Their longest losing skid of the season.
Their worst collapse of the season.
And a headlong tumble all the way into the dreaded play-in.
It’s hard to imagine Thursday’s 116-114 implosion against Cleveland going much worse.
The Nets blew a game they not only needed but had wrapped up, falling before a stunned sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center.
And falling out of the guaranteed playoff spots as well.
Brooklyn led 112-104 with 1:53 left in regulation, and couldn’t even hold on to force overtime.
They allowed a 12-2 run to close the game, coming unraveled at the worst possible time with three turnovers in the final 1:18.
“Turnovers. I started it with the turnover and then it just went after that. Just turnovers and just didn’t execute,” said Mikal Bridges, who had a game-high 32 points go to waste. “You’ve just got to figure it out. Maybe it’s film or something. It’s frustrating, but we’ve got to figure it out.
“I mean, obviously we like to keep energy and morale high. But it’s devastating losing like that. But everybody’s talking, we’re all trying to help each other.”
The Nets (39-34) are now two full games behind the fifth-place Knicks, and dropped half a game behind the fast-charging Heat — whom they play Saturday in Miami — for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Joe Harris said. “But I think collectively across the board, we’re obviously aware of where we sit in the standings and the importance of every game here down the stretch.”
This was one game they should’ve had.
It wasn’t Donovan Mitchell’s 31 points that beat them. They beat themselves.
The Nets had turned a nine-point deficit into a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, only to watch Cleveland claw back within a deuce with under a minute left.
Spencer Dinwiddie — who had 25 points and 12 assists — tried to give them breathing room with a finger roll that made it 114-110 with 29 seconds left in regulation.
But after a Mitchell step-back halved the lead, Dinwiddie got trapped and no Nets flashed to help.
Rather than call timeout, he attempted an ill-advised pass to Dorian Finney-Smith, who turned it over to ex-Net Caris LeVert with 13.3 seconds left to play.
“When you’re getting trapped, you’re supposed to have a couple guys flash to the ball. It was a little bit delayed so sometimes you try to throw a guy open. In hindsight, I should’ve just called a timeout,” Dinwiddie said. “I accept full responsibility for that. That’s not on [Finney-Smith], that’s on me. He hadn’t been in the game, so it’s not on him.”
Mitchell got fouled and went to the line.
He made just one of two, but the Nets failed to protect the defensive glass. Mitchell — who either left early or timed his break perfectly — beat all the Nets to get his own rebound, and after a mad scramble Issac Okoro drilled a left-corner 3-pointer that proved the winner.
“Donovan missed it and somehow without crossing the line, the ball got back to him, and then it was just a scramble from there. We got a chance to get our hands on it again, and it ended up in their hands, so you give them credit for continuing to fight on that side,” coach Jacque Vaughn said.
“I haven’t seen it. I would assume [Mitchell left early] since he got the rebound. At the end of the day, listen, I mean I’m as hard on the refs as anyone, but we had to get to that point,” Dinwiddie said. “That’s a bang-bang play, it’s not like he shoved somebody out of bounds or something crazy where we got super-slighted. We had to have a cascade of events to even got there. So we gotta be accountable for that.”
Bridges missed a half-court heave.
The Nets are in a free fall, one that has dumped them into the dreaded play-in.
On March 13 they were in fifth place, having won five of six and ahead of not only the Knicks but enjoying a three-game cushion on Miami.
But they haven’t had much joy since then.
Harris had 12 of his 15 in the fourth quarter, including his 1,000th 3-pointer as a Net.
