The Brooklyn Nets’ playoff hopes are fading more and more. On Saturday evening, world champion Dennis Schröder’s team suffered their sixth defeat in a row – against city rivals New York Knicks, for whom Isaiah Hartenstein also put in a good performance
Cracking dunks, good work on the boards – and a block against Dennis Schröder: Isaiah Hartenstein was one of the guarantors of the New York Knicks’ 105:93 win against their city rivals from Brooklyn. The German center put up 17 points and nine rebounds (including four offensive rebounds) and also collected four steals and two blocks.
Dennis Schröder, on the other hand, had a rather poor day at the early tip-off time at noon (local time). The captain of the DBB team scored nine points, hitting only four of his 14 attempts from the field. Like the rest of his colleagues, he hardly had anything to say in offense in the final period.
But from the start: Neither team took long to find their offensive rhythm despite the unusually early hour. Knicks guard Miles McBride (26 points, 6/12 threes) was in good form right from the start at home in Madison Square Garden, while Brooklyn put up a good fight. Neither team was able to open up a double-digit lead in the first three quarters
Bridges’ buzzer-beater from their own half
However, the game had a few highlights, such as a block by Hartenstein on a drive by Schröder – or when Mikal Bridges (18 points) sank a buzzer-beater from his own half: At the end of the first half, the Nets got the ball with 1.7 seconds left on the clock. While some of his teammates were already turning towards the dressing room, Bridges grabbed the ball, sent it on a long journey from his own three-point line as the siren sounded – and scored.
Ultimately, the Knicks went into the fourth quarter 80:77 ahead, but then the excitement quickly came to an end. New York embarked on a 12:0 run in the opening minutes of the period, to which the strong Donte DiVincenzo (31 in total) alone contributed ten points. Brooklyn went completely cold, hitting just 28 percent of its shots in the fourth quarter. Schröder (0/4 FG in the quarter) was also unlucky, with a three already looking in the basket but then falling out.
In this phase, Hartenstein was once again the winner of a Schröder drive in the German-German duel and the Nets were no longer able to make it close. Brooklyn (26-45) is slowly but surely losing ground on 10th place, which is currently occupied by the Atlanta Hawks (30-39) and entitles them to take part in the play-in tournament, after their sixth defeat in a row. The Knicks are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 42 wins and 28 losses.
