If you must go on a seven-game road trip, you might as well begin it with all the comforts of home. The Knicks began what could be a pivotal sojourn in the friendly surroundings of Barclays Center. What’s more, in remaining perfect in three games against the Nets this season, they proved to be at home with a lead.
Bouncing back from having blown a 19-point lead the previous afternoon, the Knicks put on a finishing kick in the fourth quarter Monday and gave themselves a heartening send-off, a 119-104 win. The Nets, coming off a game in which they rallied from a big deficit to force overtime in Washington Saturday, did cut the margin to two at the end of three quarters but fell way short.