In an attempt to avenge their heartbreaking loss to the New York Knicks last Friday, the Brooklyn Nets looked like a shell of the team that nearly toppled their cross-town rivals. They were completely dominated from start to finish, proving once again that the Nets cannot contain the best players in the league.

Just like in the previous meeting, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges spearheaded the Knicks’ offense. The only difference Sunday night was that Cam Thomas, who exploded for 27 points in the first half of the Nov. 15 loss, posted rather pedestrian numbers.

Brooklyn gave up two points, 7-0 and 11-2 respectively, but never found themselves trailing by more than 10 points in 24 minutes of action. The combined contributions of Cam Johnson and Jalen Wilson kept the deficit manageable for the Nets, but the performance of neither was enough to overcome New York’s wing duo.

Bridges, in the second straight match against his former teammates, once again got off to a strong start in a quest for revenge. Every one of his 14 points in the first half seemed personal, and it didn’t help that the other half of the Knicks’ frontcourt was even better.

Bridges or Anunoby scored each time from the field, resulting in 18 points in just 20 minutes of action for the latter. In his return, Karl Anthony-Towns added 12 points, leaving Jalen Brunson as the odd man out.

Despite strong performances from New York’s biggest stars, Brooklyn’s grit made up for lackluster performances from Thomas, Ben Simmons and Schröder, resulting in a three-point gap at halftime.

As has been the case in almost every game this season, the Nets’ wheels started to fall off right after the break, although it wasn’t for lack of effort. Without Nic Claxton in the lineup, Brooklyn has always had a mismatch on the court.

In the third quarter, Towns played the role of beneficiary.

He easily surpassed his first-half total, adding 14 more points while dominating the Nets’ interior. Thomas finally started to look like himself, but without the support of Schröder and Simmons, Towns’ takeover continued to drain Brooklyn of its life. Until the last stanza, it was all the Knicks.

But that’s when the “Brooklyn Grit” returned.

No matter how poor their performance, the new-look Nets can never truly be accounted for. Although it may have come a little late, Johnson and Finney-Smith tried to lead the comeback charge, but the supporting cast couldn’t follow suit. Brooklyn cut the Knicks’ advantage to just eight, but the host Giants have too much talent to cede another sizable lead.

At the final buzzer, the Nets had been completely overwhelmed by New York, even if the final score didn’t reflect it. Maybe it was the presence of Towns or the deficiencies of the starting five, but Brooklyn looked decidedly less impressive than it did just 48 hours before.

Some trash from the Nets reserves made the final tally slightly better, but the overall fall of the contest was off the scoreboard.

Now 5-9, Brooklyn returns home on Tuesday to face the Philadelphia 76ers in its second NBA Cup appearance before traveling to Philadelphia on Friday for the third act of the annual tournament of the season.

To access the final score of the Brooklyn Nets’ defeat against the New York Knicks, Click here.

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