Knicks hold off Nets after seesaw battle for back-to-back wins

It was a chance for Mikal Bridges to have his night, his first time back at Barclays Center since the trade over the summer that sent him from the Nets to the Knicks. At times it seemed as if his teammates wanted to make it a party for him as they sought him out on offense.

But it was also one of those nights when Bridges didn’t have it going and shots that he normally makes clanked off the rim. Passes slipped just out of reach for him on fast breaks and he struggled through a scoreless second half.

Yet it was a perfect distillation of why Bridges was happy to make the move from Brooklyn where he was the No. 1 option to the Knicks where he is just one of five talented starters. As he searched for his shot it was Karl-Anthony Towns who emerged for much of the night and a late push from Jalen Brunson to lead the Knicks to a 99-95 win over the Nets at Barclays Center.

Towns led the Knicks with 25 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. Brunson had 17 points —eight in the fourth quarter — and OG Anunoby had 20 points while Josh Hart filled the boxscore with seven points, nine assists and 12 rebounds. Bridges had 10 points and that was just fine as the Knicks sweated out a harder than it should have been victory.

The Knicks needed someone to salvage this night because they seemed to be doing everything they could to throw the game away. At one point early in the second half the Nets grabbed seven offensive rebounds in just over three minutes as the Knicks were repeatedly caught flat-footed and a step slow. It wasn’t one they will brag about, but the win gave the Knicks back-to-back wins for the first time since New Year’s Day.

The Knicks missed layups, turned the ball over and were outworked much of.the night by a Nets squad that followed Jordi Fernandez’s demands. The Nets coach had urged them to play hard even as they are deficient in talent on paper and seem content to chase a lottery pick.

The Knicks led by as many as 13 after taking the lead in the opening minute of the second quarter. But the Nets made a run in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to 87-85 with 6:03 remaining, prompting a Knicks timeout to try to halt the 10-2 run that cut the gap from 10 to 2 in less than four minutes.

But out of the timeout Towns missed on a driving lay-up and Keldon Johnson buried a three-pointer to give the Nets an 88-87 lead. After missing 11 of their first 12 shots in the fourth quarter with four turnovers, Towns connected on a jump hook with 2:59 remaining to push the Knicks back in front.

The Nets moved right back in front on a pair of free throws by D’Angelo Russell, and Brunson countered with a baseline jumper. When Nic Claxton missed a drive to the hoop Josh Hart started a break, finding Brunson ahead of the field for a 93-90 lead. After the Nets closed to one again, Brunson connected on a jumper in the lane and then ran down an errant shot by Russell, starting a break that ended in an OG Anunoby dunk with 57.8 seconds left for a five-point lead and a chance to finally take a breath.

Russell buried a three out of a timeout with 52 seconds left and the Knicks were again left to try to hang on. Brunson had the ball deflected out of bounds and when they struggled to get the ball inbounds they called a timeout with 36.4 seconds remaining. Brunson rimmed out a floater on a pretty feed from Towns and Brooklyn had the ball and a timeout with 23 seconds left to try to take this one over.

But Cam Johnson missed on a three-pointer and Hart soared through a crowd of players to grab the rebound, calling timeout before stepping out of bounds with 12 seconds left. Brunson then went to the line with seven seconds left and drained both free throws for four-point lead.