Knicks at Nets
The Brooklyn Nets outplayed the New York Knicks on the free-agent market this offseason and will try to get in the first punch in the rivalry on the court as the teams meet Friday in Barclays Center. Kyrie Irving, who along with fellow superstar Kevin Durant chose the Nets over the Knicks and other teams, had a 50-point performance in his team debut - the highest-scoring first game for a team in NBA history - but Brooklyn still fell 127-126 in overtime to Minnesota on Wednesday.
"It's a great starting point," Irving told reporters. "Obviously, you wanted to come out and get a win in front of our home crowd, but we got another chance on Friday." New York has forged ahead without any established stars and its current collection nearly pulled off a road win to begin the season before falling 120-111 at San Antonio on Wednesday. Marcus Morris scored 26 points, Julius Randle had 25 and rookie RJ Barrett had a big debut with 21 on 9-of-13 shooting for the Knicks, who led by six with under 10 minutes remaining. "You've got to keep putting it on them," Barrett told reporters of the big lesson from his first game. "Just like we're not going to quit, they're not going to quit either."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE KNICKS (0-1): While Barrett put up a nice line in his debut, the team struggled at times with him running the point, a somewhat surprising move by coach David Fizdale after three others were seemingly fighting for that spot. Elfrid Payton emerged to right the ship and finished with 11 points, eight assists, five steals and zero turnovers to gain the early edge in playing time in a battle with Dennis Smith Jr. and Frank Ntilikina. "He turned our pace up and started making plays for other people," Fizdale told the media of Payton.
ABOUT THE NETS (0-1): Irving was 17-for-33 from the floor and also had eight rebounds and seven assists in his remarkable team debut. Caris LeVert chipped in 20 points and Taurean Prince added 15 and 11 boards for Brooklyn, which did not receive much help from its bench. Five reserves combined to go 8-of-21 from the floor with nine turnovers and three assists, although backup guard Spencer Dinwiddie finished with 14 points in 19 minutes.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Randle also had 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals in his team debut Wednesday.
2. Brooklyn C Jarrett Allen had five blocks in the opener.
3. The Nets won three of four meetings last season, including both matchups in Brooklyn.