Brooklyn Boro

Knicks get best of Nets again on MLK Day

Brooklyn falls to 0-3 vs. NYC rivals in deflating loss at Barclays

January 16, 2018 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Head coach Kenny Atkinson is hoping his Nets and the rival Knicks can eventually become postseason competitors in the not-too-distant future. AP Photo by Seth Wenig
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The Nets didn’t just suffer their fifth loss in six games Monday afternoon at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

They also endured the indignity of dropping their season series to the archrival Knicks in front of a Martin Luther King Day sellout crowd of 17,732 at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

We understand how important it is to the fans,” Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson admitted after his team fell to 0-3 vs. the Knicks this season following the 119-104 defeat.

“It’s not lost in translation,” he added of the East River rivalry. “We understand it, and it would be great one day if we were playing a playoff game [against the Knicks] like the Subway Series they have in baseball or Giants-Jets. It’s special.”

And it felt special for most of the rare mid-week matinee on the corners of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues as Knicks and Nets fans traded chants with Brooklyn trailing by just two points entering the fourth quarter.

But the Manhattanites got the last laugh when the Knicks exploded for the first 11 points of the fourth quarter and never looked back, leaving the Nets to hope they can at least salvage the season series finale between the clubs on Jan. 31 at Madison Square Garden.

“That was kind of the knock-out punch,” Atkinson ceded. “They took us out in the beginning of that fourth quarter and then dominated us the rest of the quarter.”

DeMarre Carroll had 22 points and eight rebounds and Caris LeVert added 20 points off the bench for Brooklyn, which has been outscored by a combined 43 points in its three losses to the Knicks thus far this year.

“I feel like we played defense for three good quarters and the fourth quarter we kind of let up a little bit and that led to their breakaway in the fourth quarter,” LeVert noted.

Kristaps Porzingis led all scorers with 26 points and Michael Beasley added 23 for the Knicks, who got to hear their fans chant “Let’s go Knicks!” for the majority of the fourth quarter.

“I hope we get it,” Atkinson said of a potential interborough NBA playoff series down the road. “I really wish that. I’m a real New York fan. Both teams being good would be good for the city.”

 

Nothing But Net: Injured Nets guard D’Angelo Russell, who could be activated for Wednesday’s game here against San Antonio after missing the past two months with a knee injury, picked up a technical from the bench during the third quarter of Monday’s game. Russell was expected to practice with the Nets in Sunset Park on Tuesday before any definitive decision was made regarding his status for the Spurs game.

 

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