CHICAGO — The Nets got guards Spencer Dinwiddie and Dennis Smith Jr. back from injury Friday, and both contributed to a come-from-behind 109-107 win over the Bulls in their In-Season Tournament opener.
Dinwiddie returned from a sprained left ankle with 10 points and nine assists, including seven in the first quarter.
“I mean, I know everybody’s talking like I’m dead but I just missed a game,” Dinwiddie quipped.
Smith also only missed a single game with a hip injury. But the backup had all seven of his points in the fourth quarter.
His assist set up Lonnie Walker IV for a 3-pointer that capped the go-ahead 8-0 run, after which the Nets never trailed.
“I think we just carried it over from the third. The third was pretty good offensively,” Smith told The Post. “We [held them] to 49 points total in the second half and we just had the physicality. They allowed me to guard one of the best players on that team, and really try to get in him, really try to disrupt him a little bit.”
The Nets were without Nic Claxton for a fourth straight game with a sprained left ankle.
The starting center is likely to miss a fifth straight Saturday when the Nets return home to host the East-leading Celtics on the tail end of this back-to-back.
“Nic has not participated in shootaround, I can say that to you. So if that leads you to any direction to seeing if Nic’s gonna be available [Saturday], probably not. So I gave you an extra day to day now he’s every other day now,” coach Jacque Vaughn said.
“That great day-to-day answer. I can always lean on that. He’s day-to-day. We’ll see what it looks like when he gets back home. No setbacks, day-to-day like you and I. … There isn’t a laid-out hurdle that I can give you. It’s just a matter of him continuing to progress with the performance team, but no individual hurdles that I could give you.”
Starting power forward Cam Johnson (left calf strain) is still out, with the Nets saying Monday that he wouldn’t be revaluated again until 10 days had passed.
The Nets are 3-2.
They didn’t go over .500 for the first time last season until Game No. 23.
The Nets had 21 fast-break points and have now scored 20 or more fast-break points in all five games this season.
Dating all the way back to 1996-97, the first season fast-break points were tracked, it’s the Nets’ longest streak of 20 or more fast-break point games.
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