Nuggets 96 - 102 Nets
Final
  for this game

Johnson lifts Nets over Nuggets

Dec 24, 2014 - 5:17 AM Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Joe Johnson scored 27 points to lead the Brooklyn Nets to a 102-96 triumph over the Denver Nuggets at Barclays Center.

Mason Plumlee added 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Jarrett Jack supplied 17 points and eight assists for the Nets, who have won two in a row following a three-game skid.

"I thought it was a great grind-it-out game. We showed a lot of composure and a lot of mental toughness," Nets coach Lionel Hollins said.

Brook Lopez (lower back strain) returned from an eight-game absence and had six points in over eight minutes of court time for the Nets.

Ty Lawson scored 29 to go with nine assists for the Nuggets, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. They've also dropped six straight on the road.

Kenneth Faried had 20 points and 14 rebounds for Denver, which grabbed an 87-86 edge with 6:20 left following a pair of JJ Hickson free throws. Johnson then responded with a 3-pointer.

Hickson's driving layup tied the game at 89, but the Nets scored the ensuing eight points. Johnson capped the flurry by fading away at the foul line to drain a jumper over a leaping Wilson Chandler with 2:41 remaining.

Faried then converted an alley-oop jam off a feed from Lawson, but Denver didn't get any closer the rest of the game.

"We just did some unfundamentally sound things," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said.

The Nuggets scored the first eight points, but a layup from Sergey Karasev at the first quarter's end provided Brooklyn with a 30-27 edge.

Bojan Bogdanovic's 3-pointer widened the gap to 47-37 five with minutes left in the half, and the hosts went into the break with a 58-54 edge. Faried finished the period with a highlight-reel, one-handed tip slam off a miss from Chandler.

Denver led by as many as four in the third, but Lopez's turnaround shot with 9.6 seconds remaining had Brooklyn within 77-76 going to the fourth.

Game Notes

The Nets posted consecutive wins over the Nuggets for the first time since Dec. 16, 2005 and Jan. 27, 2007 ... Karasev had 12 points ... Brooklyn forward Kevin Garnett, who had two points on 1-of-5 shooting, played in his 1,400th career game ... Arron Afflalo had 11 points and nine rebounds for Denver ... Nets guard Deron Williams (right calf strain) missed his second straight game.






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