Beating the crosstown rivals by no means appeared as simple for the Knicks with Wednesday’s 142-118 breeze over the Nets, a victory that represented their seventh consecutive and positioned them on the doorstep of the fourth seed.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 of his 39 factors within the first half, offering the house staff a fast strong lead that by no means acquired again to single digits within the last three quarters. Brunson shot 15-for-18 on the evening.
The Knicks (37-27) at the moment are simply 1 ½ video games out of fourth within the East behind the Cavs (39-26), who misplaced Wednesday to the Celtics.
The Nets (34-28), in the meantime, are freefalling after buying and selling Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. They’ve dropped 4 straight since extending the contract of coach Jacque Vaughn. Wednesday was essentially the most embarrassing.
The Knicks shot 61% general and 57% from past the arc on 20 made 3-pointers. Brooklyn’s resistance was minimal. Its solely optimistic was 33 factors from Cam Johnson.
The blowout commenced early. The Knicks led by 18 within the first quarter and 27 within the second. They scored 81 factors within the first half, simply three factors wanting the franchise report. It was essentially the most factors the Nets ever surrendered within the first half.
Before the Nets dealt Durant, they received 9 straight towards the Knicks. Now they’ve misplaced two consecutive.
Tom Thibodeau clearly has the higher squad in NYC.
“We talk about that a lot. Every decade, style of play can be different. Fast, slow, shooting the three the way everyone is today. But the things that go into winning are the same: unselfishness, hard work, discipline, dependability,” Thibodeau preached earlier than the blowout. “That’s also what drives improvement and achievement. The more willing you are to make that commitment to work, have discipline and be dependable — for each other. And play through things, be mentally tough. The only way you can be mentally tough is to go through things together.”
The Knicks have cleared each hurdle in the previous couple of weeks and have an necessary two-game journey upcoming at Miami and Boston.
“That’s the thing about streaks. Our last game against Boston has nothing to do with tonight,” Thibodeau mentioned. “Don’t look back, don’t look ahead. Know that, OK, today we have to come in, these are things we have to do better than we did in the Boston game, and we also have to know and understand what it’s going to take tonight. Don’t look ahead. Keep the same process for each and every game, and if you’re doing the right things, we’ll win our fair share of games.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com