Nets at Knicks
The Brooklyn Nets earned their first home win of 2017 against the New York Knicks on Sunday and will try to pull off another victory over their crosstown rivals when they visit Madison Square Garden on Thursday. The Knicks snapped a three-game slide with an 87-81 win over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday but watched forward Kristaps Porzingis go down in obvious pain.
Porzingis collided with Indiana's Monta Ellis in the lane early in the fourth quarter and needed to be helped off the floor after suffering a thigh contusion. The second-year star told reporters after game that the thigh felt stiff but he didn't believe the injury was serious, though with New York well out of the playoff race Porzingis' status for Thursday is no better than questionable. The Nets are well out of the race as well and own the worst record in the NBA, and they had to listen to their home fans cheer and chant "MVP" at Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook during a 122-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday. "As a competitor, you love these matchups," Brooklyn point guard Jeremy Lin told reporters of playing against Westbrook. "You want to see where you stack up, and he had a great game. He picked us apart, made a lot of great reads."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE NETS (12-54): Brooklyn center Brook Lopez is becoming a better 3-point shooter the later it gets into the regular season and torched the Knicks on Sunday by going 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. The 7-foot veteran, who attempted a total of 31 3-pointers over the first eight seasons of his career before first-year head coach Kenny Atkinson changed the offense, knocked down 3-of-6 from beyond the arc on Tuesday in his second consecutive 25-point effort. Lin knocked down two of his four attempts from beyond the arc on Tuesday en route to a season-high 24 points.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (27-41): New York coach Jeff Hornacek admitted before Tuesday's game that his team was likely out of the race for a playoff spot in the East but the players still dug deep to end their latest slide by holding the Pacers to 36.8 percent shooting. "That energy and effort and fight we have to play with night in and night out," Knicks shooting guard Courtney Lee told reporters. "Those are effort plays we need to make." All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony collected 22 points and 13 rebounds in the win for his first double-double since Jan. 27.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets SG Sean Kilpatrick left Tuesday's game due to a sore left hamstring and is day-to-day.
2. Knicks SF Lance Thomas is 6-of-11 from 3-point range in the last two games.
3. Brooklyn lost its last three at New York, including a 110-96 setback on Nov. 9.