The Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets met in Brooklyn tonight for the second and final game of their inter-conference season series. Their last meeting took place in November and resulted in a Warriors win. Backup point guard Shaun Livingston made his first appearance at the Barclay’s Center since his departure from the Nets to the Warriors in free agency, while his counterpart Jarrett Jack also faced off against a former team. The story of the night, however, was MVP contender Stephen Curry and a raucous sellout crowd. 

While everyone in attendance was likely expecting to be wowed by the dueling backcourt, it was the big men who put on a show in the game’s early moments. Brook Lopez came off the bench for Mason Plumlee, scoring 12 points in six minutes, while the Nets as a whole went 16 of 22 from the field. Brooklyn is typically a strong first quarter team and today they shot a season best 72.7 percent while simultaneously holding the backcourt of Klay Thompson and Steph Curry to a combined five points. The first quarter ended with the Nets up, 33 to 23, over Golden State.

The second quarter featured domination from Warriors’ big man Andrew Bogut. Bogut scored 16 points along with six boards. The Nets had no answer for the Aussie center as he muscled and dunked his way through Nets defenders repeatedly. Brooklyn swingman Alan Anderson had 12 points of his own, and the Nets went into halftime up, 57 to 51. Still not a lot in the way of fireworks from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

Out of the half, it was the Deron Williams show. Williams, who had been lacking confidence in his jumper all year, has looked noticeably spry and trigger happy since the All-Star break. D-Will went 4 of 7 from beyond the arc, while scoring a total of 22 points on 8 of 19 shooting to go along with his four assists, four rebounds, and a steal.  On the other end, Steph Curry was plagued by early foul trouble and poor shooting.

Foul trouble didn’t last forever and while some players can shoot their way out of a slump, Steph Curry brought it to another level in the second half. Curry’s stat line of the game was 26 points on 8 of 16 from the field and 6 of 12 from long range. It took him time to finally make shots, and fatigue definitely seemed to plague the road tripping Warriors on the second of a back to back. After keeping pace and speed with the Nets, the game was officially a barn burner tied at 108 on the heels of Steph Curry’s shooting exhibition.

With 20 seconds left and the Warriors in position to score the go-ahead bucket, Andrew Bogut threw an errant pass, resulting in a turnover. The Nets, with possession going the other way, gave the ball to Jarrett Jack who isolated and ate up clock before finally hitting the go-ahead jumper with Steph Curry’s hand in his face. It wasn’t quite over as there was one second left on the clock. The Warriors didn't have the time to get a shot off, and the Nets won the thriller, splitting the season series.

Klay Thompson had an off night, scoring seven points on 3 of 17 from the field and hitting only 1 of 9 from three-point land. His defensive impact stuffed Joe Johnson early.

Recent acquisition Thaddeus Young gave the Nets some extra bounce and energy after receiving a warm welcome from the crowd in his home debut. Young racked up 14 points, including two big three pointers along with four boards and four assists. Welcome to Brooklyn, Thad.

Andrew Bogut was whistled for a flagrant after shoving Mason Plumlee. He also banged knees with Jarrett Jack much to the alarm of everybody watching, but Jack responded with a big perimeter shot and looked unhurt after. 

Alan Anderson shot 7 of 10 from the field, racking up 16 points. Anderson has played well in the starting lineup and has a noticeable improvement in both his shot selection and his shooting percentage.

The Barclay’s Center was packed in front of a raucous, and at times, dueling crowd, almost reminiscent of matchups with their crosstown rivals, the New York Knicks. Curry wowed the crowd early with his handles and passing but heard some loud M-V-P chants when he went to the stripe. The home crowd would have last laugh after Jarrett Jack hit the game winner against his former team. 

The Nets won over the Warriors in their first game in Brooklyn since leaving in February prior to New York City’s All-Star festivities.