Nets’ modest win streak ended at 2 by Pistons

The Nets earned their second straight road win Saturday night, an overtime decision at Miami that coach Kenny Atkinson called “a great growth game.” Now they were shooting for another sign of progress — a three-game winning streak after the growth of their five previous streaks was stunted at two.

A Detroit team riding a four-game winning streak and carrying a sense of desperation to keep a faint heartbeat going in the playoff race stood in the way Sunday night at Barclays Center. The Pistons were also playing the second half of a back-to-back after beating the Knicks at the Garden.

Brooklyn ended up falling behind by 20 in the third quarter and couldn’t quite catch up. The Pistons came away with a 108-96 victory.

Two wins in a row had to do again.

“I thought we didn’t have it tonight,” Atkinson said, pointing at his starters in particular. “Whatever that ‘it’ is, that energy, that juice, it wasn’t there.”

The Nets were an NBA-worst 20-62 in 2017. Now they’re 25-52 with five games left in Atkinson’s second season.

“He’s probably done as good a job as anybody in the league,” Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy said. “He won’t get the credit for that because of the record. But this team has gotten better over the course of the year. He’s really utilizing the talent that he has.”

D’Angelo Russell didn’t get utilized much in Saturday’s 110-109 win over the Heat. Atkinson benched his lead guard for the night after he went scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting and made two turnovers over the first 6:33 of the game.

“That’s a decision Coach has to make,” Russell said. “He went with what was rolling. It worked. We won.”

But they went back to losing Sunday. Joe Harris and Jarrett Allen had 15 points apiece. Russell finished with 13 points, seven assists and four rebounds in 27:51, but he shot 5-for-15, including 3-for-11 from three-point range. The Pistons’ point guards outplayed their counterparts with Reggie Jackson scoring 29 and Ish Smith adding 17.

“Yeah, they took it at us,” Russell said. “They were in the paint, getting downhill. They were creating however they wanted.”

Detroit (37-40) owned an 83-63 lead with 3 1⁄2 minutes left in the third. But the Nets kept pushing.

Allen nailed a three from the right corner to cap a 15-2 run, and their deficit was down to 85-78 with a little more than 10 minutes to go in regulation. Russell made a three with 2:38 left, and it was down to six at 93-87.

But Jackson hit three free throws with 2:09 to go and Stanley Johnson followed with a dunk after a turnover, making it an 11-point game with 1:58 remaining.

“Both teams were on fumes going down the stretch,” Van Gundy said. “ . . . But we just grinded it out, so it was a good win.”

The Pistons won even though they lost Andre Drummond (13 points, 14 rebounds) with 18.4 seconds left in the third. He and Quincy Acy (no points, 1 rebound) got into a skirmish and both were ejected.

“We were down on the floor for a loose ball,” Acy said, “he just kind of shot [an elbow], and we just overreacted.”

The game was tied at 45, and then the Pistons floored it, closing the second quarter with a 17-3 run. They took off again in the third.

The Nets ran afoul for much of the night. Detroit finished 25-for-32 from the line, the Nets 10-for-15.

The Nets are still attempting to finish strong.

“It’s hard to stay locked in,” Russell said, “but that’s what we’re trying to do.”