Brooklyn Nets at New Orleans Pelicans

Irving leads short-handed Nets past Pelicans, 134-129

“Obviously, when Kyrie does his thing and hits tough shots like that, it truly saves us," said Nets forward Blake Griffin, who had 16 points and eight rebounds in a reserve role. "But I thought overall we did a better job of just trying to like, do it by committee, moving off the ball and not settling.”

Joe Harris also hit a pair of late free throws to cap his 24-point night for the Nets, who won despite being without both Kevin Durant and James Harden.

“We just made shots," Irving said. "Tonight, we were just playing off each other really well, just making some easy plays. It worked out in our favor.”

Brooklyn coach Steve Nash twice commanded the Nets to foul Pelicans ball-handlers coming across halfcourt in the final seconds rather than allow New Orleans to set up potential game-tying 3-point shots.

It ultimately worked.

New Orleans still got a third chance to set up a 3 in the final 4.8 seconds, but Irving's steal attempt caused Zion Williamson to lose the ball out of bounds along the sideline, dooming the Pelicans to a fourth straight loss.

Irving had the option to foul Williamson on the catch, Nash said, "But he made a heck of a defensive play and luckily we got to call off of whatever body part it went off of.”

Williamson, who was debuting his own Jordan brand basketball shoe, scored 33 points, mostly on strong moves in the paint that produced dunks and contested layups. Brandon Ingram added 27 points for the Pelicans, who fell four games behind Golden State and San Antonio for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference with 14 games left in the regular season.

“I’m not going to lie,” Williamson said. “It does get kind of annoying to sit up here every other game saying we’re right there and we’re not closing out. So, I think we’ve got to focus on some of those small things. I say it over and over, but until we do it, some of those outcomes aren’t going to change.”

Landry Shamet had 18 points and eight assists for the Nets. Blake Griffin had 16 points and eight rebounds in a reserve role and Bruce Brown added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Pelicans led by as many as 13 when Eric Bledsoe's 3 made it 21-8, only to see the Nets cut it to 29-26 on Griffin's 3 by the end of the first quarter.

After trailing 59-57 at halftime, the Nets appeared to be taking control when Harris hit a driving layup and two 3s to power a 16-2 run that gave Brooklyn a 75-65 lead. The Nets pushed their lead to 12 before Lonzo Ball scored seven quick points to ignite a 14-4 Pelicans spurt which cut it to 89-87 late in the third.

Neither team led by more than seven points during the fourth quarter.

TIP-INS

Nets: Durant, who entered the game tied with Irving for Brooklyn's top scoring average at 27.3 points per game, missed his first full game since bruising his left thigh during the Nets' previous game at Miami. ... The Nets have won two of the six games with both Harden and Durant out of the lineup since Harden joined Brooklyn in January. ... Griffin fouled out with 11.4 seconds to go when he purposely fouled Ingram to prevent the Pelicans from attempting a tying 3. ... Green had 15 points and nine assists. ... Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 10 points. ... Brooklyn outrebounded New Orleans 44-37.

Pelicans: Ball and Naji Marshall each scored 15 points. ... Rookie Kira Lewis Jr. scored 11 points. ... The Pelicans missed nine of 24 free throws, with Marshall missing five of six.

NO EXCUSES

Van Gundy dismissed the notion that the relative youth of his roster was a factor in some of his team's recent close losses.

“Running back on defense has nothing to do with youth and inexperience. Getting down and competing defensively has nothing to do with youth and inexperience. Blocking people out, nothing to do with youth and inexperience. Getting beaten on a cut, nothing to do with youth and inexperience," Van Gundy said. “I don't think, tonight, our lack of experience had anything to do with the result. Nothing.”

UP NEXT

Nets: Visits the Raptors on Wednesday night.

Pelicans: Visits Orlando on Thursday.

Regular Season Series

BKN wins series 2-0