NETS KO KNICKS IN FINAL TICK
LeVERT’S GAME-WINNER HANDS FIZDALE & CO. ITS FIRST LOSS
Spencer Dinwiddie may have been right when he boasted during the preseason that the Nets are “better than Knicks.” If so, it’s not by much. After losing all four of last season’s games against the Knicks, the Nets needed every second of the first of four meetings to prove Dinwiddie’s point, with Caris LeVert’s driving basket capping a back-and-forth thriller and giving Brooklyn a 107-105 win Friday night.
With the score tied, and fans from both sides on their feet at Barclays Center, LeVert crossed over former Michigan teammate Tim Hardaway Jr. and drove right, converting the contested shot while absorbing contact with one second remaining. The Nets guard finished with a career-high 28 points on 8-of-13 shooting, adding six rebounds and five assists.
Hardaway (29 points) had an opportunity to steal LeVert’s moment, but his deep 3-pointer missed at the buzzer.
In 10 days, the Knicks (1-1) and Nets (1-1) meet again, at Madison Square Garden. Until then, Hardaway may still be thinking about LeVert’s shot that slipped by his outstretched left hand.
“Got to know that he’s going right. Got to know that,” Hardaway said of his former teammate. “It falls on me. Just being around him all this time, I should know that.”
The Nets built a commanding early lead behind LeVert and Jarrett Allen (15 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks) and held control for the entire first half — shooting 70 percent in the first quarter and maintaining a double-digit edge on the glass — but the Knicks hung around, trailing 57-50 at the break.
The Knicks overcame an 11-point second-half deficit behind the interior dominance of Enes Kanter (29 points, 10 rebounds), offensive boosts from Kevin Knox (17 points) and Frank Ntilikina (nine points, four assists) and a 22-3 edge in turnovers — tying a franchise-record for the Knicks’ fewest ever — but the Nets recovered.
The teams traded leads seven times in the fourth quarter. Seven times they were tied. Every time, one set of fans made Brooklyn sound like home.
“The energy was great in the build- ing. I felt it,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “It was great, the ebb-andflow of the game. The Knicks come back and the Knicks fans go crazy, and then we come back and our fans are great. … I’d love for both teams to keep improving and have these battles going forward, into the future. It’s great for the city and great for the fans of New York basketball.”
Before the game, David Fizdale downplayed the notion of a rivalry until both sides improved from lottery-bound status, but the Knicks coach could see the electric potential of future matchups between the two young cores.
“It was good. I expect nothing less from our city,” Fizdale said. “They have two good teams they can be proud of. A lot of young kids out here that are playing really hard, and they represent the city well.”
The longer the game went, the more a lead felt temporary.
LeVert knocked down a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1:53 left. Kanter tied it again, with a three-point play, with 15.9 seconds left.
Overtime seemed inevitable. Neither side seemed better.
Then, Levert put Brooklyn atop the town — for now.
“That was tough last year, taking four on the chin from them and losing four, and none of us liked it,” Atkinson said. “I think those are the things in the summer you think about, and it motivates you to work a little harder. For our group, I think it’s a good win. Because of the New York rivalry, it has a little more meaning.”