NBA

Nets open Brooklyn era with win over Wizards

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(AP)

ROAR OF THE CROWD: Fans went wild as the Nets’ Brook Lopez (11) took the tip-off against Emeka Okafor of the Wizards last night as big league sports returned to Brooklyn for the first time since the Dodgers left for Los Angeles after the 1957 season. (
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As the shot clock turned off and C.J. Watson dribbled the ball up the floor, the 14,219 fans inside Barclays Center stood as one and cheered as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

It may not count in the standings, but the Nets had a win last night in the first game of the franchise’s new era in Brooklyn.

“Certain things, you don’t have to say,” said Joe Johnson, who finished with 14 points, three rebounds and five assists in a 98-88 win over the Wizards. “It’s just kind of understood. This is our first time playing in this building. … We don’t want to take a [loss] in our first time in this building, regardless.”

The Nets weren’t letting this one get away. Nets coach Avery Johnson had five of his top eight rotation players on the court down the stretch, including his All-Star backcourt of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, to ensure his team held on to a single-digit lead.

“I just thought it was important,” Avery Johnson said. “Our fans were terrific … oh, my gosh. When we get even more people in the building, it’s going to be crazy.

“We thought it would be good if our fans went home with a good feeling about our team.”

As for the game itself, the Nets looked more like a team trying to figure things out than the one that looked impressive at times in Saturday’s overtime win over the Sixers.

They again looked good on offense over long stretches of the game, continuing to use strong ball movement and often finding themselves with wide-open looks.

Their defense, on the other hand, fell short of expectations. The overall numbers didn’t look all that bad, including allowing the Wizards to shoot 39.0 percent from the field. But the Nets struggled at times defensively, particularly early on, when the Nets had several breakdowns that resulted in wide-open looks for the Wizards.

“It was inside and outside,” Avery Johnson said. “You saw [Bradley] Beal got loose on us, [Martell] Webster got loose on us. … We showed it at halftime and fortunately, because we’ve got some veteran guys that are really coachable, I don’t have to always specifically talk about team. …TIf Gerald Wallace makes a mistake or Joe Johnson makes a mistake or Deron or so forth and so on, they are really receptive when you point out their mistakes individually.I can see the look on their face, even though it’s a preseason game, where they’re saying ‘Yes, I’ll get it right the next time.”

Even with the issues at times in the paint defensively, the Nets saw plenty of production from their center spot. Brook Lopez had his second performance in two games, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting with 11 rebounds.

Playing against his former team, Andray Blatche came off the bench for 16 points and eight rebounds. He worked well in the second unit with Joe Johnson, who fed him for several wide-open looks, including a thunderous baseline jam in the fourth, after driving into the paint.

“It always feels good to go against your old team,” Blatche said. “But our focus was to get better and improve and get ready for the season.”

* It might have been a meaningless preseason game in October, but that didn’t stop Williams and Washington’s A.J. Price from getting into with just under a minute to go.

After Blatche stole the ball and threw it ahead to Williams, he was fouled by Price as he went up to score. The two started jawing at one another immediately after hitting the ground, and were hit with double technical fouls on the play.

Price, who is from Amityville and gave out 20 tickets for last night’s game, said the whole thing was just a miscommunication on both sides.

“In the heat of the moment, guys say things all the time and one thing led to another, but all in all, it’s part of the game.”

Williams, on the other hand, saw things a bit differently.

“He started talking for no reason,” Williams said. “I didn’t do anything. He said, ‘I’m home.’ I don’t know what that means.

“I guess he had some boys in the crowd that he wanted to impress or something like that while he can with the little minutes he’s going to get this year. “[I told him] it’s my home now.”

tbontemps@nypost.com