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Nets get ambushed by Knicks in Battle of Boroughs, 108-91

By Anthony Puccio
William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- "Well, that was a nightmare," Lionel Hollins said after the game.

The Knicks won the battle of the boroughs, but they haven't won the war... or something like that. But man, this was as ugly as ugly gets.

The Knicks blew out the Nets on their home floor, 108-91, and avoided a fifth straight loss to the Nets carrying over from last year. This was almost as bad as the Nets worst loss to the Knicks in December of 1987 when they lost by 32 points. Almost.

The Nets are now 5-14 and play the Golden State Warriors this Sunday.

This game got ugly from the start. For the Nets, the first quarter was probably the worst quarter they've played since the second quarter in Boston. They made the Knicks look like the 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors.

The Knicks hit seven three-pointers and scored 42 points on 61 percent shooting. The trio of Kristaps Porzingis, Carmelo Anthony and Arron Affalo scored 29 of the 42 points.

And it only got worse.

The Knicks went up by 30 in the third quarter following a Porzingis three, marking the largest lead of the night.

Game over.

Quite frankly, the Nets looked uninterested. They'd come down on offense, pass it once - at most - then shoot a contested mid-ranger. They finished with 15 assists total.

Defensively, they were absolutely lost on the pick and rolls. The Knicks were getting any looks they wanted inside and outside against a Brooklyn team that allows the most made threes of any NBA team. They shot 12-of-27 from three.

And of course, the plays after timeouts were atrocious. Timeout. Iso. Timeout. Iso. Evidence of their 3-of-11 shooting night from three. It's one thing to miss threes, but there isn't much of a system to make it work. There's no dribble penetration. There's no swinging around the perimeter. Nothing.

And finally, how about the topping on the cake: Joe Johnson was ejected for elbowing Jose Calderon in the face midway through the fourth quarter.

"I don't have a history of being a dirty player, so I don't have a comment on it," Joe Johnson said of his ejection. "The ball got knocked out of my hand. When I went to recover it, I just tried to protect it and the rest is history."

There were very few positives in this game. For one, Willie Reed made his NBA debut and scored eight points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in 11 minutes.

Other than that, it was hard to find much else.

The frontcourt duo of Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young did their usual thing, but what good is that if nobody else steps up?

Thad finished with a double double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Brook led Nets scorers with 21 points. Thomas Robinson was the only other Net in double figures with 10 points and eight rebounds. Jarrett Jack went 1-of-5 from the field with two points and Joe Johnson was 3-of-9 on the night with nine points.

Carmelo Anthony finished with 28 points, while rookie Kristaps Porzingis put home 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Mr. Prokhorov arrives tomorrow. Perhaps he should reconsider.

"We didn't come ready to compete early and they jumped on us and knocked us out," Lionel Hollins said after the game. "We were down at halftime, we played even in the third and outscored them in the fourth. We had our chances."

For more on the New York Knicks, check out Posting and Toasting.

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