SAN FRANCISCO — Already shorthanded, the Nets lost their hottest hand. But they refused to lose the game.
Despite adding Cam Johnson to their list of walking wounded, the Nets stormed back for a 128-120, come-from-behind win at Golden State on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center.
With Johnson forced out of the game with a sprained right ankle — and Nic Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith, Ben Simmons and Noah Clowney already sidelined — the Nets trailed by 18 in the third quarter.
But they put together a 27-6 run over the next nine minutes to seize the lead, and never gave it up.
Dennis Schroder had 23 of his 31 points in the second half, adding seven assists, five rebounds and much-needed leadership down the stretch.
Jalen Wilson stepped up with a season-high 18 points in Johnson’s absence. And Ziaire Williams — forced to play center with the Nets frontcourt decimated — had 19 points, nine boards and four assists.
Cam Thomas scored 23 but conspicuously never got off the bench in the fourth quarter when the Nets (8-10) rallied for their second straight win. They went 20 of 45 from deep, matching their season-high. But they wasted that shooting effort in a loss to Denver. This one, they closed out.
Western Conference-leading Golden State fell to 12-5, and was left impressed.
“Well, [Jordi Fernandez] is really a good coach,” said Steve Kerr. “You can see it just from the way the Nets are organized. There’s a plan of attack. You can see the shots they’re trying to get. You can see the style of play. So he’s really instilling a culture that is impressive, given that they’re supposed to be rebuilding and starting from scratch.”
An injury situation already so dire that the 6-foot-9, 205-pound Williams was actually pressed into starting at small-ball center just got exponentially worse.
Johnson came in averaging 19.1 points — and 27.3 over his last four on scalding .579 percent from deep. But he sprained his ankle coming down on Draymond Green’s foot in the first quarter, and seemed hobbled for the final 7:22 of the first half before sitting out the second.
But the Nets circled the wagons and won.
They trailed 86-68 with 7:13 left in the third quarter on a layup by Trayce Jackson-Davis. Fernandez immediately called a timeout to stem the tide. He ended up turning it altogether.
The Nets put together an extended 27-6 run over the next nine minutes, spanning into the fourth quarter.
Schroder — who had missed Sunday’s win and been questionable with a sore right ankle — came alive to lead the blitz. He knotted it at 92-all on a 3-pointer off a Tyrese Martin feed with 11:10 to play.
And he hit a 27-footer off a Williams pass to cap the run and give the Nets a 95-92 edge with 9:43 to play.
They spent the rest of the evening holding off Golden State’s attempts to seize it.
“At the end of the day in these games, what happens is all these guys know that they’re playing and they’re playing minutes, so they have that confidence, and you have to give them that confidence,” Fernandez said. “Obviously, we play against a good team here. This is not the G-League, and it’s going to be a big challenge.”