Nets win second straight after holding off Bulls at Barclays Center

How bully was the Nets discourtesy successful the archetypal fractional of Friday’s matchup against the Chicago Bulls astatine Barclays Center?

Look astatine it this way: The Bulls changeable 56% from 3-point scope (14-for-25) successful the archetypal fractional but trailed by 17 points with 4:42 near successful the 2nd 4th and were down 8 astatine halftime.

It was conscionable that benignant of violative nighttime for the Nets, astatine slightest aboriginal connected successful their 120-112 triumph implicit Chicago. Each starter was comparatively quiescent speech from Cam Thomas, who had 19 points successful his archetypal 15 minutes of action. But Brooklyn had a 38-14 borderline successful the overgarment and was up 21-15 connected the glass. Dennis Schröder and Ben Simmons were dishing retired assists each implicit the court, and their teammates were taking advantage, arsenic the Nets changeable a scorching 60.4% implicit the archetypal 2 quarters of play. They had 29 assists connected 22 tract goals — that is shot question astatine its finest.

Not to beryllium forgotten were the aboriginal contributions of Keon Johnson. He knocked down treys, blew by guys disconnected the dribble, threw down a reverse dunk and finished the archetypal fractional with 12 points disconnected the bench. It was the highest scoring 4th of his NBA career.

However, similar to Tuesday’s location crippled against the Denver Nuggets, the Nets cooled disconnected considerably to commencement the 3rd 4th portion Chicago continued to vigor up. They changeable 9-of-24 successful the play and were outscored, 30-24.

After looking similar it could tally distant with the crippled early, Brooklyn led the Bulls by conscionable a constituent entering the last frame. But a 10-0 tally successful the 4th fourth created separation erstwhile it mattered most. The Nets, led by Thomas, changeable 50% from the tract successful the last framework to unafraid their 3rd triumph of the play and their 2nd astatine Barclays Center.

And conscionable similar that, Brooklyn is simply a .500 team. Thomas, who entered Friday nighttime arsenic the league’s fourth-quarter scoring leader, scored 10 of his game-high 32 points down the stretch. Brooklyn (3-3) has present won consecutive games for the archetypal clip this season.

Originally Published: November 1, 2024 astatine 10:07 PM EDT