SALT LAKE CITY � Coming off a 26-point blowout loss Sunday in Phoenix, the Nets did a good job of overcoming their penchant for slow starts by building a 15-point halftime lead over the Jazz Tuesday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena. But this time, they had a problem finding a strong finishing kick, blowing an eight-point fourth-quarter lead on their way to a 119-114 loss.
The Nets withstood a 13-0 Jazz run to open the third period and pushed their lead back to eight, but the Jazz opened the fourth quarter with a 13-4 burst, including a trio of threes by Jeff Green to take a 97-96 lead with 9:11 left to play. The Jazz pushed their lead to five points, but cold-shooting Joe Harris warmed up with eight points in an 11-4 surge that gave the Nets a 109-107 lead on a Harris layup with 4:29 to go.
The teams traded the lead three more times down the stretch before Rudy Gobert put the Jazz ahead for good with a layup for a 116-114 lead with 56.8 seconds left. The Nets had a chance to regain the lead, but Kyrie Irving missed a three-pointer with 4.4 seconds left.
