The Knicks didn’t need long to turn this one into a statement.
With Madison Square Garden buzzing and both teams searching for traction amid January skids, the Knicks’ stars brought the urgency from the opening tip, blitzing the Nets early and never looking back in a 120-66 win Tuesday night to snap a four-game losing streak and improve to 26-18, while extending Brooklyn’s skid to three and dropping the Nets to 12-30.
It was the largest margin of victory in Knicks franchise history.
Jalen Brunson finished with a game-high 20 points and set the tone with his pace and shot-making. Karl-Anthony Towns bullied his way to early buckets, Landry Shamet was unconscious from behind the arc, and the Knicks flattened Brooklyn’s initial confidence with a first-quarter surge that effectively decided the game before it ever had a chance to breathe.
Brooklyn briefly looked like it came to spoil the night. Rookie Egor Demin opened the game with no fear, drilling back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Nets an early spark. But the Knicks’ response was immediate. Towns scored seven points in a hurry, with Brunson and Mikal Bridges weaving in buckets of their own as the Knicks ripped off a 12-0 run and flipped a 6-4 deficit into a 16-6 lead with 6:48 left in the opening quarter.
From there, the Nets’ offense stalled, and the Garden smelled blood.
Michael Porter Jr., confirmed to be playing through a minor MCL sprain suffered Jan. 7, started the night 0-for-4 from the field and Brooklyn struggled to generate anything outside of Demin’s early shooting. The Nets didn’t get their first non-Demin bucket, and just their third overall, until Nic Claxton jumped a passing lane and went coast-to-coast for a layup at the 6:09 mark.
By then, the Knicks were already in rhythm and Brooklyn was left in a familiar spot in this building, chasing the game from behind.
The Knicks’ lead only grew as the quarter moved along. Brunson poured in 11 points in the opening period, Towns added seven and Shamet knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers late to push them ahead by 18 after one, turning what began as a competitive feel-out into a game that was suddenly all Knicks.
For the Nets, the early collapse was another reminder of how thin the margin has become as its season drifts. And it came in the exact way they’ve been trying to avoid: a promising start wiped out by a cold spell, a quick deficit and not enough answers once the opponent found its groove.
The Knicks hung 60 first-half points on 55% shooting behind Brunson and Towns, who were both in double figures by the break. They also smothered Brooklyn on the other end, holding the Nets to 38 points on 32.5% shooting while forcing seven turnovers. No Nets player reached double figures in the opening 24 minutes, and even with Porter starting to shake off his slow start by going 2-for-3 in the second quarter for nine points at halftime, the Knicks never let Brooklyn find a steady rhythm.
They made sure of that in the second half, too.
Shamet’s sixth and final 3-pointer pushed the Knicks over the century mark with 8:01 left, while Brooklyn was still sitting on 56 points, the same total it had at the start of the fourth. The Nets didn’t score their first points of the final frame until 5:38 remained, when Day’Ron Sharpe hit a pair of free throws. For the Knicks, it didn’t get much more dominant defensively than that on a night they held Brooklyn to an abysmal 29.1% shooting.
Porter led the Nets with 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting.
“BTA” might be putting it too gently. Brooklyn’s 54-point loss was the second-worst in franchise history, and its 66 points were the fewest scored by any NBA team this season.
It was the kind of bounce-back the Knicks needed to restore their edge, a reminder of how dangerous they can be when their effort matches their talent.
The Knicks won’t return to the floor until Saturday, when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena, while Brooklyn returns to action Friday against the Boston Celtics at Barclays Center.
