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22 Turnovers By Nets Leads To 20th Loss Of Season
East Rutherford, NJ (Sports Network) - Monta Ellis and CJ Watson each poured in 18 points as Golden State capitalized off numerous New Jersey turnovers for a 105-89 victory over the Nets.
Mikki Moore finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for Golden State, which used just eight players, but managed to convert 22 New Jersey turnovers into 30 points. That helped the Warriors snap a four-game skid.
“We know they’re kind of struggling as a team and we just tried to take advantage down low and on fast breaks,” said Watson. “That’s what we did tonight. We came through pretty big, especially in the clutch when they cut it to five or six, we came up with some big baskets and big stops.”
Brook Lopez tallied 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets, who were coming off just their second win of the season, 103-101 at Chicago on Tuesday. Devin Harris ended with 19 points and Courtney Lee 15 for the Nets, who dropped to 2-20.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes tonight,” said Harris. “We talked about what they do well...create turnovers. They score off the turnovers and they’re a fast break team. We were a little bit careless with the ball and that led to uncontested layups.”
Watson and the Warriors dominated the second quarter. He had 15 points in the period and the visitors shot 16-of-24 during the stanza, while outscoring New Jersey, 38-21. That allowed Golden State to build a 58-48 cushion and the Warriors were in front the rest of the night.
Golden State’s lead reached as high as 20 in the third before the Nets cut it to 81-70 moving to the fourth. A Chris Douglas-Roberts dunk with 6:35 remaining had New Jersey within 90-85, but Ellis converted a pair of buckets and the Warriors pulled away down the stretch.
The Nets built their lead to 26-15 in the opening quarter, but Golden State closed to 27-20 after 12 minutes. The tide turned in the second and a layup from Watson built Golden State’s lead to 54-44 with 1:25 left before intermission.
The Warriors moved to 1-1 on a five-game road trip, which will continue Friday at Chicago. They are on the trip minus coach Don Nelson, who is out with pneumonia...The Nets play at Indiana Friday to start a three-game road swing...Golden State has won four straight against the Nets...Stephen Curry had 14 points, while Corey Maggette chipped in 13 with nine boards for Golden State...New Jersey was 1-of-10 from three-point range.
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