NEW ORLEANS — The Nets didn’t play a lick of defense, they let an outmatched foe stick around far too long and they did everything possible to lose Friday night.
But James Harden and Kevin Durant wouldn’t let them lose, carrying the Nets to a 120-112 victory over the Pelicans before a crowd of 14,650 at Smoothie King Center.
The Nets blew a 21-point lead, giving up a 32-8 run to fall behind 104-101 with 4:36 to play.
But they responded down the stretch, pulling out the win with a game-closing 19-8 run behind their stars, Harden and Durant, with help from Joe Harris.
“[The Pelicans have] had a tough go with injuries for sure. That’s part of basketball that’s not fair, you know? But they still are a team that’s got to be desperate and hungry for wins and have some talent,” Nets coach Steve Nash had warned. “They have two centers that offensive rebound, they have shooters, they can be a very difficult team if we don’t come with the appropriate fear.”
If the Nets weren’t afraid enough before, this should be a solid wake-up call.
Harden had a season-high 39 points and 12 assists. It was his eighth 30-10 game as a Net, second in franchise history only to Stephon Marbury’s 10.
Durant had 28 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while Harris added a season-high 24 points on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range.
Offense wasn’t the problem on this night. The Nets’ non-existent defense nearly gave this one away, allowing the Pelicans to shoot 48.9 percent from the field and 13-for-32 from 3-point range.
“We know what we have on this team,” DeAndre’ Bembry said of the Nets. “We’re very confident and we look forward to each game and try to win each game. We’re looking forward to ending this road trip on a high note and finishing it off right.”
The Nets (9-4) can close out a 5-1 road trip with a win Sunday in Oklahoma City. But they’ll have a lot to clean up.
Harris was 5-for-5 from deep with more than four minutes left in the first quarter. That tied for the most 3-pointers he has ever had in any quarter in his career. The fifth of those 3-pointers was part of an 8-0 Nets run, and they led 33-25 after a first quarter, in which they shot 63.2 percent — their best opening period of the season.
The Nets were ahead 66-59 at the break, though it sure wasn’t based on any kind of defense. They let depleted New Orleans shoot 53.3 percent, and 8-for-16 from behind the arc.
But the Nets hit 12-for-18 from deep — tying their most 3s in any half this season — to go into the locker room with a seven-point edge.
It didn’t take them long to triple that in the third.
Clinging to a 66-60 edge after Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s free throw 10:55 into the third quarter, the Nets reeled off a 24-9 run.
A Nets defense that couldn’t seem to buy a stop in the first half forced the Pelicans to shoot 3-for-7 with five turnovers during that run. Harden found Durant for a 3-pointer to cap it, putting the Nets ahead 90-69 with 4:45 remaining in the third.
They were still cruising, up 93-72 before they nearly gave it all back. The Pelicans went on a 32-8 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters, utterly erasing the Nets’ once-safe cushion.
When Trey Murphy III got a shooter’s bounce on a 3-pointer that went up and rattled in, the Pelicans had pulled all the way back within 101-100 with 6:57 to play.
The Nets forced an Alexander-Walker miss, and Harris poked the ball away from Devonte’ Graham on the next possession. Graham’s jumper put New Orleans ahead, however, with 5:28 remaining, and a dunk by Jonas Valanciunas (20 points, 12 rebounds) made it 104-101.
Bruce Brown stanched the bleeding with a 3-pointer to lift the Nets back even, and Harden’s free throw put them up 105-104 with 3:45 left.
Durant made it 107-104, and his 3-pointer padded it to 110-106 with 2 ½ minutes left. They opened it up from there.