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Warriors' second-half surge numbs Nets

Mar 12, 2009 - 6:08 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The Golden State Warriors appeared flat in the first half. After intermission, they flattened the New Jersey Nets.

The Warriors used a third-quarter surge to devour most of a double-digit deficit and kept rolling in the fourth quarter of a 116-112 victory over the Nets on Wednesday.

Golden State trailed 81-67 before catching fire. Andris Biedrins capped a 14-2 run that brought the Warriors within 83-81 with 1:53 left in the quarter.

Stephen Jackson, who led Golden State with 29 points, fed Jamal Crawford, who hit from 27 feet to give Golden State a 92-89 lead with nine minutes left and the Warriors never looked back.

A shot from long range by Jackson made it 103-97 and Crawford followed with a hoop of his own to make the lead eight points as New Jersey didn't know what hit it.

Devin Harris was then called for a flagrant foul after a collision with Corey Maggette. The Warriors' forward split a pair of free throws before Jackson banked home a hoop to make it 108-97.

"Our mindset is to play hard every night and finish the season on a good note," Jackson said. "Of course, we want to be consistent but at the same we are just trying to get better, trying to keep guys healthy, and finish on a great note, a great team note."

Trenton Hassell hit a breakaway layup off a feed from Harris to end the 8-0 run.

The Nets drew within 110-107 in the final minute on Vince Carter's drive.

Jackson missed a shot and Ronny Turiaf grabbed an offensive rebound. The Nets were forced to foul and Crawford hit a pair to boost the margin to five with 23 seconds left.

Carter then hit a rainbow from long range to make it 112-110.

The Nets, who lost a chance to take over undisputed possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, wasted time as Crawford dribbled up the court before fouling him with 14 seconds left. Crawford knocked down another pair to make it 114-110.

Harris missed from long range. Turiaf grabbed the rebound and Crawford was fouled, hitting another pair from the line to close out New Jersey.

"It feels good," Crawford said. "We are getting closer to having our whole team, hopefully (Brandan) Wright comes back soon enough. And that will be our first game with our whole team. And let's see what we have, see what we can do together. ... We have talented players, and we have a hall of fame coach so let's see what we can do."

Nets coach Lawrence Frank was disappointed.

"I don't know the ramifications of it," Frank said. ??"I would hope we're a little more resilient. ??I think what you do is look at the game and you don't look at predicting the future. ??Its very very disappointing.

"The third quarter, they put their head down, attacked the rim, got to the line. ??We shot a lot of jump shots and then started to lose our poise with our shot selection and it kind of streamrolled on us."

Harris had the hot hand and New Jersey came out firing in the first half.

Harris scored 17 of his 31 points as the Nets surged to a 67-53 lead at the break. The Warriors actually held a 30-28 lead after 12 minutes before the Nets unleashed a furious run in the second quarter. Keyon Dooling had seven points and two assists in the first three minutes as New Jersey went on a 15-6 run to assume control.

Harris took over in the final third of the quarter, scoring nine points as the Nets closed with a 14-6 burst to open the double-digit lead at the break.

"It's big but you know, but obviously we can recover," Harris said. ??"That's not the way we wanted to start the trip off but hopefully we'll learn from it."

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