Dinwiddie has 25 in Brooklyn return, Nets beat Bulls 116-105

NEW YORK (AP)— Spencer Dinwiddie scored 25 points in his first game sincereturning to Brooklyn and the Nets beat the Chicago Bulls 116-105on Thursday night, hours after trading superstar Kevin Durant toPhoenix.

Joe Harrishad 18 points, and Yuta Watanabe chipped in 14 points in 22 minutesoff the bench. Dorian Finney-Smith, who came with Dinwiddie fromDallas in the trade for Kyrie Irving, had nine points and ninerebounds in his Nets debut.

“We justfound a way,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. “No panic from ourguys. I thought we did a really good job of focusing on the gameplan. It’s great to see us really lock in, especially at the end ofthe game.”

It wasDinwiddie’s first game in a Nets uniform since Dec. 27, 2020. Hespent five seasons with the team and returned with 18 points in thesecond half.

“The entirelast four or five days have been weird for me,” Dinwiddie said. “IfI was going to revisit a spot, out of the three I’ve been at, itwould definitely be here, unequivocally.”

Zach LaVinescored 38 points and DeMar DeRozan had 14 for Chicago, which lostits second straight and fell to 10-18 on the road.

“Every singleday that goes by we have less opportunity to take on thischallenge,” DeRozan said. “The room for error is getting slimmerand slimmer. It’s on us to realize it.’’

The Duranttrade was agreed to in the early hours of the morning Thursday thenannounced shortly before tipoff. Brooklyn traded Durant and forwardT.J. Warren for Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder — who wassubsequently flipped to Milwaukee for two second-round selections —and four first-rounders (2023, 2025, 2027, 2029) plus a pick swapin 2028.

Durant, a13-time All-Star who was slated to represent the Nets at theupcoming All-Star Game in Utah, averaged 29 points per game over129 games for Brooklyn, but missed time in each of his four seasonswith the Nets. His trade followed that of Irving on Sunday.

“I’m notgoing to sugarcoat it, it’s always difficult when you’re trading aplayer of that stature and that ilk,” Nets general manager SeanMarks said. “My job as GM and our job as a front office is to tryand bring in that caliber of talent. So those decisions are noteasy, they come with a lot of thought, a lot of process on systemicdebriefs and discussions that go along with that.”

Playingshort-handed and in danger of losing more ground in the EasternConference playoff race, the Nets snapped a two-game skid with a20-6 fourth-quarter run, keyed by Dinwiddie and Watanabe. Dinwiddiescored 13 in the fourth and Watanabe hit a pair of 3s.

Brooklyn,which is 29th in the NBA in rebounds per game, also outreboundedChicago 49-46, winning the rebounding battle for the first time in16 games.

“We only gaveup 21 points in the fourth, and that was with ((Watanabe) on thefloor finishing for us,” Vaughn said. “I think we saw theversatility and size come into play tonight where we didn’t getdestroyed rebounding-wise and shot-discrepancy.”

Brooklynlooked sluggish from the outset, shooting just 28.6% from the fieldin the first quarter, and Chicago capitalized. LaVine scored 12 inthe first quarter, and the Bulls used a 16-2 run to build a13-point advantage early in the second.

But the Netsheated up from the outside, making 8 of 12 3-pointers, led byHarris’ six in the second. Brooklyn led by as many as seven andtook a 53-50 advantage into halftime.

“I thinkeverybody kind of was trying to figure out each other and how wewere going to be playing,” Harris said. “Once that started and therhythm got there and everybody was able to kind of settle in, westarted playing really well and played really well together.”

Brooklynbuilt an 11-point advantage early in the third. But Chicago scored30 of the quarter’s final 44 points, keyed by LaVine’s 14 in theframe.

TIP-INS

Bulls: TheBulls were one of just two teams that did not make a trade beforeThursday’s 3 p.m. EST deadline. “It’s us vs. everybody,” LaVinesaid after the game. … DeRozan (right-hip soreness) returned aftermissing Chicago’s game in Memphis on Tuesday.

Nets: Bridgesand Johnson were on the Brooklyn bench but didn’t dress due to thetrade’s late announcement. It was Bridges’ first missed game sincehigh school. … Cam Thomas, who scored 134 points over Brooklyn’sprevious three games, had his streak of three straight 40-pointgames snapped. He finished with 20 points. … Center Nic Claxtonmissed the game, his fourth of the season, with a hamstringinjury.