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New York • In what was a lively shootaround on Monday morning, Trevor Booker said in no uncertain terms that he would dunk on Rudy Gobert, his former Utah Jazz teammate and good friend.

On Monday night, Booker went out and tried to make that happen.

It didn't — although he did score on Gobert twice — but Booker was still Brooklyn's best player in a 101-89 Jazz win at Barclays Center.

In his first game against his former team — Booker left Utah on good terms to sign a free-agent deal with the Nets — Booker scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. He shot 6 of 14 from the field and made an impact against the Jazz for most of the 34 minutes he was on the floor.

"It's fun to see my former teammates," Booker said. "I enjoyed my time in Utah and I stay in touch with a lot of them. Me and Rudy, we are really good friends. I miss my teammates the most."

Booker spent two seasons with the Jazz, providing a young team with energy and athleticism off the bench. He played well enough in Utah to garner significant interest on the open market around the NBA. The Jazz chose to let him go because they had Trey Lyles and wanted him to develop further.

With the Nets, Booker got the opportunity to be a starter at power forward for the first time in his career. He's taken advantage of that. He leads the Nets with 11 double-doubles this season. He's averaging 12 rebounds in his last four games. Booker also became the first Net to post a first-half double-double this season.

"Being in Utah and Washington helped prepare me for Brooklyn," Booker said. "We've been playing better than our record indicates. We've been in a lot of games, we just haven't been able to finish them."

Another homeboy

Booker isn't the only Net with ties to Utah. Brooklyn center Justin Hamilton is from Utah County and was the starting center on the 2008 Lone Peak team that won the Class 5A state title. Hamilton played 16 minutes on Monday night. He scored five points.

Recognition

Monday night marked Joe Johnson's first return to Brooklyn, a franchise he led on multiple playoff runs. Johnson was honored with a video presentation in the second quarter.

A milestone

Jazz coach Quin Snyder earned his 100th career victory on Monday. He is 100-99 in two-plus seasons.

Twitter: @tribjazz