Nets come back, beat Clippers in craziest game of the season so far

Tuesday’s slate of NBA games did not immediately jump off the page prior to the night’s tipoffs. It’s a wonderful fact of the league, though, that those seemingly dull days often turn out to be some of the best of the season. Tuesday brought plenty of fun, including dominant performances from both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis and a J.R. Smith blooper that should be remembered for years to come. But the crazy finish to the game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center offered Tuesday’s most exciting basketball by far.

It did not look to be a memorable game through three quarters. The visiting Clippers out-classed their less talented opponents even with Blake Griffin sitting out for rest and led by 18 late in the third. By the time Wesley Johnson made a three to put L.A. up 89-73 with 10:33 remaining, the result looked all but decided.

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Then all hell broke loose. The Nets went on a 29-10 run that included 20 points from Sean Kilpatrick, who shattered his previous career highs of 26 points and 10 rebounds with 38 (14-of-34 FG, 4-of-12 3FG, 6-of-8 FT) and 14 (all defensive).

Brook Lopez made a 3-pointer at 3:01 mark of the fourth to finish off that big run and give the Nets their first lead of the game at 102-99. The Clippers managed to come back to tie it, but another Lopez triple with 1:10 on the clock put the Nets in the driver’s seat up 107-104 entering the final minute.

Several fruitless possessions gave way to one last chance for the Clippers to force overtime. Chris Paul obliged by pump-faking his way into this open 3-pointer from the corner:

Kilpatrick missed a tough mid-range jumper at the buzzer, and the team’s headed to an unlikely overtime.

Things got much weirder from there. More strong play from Kilpatrick helped Brooklyn open up a 116-111 advantage through half of the extra period, and the Nets managed to hold a slight lead into the last minute. DeAndre Jordan split a pair of free throws with 0:19 remaining to cut the lead to 117-115, at which point the Clippers had to hope for a turnover or missed free throws to get back into it.

They got the opposite of a good break just a second later when Brandon Bass was called for a foul on Kilpatrick. Doc Rivers was immediately whistled for a curious technical foul, which caused the Clippers coach to get incensed at referee Ken Mauer. That earned an understandable second tech and an automatic ejection. Take a look at the wild scene here:

Mauer explained what went down after the game:

With four free throws coming, the Nets only had to make two to force the Clippers into an untenable situation. Thankfully for them, 91.7-percent shooter Isaiah Whitehead missed both technical free throws. Kilpatrick then split his pair (just a few possessions after doing the same on an other big trip to the line) to give the Clippers another chance at a game-tying three-pointer. Fill-in head coach Mike Woodson drew up a nice play, and Paul found Jamal Crawford for an open shot:

Kilpatrick drew significant contact on his second attempt at a buzzer-beater, but the refs swallowed their whistles to send this one to a second overtime.

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Standard analysis would suggest that the inferior Nets had exhausted their chances at the win and would fall to the superior Clippers over the next five minutes. However, Brooklyn held the visitors to only four points in the second extra period to finish off a 127-122 win. Their offense wasn’t much better, but this Kilpatrick and-one with 13 seconds on the clock finished off what started as a very impressive comeback:

The loss was clearly a bad one for the Clippers, who have lost three in a row to fall to 14-5 and the No. 3 spot in the West standings. The Clippers still look like one of the NBA’s top-five title contenders, but it also seems likely that their franchise-best 14-2 start was less a sign of newfound dominance than the sort of excellent stretch they’ve experienced several times since Paul joined the club. This one just happened to come very early in the season.

On the other side, the Nets grabbed the best win of what has been an impressive season. That is not because of their record — Brooklyn is 5-12, tied for the fourth-worst record in the NBA. Rather, the Nets have earned positive attention thanks to their attitude in the face of what had appeared to be a lost season. Saddled with a roster low in talent and no top draft picks for several seasons, the Nets entered 2016-17 with no expectations and nothing to play for. That’s still the case, but first-year head coach Kenny Atkinson and his players have approached every game with a need to prove themselves. They usually earn that desired respect even when the wins don’t come.

That unwillingness to quit served the Nets well on Tuesday. As such, a game that looked destined to be known for a funny missed dunk from Paul Pierce ended up as one of the most entertaining tilts of the season.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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