The net’s fade in the second half proved costly in the Thunder’s loss

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Nets just completed a winning wild ride, but they’ve missed a great one.

After running out of gas Tuesday night at the end of a five-game drive, the Nets blew a double-digit lead in a 121-107 loss to the Thunder at Paycom Center.

Despite completing their Western swing with a 3-2 mark, the Nets had every chance of going 4-1, six wins in their last seven. But they were unable to maintain their 16-point lead in the second quarter as they began to fall behind.

“They play well together,” Dorian Feeney Smith pre-warned Thunder. “sign [Daigneault] He made them play very well. They distance and attack, have the most field goals in the paint, and play well in the transition. They are a good team.

“They’ve been getting better all year. They’re pessimistic, they never give up, they never stop playing. So we have to bring it in; you have to bring everything into the game, because they won’t stop playing.”

Vinnie Smith’s fears proved prophetic.

It wasn’t a hangover from their statement win Sunday at West-leading Denver, not after the Nets built a big cushion: 62-46 after a pair of free throws by Spencer Dinwiddie with 1:23 left before halftime. But that victory may have got them off something, as they allowed an 18-3 lead on a 4 ¹/min stretch of the third quarter that their legs never looked like they could come back from.

This blitz turned the Nets’ eight-point lead into a seven-point hole. It gave Oklahoma City an 83-76 advantage with 2:42 left in the third that the Nets couldn’t beat as they fell to 39-30.

Michal Bridges scored 34 points for the Nets, and Cam Johnson added 23 points.

Thunder guard Shay Gilgos Alexander scored 35 points, while Lou Dort added 24 points, nine boards and shot 6-for-11 from 3-point range.

“We want to finish the ride the right way, trying to get the win,” Nets coach Jack Vaughn said before the game. So many problems they present. It starts with [Gilgeous-Alexander] And his ability to get buckets, and shoot. To have a guy score 30 and not make 3 is admirable for showing his game: very determined to get to the paint, to get to where they are.

“And then they have a lot of ball players, be that as it may [Josh] jedi, [Jaylin] Williams, Dort, across the board. Like size, it is able to push the pace of transition, getting into your paint. And if they miss, they finish in the top 10 in offensive rebounding. There are a lot of areas we still struggle with. This is a challenge for us. So it will definitely be a paint battle and a rebound battle.”

The Nets lost a paint battle, unable to clip the drives.

They spot the Thunder (34-35) to a rapid lead right off the opening tap, trailing 7-0 despite a drive by Gilgos Alexander after just two minutes. 18-5 run for a six-point lead.

Johnson rolled a 3-pointer on Nick Claxton’s kickoff, capping the run and putting the Nets ahead 18-12 with 5:37 left in the first quarter.

Dinwiddie’s free throws cushioned the Nets with 1:23 left in the half, and they still led by 10 at the break. But after continuing to shoot the Thunder to 2-for-13 from deep in the first half, that changed in the second half.

The Nets conceded the first six points coming out of the locker room, with Dort’s 3-pointer cutting the lead to just 64-60. Soon it completely disappeared.

Dinwiddie’s basket pushed the lead to 69-63, Bridges’ baseline made it 73-65 and sent Oklahoma City into a timeout with 7:11 left in the third.

But this momentum did not last.

“They play fast. Royce O’Neill has warned. “So we just take care of the ball, do the correct reading of the offense, we jam the defence, we try to turn the ball in on a quick break. Just play as a team. This is the most important thing we have right now.”

After Gilgeous-Alexander narrowed the score to 75-73, he held the score on a finger roll with 4:28 left. Then Dort unscrewed it, and drilled 3 indicators from Giddey’s feed.

Vaughn went on a scramble for a timeout with the Nets down 78-75 with 3:40 left in the third, but to no avail. Jedi fed Isaiah Joe to a runner who capped the fumbling run 18-3, leaving the net on the 83-76 hole.

The deficit swelled to double digits at 90-80 in the final minute of the third quarter.

“We’ll definitely have to keep them off the paint, because they do such a good job of getting paint and playing with each other,” said Dorian Finney-Smith. “They are a good team…so we have to go out here and treat them like we need this win.”