Home US SportsNBA Knicks use great shooting night to throttle Nets, 134-98, in battle of boroughs

Knicks use great shooting night to throttle Nets, 134-98, in battle of boroughs

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The Knicks obliterated the Nets, 134-98, in a battle of the boroughs at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.

Here are the takeaways…

— Entering play in the midst of a three-game winning streak and putting up impressive offensive numbers in the process, it didn't take long for New York to get going. After missing their first shot of the night, the Knicks made four straight baskets, including two three-pointers, to go up 10-3 before Brooklyn's head coach Jordi Fernandez called a timeout. From there, New York was off and running.

— The Knicks were making it rain from deep all game long. It started in the first quarter when they went 7-for-11 from downtown with six of the triples coming from the corners, something New York has been extremely good at so far this season. When they weren't draining it from deep, the Knicks were going to the line or scoring underneath the basket with relative ease to put up 40 points in the opening quarter, compared to Brooklyn's 22.

— New York moved away from the deep ball in the second quarter, focusing more on scoring inside the paint. Karl-Anthony Towns imposed his will around the basket and got contributions from reserve players such as Jordan Clarkson and Josh Hart who both had good games off the bench. The biggest difference in the second quarter, in which the Knicks dropped another 37 points, was the Nets' shots started to fall as well. 

— Brooklyn matched New York's first quarter output and put up 40 points in the second quarter thanks to an avalanche of three-pointers headlined by Michael Porter Jr. The two teams went into the locker rooms at halftime with the Knicks leading 77-62.

— Following the break, New York came out firing from deep once again and continued to see them go in. Six different players made a three-pointer in the third quarter en route to a 35-point period. Even more impressive, defensively the Knicks completely clamped down on the Nets and held them to 17 points in the third. This right after allowing 40 in the second quarter.

— New York's defense forced Brooklyn's offense to shoot a ton of threes and to no avail. The Nets went 3-for-13 from downtown and only attempted four shots from inside the arc (going 2-for-4) in the quarter.

— Basically over since the first quarter, the Knicks put the Nets completely away in the third and fourth quarters and were able to get some of their younger players some valuable minutes at the end of the game while resting their starters. Guys like Tyler Kolek (three assists), Pacome Dadiet (two points, one rebound) and Mohamed Diawara (five points) were able to see the floor with Diawara sinking his first career three-pointer.

— Towns led all scorers with 28 points and reeled in a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with two assists and two steals. Mikal Bridges had the most efficient night (6-for-8) and nailed down four threes on five attempts. OG Anunoby joined Bridges with four triples and also added eight rebounds (four offensive), three assists and one steal to his ledger.

Mitchell Robinson got the start once again and finished with eight points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 17 minutes of action. 

— The Knicks shot 53.3 percent from the field and 45.9 percent from deep, while the Nets struggled in the second half and only shot 40.2 percent from the field and 31.1 percent from deep. 

Drake Powell had a good game with 15 points off the bench for Brooklyn.

Game MVP: Karl-Anthony Towns

In a game with so many stars, we'll go with the only player to record a double-double.

Highlights

What's next

The Knicks are back in action on Tuesday night when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies at home. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.



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