russell, Allen Crabbe and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. “That’s what we do: Play hard no matter who’s on that court. Everybody’s going to play hard.That’s a recipe for success. As long as you play harder than the other team, things will take care of itself. That’s what we’ve been doing.”
The Nets (8-13) had a nine-point cushion with 1:32 left, but it shrunk to 106-104 with 18.5 seconds to play. But despite missing three free throws in the final seconds — they were 14-of-25 overall from the line — they held on.
“It’s really good. In this road trip, we’ve been going in the right direction,” Carroll said. “We’re showing our resiliency, that all the close games we lost early on we learned from them.”
The Nets fell behind early, 25-15 and 36-28, but a Dinwiddie 3-pointer capped a 16-4 run to put them ahead 44-40. They led 80-76 going into the final period. Dinwiddie picked up his fifth foul with 5:49 left, but drove and got hacked just eight seconds later, his free throws making it 91-87. Then he went into traffic for a putback and a 93-87 lead.
The Nets led 106-97 after a Joe Harris 3, and should have closed thez almost died at the foul line. They surrendered a 7-0 run with Devin Harris’ layup pulling Dallas within 106-104.
Harris missed one of two from the line with 10.5 seconds left, and Dinwiddie missed a pair with 7.4 seconds remaining. But Booker tapped the ball back out to Dinwiddie for his third offensive board in the final eight minutes. Dinwiddie got fouled and didn’t blow these free throws, sinking both with 5.2 seconds left to ensure the game never got to overtime.
“Well, [Booker] knew we’re going to miss the free throw, so he’s going to go all out and go in there and get those offensive rebounds,” Atkinson said.
“I did not know that,” Booker said with a laugh. “I was hoping he made them, but I was prepared if he didn’t.”