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The Brooklyn Nets opened the Barclays Center with a 98-88 victory over the visiting Washington Wizards on Monday. Brook Lopez scored a game-high 18 points and collected 11 rebounds for Brooklyn, which was playing its first game in the new $1-billion arena. Attendance was 14,219 fans.
Andray Blatche scored 16 points, Joe Johnson had 14 and star point guard Deron Williams added 11 and nine assists to help the Nets improve to 2-0 in the preseason. Kris Humphries tallied 11 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes, while Gerald Wallace scored seven points including a key basket with three minutes to play that extended the Nets lead to 92-84.
Ahead by just six with 1:27 to go, Blatche made a layup to push the lead to eight points, 96-88. Williams cemented the victory nailing two free throws that capped the game's scoring with 56 seconds to go.
Brooklyn resumes preseason play Tuesday when it visits the Boston Celtics (7:30 p.m. ET on NBATV).