Johnson, Bogdanovic Shine as Nets Crown Kings

(BROOKLYN) — It was a 3-point party at Barclays Center on Friday night.

Joe Johnson scored a season-high 27 points to go along with 11 assists and 6 rebounds as the Brooklyn Nets upended the Sacramento Kings 128-199 to snap their five-game losing streak.

Bojan Bogdanovic also played his best game of the season for Brooklyn (13-38), with 23 points off the bench. He connected on seven 3-pointers, while Johnson made five. In fact, Bogdanovic has been a revelation since interim head coach Tony Brown took over for Lionel Hollins. He is shooting .448 (26-58) from deep in his past 14 games.

In total, the Nets hit 18 3-pointers on their way to their 3rd-best performance from downtown in team history. Their all-time record of 21 3-pointers in a single game came against the Philadelphia 76ers back in 2013.

Offensively, the Nets could not be stopped. Their 128 points was a season-high to go along with 29 assists.  They shot 55.8 % as a team, as well as 64.3% from long range.

Brook Lopez had a monster game for the Nets with 26 points and 12 boards.  All five starters scored in double figures.  The starting unit of Lopez, Johnson, Wayne Ellington, Thaddeus Young and Donald Sloan has played really well together as of late.  The bench has been struggling mightily, and that could be the catalyst behind many of Brooklyn’s narrow defeats.

To make things even worse for Sacramento, they are the only NBA team who has not yet won a game at Barclays Center, which opened in 2012.  The Nets beat the Kings for the seventh straight time at home, dating back to their days in New Jersey.

DeMarcus Cousins posted a triple-double in the loss for the Kings with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.  Darren Collison scored 20 points, and Rajon Rondo added 15 points and 15 assists.

Brooklyn will look to build on this impressive victory on Saturday night in Philadelphia.

Notes:  Rookie forward Chris McCullough turned 21 on Friday.  He was active for the first time this season, but did not play.  It has been over a year since McCullough has played competitive basketball.  He tore his ACL while playing at Syracuse, and has been rehabbing the injury since the Nets drafted him 29th overall back in June.  He is expected to make his NBA debut sometime next week.

Friday has not been kind to the Nets, until now.  Brooklyn won for the first time on a Friday this season after dropping its first 10 games.