The Nets dominated the Hornets in a pair of earlier wins and again in the first half Wednesday, but then Charlotte went zone — and a not-so-funny thing happened. The Nets’ perimeter game, which should have chased the Hornets right out of that zone, failed them.
“It was the zone that they went in. Once they went in that we couldn’t get our offense flowing. Credit to them,” said Jarrett Allen, who had 16 points and seven rebounds in a first half in which the Nets led by 11, but just five and three in the second half, in which they were outscored by 16 in a 113-108 loss at Barclays Center.