Nets use historic half to down Warriors

Brooklyn scores team-record 91 points before intermission

December 22, 2022 John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Kevin Durant and the Nets showed Draymond Green and his former Warrior teammates just how hot they've been lately in Downtown Brooklyn Wednesday night. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

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If it had been fight night at Downtown’s Barclays Center Wednesday instead of Nets basketball, they would have called it a first-half knockout.

Brooklyn set a franchise record with 91 points before intermission and cruised to its season-high seventh straight win thereafter, obliterating the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors, 143-113, before a sellout crowd of 18,026 on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

“That’s what happens when you come to work and you’re ready to work from the beginning,” intimated Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn after watching his team overcome big early deficits the previous two games.

Kevin Durant scored 21 of his 23 points during the third-highest scoring half in league history and took the entire fourth quarter off.

“It’s a make or miss league. .. It was about shooting the ball with confidence and tonight was one of those nights,” Durant noted.

Fellow superstar Kyrie Irving didn’t even play due to right-calf tightness, but the rest of the red-hot Nets (20-12) proved to be too much for the Warriors (15-18), who came into Brooklyn without injured stars Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson.

Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn was impressed by his team’s historic first-half performance Wednesday at Barclays Center. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

“It’s the Warriors,” said Durant, who won two NBA titles and reached the Finals in Golden State before arriving in Brooklyn in 2019.

“You always respect them no matter who’s on the floor,” he added. “They have a championship system and championship players.”

Edmond Sumner scored 16 points off the bench as the Nets set another franchise best with nine players putting up at least 10 points.

Royce O’Neale had 14, Patty Mills added 13, T.J. Warren and Seth Curry finished with 12 apiece, Joe Harris put up 11 and Nic Claxton and Ben Simmons tacked on 10 each for Brooklyn, which has won 11 of its last 12 contests.

“It was one of those games where we came out and made sure we got off to a good start,” said Harris. “We made a point of coming out and playing with good energy.”

James Wiseman scored 30 points for the road-weary Warriors, who completed a 1-5 East Coast swing by falling behind by 29 after 12 minutes and 40 at the half after Durant’s 3-pointer made it 91-51.

“And then they made everything,” Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said. “They were phenomenal in the first half.”

Brooklyn will shoot for its first eight-game winning streak since Feb. 10-25, 2021 when it hosts Milwaukee on Friday night.

Joe Harris had to like what he saw up on the scoreboard Wednesday night as the Nets buried the NBA champion Warriors in Brooklyn. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

NOTHING BUT NET: Only Phoenix’s 107 first-half points in 1990 and the Warriors’ 92 in 2018, which Durant was also a part of, topped the Nets’ 24-minute assault Wednesday. … Kerr intimated pregame that he would like to see Durant return to Team USA for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where he would be trying to become the first-ever player to win four gold medals in men’s basketball. “That would be nice,” said Kerr. “I mean, he’s been so dominant with Team USA and like I said, he’s a guy who just, he loves to play. So we’re hoping he decides to keep going.” … After hosting the Bucks Friday, the Nets will kick off a three-game road trip in Cleveland on Monday after getting Christmas Day off.