Nets beat Pistons 123-108, close in on playoff berth

DETROIT (AP) — Mikal Bridges scored 26 pointsand the Brooklyn Nets moved to the verge of a playoff spot bybeating the Detroit Pistons 123-108 on Wednesday night.

“We just had to stay locked in down the stretch,” Bridges said.“We knew they made a big run against Miami last night, so we wereexpecting them to make it tough on us, too.”

Former Pistons guard Spencer Dinwiddie shot 1 for 10 from thefloor but matched his career high with 16 assists for the Nets(44-36), who won for the fourth time in five games. They need onemore victory or a loss by Miami (42-37) to clinch the No. 6 seed inthe Eastern Conference.

Joe Harris had 18 points on six 3-pointers, all in Brooklyn’s47-point first quarter.

“The ball was really moving. Spencer did a great job offacilitating,” he said. “We’re playing unselfishly and making thesecond pass to turn good shots into great ones.”

R.J. Hampton had a career-high 27 points for Detroit, which haslost 22 of its last 23 games. Jaden Ivey had 23 points and 10assists.

The Pistons trailed by as many as 19 points, but Hampton had 18points in the third quarter to help them pull within 96-90.

“We took a punch in the third, but I thought we reallyresponded,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. “We had every guy doingwhatever they could to try to contribute to a win.”

However, Brooklyn was able to take advantage of Detroit’sbiggest weakness, getting enough offensive rebounds to prevent thePistons from putting together a fourth-quarter run.

“It came down to the little things again tonight - that’s whatalways seems to be the issue for us,” Hampton said. “We need totake the step up from playing 42 good minutes to playing 48 goodminutes. That’s when we will win some games.”

Brooklyn had its biggest quarter of the season in the first, butHarris missed an open 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have madeit 50 points. Dinwiddie’s 10 assists in the period were the most inthe NBA this season.

“We just had everything going and Spencer was findingeverybody,” Bridges said. “They kept overhelping and we were ableto get a lot of good looks.”

The Nets couldn’t keep up that pace in the second quarter, butthe Pistons were only within 74-57 at the half because of sixmissed Brooklyn free throws. The Nets had a 35-13 edge in benchscoring in the half and had four players in double figures.

After starting 10 of 16, Brooklyn missed 13 of its next 143-point attempts, allowing Detroit to stay within 81-69 midwaythrough the third quarter. Hampton led Detroit’s rally with four3-pointers, including a 30-footer to make it 91-87 with 59 secondsleft in the third quarter.

TIP-INS

Nets: The 47-point quarter was the fourth-biggest in franchisehistory. The Nets had a 51-point fourth quarter against the BostonCeltics on March 3, 2020, and had 48-point quarters against thePistons (1980) and Orlando (2022). ... The Nets are the last teamto lose a home game to the Pistons, losing 130-122 on Jan. 26.

Pistons: Detroit finished the season with a 9-32 record atLittle Caesars Arena, the only NBA team to win fewer than 10 gamesat home. Charlotte and San Antonio are next with 13 wins. ... ThePistons were down to six healthy players when Ivey limped off latein the third, but he returned from the locker room for thefourth.

WAITING FOR NEXT WEEK

Pistons coach Dwane Casey met with owner Tom Gores after thegame, but he said they agreed to wait until after the season endsto make any decisions about next year. Casey is 121-261 (.317) infive seasons with the Pistons, including 80-220 (.267) in the lastfour years.

UP NEXT

Nets: Host the Orlando Magic on Friday before finishing theregular season with a home game against the Philadelphia 76ers onSunday.

Pistons: Finish the season with divisional road games againstthe Indiana Pacers (Friday) and Chicago Bulls (Sunday). The Pistonsare 1-13 against the Central Division this season.