NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left as the Knicks pulled from a 21-point lead and New York improved to 2-0 with a 124-122 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. In the NBA Cup.

Brunson missed a game-winning shot in Wednesday’s loss to Chicago, but this time he recovered the ball when the Knicks needed him and finished with 37 points. OG Anunoby scored 25 points against his former team, Mikal Bridges scored 22 points and partially blocked Dennis Schröder’s layup attempt in the last possession.

Cam Thomas scored a season-high 43 points for the Nets, his ninth career 40-point game and his second at Madison Square Garden.

Playing without starting center Karl-Anthony Towns due to a bruised left knee, the Knicks took a 98-77 lead with 30 seconds left in the third quarter and were barely into the first minute of the weekend series between the teams. They meet again on Sunday at Madison Square Garden; The field returned to its normal color after changing to orange on Friday for tournament play.

takeaway

Nets: An already outnumbered Nets team is now even smaller, with starting center Nic Claxton sidelined for at least a week with lower back pain that required an epidural injection on Friday. They took a 45-37 lead in rebounds on Friday.

Knicks: New York missed a chance for a comfortable margin of victory that could have come into play for the tournament tiebreaker.

key moment

Nets coach Jordi Fernandez disputed the call on Dorian Finney-Smith’s out-of-bounds possession with 4:15 left. The referees reviewed the play and ruled that Anunoby fouled Finney-Smith before the ball went out and gave him his sixth foul, knocking out one of the Knicks’ best players.

Key statistics

108-107. The Knicks regained the lead in the all-time series between their city rivals.

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