This one went according to script. The Nets took an early lead.
The Knicks bullied them until late.
At the end of the game, the Knicks came from behind to win 108-103 in front of a capacity crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center. The venue may have been Manhattan rather than Brooklyn, but the audience cheered wildly.
Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson each scored 30 points for the Knicks, with Randle taking over in the second half.
Brooklyn led by 10 points and made it 100-98 with 2:20 left, but a 7-1 deficit forced Brooklyn to claw its way back across the East River for the win.
“Yeah, that’s our team,” Randle said. “And with me [Brunson], we've had a lot of big scoring nights and things like that. But those are the things that win us games. Those are plays that probably don't get noticed. They are helping us win with their winning plays. And give them credit for what they did. It won us in this game.
“The lights were on. It was special. We came back. The crowd really went crazy. It was great to hear the New York Knicks chants at Barclays. That's always fun.”
Well, on the one hand it's fun.
The Knicks and four Villanova players had the last laugh as former Wildcat teammate Mikal Bridges scored a game-high 36 points, scoring 7 of his career-high 13 points from behind the basket. Ta.
But that wasn't enough, and Brooklyn's late-game devastation was such.
Where have you heard of such a thing? The Nets' mentality after blowing an 11-point lead in the final minute against the Clippers and allowing a 22-0 run to end the game tied for their worst since play-by-play tracking began. is clearly damaged.
“We just have to overcome it. Even if they get away a little bit, we can't just fall down and put our heads down,” Bridges said.
“We're supposed to be together, that's the most important thing. When the team makes a run, push. We need to handle adversity a little better. At the beginning of the year We were able to do that and we won some games towards the end, but we lost a little bit. It's tough when you keep losing until the end. It lowers your confidence.”
The Nets won 32-18 in the fourth quarter, but shot just 30.4 percent from deep, going just 3-of-13 from deep.
Nick Klaxon had eight points and a career-high 17 rebounds, and Cam Johnson broke out of a slump with 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep.
But he will regret hitting the last shot that could have tied the game with 6.8 seconds left as Brooklyn lost 106-103.
Fittingly, Randle grabbed the rebound and iced it.
After Brooklyn dominated the series (at one point winning nine in a row), the Knicks won four in a row and improved to 27-17.
Since acquiring OG Anunoby from the Raptors for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, they have won four straight and 10 of their last 10 games.
Meanwhile, the Nets (17-26) lost for the 11th time in their past 13 games.
But Brooklyn led 81-71 after Cam Thomas hit an alley-oop by Claxton.
Bridges added a midrange pull-up to make it 83-73 with 38.1 seconds left in the third.
Then came the 4th quarter.
With 9:04 remaining, Myles McBride's pull-up 3-pointer pulled the Knicks within 87-83.
A valuable baseline dunk from Achiuwa made it 97-96, and after Claxton lost the ball wide, Randle's putback layup put the Knicks ahead with 3:57 left.
Dorian Finney-Smith's left corner three gave Brooklyn back the lead until deuce, but Randle's 3-pointer made it 101-100 with 2:19 left.
The Knicks never followed again. Bridges made just 1 of 2 at the line, but Josh Hart blocked Dennis Smith Jr. at the rim and Anunoby denied Johnson.
Hart converted that into Randle's game-winning breakaway dunk.
Randle then hit a dagger layup on Hart for a 105-101 lead with 25 seconds left in regulation.
Bridges made a successful fadeaway to cut the lead in half. However, after Brooklyn fouled Brunson, Brunson sank both of his attempts and Johnson missed three and landed on the ice.
“Just go for it, it's a tough game for us,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “But we were at our best in the fourth quarter and I thought we found a way to win.”
