The Brooklyn Nets complete an incredible comeback against the Golden State Warriors, winning 128-120

On November 26, 2024By Littum

It wasn’t enough that the Brooklyn Nets faced the Golden State Warriors, the Western Conference’s #1 seed, in game two of a back-to-back on Monday night. No, they needed an even bigger challenge after the following night fuse a great win for head coach Jordi Fernández in his return to Sacramento.

Half of Brooklyn’s rotation was unavailable against the Dubs, meaning they would have ten players available. That includes two-way Tyrese Martin and Dariq Whitehead, the latter of whom boarded a flight from Toronto to the Bay Area early Monday morning just to be available. (For a full accounting, jump to the damage report below.)

Also Brooklyn’s five (literally) biggest players were unavailable, leaving them without a player who even resembles a center. But they were actually lucky to field ten players: Game-time decisions on both Dennis Schröder and Trendon Watford went their way.

Still, Fernández and the Nets were up for the challenge; Before tip-off, the head coach said “these are games you never forget.”

“I just want our guys on the court to be extremely confident, to play really, really hard, do the things that we do, push the ball, shoot it when you’re open, play with a pass, touch the paint. So all those things, whether we’re 8, 9, 10 or 11, we play the same way.”

Look, Brooklyn played the same way they have all season. Just as they did in Sacramento, they drove, kicked and shot, making eight threes in the first quarter, their most in any stretch this season. Not surprisingly, Golden State doubled-teamed Cam Thomas on nearly every ball screen he used, and the Nets thrived…

Then it got even worse for Brooklyn when Cam Johnson stepped on Draymond Green’s foot and rolled his ankle. Oddly, the coaching and medical staff let Johnson tough it out for the final seven minutes of the second quarter, even as Johnson limped up and down the court without attempting a single shot in that game.

While that became a long-term concern for Brooklyn, a short-term concern also arose in the second quarter: They couldn’t stop the Warriors.

Not only did Golden State score 30 paint points in the first half, but they also shot 12-of-27 from deep. Add a single free throw and you accounted for their entire point total. Steph Curry made his first three triples, yes, but it hurt more to see Golden State’s role players disappear, from Lindy Waters III to Moses Moody. These two were the team’s leading scorers at halftime.

Things went from bad to worse early in the third quarter, despite Cam Thomas’ best scoring effort…

Thomas would finish with 23/3/1 on 6-of-11 shooting with a ton of free throws, and frankly, the low assist total was a product of some bad luck along with Golden State’s double-heavy defense.

Hey, every blowout needs a silver lining, right? Because when Brooklyn called a timeout down 86-68 with over seven minutes left in the third, that was all Thomas’ performance was going to be. No one could blame the Nets for the circumstances they faced, and one competitive half of basketball under those circumstances amounts to a solid showing.

Before the game, Steve Kerr said Fernández is “a really good coach, you can see it in the way they play”, and nothing about that had changed through two and a half quarters.

After that, Fernández showed why he could be a truly special coach. The Brooklyn Nets, subbing Cam Thomas and already downing Cam Johnson, did the unthinkable. They came back to defeat the West’s #1 team; an 18-point deficit in the face, especially in an NBA saturated with 3-point shooting, is nothing insurmountable, but these Nets, in this spot? Does a single adjective describe this type of gain?

It started defensively. From the 7:34 mark of the third to the 1:54 mark of the fourth, nearly 18 minutes of playing time, Brooklyn allowed just 24 points. The Warriors ran a perfect offense, shooting everything at the rim or from three, and made a whole lot of those attempts. So. in an instant, the Nets made them look incompetent for a quarter and a half.

Not just any Nets, but the likes of Shake Milton, Keon Johnson, Jalen Wilson and Ziaire Williams got the job done…

The offense never really went away for Brooklyn, but a few untimely turnovers and missed shots allowed Golden State to build that 86-68 cushion. They turned out to be a mirage; drive, kick, shoot, all the way to 20-of-45 from deep, all nine Nets made at least one 3-pointer (Whitehead did not play).

Even better, Brooklyn took advantage of every opportunity Golden State gave them, forcing 13 turnovers that led to a whopping 26 points as the Nets showed us what their ideal tempo really is for perhaps the first time all season.

On the other hand, the Warriors turned over Brooklyn over a dozen times, but scored a comparatively paltry 12 points from those opportunities.

All of these stats are team stats for a reason. We could list the individual efforts and still fill this article with Jalen Wilson playing 41 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back, or Trendon Watford making every clutch shot he took in the fourth, or Shake Milton’s season-high 13 points, or even Tyrese Martin, who had a nice little display in the first half.

And yet, because Cam Thomas didn’t play after being subbed midway through the third (Fernández chalked it up to the flow of the game and the load Thomas has carried lately), much of the offensive burden fell on Dennis Schröder’s shoulders.

He responded with 17 points and four assists…in the fourth freaking quarter…

On a night when everyone shone, Dennis was the brightest star.

When possessions stalled, he went and fetched buckets. When they didn’t, he played within the flow of the offense, taking catch-and-shoot threes or driving the lane. He even picked off Steph Curry full court every chance he could.

Said Fernández: “He took control of the game, took control of the lead and put everybody in the right spot on both ends of the floor, and that’s the kind of leadership like having a coach on the floor. And when those things happen, I let him just do his thing and if he has a question for me, I’ll try to give him an answer.”

On a night like Monday, it feels like the Nets are the NBA’s greatest — or at least most compelling — 8-10 team ever. We already knew that their “tough” and “competitive” identity wasn’t a cliché, but what is? How many Nets teams do you root for that were capable of this win? Think about it.

Then think about whether you’ll remember this win in May while you’re sweating over those damn ping pong balls. Do you want to regret the game that Jordi Fernández’s team showed on a random Monday night in San Francisco six months ago? Will you curse the effort Wilson gave, the shots Schröder made, the bruises Williams gave himself on the Chase Center floor?

Don’t let the answer be ‘yes’, I beg you. On November 25, 2024, even with an 8-10 record and no hope of title contention, the Brooklyn Nets are a great team. Is it nothing?

Final score: Brooklyn Nets 128, Golden State Warriors 120

Damage report

Okay, ready?

Let’s start with the most concerning absence: Nic Claxton. Brooklyn’s $100 million man did not appear on the initial injury report but was listed as questionable, so unavailable late Monday afternoon. Worse yet, it was “soreness in the back” that kept him out; Sunday night marked Claxton’s return from a three-game absence following an epidural in his lower back.

When asked about the state of his starting center in the pregame, Fernández gave an interesting answer: “I think in professional sports, especially in this league, a lot of these guys play with bumps and bruises. What we need , is to believe that they are good to go. And if we feel that a guy is not confident, we let them make the decision, I think that is fair. If you are playing and you are afraid of getting hurt , guess what? You’re going to get hurt. So we don’t want that for Nic or anybody in our group … So that’s where we are right now with Nic, he felt it again, his awareness on his back.”

It certainly seems like something that won’t fade quickly. Other places:

We saw Noah Clowney sprain his left ankle in Sacramento on Sunday night; On Monday, Jordi Fernández said the lanky sophomore had an MRI on said ankle, but no results had come back yet.
It was no surprise that Dorian Finney-Smith missed Monday’s game with his own sprained left ankle, but rather a planned absence. DFS has been nursing that injury throughout November, and Fernández said he is “TBD” for Brooklyn’s next game.
Ben Simmons’ absence was also planned as his current inability to play back-to-backs is plain old injury management.
Day’Ron Sharpe and Bojan Bogdanović are without updates so far.
Cam Johnson has been diagnosed with a right ankle sprain; no updates were immediately available after the game.

Next up

The Brooklyn Nets will see an old friend to finish their four-game road trip against Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night. (Worth noting: Durant is set to return from a two-week injury layoff Tuesday night, so he may not be available for the Phoenix-Brooklyn back-to-back.) Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. A.