Friday 27 December 2019 09:07, UK
Julius Randle said the New York Knicks played "a complete game" as they handed their local rivals the Brooklyn Nets a surprising defeat.
Randle had 33 points and eight rebounds as New York forced Brooklyn into their worst shooting performance in the NBA this season in a 94-82 victory.
"We were just sharp. To hold that team to 82 points, 14 points in the paint, is just really, really sharp," Randle said. "We grinded the whole way, played a complete basketball game and we got the win."
A local rivalry was supposed to go national on Thursday night, with the Knicks and Nets scheduled to play on TNT before the game was recently replaced. That turned out to be a wise decision because it was anything but must-see TV.
Brooklyn finished 21-of-78 (26.9 per cent) from the field. Chicago had the previous worst shooting game this season when it hit 29.9 per cent against Toronto exactly two months earlier.
"They just outplayed us. Plain and simple," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. "You could sit there and write and talk about missed shots - we did miss lots of open shots - but give them the credit. They simply were the better team tonight."
Marcus Morris added 22 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Elfrid Payton scored 13 points as New York won for the first time in three meetings with Brooklyn this season.
The Nets' eight two-point field goals were the fewest in an NBA game since 1950, when the Lakers and Pistons each made four shots from the field in a game with a final score of 19-18, according to Elias Sports.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 25 points but was only 5-for-15 for the Nets, who were held to their lowest point total of the season.
"For us, the target was to keep them under 100. We also shot 27 per cent," Dinwiddie said.
The game even lacked the usual energy of a match-up between the city rivals, when there is almost always noise because both teams have plenty of fans in the building. This time, there were simply too many long spells when there was nothing to cheer from the sellout crowd of 17,732.
The Nets hadn't played since Saturday and couldn't shake off their holiday rust. Randle scored 12 points in the first quarter, when his five baskets were as many as the Nets. Brooklyn shot 21 per cent for the period and the Knicks led 24-15.
That wasn't the Nets' only bad quarter. After they had cut it to 46-41 at half-time, they came out for the third and took more than eight minutes to make a basket. That allowed the Knicks to break it open with an 18-4 burst that extended an eight-point lead to 71-49 on Payton's lay-up.
"It is a tough task when you shoot 25 per cent," Nets center Jarrett Allen said. "That makes playing defense much harder and running up and down the court harder."
Payton said he could sense the frustration in the Nets' body language during that third quarter, when the Knicks outscored them 33-20.
"You could feel it, you could see it," he said. "And credit to us that we made some plays to kind of like seal the game."
