SAN FRANCISCO – Already shorthanded, the Nets misplaced their hottest arms. However they refused to lose the sport.
Regardless of Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas each watching the comeback from the bench, Brooklyn stormed again for a 128-120 victory at Golden State on Monday earlier than a sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Heart.
“If you look at the second half, down 18, ended up winning the third and ended up winning the fourth,” mentioned Fernandez. “So it was a complete team effort, shorthanded. And these are amazing games.”
With Johnson spraining his ankle within the first half and Thomas being pulled within the third quarter, the decimated Nets trailed by 18 factors.
Decimated, however not defeated.
Dennis Schroder led a 27-6 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters to grab a lead that Brooklyn by no means gave up.
“Yeah, they’re a hell of a team. But our character to come out here and compete on the highest level and get a win on their home court is pretty special,” mentioned Schroder, who had 17 of his game-high 31 factors within the fourth quarter. “Whatever it takes to win a basketball game.”
Schröder accounted for 65.9 p.c of Brooklyn’s offense within the ultimate quarter – 17 factors, 4 assists for 10 factors created.
With the Nets outscoring Golden State 41-28 within the fourth, he almost matched the Warriors by himself.
“Yeah, he took control of the game and took control of the lead. Put everybody in the right place on both ends of the floor. And that’s the kind of leadership, it’s like having a coach on the floor,” mentioned Jordi Fernandez. “When those things happen, I just let him do his thing…His performance overall in that second half, true leader.”
Nic Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith, Ben Simmons and Noah Clowney had been already sidelined.
The harm state of affairs was so dire that the 6-foot-9, 205 pound Ziaire Williams needed to play heart, and responded with 19 factors and ten boards for his second profession double double.
“Shout out to the guys, we lost two more (in Johnson and Thomas) but our guys stepped up, made big-time shots,” mentioned Williams. “(Trendon Watford) made big-time shots, and yeah it was a team effort. It was super fun out there, so like I said just glad we thugged it out and fought till the end. We deserved this win.”
Johnson – averaging 27.3 over his final 4 on .579 from deep – sprained his proper ankle coming down on Draymond Inexperienced’s foot within the first quarter, and didn’t play the second half.
However second-year wing Jalen Wilson stepped up with a season-high 18 factors in his absence.
Brooklyn trailed 86-68 with 7:13 left within the third quarter on a layup by Trayce Jackson-Davis.
Fernandez referred to as a timeout to stem the tide, and ended up turning it altogether.
Thomas, who’d been coping with again points, had 23 factors however obtained pulled one possession later down 16.
“I ended up taking him out because he took a foul, he was tired,” mentioned Fernandez. “I didn’t feel it was right. And I just wanted to protect him from himself.”
However the Nets mounted an prolonged 27-6 run over the subsequent 9 minutes.
Schroder – who had missed Sunday’s win and been questionable with a sore proper ankle – got here alive to steer the blitz.
He knotted it at 92-all on a 3-pointer off a Tyrese Martin feed with 11:10 to play. And he hit a 27-footer off a Williams go to cap the run and provides the Nets a 95-92 edge with 9:43 to play.
They spent the remainder of the night holding off Golden State’s makes an attempt to grab it.
“I think the league knows when they play against us, it’s not going to be sweet,” mentioned Schroder. “So at the end of the day, we’re going to compete. It don’t matter who’s on the floor. We respect everybody, but when we get between those lines, we want to compete on the highest level…That’s how we are going to win games.”
