Although the latest Nets-Knicks tilt on Wednesday took place in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, it felt like most of the attendees were rooting for the team from Manhattan. But, when the home squad used a 10-2 run to end the game with a 110-104 win, it was the loyal Brooklyn fans who had the last laugh as the Nets snapped a 10-game home losing skid to even up the season series with their crosstown rival.
Brooklyn (11-28), led by Brook Lopez (20 points and eight rebounds) and Thaddeus Young (19 points and 11 rebounds), had six players score in double figures on Wednesday night en route to the much-needed win, the first at home for the Nets in over a month. Derrick Williams, taking on the scoring load normally held by Carmelo Anthony, who didn’t play (ankle), scored a career-high 31 points to lead New York (20-21) which snapped a two-game winning streak.
For once, the Nets were the team that started this game with some intensity, as Brooklyn used a bunch of early three (a couple from Bojan Bogdanovic) to win the first quarter by nine points and hold a 31-20 advantage early in the second. However, behind Williams’ outburst, the Knicks were able to get within three points by halftime. Brooklyn played pretty well for 24 minutes but a few weak minutes toward the end of the half nearly negated the strong effort in interim coach Tony Brown’s second game.
For the entire third quarter, the Knicks tried to fight back and regain the lead but Brooklyn, thanks to some shocking timely three-point shooting and bad New York (tired legs the night after a close win over the Celtics) shooting, kept them at bay. However, Derek Fisher’s team scored the final six points of the frame to take a 75-74 advantage into the fourth on a Derrick Williams layup.
After Bojan drilled a three, followed by an Andrea Bargnani jumper, to start the final quarter and put Brooklyn up 79-77, the Knicks responded with six unanswered points to go up four and threaten to run away with the game in a very Nets-opponent fashion. From there, both teams went back and forth for awhile until a Thaddeus Young dunk, after a Williams flop left him wide open, gave the Nets a 94-92 lead with just under four minutes to play.
Brooklyn’s defense locked down as Joe Johnson (yes, that Joe Johnson) returned to his 2013 self with some huge shots down the stretch. The Knicks, after an Afflalo jumper at the 2:59 mark, wouldn’t make another field goal for 2.5 minutes as the Nets built an insurmountable 104-96 lead on a Shane Larkin revenge game jumper with 34 seconds to play. That shot sealed the win for Brooklyn as Larkin stuck the dagger into the team that let him go this offseason. The Nets may be in the middle of a lost season, but beating the Knicks is always nice.
Some other observations I had from the game: Sure, Carmelo Anthony didn’t play tonight, but that didn’t mean the Knicks got enormous production from a former lottery pick. Derrick Williams, who was mostly defended by Joe Johnson who couldn’t stick with the Arizona product, scored at will tonight, but took some brutal shots in isolation in the fourth quarter, helping the Nets’ cause. Not the best night for Joe’s defense….On the other end, though, Joe was huge on offense late in the game, scoring 14 points on the night (with seven rebounds and six assists) and playing like the guy formerly known as Joe Jesus. He also made some threes, which is also a plus for this team….Brook Lopez won the battle of the Lopez Brothers tonight, roasting Robin on a bunch of beautiful moves at the rim. Robin snagged 12 rebounds but couldn’t stop Brook when the Knicks were attempting a late-game comeback….Another game, another double-double for Thaddeus Young, who outplayed Kristaps Porzingis. What a day….Bojan, Larkin, Donald Sloan and Wayne Ellington combined to score 49 points on 18-31 shooting (7-12 from three) as, finally, Brooklyn’s complimentary players stepped up in conjunction with the main go-to guys. Sloan started the game for the Nets but played two less minutes than Larkin, who got the bulk of the fourth quarter playing time. Maybe that tandem won’t be so disastrous under Tony Brown. Also, Bojan had a big nights following three consecutive 0-for’s. His inconsistency is pretty crazy, but tonight it worked out for the Nets….No Markel Brown and just six minutes from Willie Reed, while Sergey Karasev even got nine minutes of PT. Frankly, it makes no sense for Karasev to play over Brown and I expect that to change soon.
Looking Ahead: The Nets stay home on Friday to host Mason Plumlee and the Portland Trail Blazers.
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