Nets rally for win over Mavericks that hurts lottery odds

The Nets pulled out a come-from-behind 113-109 victory in Dallas — and their first winning streak in nearly two months. 

Trailing by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter — and 107-105 with 1:17 left — the Nets outscored the Mavericks 8-2 down the stretch before a sellout crowd of 19,790 at American Airlines Center on Monday night. 

“It was good to see because, being down 10, sometimes you get discouraged,” Jordi Fernández said. “And our guys just kept fighting.” 

The Nets (25-51) are sixth in the lottery standings, now 1 ½ games behind fifth-place Philadelphia.

But after 19 lead changes and 16 ties, they earned their first winning streak since Feb. 10 and 12. 

Playing without Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas, the Nets got a game-high 24 points from Keon Johnson, and D’Angelo Russell added 18 points, 11 assists and the and-one that put the Nets ahead for good. 

After having allowed a tiebreaking 10-0 run to span the third and fourth quarters, the Nets still trailed 98-88 with 7:41 left.

The Nets retook the lead with 12 unanswered points, but still found themselves down 107-105 with 1:17 left. 

That’s when Russell had the go-ahead and-one.

Then after they forced an Anthony Davis miss — Nic Claxton and Drew Timme held him scoreless in the fourth — Russell’s no-look found Claxton for an and-one.

The center beat Davis for a 111-107 edge with 47.6 seconds left. 

After Claxton blocked Spencer Dinwiddie, Johnson’s ill-advised one-on-two break got blocked on the other end, and P.J. Washington’s free throws halved the lead.

Johnson’s turnaround came up short, but the Nets survived 3-point looks by Klay Thompson and Dinwiddie.

Jalen Wilson iced the game at the line. 

“It just took a lot of grit. We played with a lot of poise, didn’t turn the ball over much, executed when we needed to and got stops when we needed to,” Wilson said. “It tells you a lot. It’s the end of the season, and we’re still showing grit, still showing that we want to play and want to win.” 

Dallas, playing without Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II, missed 12 free throws Monday during a game in which Thompson went 0-for-5 from deep in the fourth.