This one wasn’t an epic collapse by the Nets.
Just a regular old one was enough.
Brooklyn had another late lead with two minutes left but coughed it up in a 108-103 loss to the rival Knicks before a crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center.
The Nets (17-26) have dropped five of six, and 10 of their last 12.
The worst had been Sunday’s where they led by 11 before letting the Clippers score the final 22 straight points – tying the worst endgame implosion since play-by-play has been kept. Tuesday wasn’t as bad – but it was bad enough.
After leading by as much as 10 points, and 100-98 with 2:20 left, they coughed up a 7-1 Knick run to see their rivals head back across the East River with a stolen win.
Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle each had 30 points to lead the Knicks.
Mikal Bridges, playing against four of his former Villanova teammates, was the best Wildcat on the court. He poured in a game-high 36 points, and hit a career-high 7-of-13 from behind the arc.
But it wasn’t enough.
Nic Claxon had eight points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds. And Cam Johnson snapped out of his malaise with 19 points, hitting 4-of-6 from deep.
But he’ll rue the last one he took, a potential game-tying miss with Brooklyn down 106-103 with 6.8 seconds left.
Fittingly, Randle snatched the rebound and iced it.