The birthday boy saved the day for the Nets.
Brook Lopez’s putback of a Deron Williams missed layup with two seconds remaining lifted the Nets to a 100-98 win over the Knicks on Wednesday night, giving Brooklyn a sweep of the season series and allowing the Nets to maintain their position in the Eastern Conference playoff race while giving Lopez exactly what he was hoping to get for his 27th birthday.
“I was just trying to keep it alive, and I was able to tip it in,” Lopez said. “It was a great win.
“It’s always good to beat the Knicks. It’s a good birthday present. … I’ll be selfish and give myself a present.”
Not only did Lopez get himself a gift, but his basket pushed the Nets’ winning streak to a season-high five games, while also moving them into a tie with the idle Heat for seventh place in the East at 34-40. It also kept them a half-game ahead of ninth-place Boston, which won at home against the Pacers.
Though the Nets made things far harder than they should have against the hapless Knicks, who fell to a league-worst 14-61, they weren’t about to complain about escaping with the win.
“A win is a win,” said Thaddeus Young, who finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, two assists and one crucial block of a Cleanthony Early drive inside the final minute with the score tied. “We’ll take them however they come, as long as we’re on top.”
The Knicks nearly followed through on their talk at Tuesday’s practice about playing spoiler as their rivals try to make a playoff push.
The Nets never trailed, but after Brooklyn headed into the fourth with a comfortable 14-point lead the Knicks came back to tie the game for the first time since the opening minutes on a 3-pointer by Early with 1:07 remaining.
“My teammates were finding me and I was playing hard,” said Early, whose 14 points all came in the fourth quarter.
But the Nets survived after Williams went around a Lopez screen and got an open lane to the rim. His short runner bounced off the rim — only to land right Lopez’s hands. Lopez — who had 18 points, seven rebounds and five blocks — missed the first putback attempt then grabbed the rebound and made the second try to give the Nets the two-point lead with two seconds remaining.
“That was pretty much the play coach drew up,” said Williams, who finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. “I wanted to lob it to Brook at first and they kind of backed up, so I had a shot. It rimmed out, but he was there to put it back.”
The Knicks still had one last chance to win it. But after the ball was inbounded to Early at the top of the key, his contested 3-pointer went nowhere near the rim and the Nets escaped with a win that never should have been so hard to achieve.
“I think I rushed it,” Early said. “It’s just a learning experience. I need to take my time.”
Until the craziness in the fourth, the World’s Most Famous Arena might as well have been the World’s Most Famous Mausoleum, with the crowd struggling to get excited about anything that happened on the court. In fact, the biggest applause through the first three quarters came when a fan dressed in an outlandish fur coat and a crown was shown multiple times on the Jumbotron.
But the dismal first three quarters were offset by the entertaining fourth, a period that ended with a suitable outcome for both teams. The Knicks moved a step closer to locking up the most ping-pong balls in next month’s draft lottery for having the league’s worst record, while the Nets moved one win closer to somehow making it back to the postseason for a third consecutive year.