Nets push Knicks before fourth-quarter collapse in missed chance to earn respect

It wasn’t just another night.It wasn’t just another game. It was a chance to earn respect, to seize momentum, to build confidence.

It was as close to a title fight as the Nets may find for some time.They would travel roughly 5 miles to take on the reigning champs, facing the team whose stranglehold on their shared city has never been stronger and whose dominance in an uninspired rivalry has been a constant reminder of the chasm between the boroughs. “We need to get a win,” Nets guard Nolan Traore said before Monday’s game at Madison Square Garden.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve won against the Knicks, so we’ve got to do it.” Incredibly, they almost did. Coming off their first win of the season the previous night in Indiana, the Nets looked unrecognizable from the punching bag that lost a pair of games at the Garden last season by a combined 90 points.For so much of Monday’s matchup, there was no discernible difference between one of the most celebrated champions in New York history and the team that spent the past two years chasing ping-pong balls. Michael Porter Jr.

had 18 points, making four 3-pointers.Julius Randle had 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Traore put up 17 points on eight shots, while adding a chase-down block of Jalen Brunson. And the Nets led by four in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. But then came the anvil — in the form of the Knicks’ 16-2 fourth-quarter run — crushing the coyote who somehow didn’t see it coming again. The Nets (1-6) scored just 11 points in the fourth quarter of the 103-90 loss, setting a season low in scoring to clinch a record-extending 15th straight loss in the 50-year series with the Knicks. “I mean, we played great for, if my math is correct, 39 minutes, and then the last nine were not good enough,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernández said.“I’m asking these guys to play as hard as they can, and the last two games they’ve done it, right? “There’s a lot of positi...