The New York Knicks are perfect at home and winless on the road.
The Knicks do have plenty of time remaining on a season-long homestand to gain momentum for their next road trip, and will look to continue their home dominance Sunday night when they play host to the Brooklyn Nets in the first clash this season between Big Apple rivals.
The Knicks have been off since Wednesday, when they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 137-114 at New York. The Nets began NBA Cup play Friday night, when they fell to the visiting Detroit Pistons 125-107.
The win Wednesday continued a pair of trends for the Knicks, who are 5-0 at home and 0-3 on the road. The 23-point rout was the most lopsided result of the season for New York, which has increased its margin of victory in each home game.
After beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-111 in the season opener Oct. 22, the Knicks defeated the Boston Celtics 105-95 two nights later. New York began its current seven-game homestand last Sunday with a 128-116 win over the Chicago Bulls, followed by a 119-102 victory over the Washington Wizards 24 hours later.
The Knicks have used second-half surges to pull away in each of their last three games, when they have outscored their opponents 205-160 after halftime. New York trailed 58-54 at the half on Wednesday before mounting a 40-28 run in the third quarter.
“I think we’re growing, we’re learning,” said Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who flirted with a triple-double Wednesday before finishing with 23 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. “Obviously, playing at home is a big factor. When we get back on the road, we have to focus up even harder than we do at home. Find a way to win.”
The quest for victories has been a difficult one for the Nets, who entered Saturday as one of three one-win teams in the NBA along with the Wizards and Indiana Pacers.
The Nets earned their only win Wednesday by beating the Pacers 112-103 before absorbing their sixth loss by 10 points or more on Friday. Despite missing guard Cam Thomas, who is expected to be out at least a month with a strained left hamstring, Brooklyn ended the first quarter with a 29-27 lead over the Pistons.
But Detroit, which entered Saturday with the best record in the Eastern Conference, shot 58.4% (38-for-65) the rest of the way, including a whopping 73.3% from inside the 3-point line (33-for-45).
Defensive struggles have become common for the Nets, who have allowed 124.6 points per game, the second-highest in the NBA entering Saturday. Opponents are shooting a league-best 51.9% against Brooklyn.
“We let them live in the paint and we shouldn’t have,” said Nets forward Noah Clowney, who scored 19 points Friday, “We knew going into the game we shouldn’t have done that and we still let them live in the paint, They got big guys all sitting in the paint and you keep letting them get layups and dunks, it’s going to be efficient.”
