Golden State drops New Jersey, 105-97
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.
Stephen Jackson couldn’t break a sweat in the first half against the New Jersey Nets, so the Golden State Warriors guard didn’t bother to stay in the locker room long at halftime.
As soon as Don Nelson finished talking, Jackson headed to the court for some extra shooting with seven minutes left in the intermission. It turned out to be a game-changing decision.
Jackson scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half, Andris Biedrins added 23 points and 11 rebounds and Golden State found a way to hold on to the lead late in a 105-97 victory on Saturday night.
“My body was cold and my hands were cold in the first half,” said Jackson, who took only two shots. “I couldn’t get into a groove so I did what I normally do and went out early and tried to get into a groove. I was able to break a sweat and got going in the third quarter.”
Jackson scored 10 points in each of the final two quarters as the Warriors won for the first time in three games.
“It’s good to get the first one out of the way,” Jackson said. “Last year we started 0-6, 0-7 (actually 0-6) so it feels good to have a new team, a young team and to get this out of the way.”
The Warriors would not have been able to do it without Biedrens, who posted his third straight double-double. He dominated in the second quarter and in the opening half of the third, scoring 18 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the field and 6 of 7 shooting from the free-throw line where he has improved markedly.
“I got a lot of confidence this summer playing with the national team (Latvia),” Biedrens said. “I was the go-to guy all the time and when I came here I was really confident about myself.”
Corey Maggette added 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Al Harrington had 14 points as Golden State spoiled the Nets’ home opener.
Vince Carter had 20 points and Josh Boone added 17 points and 14 rebounds in the game that featured 60 personal fouls, including 39 against the Nets.
“We just can’t coast through and unfortunately, that’s what we did in the third quarter,” Boone said. “We just kind of coasted on defense and they built on their lead.”
The Warriors outscored New Jersey 33-18 in the third to take an 85-69 lead.
“We just wanted to make sure this time because we had painful losses in the second half of our first two games,” Biedrens said. “We wanted to make sure we got the lead and held on to it.”
Biedrins, who was 8 of 11 from the field, had eight points, five rebounds and a steal in the 16-10 spurt that pushed the Warriors’ advantage to 68-61 halfway through the period.
Jackson finished off New Jersey in the final six minutes of the quarter.
After rookie Brook Lopez hit a shot in the lane to cut the deficit to five, Jackson hit two 3-pointers and twice drove the lane for baskets in an 11-0 spurt that gave Golden State a 79-63 lead.
The Nets, who won their season opener in Washington, cut the lead to five points in the closing minutes, but Maggette hit four free throws in the final 43 seconds to ice the game.
“We put ourselves in that hole,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “We gave up 33 points, we had that stretch where we allowed mistakes to multiply and we started to hang our heads a bit.”
Biedrins, who picked up two early fouls, scored 10 points in the second quarter to help the Warriors take a 52-51 halftime lead. Golden State made 10 of 17 shots from the field in the period.
Notes:
Nets starting F Yi Jianlian was scoreless in 17-plus minutes, missing all four of his shots. … Nets F Eduardo Najera was active for the first time this season after missing most of training camp with a wrist injury. He had two points in just under five minutes. … Former Nets G Marcus Williams sat on the bench for his third straight game with the Warriors. … Carter had his left hand X-rayed during the game. It was negative.
