Anthony Morrow had the game of his life Friday night at the Prudential Center but it came in a losing effort.
The Nets guard scored 42 points and made eight three-pointers, both career-highs, in a 108-105 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Nets had a chance to tie the game, but Deron Williams’ pass intended for Anthony Morrow was intercepted by Ricky Rubio.
With 10.2 seconds left in regulation, Williams tried to penetrate the lane to find Morrow driving for the left corner. Williams bobbled the ball, though, and couldn’t throw a strong enough pass to Morrow. Rubio’s steal marked his sixth of the game.
“When I do something like that, it definitely upsets me,” Williams said. “It’s on me. I told the team it’s my fault.
“It happens.”
The T’Wolves were able to withstand a furious Nets’ charge.
With the T’Wolves leading, 104-99, Morrow completed the rare four-point play to pull the Nets within one.
Minnesota made its free-throws, though, going 6-of-6 from the line in the final 25.7 seconds.
The Nets’ loss spoiled a career-night from Morrow, who has averaged 26.5 ppg in his last four games.
“It’s just been me being aggressive,” Morrow said. “That’s just something that I’m trying to build on and (my chemistry with Deron) is getting better.
“It felt good but I wanted to get the win tonight.”
“He was just on fire and our guys were finding him,” Avery Johnson said. “Guys were setting great screens for him. He was just letting it fly. Every (timeout play) play that we drew up for him he executed it perfectly.
“He was special tonight. It was a special performance.”
Morrow wasn’t the only one to have a career night.
T’Wolves center Nikola Pekovic came off the bench to score a career-high 27 points, shattering his previous record of 16. Pekovic also added 11 rebounds to give the T’Wolves two players with double-doubles.
The Nets contained Kevin Love for the most part, forcing him to shoot 5-of-16 from the field. He did, however, finish with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
For the Nets, Kris Humphries scored 16 points while Williams added 12. The two combined to shoot 10-of-32 from the field, though.
Although the game was close, the Nets had to overcome several sizable deficits.
The Nets fought back from their second double-digit deficit of the game, grabbing an 86-84 lead with a Morrow three-pointer with 9:36 left in the fourth quarter.
The three gave Morrow 31 points on the night, but he picked up his fifth foul with 8:48 left.
The T’Wolves were poised to run away with the game in the third quarter on the heels of a 12-0 run. A pair of Pekovic free-throws capped the run to give the Wolves a 70-59 lead.
The Nets responded, however, pulling to within, 80-75, after three quarters.
Morrow sparked the Nets in the first half and prevented the T’Wolves from blowing the game open early.
The Nets guard scored 20 points in the first half, with 15 coming in the second quarter. The Nets led, 50-49, at halftime.
The Nets fell behind by as many as 14 points, but Morrow knocked down two three-pointers in an 11-0 run that helped them cut into the T’Wolves’ lead.
Wayne Ellington capped an 11-2 Minnesota run to open the second quarter and give the T’Wolves a 34-21 lead.
The Nets managed to shut down Love in the first half, limiting the star forward to six points on 1-of-6 shooting. Love did not score or attempt a shot in the second quarter.
Comments