Game thread: New York Knicks vs Brooklyn Nets 7:30 12/8/2018 [Game #27]

After splitting two matchups in late-October, the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets meet on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden coming off vastly different results against two of the Eastern Conference's best teams.

The Nets pulled out a 106-105 overtime win over the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors on Friday night, snapping an eight-game losing streak, a day after the Knicks dropped a 128-100 decision at Boston.

New York managed just 39.6 percent shooting from the field in the loss as the bench went cold, connecting on just 12 of 36 attempts. Worse, the Knicks' defense was puzzled by the Celtics, who shot better than 53.3 percent from the field and finished with 32 assists.

"Terrible," Knicks coach David Fizdale told reporters after the game. "Terrible defense tonight. It was Swiss cheese. No matter what coverage we put in, we just didn't have it defensively tonight."

The Knicks had looked like they were turning a corner before the loss, the team's second straight after going 4-2 in their previous six games.

"We have to sustain it," Fizdale said before the loss to Boston. "I'm not sitting here celebrating it from the standpoint of we've arrived or we got this whole thing figured out. It's just I felt we're doing it the right way step by step, piece by piece. We can't get to the end of this tomorrow. We got to go through everything, we got to build it the right way and not skip any steps."

Facing the top team in the Eastern Conference on Friday, the Brooklyn defense tightened up against the Raptors, holding a vaunted Toronto offense to 39.3 percent shooting. Kyle Lowry, Toronto's talented point guard, managed just three points on 1-of-8 shooting.

The Nets also absolutely dominated the board, outrebounding Toronto 60-41, with former Raptors first-round draft pick Ed Davis snagging 15 rebounds off the Nets' bench. This, after Brooklyn had shown little spirit in the previous two weeks, when they fell to 9-18 after a respectable 8-10 start.

In their last matchup, a 115-96 New York win on Oct. 29 that snapped a five-game Knicks losing streak, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 25 points to lead seven Knicks in double figures. Brooklyn shot just 40.5 percent from the field and no player in the starting lineup scored more than D'Angelo Russell's 13 points.

"We weren't ready to play," Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said at the time. "We can look for excuses, but this is game (seven). This isn't game 74. We should have been more ready."

Things were a lot closer the first time around, a 107-105 Brooklyn win on Oct. 19.

Caris LeVert had 28 points in that win, including 10 free throws on 11 attempts, to lead five Nets in double figures.

Hardaway and Enes Kanter had 29 points each in the loss, but New York shot just 40.2 percent in the field.

LeVert, who is currently sidelined with a foot injury but might return sometime this season, hit the game-winning shot over Hardaway in that first win, capping off a 15-point fourth quarter.

"Kenny had a lot of confidence to go back to me tonight and I just wanted to come through," LeVert said after the game.

(STATS / cbssports.com)

Thanks, Rady.

I watched the Nets pick up a big OT win against Toronto last night. Most of the time though, they stink as much as we do. This game will be decided by which team decides this is the 1 out of 3 games where they play to win.

Knicks trail 56 - 45 at the half. Complete snoorefest. Still no minutes for Ntilikina. Mudiay and Kanter playing well. Everyone else going through the motions. THJ shooting 1 for 7 from the floor. Maybe he needs to play less minutes.

htr10 said:

Knicks trail 56 - 45 at the half. Complete snoorefest. Still no minutes for Ntilikina. Mudiay and Kanter playing well. Everyone else going through the motions. THJ shooting 1 for 7 from the floor. Maybe he needs to play less minutes.

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Exactly the first point of emphasis I said last game that needed change immediately otherwise I can't see us really trying to accomplish big things going forward. I can't even begin to tell you how much I loathe he wears a Knick uniform and then the gall of us to make him a high usage player. Steve Mills what a joke!

Ntilikina checks into the game with less than 4 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. I hope he shoots 0 for 20 and has 11 turnovers so it shows Fizdale to stop putting players in the ?dungeon?.

Ntilikina with 3 assists in 2 minutes. I?m sure Fizdale giving himself credit for that.

As I thought we can stomp our feet all we want for coach to play Knits...he can't guard all 5 positions and isn't that great of a factor defensively. It was basically Dotson vs Dimwiddie to close out the 3rd. Knits contributed but it could've been anybody manning the position in the 3rd

Our defense may have been worse to close the qrt out

I just turned on the game .. can someone explain why we're down by 13 to the nets?

I checked the stats, Tim with 7 points in 23 minutes. Is he the one messing it up for us?

we making that comeback with Frank Nitty :smokin:

Now Knits is contributing and it's his OFFENSE that's key.

Trier slacked on that one smh

Damn they're killing us with the 3 pointers

Excellent 24 hours for team tank... some teams ahead of us win... Nets (who will battle us for the 3-5 spot) beat us...

We?re back in the mix for bottom 5 finish.

Zion dream stays alive!

Timmy shooting slump continues... bad news... was hoping he would play himself into trade bait.

MRob is ridiculous. He is worth the price of admission.

We lose 112 - 104. Fizdale went with MRob, Dotson, Knox, Ntilikina, and Trier down the stretch. That is a tank lineup that can be fun to watch.

htr10 said:

We lose 112 - 104. Fizdale went with MRob, Dotson, Knox, Ntilikina, and Trier down the stretch. That is a tank lineup that can be fun to watch.

Click to expand...

That line up I would pay to see any night. The guys on the bench on the other hand, I would ask for a refund :lol:

PHO, ATL, CLE, CHI and NYK are the early front runners to battle for those first 5 lottery spots. After 27 games, which is pretty much 1/3 of the season.

We?re almost there Knick fans...

Only questions remains are (1) can we shed future payroll (Timmy, Lee, LT)... (2) Can we get anything for Kanter/Burke? (3) Is Mudiay, Vonleh, Mario part of the future? (4) Will KP return in March to get some work in? (5) Will the kids play well enough to stay in a rotation together!

That group that closed the game should play together at least 10 minutes a game... get acclimated to one another.

Just was able to catch most of the 4th qtr when Fiz had all his young guys in and they were able to narrow the deficit but we still took the L. Nice game by Nits, saw all 3 of his makes and he paid attention on D as he usually does, he was vocal on the floor as well clapping his hands and urging his teammates on. He seemed to be more animated and motivated after his mini-benching so I guess Fiz pushed the right buttons with the kid. Hoping he can sustain it and maybe the light comes on for the kid someday.

Not upset i missed the game ....

Brooklyn Head coach Kenny Atkinson outscored coach Fizdale in the first 3 quarters of the game
to give Brooklyn a 17 point lead to start the 4th quarter.
Kenny Atkinson shut Fizdale's sorry coaching down like his ex-teammates .. Gasol and teammates did the right thing to become a (15-10) winning team this season !!!