Don’t think for a second the Nets didn’t care about breaking their skid against the Knicks, and that they don’t care about pushing back on the outside world making fun of them.
Undersized and undermanned, yes. But watch Josh Minott and Brooklyn’s bench lead a near comeback in their 93-92 heartbreaker Friday night at Barclays Center. And listen to Minott in the painful aftermath, and it would be clear just how much it meant.
“I wanted that s–t so f–king bad,” said a visibly galled Minott, who had 22 points on a career-best 6-for-9 from deep. “Ever since we’ve been here, it’s like every game is an away game. [Friday] was just the night to really just stick it to everybody, man. As an organization, as a team, to show people that we got s–t here, yo.
“Man, just a sea of blue, a sea of orange. Every game we play, it’s a sea of the other team. And I saw it here when I was on the Celtics. But being here, it’s like, I’ve got nothing but respect for the real fans, the real Brooklyn fans. Shoutout to them, because I know it’s tough being outnumbered every single game. But I really feel like what we have here isn’t bulls–t. We have pieces here. I’ve seen it. That’s what this ‘rivalry’ meant to me.”
Yes, Minott really used “air quotes” with his hands.
The Nets (17-53) have dropped 14 straight in this series and haven’t beaten the Knicks since Jan. 28, 2023. That includes getting routed 120-66 at the Garden on Jan. 21 and drilled 134-98 at home Nov. 9.
But at least Friday they showed some pride. And some grit.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points and 15 rebounds and had more free-throw attempts (13) than the Nets did as a team (10).
But Brooklyn swarmed and swiped and shoved and was physical with Towns in a first half that saw them lead 50-44.
“I played with KAT for 2 ½ years, man. I know him like this. He don’t like physicality,” Minott said. “I love KAT, but he don’t like physicality. That’s my boy, too, but he don’t like physicality. I hope this angers him, too. But yeah, we were real connected on bringing that physicality to him.”
The Nets led by as much as 45-32 with 3:55 left in the half on a 3-pointer by Ziaire Williams (17 points).
They still led 59-55 before they gave up a 20-6 run to fall behind by 10.
Down 84-70 on a Towns bucket with 9:34 to play, a bench unit of Minott and four rookies sparked a 17-0 run.
They held the Knicks scoreless for 6:21, with Chaney Johnson, Ochai Agbaji and Malachi Smith — two two-way players and a 10-day contract player — playing feisty defense.
But after rookie Nolan Traore (11 points, seven assists) put the Nets up 87-84 with 3:33 left, they gave up eight unanswered. Jalen Brunson put the Knicks up with consecutive buckets, and Brooklyn couldn’t respond.
The Nets (17-53) are third in the lottery odds, pulling within two games of Indiana and a half-game of Washington.
