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Thursday, Jan. 27 10:00pm ET
Nets beaten by another buzzer-beater | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- If NBA games were three seconds shorter, the New Jersey Nets would have won their past two games. Michael Dickerson's fallaway jumper as time expired lifted the Vancouver Grizzlies to victory while at the same time spoiling Stephon Marbury's big night and sending the Nets to their second loss at the buzzer in two nights. Getting an inbounds pass from Dennis Scott with three seconds remaining, Dickerson drove around the top of the key only to find his path to the basket blocked by Lucious Harris. Knowing that time was running out, Dickerson pulled up from 10 feet and scored just as the buzzer sounded, giving the Grizzlies a 108-106 win over the Nets on Thursday night. "Lucious did a great job of stepping in and cutting me off. So there was nothing else to do but shoot the shot," said Dickerson, who led the Grizzlies with 29 points. "Oh yeah, it felt good. It just went straight in. If I missed, I was just trying to give my teammates a chance to tip it in." Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 23 and Bryant Reeves added 18 as the Grizzlies snapped a seven-game home losing streak and completed a two-game season series sweep against the Nets. A buzzer-beater was the only thing to put a stop to Marbury, who scored 23 of his career-high 42 points in the fourth quarter and accounted for 19 of the Nets final 25 points. "He just made a great shot," said Marbury, referring to Dickerson. "We did everything that was needed to win the game. It was right there." Trailing 98-90 with 1:40 left, Marbury single-handedly carried the Nets back into the game. After Dickerson sank two free throws to put the Grizzlies ahead 105-101 with 21 seconds remaining, Marbury cut the lead to two when he drove the paint and hit an awkward four-footer over Vancouver forward Grant Long. Scott then missed one of two free throws, leaving the Grizzlies ahead by only three. On the Nets' next trip up the court, and with Long in his face, Marbury capped his remarkable performance, tying the game with a 25-foot shot that bounced in off the backboard. "I was just out there playing, man," said Marbury. "I didn't even know I was in the zone. I didn't know how many points I had. I was just trying to win." It was the second loss at the buzzer in as many nights for the Nets. Chuck Person of Seattle beat them with a 3-pointer on Wednesday night. "It's just like a freak accident. We can't get mad. We played hard, man. We went out fighting," said Marbury. "Tonight, they just made a great shot." Keith Van Horn scored 19 for the Nets, who have now lost three straight and are 2-6 in their last eight outings. Including Scott's missed free throw, the Grizzlies blew a chance to seal the win earlier by missing four of 10 free throws in the final 45 seconds. With the victory, the Grizzlies improved to 8-12 since Lionel Hollins took over as coach following Brian Hill's dismissal last month. At 12-30, the Grizzlies are five wins ahead of last year's pace. The win also came on the heels of Vancouver's heady 116-99 victory at Utah the previous night. "It's important for us to win here at home," said Reeves, who scored eight points in the fourth quarter and set a screen that allowed Dickerson to find some room to operate on the game-winning play. "We had a big win last night and I think we showed a little bit of character and a little bit of growing up by not letting that win affect the way we played. "We came out with a lot of intensity tonight." Game notesNets center Jim McIlvaine did not play because of a sore left Achilles tendon. ... Nets Don Casey coached his 199th career game, with No. 200 to come Saturday in Los Angeles when New Jersey takes on the Clippers, with whom Casey began his coaching career. ... Bibby set a franchise record for most assists in a quarter, with eight in the first quarter. The old record was seven, set three times, once by Bibby and twice by Greg Anthony. ... Eight of the Nets' last nine games have been decided by five points or less with New Jersey going 3-6 over that stretch. Overall, the Nets are 4-12 this season in games decided by five points or less. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard New Jersey Clubhouse Vancouver Clubhouse RECAPS Charlotte 117 Detroit 102
Vancouver 108
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