The Brooklyn Nets had undoubtedly their best game of the season, coming back from a 28-point deficit to stump the Sacramento Kings 123-121 on the road. Head coach Kenny Atkinson had no words to describe the effort from his players, especially a second unit he stuck with late in regulation, which ultimately helped him secure the clutch win.
“I’m speechless, really. The locker room wasn’t speechless, that’s a jubilant locker room,” said Atkinson, who praised the bench unit of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Jared Dudley and Treveon Graham that played out the fourth quarter, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
“We were at our wit’s end. It was desperation. We turned to that group, a little bit like let’s conserve our main guys and play it out… I wasn’t expecting an amazing comeback. I just have to be honest.”
Down 25, the Nets outscored Sacramento 45-18 in the fourth quarter, led by a hard-charging D'Angelo Russell, who dropped trey after trey en route to a 44-point, 12-assist night, bundled with four steals.
Russell scored 27 of his 44 points in the fourth quarter, now the most in a quarter by any player this season, besting the likes of Kevin Durant and Paul George, who had 25 each.
“Once we started getting stops our bench came alive as well, we started making shots, it was quiet in the arena and all we heard was the bench,” said Russell, whose 44 points were the most by a Net in the Brooklyn era. “We started making tough shots and we started getting stops. It was piggybacking off each other. It was a snowball effect and they couldn’t put out the snow. We knew going into the game win by any means. That was the key to the game, do whatever you’ve got to do to win.”
Hollis-Jefferson would seal a 121-121 tie with a late steal with 5.9 seconds left in regulation, taking it coast-to-coast to give the Nets a two-point lead with 0.8 seconds remaining, completing an otherworldly rally to maintain their seventh spot in the East.
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