When things are going badly for the Knicks, their usual tonic is a meeting with the Nets, and that was no exception on Wednesday night.
New York obliterated their neighbors from Brooklyn 120-66 in a 54-point margin of victory that set a new franchise record. For at least one night, it stopped the talks of impending doom and gloom that had come with a miserable 2-9 stretch that is derailing a season that had championship aspirations just a few weeks ago.
“It’s fun, because obviously everyone gets involved, everyone obviously scores, but defensively everyone brings it,” Josh Hart, who had called the Knicks’ recent play “embarrassing,” said. “We have a game like this, it’s always good. Hopefully, it’s a get-right game for us. We just have to continue to build off it.”
This was the Knicks’ 13th straight win over the Nets, and it came on the heels of a humiliating loss to the lowly Dallas Mavericks on Monday night at Madison Square Garden in which they trailed by 30 at halftime.
Mike Brown’s message? A short and sweet, “Do your f—ing job.”
It prompted captain and star guard Jalen Brunson to hold a players-only meeting following the loss, where he stressed that it was on the players to figure this out, not the coaching staff.
They responded immediately. The defensive intensity was up, as was the offensive aggression. By the first quarter, they were already up 18 and well on their way.
“Just seeing us play the way we’re capable of playing,” Brown said. “I don’t know what the score will be every night, but the things that we did out on the floor, we talked about, we drilled, we watched film on, and our guys are more than capable. So to go see them put it together for 48 minutes was a lot of fun.”
