Knicks drop Nets to 0-13 with 98-91 victory in matchup of struggling local rivals

Nets drop to 0-13 in 98-91 loss to Knicks

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Al Harrington and Danilo Gallinari each scored 17 points, and the New York Knicks kept the New Jersey Nets winless with a 98-91 victory Saturday.

David Lee added 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Wilson Chandler and Larry Hughes each finished with 13 points. The Knicks won their second straight and proved that worse basketball is played a mere 10 miles away.

The Nets fell to 0-13, inching closer to the NBA record of 17 straight losses to start a season, held by Miami and matched by the Los Angeles Clippers. They’ll try to avoid it during a difficult four-game trip out West that starts with back-to-back games at Denver and Portland, capped by a visit to the Lakers.

Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 24 points and Brook Lopez had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets, who shot only 4 of 18 from 3-point range and barely broke 90 points against one of the NBA’s worst defensive teams.

Devin Harris was back for the Nets after missing 10 games with a strained right groin. He made a quick impact upon entering in the first quarter, driving for a layup and then throwing a lob on the break to Lopez for a basket. He finished with 12 points, while Terrence Williams had 17.

The loss could put more pressure on Nets coach Lawrence Frank, who won his first 13 games after he was promoted in January 2004 and now has a losing streak that matches it.

Things aren’t much better for the Knicks (3-9), but they’re better than the Nets. New York won all three preseason games between the local rivals.

According to STATS LLC, there hadn’t been an NBA game matching teams who had each played at least 11 games and combined to win so few of them since Dec. 3, 1994, when Minnesota was 2-13 as it hosted the 0-14 Clippers.

In the end, the Knicks held on after building a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter. The Nets cut it to one on a couple of occasions in the fourth and were only down two after Douglas-Roberts’ jumper with 1:57 to go, but Lee made a layup before Harrington’s 3-pointer put it away with a minute left.

There were sloppy passes and errant shots, but at least it was fun for the kids, who got to see Dora the Explorer come on the court a few times and a half-deflated Elmo balloon hover over it during much of the second quarter.

And there were plenty of items tossed into the stands during giveaways — not counting Chandler’s pass that landed in the fourth row.

Sure it was messy, but these teams expected a tough go of it this season while building for the future.

During a second-quarter timeout, YES Network showed next summer’s projections for available salary cap space, where the Nets are expected to slightly edge the Knicks with around $24 million.

But the plan to save money to be aggressive in free agency leaves neither team with much hope of being competitive now. The worst start in franchise history had the Knicks considering Allen Iverson before ruling it out Friday.

Despite some ugly shooting that included two airballs by Gallinari and a shot by Eddy Curry that nearly went over the backboard, the Knicks led 29-24 after one quarter. The period ended with a livid Mike D’Antoni yelling at Nate Robinson, after the Knicks guard shot at the wrong basket after taking an inbounds pass with 0.5 seconds left, instead of just letting the clock run out. The shot went in just after the buzzer, nearly giving the Nets three points.

New York extended the advantage into double digits late in the second quarter and led 52-43 at halftime.

NOTES: Saturday was the one-year anniversary of the Knicks’ trades of Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph, deals that opened up salary cap space for next summer. … The Knicks will honor Yankees manager Joe Girardi with the November “City Spirit” Award, given to someone who’s made a “significant difference in the lives of others” during Sunday’s game against Boston. Driving home the night of the World Series clincher, he stopped to aid a motorist who had been injured in an accident.