Even Nets coach Kenny Atkinson had to admit the Knicks are Broadway, while his team is off-Broadway. They may have found a few promising young actors, but they wilted under the spotlight Wednesday against the Knicks.
The Nets folded in the fourth quarter of a 95-90 loss, a seventh straight defeat that saw the sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center largely taken over by blue-and-orange.
“I’d say we’re off-Broadway right now, and we’re trying to get on,” Atkinson said. “We know it’s a long road and a difficult road, but we’re trying to get in that conversation, in the New York conversation.”
If there were any conversation about this one, it wouldn’t be pleasant. For the second straight game, the Nets guarded well, but for the umpteenth time, they lost a game by getting hammered on the backboards and making untimely turnovers.
For a while, the Nets’ new smallball lineup with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (16 points, eight boards) at power forward worked, and they took a 76-66 cushion on Justin Hamilton’s dunk with 10:18 left to play. But then they proved no lead is too big or too safe. They coughed up a 20-4 run and ended up falling to an NBA-worst 9-40.
“They picked up their intensity, picked up their heat on the ball,” Atkinson said. “We turned it over, didn’t get the type of shots we wanted. And they started getting second and third shots. It’s tough to give any team in the NBA multiple shots at the rim. That’s the story of the game, story of the fourth quarter.”
Brooklyn conceded 21 offensive rebounds, including seven by Willy Hernangomez.
“We did a great job for the first 24, and then when they get the offensive rebound, it’s draining,’’ Isaiah Whitehead said. “It definitely affects our going down the other end on offense. We play so much defense to get out in transition and then when they score [its hurts].”
The Nets jumped out to a quick 21-11 lead, and padded that cushion to 27-15 after arguably their best first quarter of the season, smothering Carmelo Anthony (6-of-22, benched in the fourth quarter) and Kristaps Porzingis.
The Nets led 69-64 after three — the fewest points it allowed going into the fourth quarter all season — in holding the Knicks to 31.2 percent from the floor and 3-of-18 from deep. The Nets stretched that lead to 76-66 before falling apart.
With Anthony off the floor in the fourth, the Nets still got beat up inside by Hernangomez and got forced into turnovers. They had five of their 21 in the fourth quarter, during which they forced just one. All those extra possessions cost them.
Porzingis had a dozen in the fourth quarter, and his dunk put the Knicks ahead 79-78. It stretched to 86-80, and the Nets never rallied.
“They got a lot of offensive rebounds and converted on them,’’ said Trevor Booker, who came off the bench for the first time all year. “I think that took the game for them.”
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