As happened in the recent victory against Golden State, Miles McBride has a hot hand, and the start of the derby is all his: the Knicks guard scores the first 4 shots of his evening (three from the arc) but it is the Nets who close ahead by two points in the first quarter (30-28) driven by an excellent Lonnie Walker coming off the bench. The balance remains so also in the second period, with DiVincenzo on one side and Cam Johnson on the shields, even if it is an almost full-court three-pointer by Mikal Bridges that ends with an exclamation point a first half that sees the Nets go all out at halftime leading by one point, 57-56. Jalen Brunson argues with the two-point basket (4/17 before the last break), but has better aim from three (3/4), and his triple at the end of the third quarter seems to be able to break the tie, but just as happened at the end of the first half the Nets hit a triple at the buzzer – this time by Cam Thomas – to set the score at 80-77 for New York. Brooklyn equalized at 80 at the start of the final period but 10 points from DiVincenzo (in a 12-0 run) gave his team a break. It’s the decisive push, because the Nets don’t score anymore, the Knicks tighten their defense and reach their maximum lead at +18. The game ends here, with DiVincenzo as the best scorer at 31 points, McBride at 26, Brunson and Hartenstein scoring 17 points each and Hart collecting 13 rebounds. For the Nets – defeated 105-93, sixth defeat in a row – Thomas’ 19 and Bridges’ 18 were not enough.