The Nets’ loss wasn’t just humiliating. It was historic.
Brooklyn was defeated 120-66 by the Knicks before a sellout crowd of 19,812 at the Garden, which saw defeat for the ages.
Wednesday night marked the largest margin of victory in Knicks history. The Nets have posted the lowest scoring performance in the entire NBA this season, worse than Indiana’s loss to Detroit on January 17 (121-78).
It was just a point shy of the biggest loss to any team in the league this season, and only Brooklyn’s late 5-0 run in the waning seconds of garbage time against the end of the Knicks’ bench spared them the blushes of the worst loss in franchise history — their 59-point drubbing at the Clippers last season.
In short, it was embarrassing.
“It’s just unacceptable,” Noah Clowney admitted. “It shouldn’t happen like that again.”
Coach Jordi Fernández then fell on the proverbial sword and took the blame. But both the coaches and the veterans – Nic Claxton, Michael Porter Jr. and Ziaire Williams – addressed the team in the locker room about the non-effort.
“The first thing was fighting,” Drake Powell said.
“Everyone is on the same page that at 60, we shouldn’t lose,” Clowney said, adding, “Defensively we were disastrous. We didn’t get back for the first stretch, they stuck us for 3, and had everything they wanted.”
It was a complete collapse on both sides.
The Nets shot just 29 percent and 11-for-40 from deep. Even Porter was held to just 12 points and he was Brooklyn’s leading scorer.
On the other hand, it was just as bad. Brooklyn shot 57 percent and was 16-for-32 from behind the arc. They were hit 56-27 on the glass.
And in the end, it was the thirteenth straight loss to the Knicks, the longest skid in the history of this rivalry that is almost as one-sided as the Globetrotters and the Generals.
After losing to the Knicks by 36 points on November 9, Brooklyn was on top.
“Tonight it was even worse, and I am responsible for it,” Fernández said. “I have to help them better. In the last 12 games we have been bad defensively and offensively. And that is my responsibility. Players are not responsible for that. I have to make sure they understand the values we have and how we want to play.”
It wasn’t like that.
Yes, they kept pace one game behind Sacramento for fourth place in the lottery race. But that’s no excuse for a non-competitive night like this.
With a 6-4 lead, they conceded 14 unanswered.
Trailing just 30-20, the Nets allowed an 8-0 run.
Instead of rallying, Brooklyn folded.
They gave up a 16-0 run early in the fourth quarter and trailed by 59. And this against a struggling Knicks team that had lost nine of 11.
“They didn’t play well and they said, ‘Well, we’re ready to get one.’ We came out thinking we were going to get one, and they played the way they wanted to,” Noah Clowney said. “Even at halftime we felt like if we had hit back we would have had a chance. But that didn’t happen. We went out and they hit us again.”
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