In Brooklyn

Jeff Hornacek said before the game that his team needed to focus on starting with more energy, after allowing 35 points to the Pistons in the first quarter of Saturday’s blowout road loss. That didn’t happen. “I don’t know what the thinking was coming out to start the game. We gave them wideopen shots. They kept making three after three after three,” the Knicks coach said. “It was like practice shots for them. We weren’t up on them. … So that was what was disappointing — that they were so easy.”

The Knicks enhanced their effort in the second half, holding Brooklyn to 53 points over the final two quarters. But as has been the case in many games this season, the improved defense came too late. The Knicks pulled within six points with 1:09 remaining before Jeremy Lin’s jumper in the lane on the ensuing possession sealed the Nets’ victory.

“We put ourselves in that situation,” said Kristaps Porzingis, who scored 19 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

Derrick Rose shot a putrid 5 of 15 from the field but finished with 17 points thanks to a near-perfect night at the free throw line. Courtney Lee added 15 points on 10 shots.

Outside of Lopez, six other Nets finished in double figures: Caris LeVert (13 points), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (14), Trevor Booker (14), Quincy Acy (12), Isaiah Whitehead (10) and Lin (13).

Lin, the former Knick, also chipped in five assists and four rebounds.

“Frustration is definitely at an all-time high,” Lee said. “If we want to win, we got to go out there and show it and do it. It’s got to be an action. It can’t be just words. …You got to have the mindset, you got to have the will and you got to go out there and do it. It can’t be four (guys). It can’t be three. It can’t be two. It has to be everybody.”