The Brooklyn Nets couldn’t buy a basket against the New York Knicks, who put together a dominant defensive performance.
- New York Knicks 94 (8-24)
- Brooklyn Nets 82 (16-14)
- NBA, Final, Box Score
- Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
The New York Knicks needed a “feel good” win after an embarrassing loss to the wounded Washington Wizards on Monday. A 12-point drubbing of the Brooklyn Nets would fall under the category of “feel good” or perhaps even “feel great,” if that’s a term.
New York held Brooklyn to just eight two-point field goals in the game. Yes, you read that correctly. Eight. The hapless Nets only managed to shoot 26.9% from the field and that’s just… yikes. Much of Brooklyn’s problems stemmed from a walled-off interior.
The Knicks’ bigs did a good job of protecting the paint and forcing the Nets to fire away from the perimeter, which was a sound strategy. For whatever reason, none of Brooklyn’s sharpshooters could find a rhythm from beyond the arc. As a team, the Nets hit 13 of their 50 three-point attempts.
The Knicks did a great job defending, but the Nets had one of those nights where it seems like there is a lid on the basket. It happens. This game marks the best defensive game for the Knicks and conversely, the worst offensive performance for the Nets this season.
Julius Randle led the way for the orange and blue, finishing with 33 points and five made threes. Marcus Morris Sr. started the game slowly, but put up a quiet 22 points, playing the part of Robin to Randle’s Batman.
Julius has been ? ? this quarter! He's got 10 of our 15 points pic.twitter.com/uuYdlozhd3
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) December 27, 2019
Elfie's been HUGE this quarter dishin' and swishin' ? pic.twitter.com/l9Ub6nUWJd
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) December 27, 2019
In addition to Randle and Morris, Mitchell Robinson‘s fingerprints are all over this victory. Of course, he’s the team’s best rim protector and was a major deterrent to penetration. But Robinson was doing it on both ends.
His ridiculous alley-oop dunk off a Frank Ntilikina pass almost took the roof of the Barclays Center. The second-year center’s 10 points and 10 rebounds helped anchor the second unit.
PUT MITCH IN THE DUNK CONTEST ? ? #NYK pic.twitter.com/jje0w6rn6B
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) December 27, 2019
The Nets won’t take any moral victories away from this loss. None. Zip. Nada. Spencer Dinwiddie‘s 25 points or a nice stat to look at in a box score, but that’s about it. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot was the only other Net to finish in double figures. Woof.
Brooklyn embarks on a three-game road trip with stops in Houston, Minnesota and Dallas. New York, on the other hand, travels down to Washington to try and exact revenge for Monday’s loss to the Wizards.
