When Brook Lopez gave the Nets a one-point lead with a free throw with 2:33 remaining, it looked like the Nets were poised to leave Barclays Center with a win over the undermanned Lakers.
Instead, the Nets fell apart.
The Lakers closed the game with a stunning 10-0 run, including a pair of clutch baskets from Kobe Bryant and several key miscues by the Nets, allowing the Lakers to slip away with a 92-83 victory in front of a sellout and evenly divided crowd of 17,732 inside Barclays Center.
“We had a great opportunity to win this game with just a little bit of energy and effort,” Gerald Wallace said, “and we didn’t have either one.”
The Nets (28-20) had the advantage of facing the Lakers without Dwight Howard, who sat out with a sore right shoulder, and Metta World Peace, who had been suspended in the morning after getting tangled up with Pistons guard Brandon Knight in the Lakers’ win in Detroit Sunday.
The Lakers (23-26) were then dealt a further blow when Pau Gasol left the game with 3:52 remaining after injuring his right foot. But instead of taking advantage of it, the Nets sputtered, going 0-for-6 from the field with a turnover in the final minutes while the Lakers went a perfect 3-for-3 along with four free throws from Steve Nash.
The star of the show, as usual, was Bryant, who finished with a team-high 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. But his night was punctuated by a humongous slam dunk over Wallace and Kris Humphries that gave the Lakers an 82-80 lead with 2:45 remaining, and he later slipped past Wallace for a layup with 1:42 left to give the Lakers an 86-83 advantage.
He also was made to feel at home by the Barclays Center fans, who were at least as split as they were for the two Knicks-Nets games here earlier this season. Bryant received loud cheers when he was introduced, as well as whenever he did anything during the game, and also was serenaded with “M-V-P!” chants that Nets fans in attendance tried to drown out.
“From my perspective, it’s pretty damn cool,” Bryant said of the MVP chants. “I enjoyed it immensely. There’s a lot of energy in the building. You can feel it. There’s an electricity in the air.”
But just when the Nets had a chance to win the crowd over, they let the game slip through their fingers. Arguably the biggest culprit in the Nets’ collapse was Brook Lopez, who had been the lone bright spot offensively for much of the game. But Lopez missed two straight shots at one end, and after Antawn Jamison hit a floater over him to give the Lakers the lead, Lopez goaltended a Bryant shot and lost Earl Clark on a pick-and-pop that pushed the lead to 88-83 with 1:11 remaining.
“To their credit, they closed out the game well,” said Lopez, who finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. “But I feel those last 2 1/2 minutes are about as bad as I played at both ends of the floor all season.
“I feel like the responsibility is on myself. I made poor decisions offensively, and defensively I didn’t guard the pick and roll very well. [Jamison] got to the basket easily and [Clark] got that pick and pop jumper that really changed the game.”
Wallace also tried to place the blame on his shoulders, after missing a pair of shots, allowing Bryant to get by him twice — first for a huge slam dunk and then a layup — and throwing a key inbounds pass away with 44.9 seconds left and the Nets still trailing by five.
“I didn’t make shots, I didn’t make open shots when they were double-teaming Joe [Johnson] and Deron [Williams],” Wallace said. “I’ve got to make those shots and Kobe made two big shots down the end and that’s on me, too.”
In the end, poor offensive execution throughout the game came back to haunt the Nets, who shot just 34.8 percent from the field and committed 17 turnovers that led to 20 Lakers points.
“I think we’ve got to understand as a team, and especially myself, that when your shot’s not falling you have to find other ways to score, and that’s getting to the rim and getting to the free throw line, and we didn’t do that tonight,” Wallace said. “We still kind of settled, and they took advantage of it.”