Warriors dig out of early hole to beat Nets, cap 4-1 trip

Danny Emerman, The Mercury News on Mar 6, 2025

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BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Warriors followed up one of their most inspired wins of the season with an ugly one across the Brooklyn Bridge.

So sluggish early on they fell behind by 22, the Warriors needed to scratch and claw to beat Tyrese Martin and the plucky Nets. They even had to survive a near-collapse in the final minute.

It took another excellent Steph Curry performance, an aggressive Jimmy Butler and a masked Gary Payton II (16 points, nine rebounds), but the Warriors got it done on the last leg of their east coast road trip.

Golden State (35-28) finished their trip 4-1, capping it with a 121-119 victory over Brooklyn. Curry hit a night-night and seven 3-pointers, finishing with 40 points on 7-for-13 shooting from deep. Butler added 25 points, six assists and three steals; the Warriors are now 10-1 with him in the lineup.

The Warriors’ second-biggest comeback of the year keeps them in sixth place in a crowded Western Conference.

Some coaches don’t like when their teams play both New York opponents in a week because of the off-time their players get in the city that never sleeps. Steve Kerr prefers the setup, but may have better understood what his contemporaries felt after the first quarter.

The Warriors sleepwalked through the start of the game, hitting snooze as Brooklyn made five of its first six 3-pointers. Brandin Podziemski left the game in the first minute and didn’t return with lower back soreness, but it’s not like his presence alone would’ve prevented the Nets’ early energy.

Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez has had his underskilled roster playing hard all year, and they took advantage of Golden State’s malaise.

Golden State missed its first six shots and fell behind 27-5. The Warriors turned the ball over five times and Curry committed a charge in the backcourt. Frustrations boiled after that, with Kerr picking up a technical foul.

Payton and ex-Stanford star Ziaire Williams got tangled up at the end of the quarter, with the Nets up 35-15. They locked horns and nearly squared up after the horn, each earning technicals.

The incident woke the Warriors up and Butler led a resurgent bench unit, connecting with Draymond Green on a pair of high-low passes. Even as the Nets hit 10 of their first 16 3s, the Warriors stormed back with a 40-25 second period.

Curry hit a couple of deep 3s then found Butler ahead of the play with a hit-ahead pass for a dunk. Brooklyn called timeout suddenly up only six with 1:35 left in the half. Curry hit an insane turnaround from the logo and trotted off the court with his finger pointed to the ceiling, the Warriors trailing by five.

After a five-point burst from Curry and two buckets from Green, Butler hit a corner 3 to give the Warriors their first lead of the night at 9:20 in the third.

Curry hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game later in the period even as Brooklyn sent brazen double teams at him. He hit at least five 3s in four of the team’s five games on the road trip, including in his 54-point eruption at Orlando.

To stretch the Warriors’ lead to eight early in the fourth, Curry left three different defenders in the dust and kissed a reverse layup off the glass. Then he hit his sixth triple over two Nets a minute later, maintaining the cushion.

The Warriors didn’t need a Curry finishing move, but he delivered one anyway. After a corner 3 with a minute left, he hit his night-night celebration in front of the Warriors’ bench. A heavily Warriors-centric Barclays Center crowd got their money’s worth.

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