Game 55 Recap: Brooklyn Nets 109, New York Knicks 98. On the Mark(s).

In their first game after the All-Star break — and first with Sean Marks as their new general manager — the Brooklyn Nets got their 15th win of the season as they took down their crosstown rival, the New York Knicks, by a score of 109-98 at Barclays Center on Friday night.

Brook Lopez (33 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks) led the way for the Nets, who used a few big runs to overcome a slow start to get the win. Lopez took advantage of his matchup against his brother, Robin, who wasn’t able to keep Brook out of the lane, where he scored most of his points. Carmelo Anthony (22 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) paced the Knicks (who fell to 23-33) along with Kristaps Porzingis (18 points and 8 rebounds), who dominated Thaddeus Young in the first half but didn’t much down the stretch.

Here are some notes and observations from the win:

• It was another impressive performance from Bojan Bogdanovic (16 points off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting, 4-of-5 from three), whose shooting confidence has skyrocketed in the past few months following a terrible start to the season. In addition to making his share of threes, Bojan attacked the rim well and with aggressiveness. He had a little trouble staying with Anthony on defense but if he keeps making his jumpers, the Nets will be fine with him giving up some points on the other end.
• The Nets’ team shooting slashline: 48.8/47.1/85.0. For a team that has had a ton of problems making open jumpers this season, it was a pleasant surprise to see guys like Bojan, Wayne Ellington (11 points) and Donald Sloan (14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 10 rebounds) make twos as well as threes. Their ability to space the floor makes an enormous difference offensively.
• Brooklyn’s assist-to-turnover ratio was 26-to-7. Conversely, the Knicks’ was 20-to-16. The Nets made mostly good passes, which led to high-percentage shots, like this nifty Thomas Robinson alley-oop dunk off a Bogdanovic feed, and cut down on their usual mistakes. Meanwhile, they forced a ton of Knicks’ turnovers on deflections — owing to very active defense and aggressive rotations — which led to an above-average amount of fastbreak points for the Nets, who had 14 steals as well.
• All 5 Nets starters scored in double figures. Outside of Brook’s 33 — which resulted from a perfectly crafted and executed offensive gameplan — Brooklyn used balanced scoring to take advantage of weak New York interior defense. Although the threes were falling, the Nets took just 17 attempts from beyond-the-arc because the paint was mostly wide open.
• Joe Johnson (12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) didn’t do a ton of scoring tonight, but continued to be a great facilitator to his teammates as he’s one of the best passing swingmen in the NBA.
• Chris McCullough only played 6 minutes in his third NBA game, but he made a few nice defensive plays due to his length tonight and also hit an 18-footer. What’s clear about his game is that he’s raw, he has incredible defensive potential and he has confidence in his jumper. This guy could be special.
• A little bit of stepback for Markel Brown, who was really good in the games leading up to the All-Star break. He had a few in-and-outs on jumpers go against him so the stats make his play look worse than it was but he still has a long way to go to improve his all-around offensive game. The key thing for him is to stay under control and not try to do too much.
• DNP-CDs for Sergey Karasev, Willie Reed and Andrea Bargnani. Have to think a Bargs buyout is coming soon but nothing is certain there. Personally, I’d like to see more Willie Reed.

Onto the next one: Sunday late afternoon/early evening at Barclays against the Hornets.