Knicks-Nets Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Apr 18 2012 12:57AM

For the last 35 years, the New York Knicks have had to cross the Hudson River to play road games against the New Jersey Nets.

When the series resumes next season, they'll be crossing the East River.

Hoping to build on an impressive offensive showing, the Knicks will make their final trip to New Jersey to face the Nets on Wednesday night.

After falling 93-85 to Miami on Sunday, New York (32-29) bounced back Tuesday with a 118-110 victory over Boston to keep alive its slim hopes of winning the Atlantic Division. The Knicks, who are in sole possession of seventh place in the Eastern Conference, trail the division-leading Celtics by 3 1/2 games with five remaining.

Boston could have clinched a fifth straight division title with a victory, but instead New York came out inspired, erupting for a season-best 72 first-half points while shooting 14 of 21 from 3-point range. The Knicks finished 19 of 32 from beyond the arc, falling one short of their franchise record for 3s, set last season.

Carmelo Anthony had 35 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double, while JR Smith and Steve Novak each scored 25.

"Our bench was great," Anthony said. "Novak and JR, them guys combined for 50 points off the bench. When they get hot like that, it's hard to deal with."

Typically, it's Anthony making things difficult on opponents.

Anthony is averaging 30.4 points on 50.4 percent shooting in the 12 games since Amare Stoudemire (back) and Jeremy Lin (left knee) were sidelined. Stoudemire could return Friday in Cleveland but is not expected to play in New York's last game in New Jersey.

The Nets (22-40) have called the Garden State home since 1977, but will move to Brooklyn for the 2012-13 season. Monday's contest against Philadelphia will be their last in New Jersey.

The Knicks are 33-48 as the road team in the series, but are 2-0 at New Jersey's current home, the Prudential Center.

This will be New York's first visit of the season after splitting the first two meetings between these clubs at Madison Square Garden. Anthony struggled in both games, finishing with 11 points in each while shooting a combined 7 of 26 (26.9 percent).

Deron Williams led all scorers with 38 points and made a career-high eight 3-pointer in New Jersey's 100-92 win over New York on Feb. 20, but won't be available this time because of a sore right calf.

Williams sat out Monday's game against Miami, and the Nets nearly pulled off the upset. LeBron James, however, proved to be too much.

New Jersey led 89-84 with 4:48 to go, but then James took over, scoring the Heat's final 17 points to hand the Nets a 101-98 loss. Miami took its first lead with 51 seconds remaining.

"(Monday) was the first time since we've been here where we've actually looked like an NBA team," second-year coach Avery Johnson told the Nets' official website. "We didn't win the game, but that's a small victory for us. That's what I'm trying to push. Winning spirit."

Kris Humphries scored 29 points and MarShon Brooks had 24 for the Nets, who were also playing without Gerald Wallace (hamstring) and lost Shelden Williams to a hyperextended right knee. Both are questionable for this game.

Humphries is averaging 17.0 points and 13.0 rebounds against the Knicks this year.

Brooks is averaging 19.7 points in his last three games overall after averaging 8.7 over his previous seven. He had 18 points in the Feb. 20 victory over New York.

Anthony leads Knicks in last visit to New Jersey

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Apr 18 2012 11:17PM

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Carmelo Anthony saw the Knicks jerseys in the stands, heard the cheers, and felt right at home.

"It was a great Knicks atmosphere out there tonight," he said.

It always was whenever Knicks played across the Hudson River.

Anthony scored 21 of his 33 points in the first quarter, and the Knicks beat the Nets 104-95 on Wednesday night in their last trip to New Jersey.

Continuing his torrid stretch without Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin, Anthony hit his first six shots in front of the usual pro-New York crowd that will become an all-New York crowd next season, when the Nets move to Brooklyn.

The Nets once hoped to have Anthony in the lineup when they got there and he is showing why lately, surpassing 30 points for the third straight game and the sixth time in nine games this month. He shot 11 of 21, going 5 of 7 on 3-pointers, and finished slightly ahead of the NBA-best 32.1 points he was averaging in April.

"He's playing unbelievable right now," center Tyson Chandler said. "He's playing, if not the best, definitely in the tops right now, as far as individual basketball."

Chandler added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who won for the 15th time in 20 games under interim coach Mike Woodson and remained in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

Gerald Wallace scored 21 points in his return to the starting lineup after missing four games with a strained left hamstring for the Nets, who were still without All-Star guard Deron Williams because of a sore right calf.

Mike Bibby had eight points and eight assists for the Knicks in place of Baron Davis, who sat out with a stomach virus.

Anthony followed LeBron James' spectacular finish here Monday, when he scored Miami's final 17 points in the last five minutes, with a start that was nearly as good.

The All-Star forward made his first six shots, including three 3-pointers, the crowd cheering louder with each as he nodded his head and stuck out his tongue in enjoyment of how easily it was coming. The Knicks' lead reached 21 on his three-point play with 2:02 remaining in the period, and the Nets needed the last basket of the quarter to make it 38-22 and avoid being outscored by Anthony.

It was 64-47 at halftime, but Anthony didn't get the same help he had Tuesday against Boston, when JR Smith and Novak combined for 15 of the Knicks' 19 3-pointers, and the offense stalled in the third quarter.

The Nets outscored the Knicks 24-14 in the period, limited New York to just 4-of-17 shooting, and got as close as five before heading to the fourth down 78-71.

Nets coach Avery Johnson thought the Nets did a much better job against Anthony after his explosive start.

"He was phenomenal in the first quarter. I think he hit two or three shots from half court," Johnson said. "He got them off to a great start but when Anthony went out the game I thought our second unit, some of our subs did a really good job against their bench and then we got back into the game. We did a good job of guarding Anthony in the second half."

Smith and Novak finally got going in the fourth, combining for 15 of New York's first 16 points as the Knicks regained control before the crowd chanted "Let's go Knicks! Let's go Knicks!"

The fans, many wearing Knicks jerseys, later saluted Anthony with "MVP! and "Melo!" chants.

"It felt like a home game for us," Anthony said. "Most of the crowd was our fans, here in New Jersey, so it didn't really feel like a road game for us."

The Nets are used to it, and Wallace, playing in his first Nets-Knicks game, said he had similar experiences in the NBA.

"You must (have) forgot I was (in) Charlotte for like seven years. The first three years it felt like we were somewhere," he said. "Every team we played it felt like we were in their city. That's not a big thing. I'm kind of used to it.

"They're a playoff team, we're not. So obviously they're going to have more fans and their fans are going to be more energetic than our fans."

It was the usual Knicks-Nets game in New Jersey, where the scoreboard listed the Nets as the home team but there was no reason to believe it. It's a short trip from New York across the Hudson River, and the Knicks fans' have been all too happy to take it, one of the reasons the rivalry has always been in the Knicks' favor.

The Nets had some success through the years, including sweeping the Knicks out of the 2004 playoffs, and dominated their cross-river rivals for a few years when Jason Kidd made the Nets one of the top teams in the East.

But the Knicks have owned the off-the-court battle, and scored the most recent and perhaps significant victory in February 2010, when Denver took their package instead of the Nets' when they finally decided to move Anthony. Though it was long believed his preference was the Knicks, the Nets hoped he would be convinced to accept a trade to New Jersey if the Nuggets didn't like what the Knicks were offering, knowing he needed to sign a new contract last season before a new collective bargaining agreement that was going to severely limit salaries.

The Nets rebounded from the disappointment by acquiring Williams the next day, but he insists he will test free agency this summer. His decision could determine whether the Nets arrive in Brooklyn with hopes of contending anytime soon.

Nets officials hope the move to the Barclays Center, scheduled to open in September, and its easy accessibility via a number of subway lines will help them establish a fan base that they never consistently count on in the Meadowlands or during their two years at the Prudential Center.

They will play their final game in New Jersey on Monday against Philadelphia.

Smith finished with 15 points for the Knicks. Sundiata Gaines, starting for Williams, finished with 18.

Notes: Stoudemire will work out Thursday with the expectation that he will return from a bulging disk in his back Friday against Cleveland. ... Knicks reserve forward Jared Jeffries was a late scratch with a sore right knee. ... The Nets are 1-7 without Williams this season.

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Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Notebook: Knicks 104, Nets 95

Posted Wednesday April 18, 2012 10:55PM

By Abe Schwadron, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: One night after notching only the second triple-double of his career, Carmelo Anthony scored 21 first-quarter points, finished with 33 and led the New York Knicks to a 104-95 win over the New Jersey Nets in the final matchup between the cross-river rivals before the Nets move to Brooklyn next season. New York led from wire to wire, riding Anthony's hot shooting and a double-double from Tyson Chandler, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds. With Deron Williams nursing a calf injury, Gerald Wallace shouldered the scoring load for the Nets in his return from a hamstring injury, netting a team-high 21 points. But New Jersey struggled to find a flow on offense, and more importantly, a way to stop Anthony early on.

QUOTABLE: "I thought we came out ready to play. We jumped on them and did everything we needed to do from the very beginning."
-- Knicks coach Mike Woodson

THE STAT: New York shot 61 percent from the field in the first quarter, helping the Knicks jump out to a 16-point lead after one period of play.

TURNING POINT: New Jersey cut what was once a 21-point New York lead to just five on a Sundiata Gaines 3-pointer late in the third quarter, but the Knicks responded with a mini 5-0 spurt, capped off by a crowd-pleasing Steve Novak 3-pointer. Then, with less than eight minutes left in the fourth, Novak dialed up from long distance yet again, extending the Knicks' lead to 91-78, enough to put New York in coast mode.

HOT: Anthony's 21-point first-quarter explosion came on 8-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. He hit from deep, he got to the rim, and was simply unstoppable. By quarter's end, Anthony had just one fewer point than the entire Nets team, and the Knicks led 38-22.

QUOTABLE II: "I don't think I've felt like this in a while. Just feeling good about myself, feeling good about my body, where I'm at, physically, where I'm at. Mentally, everything is just clear. I have a lot of clarity right now. Everything is just fun."
-- Carmelo Anthony, on his recent play

NOT: Kris Humphries came in averaging 17 points over two games against the Knicks this season. The third time was no charm. Before hitting a baseline jumper at the halftime buzzer, Humphries was 1-for-8 with a pair of turnovers. He battled his way to 15 rebounds, but on a night when the Nets needed his scoring punch, Hump shot just 2-for-11, turned the ball over four times in all and scored only eight points.

GOOD MOVE: With Jeremy Lin on the mend and Baron Davis fighting a stomach flu, Knicks head coach Mike Woodson inserted seldom-used veteran Mike Bibby into the starting lineup. And though Bibby's struggles this season are well-documented, he played within himself and ran the offense admirably, scoring eight points (including two 3-pointers) and dishing out eight assists in 36 minutes of action.

BAD MOVE: Rookie Jordan Williams got the start at center for New Jersey, but played just 12 minutes, as the Nets elected to go small for most of the game in an attempt to match Anthony at power forward. Coming into the night, Williams had been averaging more than 22 minutes, seven points and six rebounds per game in the month of April.

NOTABLE: New Jersey is now 1-7 without Deron Williams in the lineup. Starting in his place, Gaines tied a career-high with 18 points, including four 3-pointers.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Not surprisingly, Knicks fans showed up in full force in Newark, turning the Prudential Center into what amounted to a road arena for the Nets, save for the hometown T-shirt toss. Chants of "MVP! MVP!" rained down on Anthony when he stepped to the free throw line late in the fourth quarter.

QUOTABLE III: "It felt good, but I'm not the MVP. It felt good, though, just to be here in Jersey, on the road, just to see all those Knicks uniforms in the stands, the Knicks fans out there. It was a great Knicks atmosphere out there tonight."
-- Carmelo Anthony, on hearing MVP chants on the road

UP NEXT: For the Nets, Saturday @ Milwaukee, Monday vs. Philadelphia, April 26 @ Toronto. For the Knicks, Friday @ Cleveland, Sunday @ Atlanta, April 25 vs. L.A. Clippers.

• Knicks: Lin, Stoudemire
• Nets: James, Lopez

• Knicks: --
• Nets: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
• Officials: #27 Dick Bavetta, #63 Derek Richardson, #75 Eric Dalen
• Attendance: 18711
• Duration: 2:12