PORTLAND _ The Brooklyn Nets did everything in their power to produce yet another of their trademark comebacks in an effort to string together three straight wins on their brutal seven-game road trip. But after falling behind by seven points in the second overtime and creeping back within two in the final minute, they fell just short in a 148-144 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night at Moda Center.
The loss dropped the Nets to seventh in the Eastern Conference and means their magic number to qualify for the playoffs remains at six against both the ninth-place Orlando Magic and 10th-place Charlotte Hornets.
D'Angelo Russell topped the Nets (38-37) with 39 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and they got 22 points from Spencer Dinwiddie and 18 from DeMarre Carroll. Jusuf Nurkic had 32 points, 16 rebounds and five assists for the Blazers (46-27), but he was taken off the court on a stretcher during the second overtime after suffering what appeared to be a serious leg injury. Damien Lillard had 31 points and 12 assists, Seth Curry added 20 points and Rodney Hood added 18.
Down five entering the final period, the Nets opened with a 22-7 run spurred by eight points from Dinwiddie, and Caris LeVert's jumper from the key with 6:07 left gave them a 112-102 lead. The Blazers made just four of their first 16 shots of the quarter.
A corner three-pointer by Maurice Harkless cut the Blazers' deficit to 114-111 with 2:33 to go, and Lillard hit two foul shots to cut the Nets' lead to 118-117 at the 1:13 mark.
After the Nets' Jarrett Allen made one of two foul shots, the Blazers missed two attempts to tie it and fouled Russell, who made only the first of two foul shots for a 120-117 lead with 35.4 seconds showing. Lillard made a layup to get within one and Russell had the ball stolen by Curry. Fouled with 3.5 seconds left, Curry missed the first before making the second to tie it at 120. Russell got off a deep three before the buzzer, but it banked off the glass and front rim to send it to overtime.
During the overtime, Allen also fouled out, leaving the Nets with no true centers to defend the 7-foot-275-pound Nurkic, who scored four points in a 10-5 burst that gave the Blazers a 132-130 lead. Dinwiddie missed a layup attempt but Joe Harris came down with the rebound, leading to a tying layup by Russell with 8.8 seconds left. Lillard got an inbounds pass in the backcourt and wound up taking a desperation three from 40 feet that missed to set up double OT.
The Nets failed to score on their first five possessions in the second OT and committed two costly turnovers as the Blazers focused on going inside to Nurkic against Jared Dudley. Nurkic put the Blazers ahead on a layup, but he later crashed to the floor trying for a putback with 2:22 left and had to be carted off the floor on a stretcher after suffering a serious left leg injury. The Nets chose Anfernee Simons to shoot the foul shots, and he made both for a 136-132 lead.
