After star injury, the undermanned Nets storm back and beat the Warriors

SAN FRANCISCO – The Nets were already shorthanded and lost their hottest hands. But they refused to lose the game.

Although Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas both watched the comeback from the bench, Brooklyn stormed back to claim a 128-120 victory at Golden State on Monday in front of a sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center.

“If you look at the second half, trailing by 18, we won the third at the end and won the fourth at the end,” Fernandez said. “So it was a complete team effort, undermanned. And these are fantastic games.”

With Johnson spraining his ankle in the first half and Thomas being pulled out in the third quarter, the depleted Nets trailed by 18 points.

Decimated but not defeated.

Dennis Schroder led a 27-6 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters, securing a lead that Brooklyn never relinquished.

“Yes, they are a great team. But our character to come out here, compete at the highest level and get a win on our home court is very special,” said Schroder, who scored 17 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter. “Whatever it takes to win a basketball game.”

Schröder accounted for 65.9 percent of the Brooklyn offense in the final quarter – 17 points, four assists for 10 points scored.

Since the Nets outscored Golden State 41-28 in the fourth, he almost reached the Warriors alone.

“Yes, he took control of the game and took the lead. Place all of them in the correct place on both ends of the floor. And that’s the kind of leadership, it’s like having a coach there,” said Jordi Fernandez. “When something like that happens, I just let him do his thing…His overall performance in the second half is a real leader.”

Nic Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith, Ben Simmons and Noah Clowney were already offside.

The injury situation was so bad that the 1.90 meter tall, 90 kg Ziaire Williams had to play in the middle and responded with 19 points and ten boards for his second double-double in his career.

“Kudos to the guys, we lost two more (in Johnson and Thomas), but our guys stepped up and made great shots,” Williams said. “(Trendon Watford) made great shots and yes, it was a team effort. It was super fun out there, so like I said, I’m just glad we did it and fought until the end. We deserve this win.”

Johnson – who averaged 27.3 on .579 from deep in his last four at-bats – sprained his right ankle in the first quarter when he fell on Draymond Green’s foot and did not play in the second half .

But second-year winger Jalen Wilson stepped up in his absence with a season-high 18 points.

Brooklyn trailed 86-68 with 7:13 left in the third quarter on a Trayce Jackson-Davis layup.

Fernandez took a timeout to stem the tide and eventually turned things around.

Thomas, who was dealing with back problems, had 23 points but was later held back to 16 points in one possession.

“I ended up taking him out because he made a foul, he was tired,” Fernandez said. “I didn’t feel like it was right. And I just wanted to protect him from himself.”

But the Nets went on an extended 27-6 run over the next nine minutes.

Schroder – who missed Sunday’s win and was questionable with a right ankle injury – came to life and led the blitz tournament.

He scored 92 points with a 3-pointer off a feed from Tyrese Martin 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 lead with 9:43 to play.

They spent the rest of the evening fending off Golden State’s attempts to take it.

“I think the league knows it won’t be pretty if they play against us,” Schröder said. “So at the end of the day we will compete. It doesn’t matter who’s on the floor. We respect everyone, but when we stand between those lines we want to compete at the highest level… That’s how we’re going to win games.”