Blake Griffin makes debut as Nets hold off Wizards
Blake Griffin #2 of the Nets goes to the hoop during the first quarter against the Washington Wizards at Barclays Center on Sunday, Mar. 21, 2021. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Despite their losing record, the Wizards have shown a knack for upsetting the NBA’s top teams, including wins in their previous two games against the Nets. But even though the Nets again found themselves in a nip-and-tuck game with the Wizards, their third meeting proved to be a breakthrough as they pulled out a 113-106 victory Sunday night at Barclays Center.
The Nets typically let the Wizards hang around for three quarters, but they opened the fourth quarter in explosive fashion. Blake Griffin scored his first Nets basket on a dunk that was his first in about 15 months to trigger an 11-5 burst for an 11-point lead with 8:17 to play. But the Wizards cut their deficit to 103-102 on Russell Westbrook’s layup with 3:02 to go.
The Nets then closed the game with a 10-4 run that included two three-point plays by Nic Claxton to win for the 15th time in their past 17 games. It was the first time finishing for the fast-improving second-year big man.
"He’s long and athletic, he can guard multiple positions and he’s active," Nets coach Steve Nash said. "He works hard and plays hard. He gets deflections, stops, blocks, rebounds and is able to finish around the rim. I think his activity and his mobility with his length is a great combination for us.
"I think we got just enough stops . . . They went on their run, maybe a couple of mistakes allowed them back in it late, but we cleaned it up, got the stops, got the rebounds and made a couple buckets down the stretch to finish it off."
Kyrie Irving led the Nets (29-14) with 28 points and six assists. James Harden added 26 points and eight assists and the Nets’ bench outscored the Wizards’ reserves 34-14, including 16 points from Claxton.
Griffin totaled two points, two rebounds and one block in 14:57, but he was a team-best plus-12 in that span.
The Wizards (15-26) got a triple-double from Westbrook with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists. Alex Len and Rui Hachimura added 20 points each, but leading NBA scorer Bradley Beal was limited to 17 points and 6-for-15 shooting.
Although the Wizards were lagging at 10 games below .500 when they arrived, they won the previous two meetings with the Nets, including a 149-146 game in Washington in which the Nets allowed 48 fourth-quarter points.
The first five minutes of Sunday’s game were a stunning reminder of that game. The Wizards made eight of their first nine field-goal attempts in taking a 20-6 lead that the Nets cut to 30-25 by the end of the period.
Explaining the difficulty the Nets have with the Wizards, Harden said, "They just play with a lot of pace. They’ve got two guards that push the ball at a high level and that put pressure on that rim, and some of their guys were knocking down shots.
"Then again, they only had 23 points in that fourth quarter. So that’s pretty solid. It was mostly that first five minutes of the game when we gave up 20 points. After that, we held them to 86, so it was pretty solid for the rest of the game."
The momentum continued to go the Nets’ way in the second quarter as they opened with an extended 27-8 run that included 11 points from Harden to build a 52-38 lead. That margin shrank to five points after three quarters, but the Nets hung tough.
"Tonight was one of those nights where [the starters] needed a boost from the reserves," Nash said. "Those guys gave it to them, and the starters were able to finish the deal."
Along with Claxton’s timely contribution.
Greg Logan has worked for Newsday since 1982 covering a wide array of sports and events, currently including the Brooklyn Nets beat.
