The Nets transformed Barclays Center into a grand postseason stage, with dark T-shirts and luminous bracelets, banners and baked goods, fireworks and a drum line, one glorious self-tribute after another.
It was like a concert, Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson said. The arena glistened like a gemstone. All that was left, after the team's owner, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, addressed the crowd and the lights flooded back onto the court, was a basketball game, and a fairly important one for the franchise.
Just reaching this point was not the team's ultimate ambition, as much as the pregame festivities suggested it was. A team stocked with playoff veterans — with no N.B.A. championship rings on any of their fingers — understood that a stumble in this series-opening showcase against the Chicago Bulls would be dire.
But they did not stumble. They surged.
The Nets dominated Chicago in a 106-89 win in Game 1 on Saturday that may resound in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls trudged off the court in stunned silence. The Nets' pregame party became a nightlong event.
"It's been a long time coming for this franchise," guard Deron Williams said. "We expected to be here. We came out playing like we wanted to be here."
Earlier in the week, Williams said he appreciated that many observers were picking the fifth-seeded Bulls, making their eighth playoff appearance in nine years, to win the series. Nets Coach P. J. Carlesimo said the team still carried its underdog spirit from its days in New Jersey.
"As good a year as we've had, I think we're still fighting for more respect," Carlesimo said before the game. "It will come from us advancing."
The fans showered their rebranded franchise with adoration, and the arena pulsed with "Brooklyn" chants that echoed throughout the first quarter. Black T-shirts were left on the seats, and the Nets wore black uniforms, unifying the setting in its collective darkness. The team fed off the crowd's electricity.
"The atmosphere couldn't have been better," Carlesimo said. "Before we did anything, they were great."
The Nets pushed the tempo and tried to get center Brook Lopez in a rhythm early, attacking the Bulls' Joakim Noah, whose appearance in the game had been questionable because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
The Nets were also rapacious defensively in the first half, collecting four blocks and four steals while forcing seven turnovers. They held Chicago to 8 points in the lane and none in transition.
The Bulls missed 17 of their first 24 shots, and the Nets shot 16 of 20 from the field in the second quarter, scoring 35 points. Williams hit a running bank shot with two seconds left before halftime, the icing on the Nets' first-half masterpiece. They led, 60-35.
"That was one of our best halves of the season," Williams said.
Chicago had no answer for Williams and Lopez, who took their connection to another level. Williams was a dynamic penetrator and distributor, as highlighted by an impressive drive and feed to Lopez for a one-handed flush with four minutes left in the half.
Lopez, the only Nets starter making his first postseason appearance, looked every bit the All-Star center the team relied on all season. How he would handle the playoffs — the atmosphere, the intensity, the Bulls' defense, all of it — was a source of some anxiety. Lopez led all N.B.A. centers in scoring this season and played well against Chicago, but this was a different stage. Lopez rose to the occasion, finishing with 21 points.
"I wasn't worried about him," forward Reggie Evans said. "Shoot, he was ready."
Lopez flummoxed Noah, who did not move well in the 14 minutes he played. Without him, Chicago had little to offer in the frontcourt. The Bulls were outrebounded, 39-35, and outscored inside, 56-36.
Six Nets players scored in double figures. C. J. Watson scored 14 points off the bench, and Evans had 13 rebounds. One especially important contributor on both ends was Gerald Wallace, who suddenly emerged from what seemed like a monthlong slump, scoring 14 points, his biggest offensive output since March 23.
Wallace added two blocks and one steal and held Luol Deng to 3 of 11 shooting. "It's a fresh start," Wallace said.
Williams, who in February said his ankles were so sore he could not dunk, punctuated his 22-point performance with a reverse dunk in the third that caught even some of his teammates by surprise.
He had been saving that one, Joe Johnson said. On Saturday, the Nets lifted all the stops.
Nothing — not bad ankles, not gravity, certainly not the Bulls — was going to hold the Nets down.
REBOUNDS
Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau left open the possibility that guard Derrick Rose could play in this series. Rose has not played since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the first game of the playoffs last season and is considered doubtful. Thibodeau said if Rose woke up and felt confident enough to play again, he could do so. ... Before Saturday's game, Mikhail D. Prokhorov told the fans: "Thank you for your passion and support this season. This is only the beginning."
Beckley Mason contributed reporting.
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