NBA: Nets hold off Thunder to end 5-game losing skid
Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie (26) shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Giddey during the first half of an NBA basketball game in New York, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie)
NEW YORK — Spencer Dinwiddie and Nic Claxton each scored 23 points and the Brooklyn Nets snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 124-115 on Friday night.
Cam Thomas broke out of a 0-for-20 shooting slump with 19 points, including 16 in the Nets’ most dominant first half of the season. They led 75-47 at the break and by 32 in the third quarter before a late push by the Thunder made it close.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 34 points, nine assists and six rebounds for the Thunder, who have dropped two straight after a five-game winning streak. Jalen Williams added 20 points and Chet Holmgren had 17.
The Nets’ skid started with a 144-122 home loss to Milwaukee on Dec. 27, when they rested three starters and didn’t play Thomas — a starter at the time — or Mikal Bridges after the first quarter. They were fined $100,000 on Thursday, the first team penalized for violating the league’s player participation policy that went into effect this season.
Nic Claxton: 23 PTS | 13 REB | 3 AST@ChrisShearnYES catches up with Claxton on the court who talks about the keys to the victory, ending the 5-game losing streak, and more. #NETSonYES pic.twitter.com/Y64x92SBQ8
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) January 6, 2024
The Nets followed that with an 0-4 trip and had just two victories — consecutive games against Detroit near the end of the Pistons’ record-tying 28-game losing streak — in their previous 12 games.
But they rolled through most of this one, surpassing 100 points in three quarters for second time this season. Claxton grabbed 13 rebounds and Bridges scored 17 points.
The Thunder beat the Nets on New Year’s Eve, wrapping up a 10-3 December that helped earn Gilgeous-Alexander the Western Conference player of the month and Holmgren the West’s rookie of the month, making the Thunder the first team to win both monthly honors since the Knicks in the 2012-13 season.
But after opening the new year by beating NBA-leading Boston on Tuesday night, the Thunder have dropped the first two on their four-game road trip, They trailed by 21 in Atlanta on Wednesday night and had an even worse start in this one.
Thomas missed his final two shots in the first game against the Thunder, was 0 for 11 in a blowout loss in New Orleans and followed by going 0 for 7 Wednesday at Houston. But he had an easy first shot with a layup off a Thunder turnover, sending him to a 3-for-3 start, and he was 6 for 9 while scoring 16 points in 13 minutes of the first half.
It was tied at 14 midway through the first quarter before the Nets broke free with a 19-1 run, going ahead 33-15 on Thomas’ jumper with 1:59 left in the period. The Nets shot 62% in the period and then led by at least 20 for the final 9 1/2 minutes of the second, going ahead 75-47 on Cam Johnson’s 3-pointer with 29 seconds to go.
The Nets pushed it to 85-53 on Dinwiddie’s jumper but the Thunder trimmed 10 points off that by the end of the third quarter and got it down to six late.
Lonnie Walker IV played six minutes after missing the last 17 games with a strained left hamstring, but Johnson appeared to hurt his left hamstring before leaving late in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
Thunder: At Washington on Monday night.
Nets: Host Portland on Sunday.
