NEW YORK — It didn’t take the New York Knicks long to turn those words into a statement.
With Madison Square Garden buzzing and both teams looking for traction in the January slump, the Knicks’ stars brought a sense of urgency from the opening tip, blitzing the Brooklyn Nets early and winning 120-66 on Wednesday night to snap a four-game losing streak, improve to 26-18, extend Brooklyn’s slide to three games and push the Nets to 12-30.
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It was the biggest win in Knicks history.
Jalen Brunson scored a game-high 20 points and set the tone with his speed and shooting. With Karl-Anthony Towns entering the game in bullying fashion early and Landry Shamet comatose from beyond the arc, the Knicks destroyed Brooklyn’s initial confidence with a first-quarter surge that effectively decided the game before it even had a chance to breathe.
Brooklyn looked like it was going to ruin the night. Rookie Yegor Deming started the game fearlessly, hitting back-to-back three-pointers to ignite an early spark for the Nets. But the Knicks responded immediately. Towns scored 7 points in a row, Brunson and Mikal Bridges also got their own results, and the Knicks went on a 12-0 run, turning a 6-4 deficit into a 16-6 lead with 6 minutes and 48 seconds left in the first quarter.
From that point on, the Nets’ offense stalled and the Garden smelled blood.
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Michael Porter Jr., who was confirmed to be out with a minor medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain on Jan. 7, started the game 0-for-4 from the field and Brooklyn had little to show for it outside of Deming’s early shot. The Nets didn’t get their first non-Deming shot, and only their third, until Nic Claxton jumped the passing lane for a coast-to-coast layup at 6:09.
By then, the Knicks had settled into a rhythm, and Brooklyn was left in a familiar spot in the building, playing catch-up from behind.
As the quarter progressed, the Knicks’ lead only grew larger. Brunson scored 11 points in the opening game, Towns scored 7 points, and Shamet hit consecutive three-pointers at the last moment to push the lead to 18 points. What started as a competitive trial suddenly turned into a Knicks game.
For the Nets, the early collapse was another reminder of how slim their advantage has become as the season wears on. And that’s exactly what they’ve been trying to avoid: a promising start wiped out by a cold snap, quickly falling behind and not having enough answers once their opponents find their groove.
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The Knicks scored 60 points on 55 percent shooting in the first half, trailing Brunson and Towns, who both scored in double figures at the break. They also shut down Brooklyn on the other end, holding the Nets to 38 points on 32.5% shooting while forcing seven turnovers. No Nets player scored in double figures in the opening 24 minutes, and even as Porter began to shake off the slow start, finishing with nine points on 2-for-3 shooting at halftime, the Knicks failed to allow Brooklyn to find a steady rhythm.
They made sure of that in the second half as well.
Shamet’s sixth and final 3-pointer pushed the Knicks to the century mark with 8:01 left, and Brooklyn still had 56 points, the same total it had at the start of the fourth quarter. The Nets didn’t score their first points of the final frame until Day’Ron Sharpe hit two free throws with 5:38 left in the game. There was nothing more defensively dominant for the Knicks than the night they held Brooklyn to 29.1 percent shooting.
Porter scored a Nets-high 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting.
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“BTA” might be putting it mildly. Brooklyn’s 54-point loss was the second-worst in franchise history, while the 66 points were the fewest by an NBA team this season.
It was the bounce the Knicks needed to regain their advantage and a reminder of how dangerous they can be when their effort is matched by talent.
The Knicks don’t return to action until Saturday when they take on the Philadelphia 76ers on the road at Xfinity Mobile Arena, while Brooklyn faces the Boston Celtics on Friday at Barclays Center.
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