Not all good games are close and not all close games are good.

The Nets struggled early with the Suns’ transition game, and some sloppy play led to easy Suns layups. The Nets had trouble with nearly all facets of the game: they couldn’t hit layups, struggled with defensive communication, threw away passes and lost possession on dribble-drives, and let the Suns hang tight despite Phoenix missing their first 21 (yes, 21!) three-pointers.

Two big performances from unheralded backups helped swing regulation for a stretch; Bojan Bogdanovic’s three-point barrage helped turn the tight contest into a comfortable Nets lead, and Cory Jefferson’s possession-controlling glasswork kept the Suns at bay and the Nets getting second-chance points.

But the fun didn’t last long. The Nets, whose future 30-for-30 will be named “Underwhelming Offense In Crunch Time: The Brooklyn Nets Story,” struggled to control the ball and convert shots down the stretch, and a double-digit lead slipped away into an overtime loss.

Neither team deserved an emphatic victory out of this one, and the Nets just happened to be the one that fell further down the well.