NEW YORK -- In the first half, the Golden State Warriors were checking their phones and not focusing on their attention to detail on defense.

Ok, not their phones, but it is what it felt like to coach Steve Kerr as he described the difference in how the Warriors concentrated on defense in the second half.

"Transition defense was horrible in the first half," Kerr said. "Just our overall attention span was bad. The millennials struggled in the first half but locked in in the second half. They put their phones down and started to defend, so that was good."

Kevin Durant scored 26 points as Golden State clamped down defensively in the second half and rallied from a 16-point deficit to earn a 117-101 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday.

"Just our energy level," Durant said of the differences in the defense. "We played with a little more force to start the second half."

Klay Thompson added 23 points for the Warriors (26-4) and Stephen Curry contributed 15 points despite shooting 6 of 19, including 3 of 13 from 3-point range. Thompson and Curry also combined for nine steals.

Golden State's Zaza Pachulia contributed 15 points and 14 rebounds. Durant added nine boards and seven assists.

Durant scored 15 of his points in the second half, which was significantly different for the Warriors. After allowing the Nets to shoot 48 percent and take a 65-49 lead in the opening 24 minutes, Golden State pushed its winning streak to six games by allowing 36 points and scoring 25 points off 18 turnovers.

Fourteen of Brooklyn's giveaways resulted in steals by the Warriors, who finished with 19 overall. The first one set a tone for how things would be different after halftime when Curry stole the ball from Jeremy Lin and found Durant for a dunk 15 seconds into the third quarter.

"We knew, (it was) just a matter of time," Durant said. "It's a young team getting better every day but we knew at some point they would let us back in."

The fast break began a 12-0 run which helped the Warriors get back into the game. The Warriors never trailed after Andre Iguodala hit a 3-pointer for an 83-82 lead with1:39 left in the third and took a 88-84 edge into the fourth.

"I thought just the overall defensive intensity the next few minutes got us on that run and changed the game," Kerr said.

The Warriors outscored the Nets 37-19 in the third quarter, but the game was still close in the opening minutes of the fourth. Brooklyn was within 92-88 on a layup by Lin at the 9:04 mark, but the Warriors seized control with an 11-3 run capped by consecutive dunks from Shaun Livingston in a span of 24 seconds around the six-minute mark.

Golden State finished it off about two minutes later on a 20-footer by Thompson and a 3-pointer by Curry, pushing the lead to 108-93 with 4:12 remaining. Those baskets produced loud roars from many fans in the crowd, and the Warriors wound up with their 18th double-digit win of the season.

Brook Lopez scored 23 of his 28 points in the first half for Brooklyn (7-21), which lost its fourth straight and dropped to 3-16 since Nov. 12. Sean Kilpatrick added 14 and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson contributed 13 for the Nets, who shot 38.8 percent in the second half and matched their largest blown lead of the season.

"We turned the ball over a good amount as a team and gave them a lot of opportunities to transition," Lopez said. "They're the best team in the league in transitions and we've got to take away those easy ones. They get enough easy ones just because of their talent."

"I thought they turned up their intensity, they turned up their energy," Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said. "They were really aggressive on the defensive end and we have to do a better job of protecting the ball."

Before coming alive on both ends, Curry and Thompson were a combined 7 of 25 from the floor in the opening 24 minutes.

NOTES: Golden State F Draymond Green returned to the Bay Area for the birth of his son, who was born Thursday morning. Green flew with the team to New York following Tuesday's game before flying back. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he was disappointed in himself for not convincing Green to stay home. Green told Kerr he was convinced the birth was not occurring for another week. It is unknown if Green will return for Friday's game in Detroit and Sunday's contest in Cleveland. ... Nets rookie G Isaiah Whitehead (left foot soreness) missed his second straight game. ... Asked about the NBA scheduling the Nets for back-to-back games against Golden State and the Cleveland Cavaliers, coach Kenny Atkinson joked: "I asked Sean (Marks, the Nets' general manager) if I could take the week off." ... Helen Brooks, a 107-year-old Warriors fan known as Sweetie, died Thursday.