NEW YORK – Spencer Dinwiddie carried the Brooklyn Nets to their largest comeback victory of the season with an inspired performance.
Dinwiddie said he spoke with NBA legend Kobe Bryant, the former Los Angeles Lakers star he grew up idolizing, before Saturday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks.
The 26-year-old point guard said Bryant told him he has been “playing like an All-Star,” and he followed through by scoring 39 points as the Nets overcame a 47-point performance by Trae Young to beat the Hawks 122-112 with Bryant sitting courtside.
Garrett Temple added 25 points for Brooklyn, and DeAndre Jordan had 12 points and a season-high 20 rebounds.
Temple praised Jordan for being the team’s most consistent bench player so far this season.
“You know what you’re going to get out of D – a veteran guy that can really protect the rim, put pressure on the basket on the offensive end and get every rebound that comes off the rim,” Temple said. “We need his veteran presence.”
Alex Len had 23 points and 14 rebounds for Atlanta, which lost for the seventh straight game.
“Frustrating,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “I thought our guys gave all that they had to put us in a position to win the game. The offense really let us down tonight – 39 points in the second half. We go 2-for-24 from 3(-point range) in the second half. I think you saw some glimpses of a young team lose their will, lose their confidence in a game where we had the will, we had the pace and control of the game.”
With Atlanta trailing 113-110, the Hawks’ Kevin Huerter lost the ball and the Nets’ Joe Harris drove for a layup and converted a free throw. Dinwiddie iced the game with a layup that gave Brooklyn a 118-110 lead with 1:13 remaining.
Atlanta took an 18-point lead, its largest of the game, as Young hit a floater in the lane with 7:16 left in the third quarter. The Nets went on a 14-0 run to begin the fourth, though, and took a 99-98 lead as the Hawks missed their first nine shots of the period.
“We had, I think, a 13-point lead headed into the fourth quarter,” Young said. “We just let one get away from us. They went on a run, and we couldn’t stop it. So yeah, we definitely felt like we let one get away.”
The Hawks took a 73-60 lead into halftime as Young led all scorers with 24 points through the first two quarters. Young’s pick-and-roll partner, Len, had a double-double in the first half with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Dinwiddie scored 20, his career high for first-half points, to keep Brooklyn within striking distance.
“There wasn’t much said at halftime,” Temple said. “We knew we weren’t playing with any energy in the first half. They were outrebounding us, doing everything better than us.”