The Nets came away with what easily was their biggest win of the season – and probably their biggest win in the past several seasons – from Monday night’s 86-89 overtime victory over the Knicks in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center.
Here are some thoughts on the game:
— This was a huge win for the Nets on so many levels. I wrote before Monday’s game that this isn’t a rivalry yet, and I stand by that. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t important, and it was very, very important. If the Nets had lost that game (particularly after going up by five midway through the fourth quarter and then giving away the lead), it would have been a devastating loss.
The Nets said all the right things after the game, about how it was just one game on the schedule and how they weren’t throwing parades for themselves afterwards. But there’s no denying the fact that they wanted, and needed, this win.
Add to it the fact that they now are tied with the Knicks for first in the Atlantic Division at 9-4, have won three games in a row, eight out of 10 and are 7-1 at home, and it all adds up to a big and important victory.
— That was the kind of performance we’ve been waiting to see from Deron Williams for quite some time. Sure, he had some terrific performances last season (57 points against the Bobcats, 22 assists against the Celtics), but Williams was spectacular against the Knicks.
The 6-for-17 shooting line will undoubtedly give many pause about his performance, but they aren’t looking at the total package. Williams was magnificent in this one, moving the ball around with ease, hitting one wide open teammate after another for an easy bucket.
Williams talked at length last season about wanting more weapons around him, that he didn’t like being the focal point of the offense and having to score. He wanted to be a point guard, and to be able to put the ball in the right spots for his teammates to be successful. Last night, you saw the beginnings of what that could become.
— It looked like Brook Lopez might be the goat last night when, after securing a rebound with the Nets up five with less than four minutes remaining, he brought the ball down low, allowing Raymond Felton to knock the ball away. It wound up in the hands of Carmelo Anthony for a wide-open 3-pointer that went down, jumpstarting the Knicks and sending them on an 8-0 run that put them ahead by three, 84-81, with just over a minute and a half left.
But Lopez managed to come back and deliver three points in that final 90 seconds to send the game to overtime, and the Nets took over from there.
Lopez finished the game with 22 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, and although Tyson Chandler also had a monster game, going 12-for-13 from the field, Lopez more than held his own against the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
— Jerry Stackhouse impressed once again, hitting four huge 3-pointers and again showing tremendous poise whenever he was on the court. When Stackhouse didn’t see the floor in Sunday’s win over the Trail Blazers, I had a feel that it would mean we’d see plenty of him against the Knicks, and that proved to be the case.
The Nets are now 7-1 in games that Stackhouse has played in this season, and he’s amazingly – and out of nowhere – become a vital rotation piece for the Nets.
He’s also knocked MarShon Brooks out of the rotation, which is incredible given the role that Brooks was expected to play this season for the Nets.
— Once again, the Nets played impressive defense late in the game, holding the Knicks to a combined 22 points between the fourth quarter and overtime. But their defense overall has also improved recently, as the Nets have climbed all the way to 15th in the league in defensive rating, allowing 101.1 points per 100 possessions.
As I’ve said over and over, if the Nets can stay in the top half of the league defensively, they give themselves a new ceiling because of their offensive firepower. We’ll see if they can keep it up, but they look good so far.
Not only have they benefitted from getting Gerald Wallace healthy and back in the lineup, but they’ve also benefitted from giving more minutes to Keith Bogans, Reggie Evans and Stackhouse.
tbontemps@nypost.com