Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles the ball Jonathan Kuminga #00 of the Golden State Warriors during the first half of the game at Barclays Center on December 21, 2022 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP
Kevin Durant scored 23 points in 29 minutes as the Brooklyn Nets seized control early and easily extended their winning streak to seven games with a wire-to-wire 143-113 rout of the short-handed Golden State Warriors Wednesday night in New York.
After five of their first six wins during the streak were by single digits, the Nets led by as many as 40 in the first half and easily won for the 11th time in 12 games.
Durant made 8 of 9 shots in the opening half, when the Nets scored a team-record 91 points. It was the third-most points in a first half in NBA history and the most since Golden State had a 92-point opening half at Chicago in 2018.
The Nets dropped a franchise-record 91 points in the first half 😱 pic.twitter.com/Q5fZWRLqUJ
— NBA (@NBA) December 22, 2022
Edmond Sumner added 16 points for the game as the Nets shot a season-high 64.3 percent from the floor while playing without Kyrie Irving, who tweaked his right calf in the team’s walkthrough Wednesday afternoon.
Royce O’Neale contributed 14 points and Patty Mills chipped in 13 as the duo combined to make seven of Brooklyn’s 21 3-pointers. Seth Curry and T.J. Warren added 12 points apiece for the Nets, who scored their most points this season and handed out 42 assists.
Besides missing star Stephen Curry for the fourth straight game with a left shoulder subluxation, Golden State was without Andrew Wiggins (right adductor strain), Klay Thompson (rest) and Donte DiVincenzo (non-COVID illness).
Without several regulars, a majority of Golden State’s younger players saw extensive time.
James Wiseman scored a career-high 30 points for Golden State, which went 1-5 on a six-game road trip. Moses Moody and Patrick Baldwin Jr. added 17 apiece, but Jordan Poole was held to 13 as he shot 4 of 17 and missed 10 of 11 3-point tries.
O’Neale and Durant combined for 21 points as the Nets shot 73.9 percent and opened a 46-17 lead by the end of the opening quarter. The Nets opened a 68-31 lead on an alley-oop dunk by Ben Simmons with 6:22 left in the second quarter and held a 91-51 lead by halftime after Durant’s 3 with 8.2 seconds left.
The Nets surpassed the century mark when Durant’s 17-footer made it 101-66 with 5:04 remaining in the third quarter, and they took a 109-79 lead into the fourth when Mills hit a 3 at the buzzer.