No Jason Kidd meant the Knicks had to be perfect last night in their historic Brooklyn debut. Center Tyson Chandler nearly was perfect, but Carmelo Anthony struggled in the fourth quarter and overtime, the massive minutes — 50:03 — getting to him.
The Knicks couldn’t stop the Nets in overtime or the chants of “Brook-lyn’’ as the Knicks fell 96-89, in a dramatic night at raucous Barclays Center.
“Fatigue set in,’’ Knicks coach Mike Woodson said, referring mostly to Anthony.
Chandler was the beast of Brooklyn and finished with a career-high 28 points on 12 of 13 shooting and hauled in 10 boards.
Chandler picked up the slack for his former Dallas teammate Kidd.
“He was fantastic, he was huge,’’ Woodson said. “I needed three more Tysons out there tonight.’’
Chandler scored all of his points in this own gritty way. The center rammed home a putback dunk with 1:38 left after struggling Raymond Felton missed on a floater and the Knicks were up 87-84, looking in control.
“This is not the Tyson show, not the Melo show or anyone else’s show,’’ Chandler said. “We are the Knicks. We play as a team and lose as a team.’’
It was similar to the Dallas loss last Thursday. Chandler did everything to help the club win in the fourth quarter against his former team but Anthony couldn’t do anything late.
In the Dallas game, Anthony, too, missed on a final-second 14-footer and last night Melo missed an 18-foot pullup with 3.6 seconds left.
The atmosphere was electric from the start — the Knicks getting booed during pregame introductions. But as the game began, it seemed a 60-40 split of Brooklyn fans to Knicks fans.
“It was a great atmosphere,’’ Chandler said. “Both teams wanted it. Both teams had something at stake. It was a good game. We didn’t pull this one out and it was a disappointing loss.’’
Chandler was charged from the start — 6 of 7, 13 points by halftime, cleaning up more garbage in Brooklyn than the city’s sanitation department.
“He went out there, getting all those layups, he should’ve gone to the line more but that’s not why we lost,’’ Rasheed Wallace said.
“The atmosphere was unbelievable,’’ Anthony said. “For the most part, it was a great game. It felt good as a Brooklyn guy to hear it [the chants]. This is a special place to play.’’
However, they were chanting in celebration of a Nets win that evened them in the Atlantic Division standings for first place at 9-4. It’s the first time since 1997 they’ve been tied for first this late in the season.
The Knicks’ Big three of Anthony, Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire have yet to play together this season. Stoudemire is out until mid-December at least. He showed up to the game. Kidd didn’t as the Knicks wanted him to not sit on the bus in traffic.
Chandler was 9 of 10 early in the fourth after scoring on another putback. Melo then lost the ball in the paint on a drive and the Nets roared back for a fastbreak basket with Deron Williams feeding a no-look pass to Brook Lopez for the layup.
In the second quarter, Chandler got the big contingent of Knicks fans roaring after he danced down the lane and dunked, howling at the baseline fans. But the Nets fans had the last roar and it was loud.