Carmelo Anthony Scores 22 Points, Knicks Top Nets 110-96

Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points, 14 of them in the third period, and Kristaps Porzingis added 21 to lead the New York Knicks to a 110-96 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night.

Carmelo Anthony Scores 22 Points, Knicks Top Nets 110-96

Rookie center Willy Hernangomez sank a season-high 14 points, Derrick Rose also had 14 and the Knicks got out of a 14-point hole by holding their New York rivals to 27.5 percent shooting in the second half.

“Our bench guys were great,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. “They came in there, brought the energy, Melo got hot there in that third quarter and was rolling, so great second half for our guys to see what putting pressure and getting after it defensively can do for your team.”

Brook Lopez and Justin Hamilton led the Nets with 21 points apiece. Generally a strong fourth-quarter team, Brooklyn was outscored 38-25 while struggling to run their offense without an experienced NBA point guard.

The Knicks, who came in allowing 109.8 points per game to rank 26th in the league, had more problems on that end in the first half but dominated the second.

The Nets, who set season highs for points and shooting percentage (55.3 percent) in their 119-110 victory over Minnesota on Tuesday, shot 55 percent in the first half and led 55-50.

Then Anthony, only 3 for 11 at halftime, had a baseline drive with the Knicks down nine and then turned to his jumper. He scored five of those and then a pair of free throws, netting 14 points in the final 5 minutes to give New York a 72-71 lead.

“But even after that stretch it was a one-point game,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Then I felt like the real difference was again their bench coming in and just took us out of our stuff.”

Hernangomez made a few points before Porzingis scored a pair of 3-pointers and tossed down a dunk while getting fouled as the lead expanded to 92-78.

“Melo got it going. He probably had like 10 or 12 straight at one point, so that kind of just enlightened the whole team,” said Brandon Jennings, who came off the bench to record 11 assists. “And then we were just taking care of the defensive end and then just finding KP coming down for transition 3s and then he got an and-1 dunk, so we were just clicking tonight.”

The Nets will next visit the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

The Knicks will visit the Boston Celtics on Friday, and then the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 09: Carmelo Anthony #7 of the New York Knicks drives into the lane against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half at Madison Square Garden on November 9, 2016 in New York City.