NEWARK, N.J. — Jordan Farmar hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 0.2 seconds left and the New Jersey Nets squandered an 18-point, second-half lead before beating the Los Angeles Clippers 101-100 on Wednesday night.
Deron Williams had 21 points and picked up his 10th assist with a pass to Farmar as the Nets won the chippy contest marred by five technical fouls.
Chris Paul put the Clippers ahead for the first time since the opening minutes when he made two free throws with 8.9 seconds to play after being fouled 20 feet from the basket.
Williams nearly lost the ball on the Nets' first inbounds play and the ball went out of bounds near halfcourt. Williams took the ensuing inbounds pass from Farmar and returned the ball for the winning shot.
Farmar finished with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. MarShon Brooks added 19, Sheldon Williams had 15 and 10 rebounds and Kris Humphries, who had a game-long skirmish with Blake Griffin, added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Griffin, who had his left ankle rolled by Humphries late in the game, had 28 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Clippers, who have lost six of nine. Paul finished with 22 points and 10 assists, while Newark native Randy Foye added a season-high 24 points.
Foye tied the game at 98 with a three-point play with 38.2 seconds to go. What made the shot so exciting was Foye was fouled on the play by Brooks and his attempt from in front of the Nets' bench banked into the basket.
The Nets' coaching staff jumped up and screamed at the rookie guard, but they were just as lucky that Foye's toe was touching the 3-point arc or they would have been trailing.
Sheldon Williams then fouled Paul as he dribbled around the top of the key, but Farmar made his biggest shot of the season.
The Clippers, who had trailed since the closing minutes of the first quarter, used a 17-8 run at the start of the fourth quarter and tied the game at 88l on a layup by Paul with 4:35 to play.
The Nets retook the lead 90-88 on two free throws by Humphries on their next possession. The Clippers had chances to tie but Griffin, a 55 percent free throw shooter, twice missed one of two free throws.
Griffin, who was called for a double technical foul with Humphries earlier in the contest, was lucky he wasn't seriously hurt when Humphries dived for a loose ball near the Clippers bench and landed on the back of the forward's ankle with all his weight.
Humphries and Griffin also exchanged big blocks on dunk attempts in the second half, while Griffin had four monster dunks in the contest.
Trailing 78-62 after Humphries made two free throws, the Clippers closed the half with a 9-2 run that backup guard Eric Bledsoe started with a 3-pointer and ended with a layup to cut the lead to nine points.
The Clippers kept on coming in the fourth quarter as Mo Williams hit a 3-pointer and Kenyon Martin made a free throw to narrow the Nets' lead to 80-75. A 3-pointer by Paul eventually cut the deficit to four and Los Angeles would eventually tie the game with less than five minutes to play.