WITH AUTHORITY: Dwight Howard dunks in front of the Nets’ Kris Humphries for two of his 23 points in last night’s Lakers victory over the Nets. (AP)
LOS ANGELES — With 5:22 remaining in the fourth quarter last night, the Nets held an 84-78 lead over the Lakers.
But the Nets couldn’t buy a bucket, or a break, from that point on down the stretch, as the Lakers closed out the game with a 17-6 run — led, as usual, by Kobe Bryant — and emerged with a 95-90 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center.
“We were right there,” said Deron Williams, who finished with 22 points and 10 assists. “We just missed some shots. “
The Nets (6-3), who saw their five-game winning streak snapped, couldn’t score in crunch time. After taking that six-point lead with just over five minutes left, the Nets went 2-for-10 down the stretch, and also had a shot-clock violation.
Williams had a pair of looks late to tie the game, both from 3-point range. One was with a little more than a minute left, when he shook free from Bryant on the left side but missed, and the second was with four seconds left, when Williams got off a potential game-tying 3-pointer that was just a hair long.
“I got a pretty clean look, but it was contested,” Williams said. “We didn’t have any timeouts. I really couldn’t have taken another dribble … there really wasn’t anywhere to go, because I caught it close to the sidelines. I had a good look at it. It looked good when I shot it, but just didn’t go in.”
Though the Nets couldn’t score down the stretch, they also saw Bryant do what he usually does late in games — carry the Lakers to a win. Bryant finished with 25 points, including 14 in the fourth and eight during that final run, making six free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
Meanwhile, Bryant’s opposite number on the Nets, Joe Johnson, couldn’t score down the stretch. Johnson finished the game 6-for-16 from the field, including 2-for-6 in the fourth quarter and missing three open looks down the stretch.
“Down the stretch we just didn’t come up with the big plays that we normally come up with in tight games like this,” Johnson said. “I put a lot of this on myself. I missed a lot of easy shots down the stretch that I normally make.
“I knew it was going to come down to it and I focused in but we just didn’t make a lot of those shots that we normally make.”
The game also saw the Nets square off against Dwight Howard for the first time since the “Dwightmare” ended this summer when the Magic dealt him to the Lakers, ending the Nets’ nearly year-long pursuit of the star center.
Though Howard was excellent, finishing with 23 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots, Brook Lopez held his own, finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
“I thought we played very well,” Lopez said. “We obviously wanted this one.”
The Nets also employed the “Hack-a-Dwight” strategy in the fourth, sending Howard to the line twice. Each time, Howard made 1-of-2 free throws.
When the game started, it looked like it might be over less than five minutes in. The Nets literally could do nothing right over the first few minutes of the game, missing their first five shots and committing four turnovers in the first 3:34, and falling behind 10-0 when Metta World Peace drained a 3-pointer off an assist from Darius Morris, forcing Nets coach Avery Johnson to call timeout.
But the Nets quickly got their sea legs following the stoppage in play, with Deron Williams hitting Brook Lopez for an easy layup on the first play out of the timeout, and Lopez then scoring in transition off a pass from Gerald Wallace.
Those two plays kick-started an 11-2 run that allowed the Nets to get back into the game.
“I’m proud of our guys tonight,” Johnson said. “We got off to a tough start, a slow start, and we finally got back to playing our basketball, playing our tempo.
“But I’m proud of our guys tonight. We’re not searching for any moral victories, but I’m proud of our guys.”