Nets lead at halftime but get blown out in San Antonio

Brook Lopez angrily pounded his chest with his right fist, bothered by how things were unraveling in a frustrating third quarter.

LaMarcus Aldridge had just stuffed Lopez's shot, igniting a Spurs fast break that led to a jumper by Kawhi Leonard that gave San Antonio a five-point cushion and sparked the AT&T Center crowd into a frenzy.

All the good things the Nets had done in grabbing a halftime advantage at their personal house of horrors for the first time since 2011 had vanished, replaced by discouraging play ripe with mistakes.

San Antonio started imposing its will on the Nets and they were powerless to do anything about it, quickly fading away in the second half Friday night in a 102-75 loss to the Spurs that extended their losing streak here to 13 games.

"We need to have continued effort," Lopez said. "As a group, not naming any people, we just didn't really respond to it."

The Nets' 28-point second half certainly made it feel as if their 10-point second-quarter edge had happened light years earlier. San Antonio ran the Nets (0-2) right out of the building, cashing in on their 12 second-half turnovers and outscoring them 60-28 in the final two quarters.

"This is what they do, especially at home," Nets coach Lionel Hollins said. "Sometimes they have slow starts and go in the locker room and Pop [coach Gregg Popovich] jumps them and they come back out. Sometimes he doesn't even jump them. They just come back out and play. That's what the good teams do."

The Nets' penchant for struggling in the third quarter accelerated their demise and helped the Spurs erase a 47-42 halftime deficit. The Nets went 6-for-14 from the field in the quarter, turning the ball over seven times, and let San Antonio shoot 15-for-23, including 4-for-6 on three-pointers.

Tony Parker engineered the charge and the Spurs went ahead for good on a putback by North Babylon's Danny Green with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter.

"Second half, they just came out and re-established themselves in the game," Jarrett Jack said. "Parker was really aggressive, the ball movement picked up for them. And on the other end, we kind of got stagnant."

Lopez led the Nets with 17 points and Jack had 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds in his return after sitting out Wednesday night's game with a sore left hamstring.

Leonard paced the Spurs with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Tim Duncan had 15 points and eight rebounds.

"It's a long season," Jack said. "It seems so long when you haven't got your first win. Everybody is anxious to get in that winner's circle."