After last night’s emotional win versus LeBron James and the Lakers, the Brooklyn Nets entered the day with the longest win streak in the NBA at six games. Extending the streak to seven seemed manageable against the ailing Chicago Bulls, right? Statistics would dictate otherwise, however, as the Nets own a 1-33 record in away games during the second half of a back-to-back. The lone win, December 8th at the Garden, broke that 33-game losing streak.

Against Chicago, the Nets failed to get off to a hot start, trailing the Bulls 27-22 at the end of the first. Brooklyn’s offense was led by Jarrett Allen, who scored 12 of the Nets’ 22 points. Without his performance, the score could have been a lot uglier.

But the Nets overcame their first quarter woes, allowing a mere 12 points while scoring 18 to take a 40-39 half-time lead. The effects of the back-to-back were evident in their performance as Brooklyn shot just under 40% from the field and converted on only 3-of-11 three-pointers in the first half.

To begin the second half, head coach Kenny Atkinson needed to give the offense a second half spark against the guard-laden Bulls. So, naturally, Atkinson had Shabazz Napier replace Rodions Kurucs — an experiment that came with mixed effects. The offense gained its footing, but it was at the expense of the defense. Kurucs even still provided a spark of his own by dunking over a retreating Bobby Portis. Both teams — to steal a famous term from a different era of Nets basketball — battled in the third and entered the final period tied at 71.

The United Center came alive in the fourth as neither team could separate itself from the other. Kris Dunn led the Bulls to a six-point lead, which Brooklyn eventually overcame. In the end, no team led by more than seven points.

With the game on the line, Joe Harris got Wendell Carter Jr. to bite on a pump fake, freeing him to hit the go-ahead layup with 43 seconds remaining. The Cave Man put the Nets up 94-93 and it seemed that all of his points were clutch tonight.

In need of a stop, the Nets got one thanks to a Lauri Markkanen offensive foul. But in typical Nets late-game fashion, Dinwiddie forgot about the shot clock and gave the ball back to Chicago with 8 seconds remaining.

Sigh, here we go again.

But the Nets were playing the seven-win Bulls, not the Thunder or Grizzlies. Ultimately, that made all the difference.

Much like the Nets of the first two months of the season, the Bulls couldn’t get a shot off either. Dinwiddie redeemed himself by breaking up Justin Holiday’s hand-off to Dunn. Harris fell on the ball and the Nets secured themselves a chance to ice the game. After being intentionally fouled, Dinwiddie made both attempts, exhibiting his clutch coolness at the line.

The Nets won an ugly one by the score of 96-93, extending their win streak to seven games. Oh, and if you didn’t hear yet — this is the teams longest winning streak since the 2012-13 season! Brooklyn showed guts tonight, coming out on top in a contest that featured 21 ties and 23 lead changes.

These are the games the Nets haven’t been able to win, so maybe they finally have turned the corner.