The preseason mercifully came to an end for both the Knicks and Nets Thursday night in Brooklyn. And in a game that almost, kind of felt like a regular season game, the Knicks pulled away in the third and held on in the fourth to beat the Nets 116-111 at Barclays Center.
The Knicks (4-2) kept up their scoring in the preseason, using a 13-0 run to close out the third quarter, and turn a four-point deficit into a nine-point cushion that proved just too much for the Nets to overcome.
On the other hand, Brooklyn (1-5) showed all the defensive frailties it has all preseason. The Nets have dropped five straight after winning their preseason opener in rookie coach Kenny Atkinson’s debut.
The Knicks played for the fifth straight preseason game without Derrick Rose, with Sasha Vujacic starting as they await the return of the point guard from his civil trial. On Thursday it didn’t matter, with Carmelo Anthony scoring a team-high 21 points and Courtney Lee adding 15.
After Atkinson had spent the preseason shuffling and reshuffling the lineup to sort through an unwieldy 20-man roster, he finally went with what had the look of a regular-season lineup and rotation.
Point guard Jeremy Lin, who has taken to Atkinson’s motion offense, had a game-high 24 points and 10 assists. But with the pick-and-roll again play essentially non grata until the fourth quarter, center Brook Lopez had another fairly quiet night with a dozen points and four boards on 4-of-11 shooting.
Brooklyn jumped out to a quick 9-2 on a conventional three-point play by Lopez lead before the Knicks rallied to end the first quarter tied at 24-all. The Nets opened another 54-43 lead on Hollis-Jefferson’s reverse with 2:40 left in the half, but the Knicks again closed on a 12-3 run to go into the locker room down just two.
It was still close, 78-74 after Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer with 2:48 left in the third, when the Knicks made yet another run. They held the Nets to six straight misses (including a dunk attempt by Anthony Bennett) to run off 13 straight and go into the fourth up 87-78.
Brooklyn tried to rally, getting within 107-102 on Lin’s 3-pointer with 3:38 to play. Joe Harris (15 points, 3-for-3 from deep) drilled a 3 to make it 114-111 in the final minute, and grabbed a defensive rebound to give the Nets one last chance. But Yogi Ferrell — among those potentially vying with Bennett for the final roster spot — committed a turnover which sealed it for the Knicks.