As Jay-Z once said, the city is under new management.
The Knicks got better at the trade deadline and the Nets got significantly worse. That was obvious Monday night, the best players now residing on Broadway rather than in Brooklyn.
Without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the Nets are no longer title contenders. They may not even be good enough to avoid the play-in round of the playoffs. The Knicks showcased their newfound superiority over their city rivals, coasting to a 124-106 victory at the Garden to move within two games of the fifth-place Nets. They are also now just a half-game behind the Heat for sixth with one game left, in Atlanta against the Hawks on Wednesday, before the nine-day All-Star break.
The Knicks snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Nets in emphatic fashion, as Jalen Brunson was by far the best player on the floor, exploding for 40 points on 15 of 21 shooting along with five assists and no turnovers. New addition Josh Hart continued to impress as a Knick, adding 27 points along with five rebounds, and Julius Randle chipped in 18 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
The Nets, meanwhile, fell to 1-2 since the stunning Durant trade to the Suns, and were run off the court in the final 17 minutes. They held a two-point lead with 5:07 left in the third quarter, and were promptly outscored, 41-20, over the next 13 minutes. With 4:15 left, Nets coach Jacque Vaughn threw up the flag, emptying his bench. His team managed just 45 second-half points and shot 40 percent from the field over the final 24 minutes. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 28 for the Nets (33-24), but was held to eight after halftime.
The Knicks (32-27) made Dinwiddie look like a star in the first half, allowing the Nets guard to go off for 20 points on 12 shots in a disjointed opening 24 minutes. He poured in 13 points in the second quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers.
The Knicks finished the first quarter and started the second well, putting together an 18-5 run that included seven points from Hart. But they couldn’t sustain it in a second quarter that saw them out-rebounded by six and allow four offensive rebounds.
It was an isolation-heavy half for the Knicks, who managed just six assists and were frequently stagnant, taking too long to get into their first action. They only attempted five free throws, 10 fewer than the visiting and far more aggressive Nets.
Brunson and Randle combined for 33 points on 13 of 23 shooting, while everyone else was held to 25 points. Barrett was one of the main culprits, not only shooting 0-for-5, but failing to record a rebound, assist or steal.
The ball moved much better to start the third quarter for the Knicks — they had three assists over the first 3:06 — and it translated into a 12-2 run. They also finished the period strong, as the Villanova boys — Brunson and Hart — scored 11 of the team’s last 14 points. Brunson, in the middle of a heater, hit a step-back 3-pointer in the final seconds, sending the Knicks to the final quarter with a 10-point lead. At that point, he had 36 points on 14 of 19 shooting and six made 3s in eight attempts.
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