Carmelo Anthony scores 22 points, Knicks beat Nets 110-96

NEW YORK -- Carmelo Anthony wasn't making enough shots and the Brooklyn Nets weren't missing many.

Once that changed, the Knicks had an easy time in the first matchup this season between the New York rivals.

Anthony scored 14 of his 22 points in the third quarter and Kristaps Porzingis added 21 in the Knicks' 110-96 victory Wednesday night.

Rookie center Willy Hernangomez had a season-best 14 points, Derrick Rose also scored 14 and New York climbed out of a 14-point hole by holding the Nets 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 each scored 21 points for the Nets, who wilted on the second night of back-to-back games after a strong first half. Normally a good fourth-quarter team, they were outscored 38-25 while struggling to run their offense without an experienced NBA point guard.

New York, which 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.

And the Knicks got strong performances off their bench, with Brandon Jennings posting 11 assists and Hernangomez shooting 6 for 7.

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, just 3 for 11 at halftime, had a baseline drive with the Knicks down nine and then turned to his jumper. He made five of them and then a pair of free throws, putting up 14 points in the final 5 minutes to give the Knicks 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 provided a spark before Porzingis made a pair of 3-pointers and threw down a dunk while getting fouled as the lead grew 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," Jennings said. "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."

TIP-INS

Nets: Brooklyn opened a five-game trip by falling to 0-3 on the road. ... Sean Kilpatrick made his first career start in his 43rd game. He came in averaging 16.6 points, tops among reserves.

Knicks: New York improved to 93-91 against the Nets. Brooklyn had won six of eight meetings over the previous two seasons.

POINT GUARD PROBLEMS

Brooklyn rookie Isaiah Whitehead, who had been starting at point guard with Jeremy Lin sidelined by a strained left hamstring, was placed in the concussion protocol, a night after hitting his head on the court. He finished that game but had a headache and experienced symptoms Wednesday. He will be out until he is symptom free and has passed the NBA's protocols. The Nets also waived point guard Greivis Vasquez, who struggled to recover from ankle problems, and recalled Yogi Ferrell from their NBA Development League team to make his NBA debut.

HIT THE ROAD

The Nets only had to go about 5 miles to start this road trip, and they have an even shorter segment during it. They play a back-to-back in the same building, facing the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday and the Lakers the next night in Staples Center.

UP NEXT

Nets: Visit Phoenix on Saturday to start the Western Conference portion of their trip.

Knicks: Visit Boston on Friday to start a tough road back-to-back against the top teams in their division. They visit reigning Atlantic champion Toronto on Saturday.