Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) drives on the Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton (33) in the first half at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn on Mon Feb 5, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Golden State Warriors overcame their struggles at the start of the game to beat the Brooklyn Nets 108-98 at Barclays Center on Monday night in what head coach Steve Kerr described as a “really good team effort”.

It was a welcome win for the Warriors after their 141-134 overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday despite Stephen Curry scoring 60 points. In Brooklyn, Curry scored 29 points and Jonathan Kuminga contributed 28.

“We won a game on the road against a team that’s been playing well,” said Kerr. “And we had multiple guys step in, you know Lester (Quinones) and Moses (Moody) and Gui (Santos) and that’s the story of tonight’s game, is those guys coming back and really contributing to a win.”

The Warriors were 2 for 11 on 3-pointers and had 10 turnovers that led to 15 points. They were held to only 43 points in the first half, but outscored Brooklyn 66-49 in the second half.

In the first quarter, Brooklyn was only 3 for 16 from the 3-point range but scored 12 points from seven Golden State turnovers, and finished off with a 23-20 lead. The Warriors did not make a triple until Curry scored one with 4:29 left in the second quarter, which was his 3,600th career three pointer. Still, Brooklyn led 49-43 at the half. The game was tied with just under three minutes left in the third quarter, and the Warriors led by 69-68 at the end of the quarter.

The Warriors stepped it up in the fourth quarter, extending their lead to 10 points a couple of minutes in. With 5:41 to go, Brandin Podziemski made a two point shot from Draymond Green and the Warriors took an 11-point lead. At 4:59 remaining, Nic Claxton was ejected for a flagrant foul on Podziemski.

Podziemski got up after a few minutes on the floor and made one of two free throws and put the Warriors up 92-82. The Warriors lead 100-94 at the two-minute mark. Curry made an 8-foot driving floating jump shot, drawing some “MVP” chants from the crowd. Curry made the free throw to put the Warriors up 105-94 with 1:19 remaining.

Gui Santos, who returned to the NBA in November, added 9 points, two of which were free throws with 40 seconds left in the game and the Warriors led 107-96.

“Everybody here always say, be ready for when you have the opportunity,” said Santos. “When I saw I have a couple minutes on the court, I was like, I have to bring another energy to the team, especially defensively.”

Mikal Bridges made a driving layup with 33 seconds left to go to cut Golden State’s lead to 107-98. Kuminga made a slam dunk with 20 seconds remaining, and Curry dribbled the ball to run out the shot clock and seal the 109-98 victory.

“We needed every bit of it to close out a game,” Curry said of the guys giving it their all. “It was a six point game at one point. Last four minutes was a beautiful brand of basketball.”

Kerr said he could not remember when the last time was that the Warriors went 4 for 22 from 3 and won.

“It seems like every game is like this for us. We’ve hardly had any blowouts in either direction,” Kerr said. “So every game is tight and I think if our guys can build on this, we can recognize what it takes to win these close games.”

At 22-25, the Warriors are 12th in the Western Conference. They continue their five-game road trip against the Philadelphia 76ers (39-19) on Wednesday. Tip-off is at 4:30 p.m. PT.