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NEW YORK -- Carmelo Anthony wasnt making enough shots and the Brooklyn Nets werent 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-INSNets: 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 PROBLEMSBrooklyn 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 NBAs 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 ROADThe 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 NEXTNets: 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.Hydro Flask 24 Oz Sale . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. Hydro Flask Water Bottle Sale . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. http://www.flaskwaterbottle.com/ . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. Cheap Hydro Flask 40 oz Wide Mouth Flamingo Water Bottle . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Cheap White Hydro Flask Straw Lid 40 OZ Wide Mouth Water Bottle . Down by seven with 90 seconds left in regulation, thats where they looked comfortable.MANHATTAN, Kan. -- UConn coach Geno Auriemma thinks more and more opposing coaches are getting it: The reward of facing the Huskies really is far greater than the risk. If they beat you, no big surprise, right? Theyve now won 84 games in a row, and are seven short of breaking their own record.If you beat them, of course, youre the talk of the sport. But it doesnt take defeating the Huskies to gain something from the matchup. So, if you have the chance to schedule UConn, why not?Thats the way Kansas State looked at it, and Sundays 75-58 UConn victory drew 12,528 fans, which is just the Wildcats third sellout in the past decade. The game was nationally televised. And K-States players got the chance to face the best of the best, and see how they stack up. That will come in handy for Big 12 play.I definitely had jitters; I never had the opportunity to play in front of so many people, Kansas State junior guard Karyla Middlebook said. But I dont use that as an excuse for the two early turnovers that I had. We have to be able to turn those jitters into positive energy for the team.In contrast, the environment at Bramlage Coliseum was just another advantage for No. 1 UConn, as if the Huskies didnt have enough of those. They are unaffected by big crowds cheering for or against them. Its simply what theyre used to.This is a young UConn team, depending so much on super sophomores Katie Lou Samuelson and Napheesa Collier, but you get old quickly when you play for the Huskies. Well, lets rephrase that; you get mature quickly, or you dont play.Collier, who is from OFallon, Missouri -- about a five-hour drive from Kansas State -- had several friends and family members present for another of her stat-stuffing games. Despite dealing with some neck spasms, she had 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists, six steals and five blocked shots. Oh, and she shot 10 of 15 from the field. (Good grief, imagine the game she could have had without neck spasms).Samuelson led the way scoring-wise with 26 points. Auriemma said theres just a feeling the Huskies currently have whenever Samuelson or Collier gets the ball: Something good is about to happen.True, there isnt much depth right now for UConn, and that was even more the case Sunday with senior Saniya Chong out with concussion-like symptoms after getting hurt in Wednesdays victory at Notre Dame. She didnt make the trip to Kansas State, and the only bench player who got significant minutes was center Natalie Butler with 16.Yet the UConn starting five more than got the job done: Kia Nurse had 13 points and five assists, and Gabby Williams led the way on the boards with 10, adding six points. The Huskies lled 25-8 after one quarter, during which they had a 17-0 run.ddddddddddddThe Wildcats stayed relatively close to the Huskies for the rest of the game, but they never could completely climb out of the hole they fell into at the start.There were a lot of positives out of today, Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. The last three quarters, the way we competed, was much, much better.Mittie is in his third season at Kansas State after 15 years at TCU in which the Horned Frogs went to the NCAA tournament nine times. He took the Wildcats to the NCAA second round last year.Kansas State has had its peaks as a program -- none higher than during the period when All-Americans Nicole Ohlde and Kendra Wecker played together from 2001-04, when the Wildcats had seven sellouts, plus 10 other home crowds of 10,000 or more. But this was the first sellout in Mitties tenure, and its why he came to K-State: because its a place he believes he can win and have a team that the community cares about.Breanna Lewis led the way for the Wildcats with 18 points, seven rebounds, four blocked shots and four steals. This game was good for her individually, in terms of boosting her stock for the WNBA draft. The 6-foot-5 senior center impressed Auriemma with how much she had improved from a year ago, when the Wildcats played UConn at Hartford and lost by 40 points.Kansas State opens its Big 12 season at No. 3 Baylor on Dec. 29, followed by No. 13 West Virginia at home, and then No. 19 Oklahoma on the road. Facing UConn helps prepare the Wildcats for a weeklong stretch like that.Meanwhile, this all might seem like a very familiar script for UConn: Even when the Huskies face challenges such as not having a lot of players to sub in, you can hardly tell anything is difficult for them. Yet Auriemma said thats not accurate. The Huskies have won their four games in December by an average of 22.8 points -- three were against Top 25 teams; and while the Wildcats werent ranked, they were previously unbeaten -- but Auriemma insists that its harder than it looks.This isnt like last year or the year before, where we were convinced that there was no way we could lose, he said. We knew that, and so did the teams we played against. All we had to do is go out and play our game.I dont think any of us thought going in that any of this was going to be automatic or easy. And it hasnt been easy, given our limited roster and how little experience we have in these moments. With individuals and us as a team, I couldnt be happier to be where we are right now. ' ' '