The Nets tried to be royal pains to the Kings during their trip to New York.
And they were for three quarters at Barclays Center on Monday, with the hope of handing Sacramento a second loss on their six-game road trip.
However, the Nets couldn’t deliver a 23-point win as the Knicks did on Saturday.
In a competitive game with seven lead changes and with the Nets losing Noah Clowney in the second quarter, Brooklyn had its losing streak extended to seven with a 110-96 loss to the Kings.
After a sloppy third quarter, the Nets (14-33) turned a seven-point halftime lead into a two point deficit entering the fourth.
Holding their own to begin the final stanza, the Nets were done in by more sloppy play.
A mishandled dribble from Brooklyn’s Jalen Wilson gave way to a 3-pointer by Sacramento guard Keon Ellis with 8:49 left. Nic Claxton had the ball stolen from him under the basket, which led to a Domantas Sabonis layup with 7:28 remaining.
Finally, a bad pass by Ziaire Williams led to a dagger 3-pointer by Keegan Murray to extend the Kings’ lead to 12 points — the largest of the game to that point. Sacramento (24-22) — who dominated the paint with 62 points and controlled the pace with 19 fast-break points — ran away with the game from there.
It was a sour endnote for the Nets, who were hoping to break out of their recent funk in which they have followed up a 1-5 road trip by dropping four consecutive home games. Losers of 13 of their past 14 games, the Nets head to Charlotte on Wednesday.
D’Angelo Russell led the Nets with 19 points, while Tosan Evbuomwan and Jalen Wilson each scored 15. The Kings were led by DeAaron Fox, who had a big 30-point night in Brooklyn against his former assistant coach, Jordi Fernandez.
Brooklyn held on longer than expected, however. At the start of the third quarter, it looked as if the Nets were going to blow the lead then.
After an early timeout with 10:11 left in the third, with the Nets up 60-51, the Kings regrouped and promptly staged a 12-0 run — with Fox accounting for six points — to take a 63-60 lead.
The foul shooting disparity for the night significantly kept the Nets in the game. They shot 11 free throws and made nine to keep them in a back-and-forth lead battle with the Kings.
In the first half alone, the Nets went 17-for-18 from the charity stripe, which was the most free throws attempted in a first half this season for the team. It also was the most made free throws in any first half this season.
