David Lee and Stephen Curry led Golden State Warriors past Brooklyn Nets 109-102 Friday night.
Lee scored 30 points and 15 rebounds, Curry added 28 points and had 10 out of 19 attempts from the field.
The head coach of the Warriors Mark Jackson, who was born in Brooklyn and started his NBA career with the Knicks, and had ten friends and family members present in the crowd during the game, said he was happy to go away from his home town with a win.
"Good to be home," the Associated Press quoted Jackson as saying, "and it's even better to leave out of here with a victory."
For the Nets, top scorer Joe Johnson contributed with a season-high 32 points, five rebounds and had 12 out of 23 attempts from the field, while Deron Williams scored 23 points, eight assists and grabbed five rebounds.
"We've had similar games like this all season where we get out to a lead and really can't hang on to it," Williams said. "We really got outworked especially in the second half
"Stephen Curry got hot in the offensive end and defensively we just didn't play good tonight. We had too many breakdowns in our defense, too many system errors."
Andray Blatche, who played in place of Brook Lopez, had 22 points and 15 rebounds. It was the fourth game in a row for the Nets in which they missed Lopez because of a foot injury. Blatche shot well from the field, making eight of 13 attempts.
The Nets had a sizeable lead in the first half, and looked like they were on course for a victory. They outscored the Warriors 31-24 in the first quarter. In the second quarter the Nets scored 32 points, whereas the Warriors managed only 31.
The Warriors were trailing by eight points in the beginning of the second half, but fought back behind Curry, who had a 20-plus score in his sixth straight game.
"He's a bad man," Jackson said. "He's a bad man. At the end of the day, he's healthy, and I'll take him matching up against any point guard in this league.
"And that's with total respect for Deron Williams and some other guys in this league, but Steph Curry is in that class and he shoots the ball as well as anybody that's ever played, and for the first time in a long time he's healthy, and I think people forgot just how good he is."
The Warriors outclassed the Nets in the third quarter by scoring 29 points, while Brooklyn could add only 19 and the game started slipping out of their hands.
The score was tied at 89 with the Curry's three pointer. Later he converted a three-point play, before Draymond Green made a shot to increase the Warriors lead to 105-96. The away team then comfortable held on for the win.
"Our problem is defense. We are not the same team defensively. We have to get back and figure it out," Nets coach Avery Johnson pointed out. "We have to get our team out of this defensive funk."
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