By Tennie Sumague
EBC New York Bureau
BROOKLYN,New York (Eagle News) — The Brooklyn Nets almost pulled the season’s greatest comeback against the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday until the “brow” interfered.
Anthony Davis’ 44-point performance and Rajon Rondo’s triple-double lifted the Pelicans to a 138-128 double overtime victory over the Nets to snap their three-game skid.
New Orleans dominated from the start, going up 72-52 at halftime behind Davis’ 18 first half points.
The Pelicans extended their lead to 28 until the Nets sparked a comeback on the three-point line, cutting their deficit to 15 at the end of the third quarter.
The Nets continued to capitalize on the three-point arc in the fourth and cut the Pelicans lead to one point on a Spencer Dinwiddie layup.
With 12 seconds left and the Pelicans up by three, Allen Crabbe’s crucial three-point jump shot tied game at 116 and sent the game to the first overtime.
Crabbe hit back-to-back three pointers which gave the Nets their first lead of the night 122-118 with 2:28 left.
However, the Pelicans fought back as Jrue Holiday scored the team’s final five points to tie the game at 124 a piece.
Their defense stifled the Nets as Rondo blocked DeMarre Carroll’s fadeaway shot with six seconds left to send the game to a second overtime.
Davis took control of the second overtime, with six points and five rebounds and helped his team outscore the Nets 14-4 in the final minutes of the game.
“You know they live by the three, die by the three then they were able to get hot, especially Allen Crabbe,” Davis said about the Nets comeback. “Had to keep fighting, keep doing what we to get the lead. We just wanted to make sure we came away with a win.”
To go along with his 44 points, Davis also added 17 rebounds, six steals, two assists and three blocks. Rondo had 25 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, Jrue Holiday chipped in 22 points and Nikola Mirotic contributed to 21 points and 16 rebounds.
“I was really proud of the guys for hanging in there,” said Pelicans Head Coach, Alvin Gentry. “At the end of the day, you either win or you lose. Just the fact we were able to play and continued to fight, even when the game was tied, even when we got behind, [we found] a way to win. To me, that was the most important thing.”
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Nets, who overcame a 28-point deficit as the team went 21-for-59 from the three-point line. Six players scored in double figures with Crabbe leading the team with 28 points, including eight three-pointers. Crabbe became the fifth player in Nets franchise history to shoot eight threes in one game.
“I feel like we had a good effort in the second half but you can’t keep playing catch up like that [in the NBA],” said Crabbe. “We gave ourselves a chance, but didn’t make the plays we needed to make down the stretch. At some point, we need to figure it out. We’ve got to get ourselves off to better starts and not get ourselves into big holes like that.”
Dinwiddie added 24 points and 10 assists and D’Angelo Russell had 21 points and nine assists off the bench for the Nets.
