Nets Outlast Knicks In 1st Meeting in Brooklyn

NETS 96
KNICKS 89

The Knicks had their shot. With :04 seconds remaining the Knicks had a golden opportunity to pull out a victory from the rejuvenated and revamped Brooklyn Nets.

The Knicks had made a spirited comeback, trailing by as many as five points after Brook Lopez nailed a two-point jumper to send the Barclays Center into a frenzy; the Knicks rebounded and looked poised to reclaim New York as their own.

A huge three-pointer by Carmelo Anthony cut the Nets lead to two, before hitting a free-throw shot to cut the Nets lead to 81-80 with 2:45 to play. The Knicks had the momentum; a shooting foul on Lopez and bad passes by Joe Johnson and Deron Williams quieted the Nets offense. The Knicks made their shots count: a jumper by Raymond Felton put New York on top 82-81. Tyson Chandler's dunk added two more for good measure.

However that is where the good feeling ended for the Knicks as Brooklyn rallied back to tie the game on a layup and foul shot by Lopez when the fourth quarter neared its conclusion.

The mistakes the Knicks made in the fourth quarter, like a missed 25-foot jumper by Felton, a missed 25-foot jumper by Steve Novak, and five missed shots by Anthony proved to be the Knicks ultimate undoing, as New York struggled against the Nets physical style in the paint.

Yet, here the Knicks were with :04 seconds to go, and Anthony had a chance to be the hero, after looking like a goat in the fourth quarter. He took the pass from Felton, and even though he had Novak open in the corner to his left, Anthony decided to take the shot and it wasn't even close, sending the game into overtime.

In overtime, the Nets did a fantastic job of responding to the moment. They pounded the Knicks 12-5 in the extra period; New York missed six shots, while Brooklyn seemed to nail every single one of theirs.

Veteran Jerry Stackhouse, who brings a strong presence to the Nets bench, nailed a three-pointer in the corner to give the Nets an 89-86 lead. The Stackhouse three-pointer drove the nail in the coffin. The Nets proceeded to nail five free-throw shots to ice the contest as Brooklyn won the first game of the Battle of the Boroughs.

For any Knicks' fan or player who didn't take the Nets seriously, please take note: this Nets team is a physical lot that presents a load of match-up problems for the Knicks. Once the Knicks get healthy, this match-up is only going to get better. It helps that the Atlantic Division is at stake too.