Battle of Boroughs Begins at Barclays

Slumping Nets host Knicks for first of four meetings

December 20, 2023 John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Mikal Bridges hopes to shoot the Nets past Jalen Brunson and the Knicks at Downtown's Barclays Center on Wednesday night. AP Photo by John Minchillo

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The Brooklyn Nets admittedly felt like road kill after traveling through five cities in a week, and losing all but one game on their extended West Coast swing.

Now, they’ll have a chance to begin feeling better about themselves and get their season back on track in Downtown Brooklyn Wednesday night.

But only if they can beat the New York Knicks at Barclays Center in the first of four regular-season meetings between the East River rivals.

“This trip took a toll on us, mentally and physically,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn readily admitted after Brooklyn finished 1-4 on the trip following a demoralizing 125-108 loss in Utah Monday night.

“And so now, we’re 13-13, and we have to go home and regroup,” Vaughn added.

Regrouping may be the easy part as the Nets prepare to host an opponent on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush for the first time since completing a three-game winning streak with a 124-97 rout of Washington here on Dec. 8.

It may be much more difficult for Brooklyn to get back to full health and begin defending and rebounding better.

“It’s hard on anybody when you play defense great for a full 20, 24 seconds or whatever they shoot at. Then when they get offensive rebounds, it’s kind of deflating,” Nets guard Cam Thomas admitted after putting up a team-high 32 points against the Jazz.

Brooklyn gave up eight offensive boards to Utah in the second half, as well as 71 points after intermission. The Nets also got scorched for 30 fast-break points while amassing only 10 themselves.

Whether it was fatigue, or the ongoing absences of regulars Lonnie Walker IV (hamstring), Dennis Smith Jr., (back) and Ben Simmons (back), none of whom will be available on Wednesday, Brooklyn has dropped back to .500 and ninth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Nets are also trying to avoid dropping their season-high fourth straight game.

“Hopefully we get a chance to get home, get some healthy bodies,” Vaughn said.

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn saw his team suffer through a 1-4 West Coast swing ahead of its Wednesday showdown with the East River rival Knicks. AP Photo by Jeff Chiu

Getting a better performance from forward Mikal Bridges wouldn’t hurt either.

The 6-foot-6 Villanova alum went a dismal 4-of-16 from the floor in Utah, completing a 13-of-41 shooting performance during Brooklyn’s three-game skid out west.

He also failed to score at least 20 points in all three contests after putting up at least 21 in each of the Nets’ previous seven games.

Bridges, however, didn’t back away from his series of sub-par efforts.

Instead, he guaranteed that his play would improve Wednesday against the Knicks (15-11), who will come to Barclays off Monday’s 114-109 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Just did everything bad,” Bridges said Monday. “Missing shots, free throws, not defending, not rebounding.

“(I’m) letting my teammates down, coaches down, playing 5-on-4 out basically while I’m out there. I’ve just gotta be better, and I won’t let that happen again.”

New York went 2-2 on its four-game sojourn out west, and is completing a five-game trip of its own here in Brooklyn.

Nets nemesis Jalen Brunson had 11 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter Monday as the Knicks held off LeBron James and the Lakers at crypto.com Arena.

“We took a step forward tonight, and we’re going to try to keep moving forward,” said Brunson, who hit all nine of his 3-pointers and poured in a career-high 50 points in New York’s win at Phoenix last Friday night.

Brunson did in the Nets on two occasions last season after New York had lost nine in a row in the Battle of Boroughs series.

He had 40 points in a 124-106 triumph over the Nets at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 13 before adding 39 points in a 142-118 blowout win in Manhattan on March 1.

“We’re learning how to bounce back, but we’ve got to continue to stack wins,” Brunson said Monday. “You can’t be comfortable after just one. Keep stacking them, keep being resilient and just stick together.”

The Knicks haven’t won a game at Barclays since Dec. 26, 2020.

If they end that drought, the Nets will suffer the indignity of finding themselves below .500 and waiting to host the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets here on Friday.

“Hopefully, we’ve learned a lot of lessons (from the road trip),” Vaughn said.

Julius Randle looks to point the Knicks to their first win in Downtown Brooklyn in almost three years Wednesday night. AP Photo by Ryan Sun

NOTHING BUT NET: The Nets gave up at least 70 points in a half in each of their four losses out West, including a whopping 77 following intermission in Sacramento on Dec. 11. … Thomas put up 73 points in the Nets’ last two games, pushing him ahead of Bridges for the team scoring lead with 24.4 points per game. Bridges is averaging 21.9 per contest, but has played nine more games than Thomas, who was out earlier this season with an ankle injury. … After hosting the Knicks and Nuggets, the Nets will open a home-and-home with Detroit in Brooklyn on Saturday night. The Pistons have lost 24 consecutive games since beginning the campaign 2-1. They are two defeats away from matching the longest single-season skid in NBA history, but will host Utah with a chance to snap the slide before visiting Brooklyn.