Nets center Brook Lopez was so excited for last night — the first time the Brooklyn Nets were playing the Knicks in Madison Square Garden.
Then the game began.
Knicks center Tyson Chandler eventually turned all that excitement into frustration, and the Nets may have left the joint hoping it was the last time they would have to play the Knicks in the Garden.
Chandler was a 16-point, 12-rebound, defensively charged beast all game in the Knicks’ 100-86 wipeout of the Nets. And nowhere was Chandler better than in the third quarter when he pick-and-rolled the Nets to death, collecting five of his six dunks (four of them off lobs, three coming from Raymond Felton).
“I wanted to just close the game. I wanted to make a statement,” said Chandler, who had three blocks.
That statement might as well have been: “You’re toast, Nets.”
“This was a big game for us, a game in our division, an opportunity to gain a full game as far as the lead goes,” Chandler said. “We have to make statements like this.”
And Chandler did. Again and again and again.
“He was solid,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “He plugs up holes for some of the mistakes we make defensively and he’s been doing it all year.”
Chandler also erases offensive mistakes by keeping the ball alive. He is uncanny at knocking the ball back to teammates providing additional opportunities. The Knicks had 21 second chance points while the Nets had 11.
“There are plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet,” Carmelo Anthony said of his teammate’s back taps. “Those are moments that are crucial plays for us.”
Though there were several such plays last night — Chandler had five offensive rebounds — his most noted play this season was the back tap the last time the Knicks and Nets played, in Brooklyn. That led to Jason Kidd’s game winner.
So yeah, Chandler and the Knicks made a statement.
“It’s more about us to be honest with you,” Chandler said, stressing how the defense picked up to stifle Brooklyn. “We felt like over the last couple games we slipped away defensively. We wanted to get back to that.”
They did. Lopez, regarded as a high powered offensive center, shot 8-of-18, scoring 16 points. And he had nothing but praise for Chandler.
“He’s very physical. Very strong, moves well. He’s very good at maintaining good position, staying in front of you and making it difficult to get to the basket,” Lopez said of Chandler, before adding Dwight Howard to the conversation. “They’re both very good defenders. Maybe Tyson moves more laterally, but they’re very similar.”
The Knicks led by four at halftime and then stretched the lead to 10 in the third before going into the final quarter up eight. And Chandler, with three lobs from Felton and one from Pablo Prigioni, scored 10 as the Garden erupted.
“The dunks for Tyson, the energy in the building gets going,” Kidd said. “Baskets like that puts all the pressure on the defense.”