PORTLAND, Ore. -- Down 10 points midway through the third quarter, the Brooklyn Nets turned up the defense and turned around the game Friday night at Moda Center.

A 17-0 run over a 4:38 span gave the Nets a 72-65 lead, and then a close game down the stretch went their way for a 101-97 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

"We were back to the team I saw in preseason," Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said. "I feel a lot better about this group."

Point guard D'Angelo Russell had 21 points and nine assists to lead five Nets in double figures, one of them former Blazer guard Allen Crabbe, who had 12 points in a starting role.

"It feels good, man," Crabbe said of the win, and of the rousing ovation he got from the sellout crowd of 19,393 during the pregame introductions.

"That was the reaction I was expecting," said Crabbe, who spent his previous four NBA seasons with Portland. "I'd been getting a lot of love on social media."

Center Jusuf Nurkic led the Blazers with 21 points, and guard Damian Lillard added 19.

But Portland made some critical turnovers late in the game, and guard CJ McCollum, who was guarded by Crabbe, couldn't get a good shot on Portland's final possession with the Blazers trailing 101-97 as they inbounded with 8.1 seconds remaining.

"We shouldn't have lost, but Brooklyn deserved to win," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "They outplayed us after the first quarter, particularly in the third quarter. They played harder than we did. They got loose balls, they ran faster, and the last five minutes, anything can happen."

Brooklyn snapped a four-game losing streak to the Blazers and improved to 5-7 heading to Utah for a Saturday game. The Nets hadn't won at Moda Center since March 27, 2013.

Portland slipped to 6-6 with its second home loss in a row. The Blazers, who fell 98-97 to Memphis on Tuesday, are off until a Monday home game against Denver.

Brooklyn had a 96-95 lead when it made a turnover and missed a shot, but Portland committed back-to-back turnovers, giving the Nets the ball with 41.1 seconds remaining.

Russell then made a step-back shot for a 98-95 lead.

A baseline layup by McCollum made the score 98-97 with 33 seconds left.

Russell drove on Blazers forward Ed Davis and drew a foul on his basket. Russell missed his free throw, but the Nets got the rebound and were fouled again with 8.1 seconds to go. Russell made only one of two shots, but that gave Brooklyn a 101-97 lead.

McCollum couldn't get a good look and missed with one second remaining.

"Not a good loss, not a good loss," McCollum said. "No offense to the Brooklyn Nets, but that's a game we should have won."

Forward DeMarre Carroll scored 16 points and forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 11 for the Nets.

McCollum wound up with 17 points, after going for 36 against Memphis.

"I've been playing against CJ for four years, I know what he likes to do," Crabbe said. "I was just trying to limit him, hold him down from having a big night."

Before the game, Atkinson had talked about the challenge of defending Portland's top scorers.

"It comes down to individual pride," Atkinson said. "We've got to compete consistently and get after it, keep our heads up. It really comes down to how many times can we forced them into tough shots and then go get a rebound."

Crabbe and Atkinson said that's just what the Nets did.

McCollum was 6 of 16 from the field and Lillard was 7 of 16. Nurkic took advantage at times, especially early, against a depleted Brooklyn front line; he had 11 points in the first quarter. But Stotts chose to go with a smaller lineup in the fourth quarter, when Nurkic was on the court for only 53 seconds.

"I thought with their small lineup," Stotts said of the Nets, "we were giving up too much defensively when he was in the game, and I like Davis' athleticism."

Davis echoed his teammates. "We're definitely the better team, but we didn't show it tonight," he said.

The Nets missed a lot of good looks early in the game, but they wound up outshooting the Blazers from the field, 42.9 percent to 42.1 percent.

"I credit our defense a lot," Crabbe said. "We just kept playing together. Those stops at the end and some of the plays we made at crunch time were big."

Atkinson also said he liked that Russell had only two turnovers in 28 minutes.

"He read the game really well and picked his spots," Atkinson said.

NOTES: The Blazers are 61-24 in the all-time series, including 36-7 at home. ... Nets G Allen Crabbe, traded by Portland in the offseason, came into the game averaging 11.1 points (fourth on his team), shooting .375 from the field and .371 on 3-pointers, in 24.8 minutes. He started for the fifth time as Net. In his previous four NBA seasons, all as a Blazer, he averaged 8.3 points in 22.8 minutes, starting 24 times. "Looks like the same Allen," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said, adding that he thinks a big thing for Crabbe will be managing the bigger minutes he might get as a Net. Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said it will take teamwork and good screens for the 6-foot-6 Crabbe to find more success. "We need everybody working to get him shots and open looks," Atkinson said.