REUTERS
Brooklyn Nets forward Keith Bogans restrains point guard Deron Williams as he argues a call during Thursday's game against the Bulls.
Maybe the Nets should have stayed on the road.
After spending the better part of three weeks on their Circus Trip, the Nets returned home to Brooklyn Thursday night to face a severely undermanned Bulls team.
But despite jumping out to a 16-point first-half lead, the Nets allowed their depleted Chicago opponents to come all the way back and leave Barclays Center with a 92-90 victory, one that ultimately could decide who finishes in fourth place — and who has home court in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Bulls never should have had a chance to steal a win from the Nets in their first game back in Brooklyn following the eight-game, 17-day Circus Trip the Nets ended with a win in Cleveland Wednesday night. But Chicago outfought and outmuscled the Nets all night long, outrebounding them 46-30 despite being without all but two of their regular big men.
Carlos Boozer finished with 29 points and 18 rebounds for Chicago, who managed to survive a furious onslaught by Deron Williams in the fourth. Williams was spectacular in a losing effort, finishing with 30 points and 10 assists — including nine points in the fourth quarter alone.
But the Nets saw their lone All-Star, Brook Lopez, have a terrible final minute of the game — after scoring 28 points — which wound up costing them dearly.
After Luol Deng hit a jumper from the corner to cut the Nets' lead to 90-89 with 45 seconds left, Lopez got caught in no-man's land on the ensuing offensive possession and threw the ball away.
Then, after Nate Robinson hit a floater over him to give the Bulls a 91-90 lead with 22.7 seconds left, Williams hit Lopez with a pass underneath the basket. Lopez appeared to be fouled on his attempted layup by Nazr Mohammed, but didn't get a call, which led to Daequan Cook hitting one of two free throws to give Chicago a 92-90 lead with 5.5 seconds left.
Then Lopez got another chance to be a hero when Williams found him for a wide-open jumper in the corner. But the shot did everything but go in, and the Nets found themselves walking off the court in disbelief as the Bulls celebrated.
The Nets (44-31) should have benefitted from facing a Bulls team missing several key players. In addition to Derrick Rose, who has sat all season recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee, the Bulls were also without Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Marco Belinelli, all of whom sat with injuries.
That left Chicago particularly thin in the frontcourt, with coach Tom Thibodeau only really having two true big men available in Carlos Boozer and Mohammed. But it wound up not mattering in the end, as the Nets saw their lead over the Bulls and Hawks for fourth place in the Eastern Conference drop to 1 ¹/₂ games with seven games remaining in the regular season.
tbontemps@nypost.com
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