Nets erupt for 43 points in third quarter, hang on to beat Pelicans

Trendon Watford scored 11 of his 22 points in a 43-point third quarter for the Brooklyn Nets, who halted a five-game home losing streak with a 119-114 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night.

The Nets (26-53) earned their first home win since beating the Atlanta Hawks on March 16 and won for the sixth time in their last 20 games thanks in part to Watford, who made seven of eight shots in 23 minutes and finished five points shy of his career high before sitting in the fourth.

Drew Timme added 16 points and nine rebounds to lead a reserve unit that totaled 66 points. Dariq Whitehead contributed 14 while Nic Claxton and Tosan Evbuomwan finished with 13 apiece.

Maxwell Lewis chipped in 12 points while Tyson Etienne had 11 as the Nets shot 49.4 percent and sank 17 3-pointers. Reece Beekman went scoreless but handed out 10 of Brooklyn's 30 assists.

Antonio Reeves scored nine of his 17 points in the final minutes during a late push that came too late for the Pelicans (21-58), who dropped their fourth straight and lost for the 15th time in 20 games. Karlo Matkovic also scored 17 and Jose Alvarado added 16. New Orleans was outscored 43-26 in the third.

New Orleans ripped off a 14-1 run to get a seven-point lead with 6:12 left in the second on a layup by Yves Missi. Brooklyn then scored 10 straight for a 41-38 lead, capped on a jumper by Timme, and Whitehead's fourth 3 of the quarter opened a 52-45 edge with about two minutes left. The Nets led 54-53 at halftime.

Watford scored nine points in a 16-4 burst to put Brooklyn up 70-62 with 7:14 left in the third and the lead grew to 17 on a hoop by Timme with just under two minutes left. The Nets entered the fourth with a 97-79 lead.

The Pelicans came back in the fourth and Reeves hit a 3-pointer to cut the Nets' lead to 116-112 with 53.7 seconds left before Evbuomwan sank an open 3 on the next possession to secure the win.

--Field Level Media