Bulls Have No Answer For KD
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
Nets Big 3 Gore Bulls
By Andrew Rosario
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
You would be hard pressed to find the last time the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets played back to back, prime time games on national television. But that’s exactly what happened last night. The Knicks opened the night hosting the Dallas Mavericks and were followed by the Nets who were on the road against the Chicago Bulls on ESPN.
The New York Knicks (20-21) were looking to continue their winning ways (3 wins in their last 4 games) while Dallas (22-28) and reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Luka Doncic came into the game with a 6-game winning streak. It was almost a perfect game for the Knicks as they outscored the Mavericks every quarter and never trailed after a Doncic lay-up gave the Mavs a 8-7 lead.
From the start, the Knicks continued to ride the hot hand of RJ Barrett who scored 8 points in the first quarter as New York took a 30-21 lead. Doncic leading Dallas with 7.
Villanova’s Jalen Brunson helped the struggling Dallas offense with 9 first half points but besides Doncic’s 14 points, no other player put up more than 7 points on the board. Meanwhile, New York was spreading the wealth. Both Randle and Barrett scored 11 and they got help from Eric Fournier and Alec Burks contributing 10 each as the Knicks took a 56-45 halftime lead. Doncic leading all scorer with 14 points. New York took 18 3-pointers making 8 while Dallas missed 14 of their 17 attempts.
The second half was all New York as Barrett (32 points, 4-7 3 pointers) had the crowd chanting his name. Center Mitchell Robinson (19 points, 10 rebounds) came up big as well. It was the 5th straight home win for New York. Defensively, the Knicks only allowed Doncic (21 points, 11 rebounds) 8 in the second half as he missed 8 of 9 3 points attempts. Barrett, who scored 31 the game before against San Antonio acknowledged the fans calling out his name. “It felt great,” he said. “Doing it as a team is what’s getting us these wins. Any time you have five starters in double figures, that’s a recipe for success.”
The Nets defeated the San Antonio last Sunday in which the game went into overtime. Then, they boarded a cross country flight right afterward to play the Portland Trailblazers Monday night. Brooklyn gave Portland a fight for the first three quarters before running out of gas in the loss. The Nets were without Jame Harden who was nursing a sore knee. The Nets had a day off after flying back to the east coast to face the Bulls in Chicago. What a difference a day of rest made.
For only the second time this year, the Brooklyn line-up included the big three of Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant. It made all the difference as the Nets routed Chicago 138-112.
It was a back and forth game for the first three quarters, tied at 71 after a Nikola Vucevic lay-up. It was all Brooklyn from that point on. Durant led all scorers with 27 points, (17 points in the quarter) as the Nets went on a 24-8 run to close out the quarter 101-79. Harden was right behind him adding 25 points with 16 rebounds. Irving played after tweaking his ankle in Portland, only contributing 9 points but improved the team record to 13-3 when the big three are in the line-up.
“We had an unbelievable resolve all night,” said Irving. “We were in that flow where it gets dangerous for the other team, for our opponent. We’re hitting 3’s, we’re getting to the rim, touching the paint. It’s going to be difficult for teams to load up and make adjustments on the fly when you have me, James and K out there.”
The New York Knicks go on the road to face the Atlanta Hawks Saturday night then look to continue their home winning streak Monday afternoon against the Charlotte Hornets.
The Nets host the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight before the New Orleans Pelicans come to Barclays Center Saturday night.
