Knicks Crash Nets Holiday Party at Barclays

From the desks of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH  and  DUTCH PANTS CAN'T JUMP

EAST RIVER SHOWDOWN - III

Knicks lead series 3-0

I - NYK 107; BKN 86

II - NYK 111; BKN 104

III - NYK 119; BKN 104

IV - January 30

MLK DAY

Knicks   119

Nets       104

FINAL

New York Knicks: Michael Beasley Finishes What The Unicorn Started.

I guess those fans anticipating an MLK Day battle in the paint between Enes Kanter and Jahlil Okafor no doubt left Barclays Center disappointed.  For those graduates of old-school in attendance for Monday's holiday game in Brooklyn, a neo-clash of NBA centers never materialized.

After his acquisition on Dec. 7, and for purposes of conditioning, Jahlil Okafor only played one game through New Year's Day.  On Jan. 3, he finally began a string of five games where he averaged 12.6 minutes.  On Friday, he scored 17-points in 12-minutes at Atlanta.  But he only played eight minutes against Washington, and was limited again to just seven minutes Monday against the Knicks.

Enes Kanter likewise only saw nine minutes of floor time.  But he was coming off 36-minutes and 18points against New Orleans yesterday at the Garden.

Kristaps Porzingis led all scorers with 26-points.  But after the Nets pulled within 81-83 with a 39-point third quarter, it was Michael Beasley who sparked the Knicks 4th quarter charge.  He scored 23-points off the bench and secured a game-high 10 rebounds.

Frank Ntilikina also contributed a double-double off the bench with ten points and ten assists.


Brooklyn Nets: Brick!

Brooklyn's ball distribution was clearly lacking.  Spencer Dinwiddie led the Nets with five assists, but they only managed 16 as a team.  The Knicks had 27 team assists to go along with 51.2% accuracy from the field.  The Nets meanwhile converted on just 36.8% of their attempts, and were a dismal 14 of 44 (22.5%) in the first half.

DeMarre Carroll led the Nets with 22-points in 30-minutes.  Caris LeVert likewise logged 30-minutes, while adding 20-points.

The Nets unfortunately lost their bearing in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 23-36, en route to a 119-104 defeat at Barclays.


Prior to Monday's game, there were 13 NBA team yet to achieve 20 victories this season.  The New York Knicks are no longer one of them.  The Knicks improve to 20-24 on the season, while the Nets fall to a 16-28 record.