Julius Randle and the Knicks soared into Brooklyn and handed the Nets their fourth straight loss in the Battle of Boroughs series. AP Photo by Mary Altaffer
The Nets squandered another double-digit, second-half lead, got outscored badly down the stretch and couldn’t hit a shot when it mattered most.
In other words, it was more of the same for Brooklyn Tuesday night at Downtown’s Barclays Center.
Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson put up 30 points apiece as the East River rival Knicks used a late run to hand the ever-slumping Nets their 16th loss in the last 20 games, 108-103, in front of 17,732 fans on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.
“We just got to stay together, that’s the biggest thing,” said Nets forward Mikal Bridges, who scored a game-high 36 points and knocked down a career-best seven 3-pointers.
“When a team makes a run, makes a push, we just got to handle adversity a little better,” he added.
Brooklyn (17-26), which slipped a season-worst nine games below .500 and dipped into sole possession of 11th place in the Eastern Conference playoff race, was coming off Sunday’s embarrassing loss in Los Angeles, where they blew an 18-point lead and gave up a 22-0 game-closing run to the Clippers.
Things appeared to be going much better back in our borough against the streaking Knicks (27-17) as the Nets led by as many as 10 points in the third quarter and carried an 85-76 advantage into the fourth.
But New York never relented, using a staggering 18-4 advantage in free-throws made to close the gap down the stretch.
Dorian Finney-Smith drained a 23-footer to put Brooklyn in front, 100-98, for what proved to be the last time.
Randle answered with a 3-ball of his own and after Mikal Bridges made 1-of-2 at the line to tie the game, the Knicks pulled away for good.
Randle threw down a thunderous dunk after…
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