Brooklyn Nets control Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks

NEW YORK -- Last month, rookie forward Kristaps Porzingis and the New York Knicks eased their way past the Brooklyn Nets.

This time, the Nets made things as difficult as possible on Porzingis.

Perhaps no player was as physical on Porzingis as forward Thaddeus Young.

Besides getting a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds, Young spearheaded an effective defensive showing against Porzingis and the Nets snapped a 10-game home losing streak with a 110-104 victory over the Knicks.

Porzingis had 19 points on Dec. 4 when the Knicks scored 42 first-quarter points and coasted to a 108-91 win at Madison Square Garden.

Many Knicks fans that were part of a sellout crowd expected another big game from Porzingis, especially with forward Carmelo Anthony sitting out because of a sprained right ankle.

It never developed as Porzingis finished with 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field. The subpar night came 24 hours after Porzingis had 26 and was 10 of 18 from the floor in a six-point win over the Boston Celtics.

"One of the things defensively we wanted to make sure (was) we did touch him," Brooklyn interim coach Tony Brown said. "We gave him a lot of space the last time we played the in New York. He was free to play and knocked in some shots from deep and we just wanted to make sure we were into him a little more tonight than before."

Young ensured Porzingis would not get many good looks by constantly getting in front of him as soon as the fourth overall picked touched the ball. Young held Porzingis to 1-of-8 shooting from the field while guarding him.

"I just tried to be aggressive with him," Young said. "I was looking at some tape, I noticed a lot of guys are playing off of him and he's getting free for a lot of open shots.

"He's taking shots not a lot of guys are expecting him to take. So I just wanted to keep my body in front of him, make him feel me and make him take contested shots. I think that was the biggest thing. The percentages go down when you take contested shots."

Porzingis said, "They weren't making me miss, I was just missing," Porzingis said. "But I could feel the pressure from the beginning. It was really getting into my jersey and playing tighter defense on me, especially because the first quarter that I had last night.

"They didn't want that to happen, of course, and I can tell they were paying a lot of attention to me."

Young was not the only Nets player who was effective offensively. Brooklyn placed six in double figures, including center Brook Lopez, who finished with 20 points and eight rebounds while also getting occasional chances at defending Porzingis.

"When we came in the (film) room, Tone just said we don't want to give him any warmup shots, anything easy to get him going early," Lopez said. "That's something we did last game. We looked through the scout video and we wanted to make everything difficult for him and I think we did a good job on that. Thad did a fantastic job on him."

Forward Joe Johnson added 14 points in Brooklyn's first home win since beating Philadelphia on Dec. 10 and the Nets also had productive nights from their backcourt. Shane Larkin added 17 points and Bojan Bogdanovic contributed 14 on four 3-pointers.

The Knicks fell to 0-3 without Anthony. Reserve forward Derrick Williams tied a career-high with 31 points but went scoreless in the final 5:36.

Guard Arron Afflalo added 18 and point guard Jose Calderon contributed 16, but it was not enough as New York (20-21) was unable to go above .500 for the first time since Nov. 23.

"I think Carmelo helps everybody," Knicks coach Derek Fisher said. "So not having him out there makes a difference for every guy on your team. I think Kris in his first year is learning every night about different situations and how to fight through different things."

The game featured 14 lead changes and nine ties until the Nets made enough plays down the stretch.

An uncontested left wing 3-pointer by Calderon gave the Knicks a 92-90 lead with 5:21 remaining. Brooklyn never trailed after Young's dunk with 3:56 to go made it 94-92.

The Nets finished it off by getting two mid-range jumpers from Johnson in a span of 30 seconds for 100-94 edge with 1:29 left. About a minute later, Larkin hit a pull-up jumper for a 102-95 lead, sending many Knicks fans to the exits.

NOTES: Wednesday marked the third game Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony has missed this season and second game with a sprained right ankle. New York coach Derek Fisher did not seem to think the injury was serious and hopes Anthony can return Saturday in Memphis. ... The rumors have already begun about the next general manager and coach of the Nets. ESPN reported former Suns and Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo is a strong candidate to fill Billy King's former job and the Sporting News reported the Nets have reached out to former Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. ... Interim Nets coach Tony Brown employed Wayne Ellington and Donald Sloan as his starting backcourt and said he would see how it goes before making any changes. ... Brooklyn G Jarrett Jack had surgery on his torn right ACL in his right knee and is expected to make a full recovery.