NEW ORLEANS — The Nets didn’t play a lick of defense, let an outmatched foe stick around and did everything they could to lose Friday’s game.
But James Harden and Kevin Durant wouldn’t let them throw it away, combining for 67 points and carrying the Nets to a tougher-than-it-should’ve-been 120-112 win over the Pelicans before a crowd of 14,650 at Smoothie King Center.
“We took our foot off the gas. They played harder than us and we didn’t match their energy and they found momentum and a couple shots went in. Now we find ourselves just trying to survive,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “Had that bad stretch at the end of the third, start of the fourth. Frankly, I just think we took our foot off the gas.”
The Nets blew a 21-point cushion, giving up a 32-8 run by the Pelicans to fall behind by three late in the fourth quarter. But behind Harden and Durant, they responded, and closed on a 19-8 run.
“That’s obviously the story of the closing minutes. I know James made a couple plays and Joe [Harris] and [Blake Griffin] got some buckets. But Kevin, just being able to get him the ball in spots, he made baskets,” Nash said. “He also made a play for [Griffin] and got doubled, got James a 3, so we played through him and he delivered of course.”
Harden had a season-high 39 points (on 11-for-18 shooting) and 12 assists. Durant added 28 points on 11-for-18 sooting from the floor. It was their second-highest combined total as Nets, and when Harden was asked what defenses are supposed to do when he and Durant are both rolling like that, he joked: “Ummm, pray?”
The Nets (9-4) — who will close out their six-game road swing Sunday in Oklahoma City — might’ve done some praying themselves to get out of this spot.
“We just tried to defensively get stops. That’s priority No. 1: Limit them to one shot, gang rebound,” Harden said. “When they went in that run, we weren’t doing any of that.”
Durant, Harden and Joe Harris (24 points on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range) had spotted the Nets to their 93-72 cushion, with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. But the Pelicans flipped that into a 104-101 deficit on a put-back dunk by center Jonas Valanciunas (20 points, 12 rebounds) with 4:36 to play in the fourth.
That’s when Bruce Brown stanched the bleeding with a huge corner 3-pointer to knot the score. After Harden sank one of two free throws to give the Nets a 105-104 lead with 3:45 left, they never trailed again.
“Yeah that was a huge 3 by Bruce, big-time shot, confidence,” Harden said.
Durant’s turnaround jumper off a Harden feed made it 107-104, and his 3-pointer off another Harden helper padded it to 110-106. The Nets simply opened it up from there. They hit six of seven shots down the stretch, with Harden and Durant each contributing six points and two assists in the game-clinching 19-8 run.
“It’s the fifth game on a six-game road trip. It was ugly, but we’ll take it,” Harden said. “Those wins add up. We’ve just got to keep pushing, keep chipping away one day at a time, and we’re just happy we came away with a win.”
It was gruesome, but in the end, victorious.
The Nets allowed the Pelicans to shoot 48.9 percent and to go 13-for-32 from 3-point range. Former Net Garrett Temple burned them for 17 points on 4-for-8 from deep.
Harris was 5-for-5 from deep in the first eight minutes — tying the most 3-pointers in any quarter in his career.
The Nets led 33-25 after the first and by seven at the break. It didn’t take them long to triple that in the third.
Clinging to a 66-60 edge after Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s free throw just 1:05 into the second half, the Nets reeled off an extended 24-9 run.
Harden found Durant for a 3-pointer to cap it and put the Nets ahead by 21. Then Harden found Durant for a layup that made it 93-72 with 3:05 to play in the third.
That’s when the Nets nearly gave the game away, coughing up a 32-8 run spanning the third and fourth. Devonte’ Graham’s jumper put New Orleans ahead, and Valanciunas’ dunk made it 104-101 before the Nets retook the lead for good.