Nets rout Knicks in 1st all-NY matchup of season

NEW YORK -- Deron Williams scored a season-high 29 points and the Brooklyn Nets beat the New York Knicks 110-99 on Friday night in the first meeting this season between the city rivals.

Brook Lopez added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Nets, who had beaten the Knicks just once on their home floor since moving from New Jersey to Brooklyn in 2012. The Knicks had won the last three meetings here, but the Nets clearly looked like the best team in the Big Apple on this night.

Williams had only one 30-point game all last season, when the former All-Star battled ankle injuries. But he looked back in his old form while dancing around the Knicks for 10-of-15 shooting and six assists.

Carmelo Anthony scored 19 points but shot 5 of 20 for the Knicks, who dropped their third in a row. They came in 29th in the NBA in scoring at 89.8 points per game, but the bigger problem was a defense that allowed the Nets to shoot 51 percent from the field and make 14 of 24 3-pointers (58 percent).

With point guards Jose Calderon (strained right calf) and Pablo Prigioni (sprained right ankle) sidelined, the Knicks started Tim Hardaway Jr. in the backcourt with Iman Shumpert. Hardaway scored 16 points and Shumpert had 11.

The crowd was divided as usual, though the Nets fans were much louder as the lead grew, while filmmaker and Knicks fan Spike Lee sat glumly near the Knicks' bench for much of the second half.

There were high hopes for the rivalry when the Nets moved to Brooklyn, and the teams split four meetings that first season and plenty of trash talk the following summer. But it was a dud last season, when none of the four games was close.

This one was more of the same, with the Nets making their first five 3-pointers in racing to a 30-20 lead after one quarter. They shot only 5 of 17 overall in the second, but still pushed their lead to 55-42 at halftime.

A 9-2 burst out of the locker room made it 64-44 on a three-point play by Lopez, and the Nets were comfortably ahead from there.

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TIP-INS

Knicks: Hardaway started one game last season as a rookie. ... The Knicks wore their home white uniforms. ... Amare Stoudemire had 14 points off the bench.

Nets: Kevin Garnett grabbed five rebounds and has 14,243 for his career, passing Walt Bellamy into ninth place on the all-time list. ... Mike D of the Beastie Boys announced the Nets' starters. ... The Nets honored former owner Lewis Katz during a first-half ceremony that included NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Katz died in a plane crash in June.

UP NEXT

Knicks: Visit Atlanta on Saturday.

Nets: Host Orlando on Sunday.