Over the last 10 weeks, Coach Jason Kidd’s Brooklyn Nets have shown a lot about their mettle as a team, bouncing back from a poor start to the season to contend for a playoff spot.

But the Nets’ return to grace hasn’t come without its stumbles and another one of those occurred on Saturday night in Washington. when the team squandered a 10-point halftime lead in a loss to the Wizards. But on Monday night in Brooklyn, the Nets again showed that resolve that has turned around their season.

The pendulum swung back Brooklyn’s way in a big way as point guard Deron Williams poured in 28 points on 11-of-13 from the field, part of a banner night for all five Nets starters. Joe Johnson (19 points), Shaun Livingston (12), Mason Plumlee (14) and Paul Pierce (10) all joined Williams in double figures and the quintet combined to shoot nearly 70 percent from the field in a 108-95 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Toronto Raptors v Brooklyn Nets

For head coach Jason Kidd, the turnaround was a testament to some instant growth from one night to another.

“I thought one of the things we did tonight that showed our growth from last night was we had a lead and we kept it,” Coach Kidd said. “They made runs and we responded. In that game in Washington, we had the lead and we let it get away from us. Guys are learning. We’re all learning. We got better tonight.”

As the team grew on Monday, a locker room that was filled with disappointment after Saturday night’s loss got some much needed laughs after the decisive win over Phoenix. The talk of a blown lead was quickly replaced with traded playful jabs about Williams.

Entering Monday’s game, the Brooklyn point guard, who has been plagued all season by pain in both ankles that has limited his mobility had yet to record a dunk in a game. But late in the fourth against the Suns, D-Will got rolling in transition and elevated to throw down a jam. The jokes that followed stemmed from the fact that Williams barely cleared the rim to rattle home the slam.

After the game, the team playfully debated whether Williams’ first dunk of the year was actually a dunk at all, and Jason was quick to join in on the fun.

“Well, we’re trying to debate if that was a dunk,” J-Kidd said with a laugh. “You have to ask him if that was a dunk. He doesn’t want to say if it was a dunk… I have to go back and look at the tape.”

Williams jabbed back at his coach and longtime friend, joking that Jason wasn’t exactly a prolific dunker in his time.

“Coach is supposed to have your back,” Williams said smiling. “I can’t do anything but shake my head, man. He’s supposed to say something like, ‘I’m proud of him’ or ‘It’s a monumental moment.’ He was never a dunker in his day, either.”

Williams and the Nets certainly earned their laughs at the Barclays Center on Monday. They started hot and stayed that way while leading from wire-to-wire. Though Williams had the hot hand for most of the night, Livingston kicked off the scoring with a baseline jumper and followed it up with a transition dunk off a feed from guard Joe Johnson.

Livingston, a nine-year NBA veteran, has now surpassed single-season career highs for minutes played and points scored with 1,617 and 506 respectively. After being drafted fourth overall out of high school by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2004, Livingston has been on a roller coaster journey that landed him with nine different NBA teams. But the ninth has been the charm, as he has blossomed in Brooklyn, much to the pleasure of his head coach.

“Incredible. It’s a great story all the way around,” Coach Kidd said of Livingston. “He’s a great person on and off the court and he deserves everything that he’s been recognized for. He sets the table; he guards the best player on the other side. For minutes, maybe I am playing him too much, but he’s responded. Again, I couldn’t ask for a better player to coach and be around.”

Toronto Raptors v Brooklyn Nets

Once Livingston sparked Brooklyn’s big night, Williams began to roll his with two nice assists to center Mason Plumlee and Johnson. D-Will then popped a transition three for the first of his 28 points and immediately followed it with a steal and transition lay-in. The Nets outscored the Suns 20-11 on fast breaks for the night.

Williams also capped Brooklyn’s 30-20 first quarter with a devastating crossover of Phoenix’s Gerald Green. He left Green standing behind the three-point line and glided to the bucket for two.

The first three from Williams came off a feed from one of the newest Nets, Jorge Gutierrez, who is on his second 10-day contract in Brooklyn. Coach Kidd entered the night seeking to test Gutierrez and rested one of his top bench options, Mirza Teletovic, to do so. Gutierrez logged nearly eight minutes of game action and Jason came away impressed.

“I wanted to see if he could play,” he said of Gutierrez. “I don’t just want to sign someone for 10 days or 20 days and not give him the opportunity to play; it’s not fair for us or for him. I felt like in a game like this, there was an opportunity. They are going to put a lot of pressure on the perimeter with their guards, so I wanted to see what he could do and I thought that he could do and I thought that he did a great job.”

Brooklyn shot 70 percent from the floor in the first quarter and put on a show from start to finish. After gaining the lead, the Nets had to do what they couldn’t the night before: Keep the lead. The Suns battled back in the second, cutting the lead down to six.

Green made up for being crossed up by Williams in the first with several monstrous dunks in the second, and guard Goran Dragic worked off the drive for seven points. However, Brooklyn displayed its growth by fighting right back. Williams and Plumlee went to work, combining for 15 points to build the Nets lead back to 13 at 62-49 at halftime.

After the break, Brooklyn came out looking to bury Phoenix, as Johnson poured on seven points in just under two minutes.

Phoenix Suns v Brooklyn Nets

But just as the Nets were about to put the game out of reach, the Suns stormed back. Markieff Morris and Eric Bledsoe combined for eight unanswered points to cut the lead down to nine. However, unlike Monday night, Johnson and Paul Pierce were there with an answer, connecting on back-to-back threes. Livingston also added a pair of buckets down low to give the Nets breathing room and a 90-72 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Early in the final frame, it looked like that breathing room might not be enough, as the Suns scored six unanswered points to cut the lead down to 12 points.

However, Williams picked up his hot night, burying a contested three at the shot clock buzzer and following it up with a pull-up mid-range jumper to bring the lead back to 17.

Despite Brooklyn’s best efforts, Phoenix, which is one spot out of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, just kept coming with buckets. Four players were in double figures for the Suns, who field one of the younger and more athletic lineups in the league.

Phoenix cut the Brooklyn lead back to 12 when Williams responded with his dunk. The slam came in transition off a steal by forward Andrei Kirilenko, but even that didn’t kill Phoenix’s hopes. The Suns dropped the lead back to 11, but Williams and Alan Anderson were finally able to drive the final nails in Phoenix’s coffin with two late threes.

Anderson’s triple just shy of the four-minute mark put the Nets back up by 17 and signaled the end for the Suns.

After having a little fun with his point guard in the postgame, J-Kidd lauded the electric night had by Williams, who has battled through several nagging injuries this season.

“He was great tonight,” Jason said of Williams. “I think he’s healthy, and he looked good. He was attacking and setting the table for his teammates…The looks he had were all great looks. There weren’t any forced shots and he was getting to the basket. When he’s playing like this, it’s fun to watch.”

The result was fun as well. Brooklyn won its ninth home game in a row and moved to within a half game of Washington for the five seed and within three games of Toronto in the Atlantic Division.

NEXT UP

The Nets (34-31) will continue their three-game homestand Wednesday night with another playoff contender, the Charlotte Bobcats (33-35).

Brooklyn has split its two meetings with Charlotte thus far, first falling 95-91 in Charlotte in November. The Nets then exacted revenge at home in February, winning 105-89.

The Bobcats hold the No. 7 seed, 2.5 games behind the Nets in the East.

The two East foes are set for a 7:30 p.m. EDT tip at the Barclays Center. The contest will be televised on YES.

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