Nets 98, Jazz 96
SALT LAKE CITY - Forward Thaddeus Young scored 21 points and center Brook Lopez had 19 as the Brooklyn Nets surprised the Utah Jazz for a 98-96 road win Saturday night.
The Jazz had an opportunity to win the game after Nets guards Wayne Ellington and Donald Sloan missed late free throws.
However, Brooklyn squeaked out of Vivint Arena with a win after Jazz guard Joe Ingles missed a game-winning 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
The Nets, who beat Phoenix on Thursday, won consecutive games for only the third time this season, incidentally after agreeing to a buyout on Joe Johnson's hefty contract.
Brooklyn (17-42) hadn't won two in a row since beating Houston and Philadelphia on Dec. 8 and 10.
Ellington scored 16 for the Nets, who improved to 6-20 on the road. This win also snapped a three-game losing streak to Utah.
Forward Gordon Hayward scored 27 points, guard Rodney Hood added 15 points and center Rudy Gobert pulled in 19 rebounds with 12 points in the loss.
This was a tough loss to swallow for the Jazz, who were in the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff picture until losing big to San Antonio on Thursday.
Utah, which trails Houston and Portland in the playoff race, fell to 28-30 and has lost five of seven since compiling a seven-game winning streak before the All-Star break.
The Jazz, who trailed by 13 midway through the fourth quarter, made a furious late rally to give themselves a shot at extending the game into overtime.
Hayward scored seven points in the final minute and Hood hit three free throws with 15.6 remaining to cut the Nets' lead to 96-94.
Sloan then only made one of two from the foul line after which a Hayward slam made it a one-point game.
Ellington put the Nets up 98-96 with 6.4 remaining. The Jazz, out of timeouts, couldn't get the ball to Hayward and Hood on the last possession, and Ingles shot was off the rim.
The game began as most would've guessed, with the Jazz taking an early 10-2 lead.
Brooklyn, showing it wasn't going to lay down in this one as it did in a 35-point home loss to Utah last month, fired back with a 8-1 run.
The Nets took advantage of a sluggish Utah offense, outscoring the Jazz in both the second and third quarters for an 80-71 lead heading into the fourth.
Brooklyn continued its surprising domination in the final quarter, taking an 84-71 lead on a basket by forward Sergey Karasev.
NOTES: Jazz coach Quin Snyder is a big fan of Rudy Gobert, but he's also realistic. Snyder knows that his starting center, who only had 17 rebounds and 17 points in three previous games, needs to be more consistent. "I think when we see Rudy put together consistent efforts, that is something we should take note of," Snyder said. "Rudy is a talented player. He is aggressive. He is confident. But he's not consistent yet." ... What's Nets interim coach Tony Brown looking for from his younger players? Being eager to get to the gym before games and putting extra work in at practice, for starters. "That's how you're going to fine tune your game and carry it over to a live basketball game," he said. ... Brown played for the Jazz during the 1990-91 season. He appeared in 23 games and averaged 3.4 points and 1.7 rebounds. ... Utah's biggest win of the season came against the Nets at Brooklyn, 108-73 on Jan. 24.