It was James Harden and a shorthanded supporting cast against the world Thursday night at Barclays Center, and that simply wasn’t good enough as the Nets suffered a 130-109 loss to the Thunder. The loss dropped the Nets’ home record to 11-11 and left them at 26-15 at the halfway mark of the season.
The Nets trailed by 22 early in the third quarter but managed an 18-6 run that included eight points from David Duke Jr. to cut their deficit to 10 points. But that ballooned to a 100-83 margin by the end of the period. Back-to-back three-pointers by Harden triggered a 13-4 Nets run to cut the deficit to 104-96 on a layup by Cam Thomas with 8:27 to go.
But the Thunder responded with a fusillade of five three-pointers in a clinching 19-6 run to restore a 21-point lead and cruise to the win.