• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Lopez leads the way as Nets knock off Charlotte

Feb 12, 2011 - 5:34 AM Charlotte, NC (Sports Network) - Brook Lopez finished with a game-high 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Nets held off a late Charlotte run to top the Bobcats, 94-89, at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Devin Harris added 16 points and eight assists while Kris Humphries supplied 15 points and 14 boards in a reserve role for New Jersey, which has won two straight on the heels of a three-game slide. Sasha Vujacic added 10 points off the bench for the Nets.

Stephen Jackson paced the Bobcats with 21 points. Gerald Wallace added 20 points and nine rebounds while Gerald Henderson and Shaun Livingston scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Charlotte, which has dropped two in a row and four out of five.

"We didn't have any energy or fight," Wallace said. "We didn't put forth the effort. New Jersey came in and punched us in the mouth and put us in the corner."

Trailing 72-60 entering the fourth quarter, the Bobcats opened with a 10-4 run, capped by the back end of two Henderson free throws, to pull within 76-70. A Humphries alley-oop dunk and Harris three-pointer capped a 7-0 burst that put the Nets up 90-79 with 1:30 remaining.

A Boris Diaw triple started and a Jackson three-pointer finished a 10-3 spurt that trimmed the Nets lead to 93-89 with 13.4 seconds remaining.

Forced to foul, the Bobcats sent Vujacic to the line with 11.2 seconds remaining and he made 1-of-2 to seal the victory.

New Jersey jumped out to an early 12-2 lead to start the game -- bookended by Lopez baskets. However, Kwame Brown connected on a dunk at 7:28 to start an 11-2 surge that got the Bobcats back on track. Wallace scored five in the run, and Jackson's three with 4:44 left cut the deficit to 14-13.

Despite starting the game 0-of-7 from the field, the Bobcats knocked down seven of their next 13 attempts to finish the quarter and trailed 24-21 after the opening 12 minutes.

Another slow shooting quarter from the Bobcats, 5-of-16 from the field, allowed the Nets to break the game open in the second. Lopez made 5-of-8 from the field and scored 11 in the quarter to help the Nets widen their lead to 52-37 at the half.

The Bobcats connected on 8-of-17 from the field in the third quarter, cutting their deficit to 12 entering the final stanza. Livingston and Jackson both added six for Charlotte in the period.

Game Notes

Charlotte made 69.2 (27-of-39) percent from the line in comparison to 64.7 percent (22-of-34) for the Nets...Brown added eight points and eight rebounds for the Bobcats...The Bobcats never led...New Jersey held a 20-7 advantage in second chance points.