The Knicks’ nightmare season continued with another excruciating defeat Wednesday night, squandering a 28-point lead in a 111-106 loss to Brooklyn. The Nets, playing without stars Kevin Durant (knee), Kyrie Irving (unvaccinated) and Ben Simmons (conditioning), mounted an incredible comeback, overcoming an 18-point fourth-deficit to stun the Knicks on their home floor.
Led by a herculean performance from rookie Cam Thomas (21 points in 30 minutes off the bench), the Nets rattled off 15 straight fourth-quarter points, handing the reeling Knicks their seventh loss in eight games. Meanwhile Brooklyn has followed up an 11-game losing streak by winning its last two games. Newcomers Seth Curry and Andre Drummond, both acquired from the 76ers as part of last week’s James Harden trade, chipped in with 20 and 11 points respectively with Drummond also contributing 19 rebounds and a blocked shot.
Wednesday marked the third time in a span of two weeks the Knicks have blown a 20-point lead, suffering similar collapses at the hands of Portland (23-point lead) and Los Angeles (21). Down three with less than a minute remaining, the Knicks extinguished any chance of a comeback by allowing consecutive offensive rebounds to Bruce Brown and Patty Mills.
Thomas followed that frantic sequence with a dagger three-pointer, putting the Nets ahead by six with 7.7 seconds remaining.
The All-Star break can't come fast enough for the Knicks, who now trail Atlanta by three and a half games for the Eastern Conference’s final play-in spot. The Knicks hope to have Derrick Rose (ankle surgery) back when play resumes next week, though it might take more than that to save New York from another lost season.
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