Nets drop OT crusher to Mavericks for third consecutive loss

The Nets might be in some trouble.

After trying to put their tumultuous offseason behind them, they are now off to a 1-4 start to the regular season and have lost three straight following a 129-125 defeat in overtime to the Mavericks at Barclays Center on Thursday night.

The Nets’ defense, which has been an issue through the early stage of the season, struggled to come up with an answer for Luka Doncic, who posted a triple-double — 41 points on 14 of 28 shooting, 13 assists and 11 rebounds — to lead Dallas to its second win of the season.

This was a seesawing game, with the Mavericks not taking a decisive lead until a dramatic end to regulation led to overtime.

Kevin Durant tied the game at 112 with a transition dunk with 8.8 seconds to go in the fourth after Dallas tried to run out the clock and Doncic turned the ball over, with Ben Simmons getting the steal. Mavericks guard Reggie Bullock missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

Once it got there, though, it wasn’t Doncic who killed the Nets, it was his supporting cast. Two 3-pointers from Tim Hardaway Jr. and a third from Maxi Kleber within the first two minutes of the extra period handed the Mavs a 123-114 lead. That nine-point deficit proved too much to come back from, as Bullock made a free throw with 7.5 seconds left to seal it.

Kyrie Irving matched Doncic in the fourth, sparking the Nets on two stepback 3’s and a stumbling floater to pull them back into the game after the Mavs extended their lead to nine. Brooklyn would go into the lead after two free throws from Durant made it 101-100 with 5:45 to go in regulation. Hanging onto it, though, proved to be a challenge.

Though the lead reached two possessions for the Nets after Irving hit a stepback 3-pointer with 3:11 to go, a personal 4-0 run for Doncic tied it back up at 110.

Doncic very much lived up to his billing, hitting stepback 3-pointers and throwing highlight-reel passes. So too did Irving and Durant. Simmons even finished a three-point play to tie the game at 78 during the third quarter. But Doncic, who finished the third with two straight assists on 3-pointers as Brooklyn’s defense collapsed around him, had the better of the night.

Going into the fourth, there had already been eight ties, 11 lead changes and neither team had led by more than eight.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams trading runs and trading the lead. Doncic scored 13 points in the first quarter alone to finish the half with 18. Yuta Watanabe and Hardaway provided a highlight in the second, trading 3-pointers to the delight of the Barclays Center crowd. The Mavericks ultimately held a 61-59 lead at the half, recovering from a 9-0 Nets run that ended inside the four-minute mark.

For the Nets, who next see the Pacers for two games in a row starting on Saturday, the questions that have dogged their start of the season remain prevalent.

Irving finished with 39 points and Durant with 37, but no other Net scored more than 10, and figuring out how Simmons fits into all of it is still very much an open question.

This was, though, a better night for Simmons. The Mavericks backed off him whenever he touched the ball, seemingly daring him to shoot. On the first possession of the game, Simmons obliged, hitting from the post, but otherwise he was largely reluctant. At one point in the first quarter when he did shoot, Simmons airballed a layup, but he finished the night 3 of 7 from the field, with better stretches amid some less-than-confident play.

The Big 3, all things considered, had a reasonably good night.

But it couldn’t stand up to Doncic.