Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
The New York Knicks cruised to an easy 121-102 win on Wednesday night over the Brooklyn Nets in the first battle of the season between the two teams. It was the Nets first game at home after a five-game west coast road trip in which they went 1-4. The Knicks were out west as well where they finished 2-2 before playing the Nets in Brooklyn for the final game on their five-game road trip.
The Knicks pushed their record to 16-11 while the Nets fell to 13-14. After a Cameron Johnson three put the Nets up 3-2 with 10:47 to go in the first quarter the Nets would not hold another lead for the rest of the game. Johnson and third year swingman Cam Thomas had team highs of 20 points for Brooklyn. Both made eight shots from the field, but Johnson attempted four less. “They won that battle, fair,” said Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn after the game. “We both were on the west coast, nobody can use that as an excuse. They came back home, we came back home, played a game, the same amount of rest and they were better than us tonight in all facets of the game.”
The Knicks have now won the last three meetings against the Nets after the exodus of their superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie last February. Before that Brooklyn had beaten the Knicks nine straight times. “This is today’s game, this group right here, this group had never played that group,” Vaughn said. “So, this group right here that played this game tonight we lost this game tonight. Fortunately, we get a chance to play them again. And that team who is available and plays that night will have an opportunity. But I won’t compare it or parlay it with any other group that’s played that other team before.”
Julius Randle led the Knicks in scoring with 26 points, and he has been on a tear after a slow start to the season where he had a shooting percentage of 27.1% through the first six games of the season which was the worse mark of any NBA player on a minimum of 75 shots since 1959. “Everyone is trying to analyze, it’s been a steady climb from the start of the season until now,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “I mentioned this a few days ago, if you look at the last ten games his shooting, he has really gotten into a good rhythm. We’ve always felt like, I know from having coached against him one thing you don’t want to see is Julius Randle with a head full of steam coming at you downhill. To me, that’s his strength. But off that comes a lot of other good stuff too when he’s spraying the ball, and then I think he’s made enough threes when he’s feeling good, and he puts a lot of time into his shot, he’s also got a great first step. He can get to the line off that. We don’t want him to hesitate, so the game tells him what to do. So, if they’re going under don’t hesitate, let it go. But I think his versatility is his strength. He’s got power, he’s got speed, he’s got touch, and he can score a lot of different ways. So, I think you’ll see a steady climb with the three-point shooting as well. When you look at what he’s done, each year he’s added and gotten better. So, the game will dictate what’s going on, if he gets doubled, he’s making a lot of good plays of that as well. So, he’s playing great basketball right now.”
Starting shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo finished with 23 points for the Knicks and his college teammate Jalen Brunson finished with 16 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. Their other Villanova University teammate Josh Hart had 10 points and 13 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. The Nets next host the reigning champion Denver Nuggets on Friday and the Knicks get ready for back-to-back home games against the Milwaukee Bucks on December 23rd and Christmas Day.
