NBA

Harrington scores 39 as Knicks rout Nets

Harris scores 32, but New Jersey denied third straight victory

Bill Kostroun / AP

New York Knicks' Al Harrington, left, strips the ball from New Jersey Nets' Brook Lopez on Wednesday.

The Knicks never led in the first half and the Nets seemed capable of blowing them out early. But New York surged into the lead in the third quarter while Harris sat for nearly 7 minutes, then never let it get too close in the fourth.

The Nets led for the final time before Thomas had a dunk, 3-pointer and free throw to give New York an 83-78 lead with 3:32 left in the third. After a free throw by Carter, Thomas nailed another 3-pointer for an 86-79 advantage with 2:43 remaining, drawing some loud cheers from a Izod Center crowd that, as usual, featured plenty of Knicks supporters.

“When it comes down to it, we scored the normal amount of points that we normally do to win, but we gave up 121 points,” Harris said. “Third quarter we kind of came up a little bit sluggish, but they shot the ball extremely well.”

Harris was scoreless in the period, then helped New Jersey cut it to six with one final surge. However, Chandler converted a four-point play to make it 112-102 with 4:40 to play.

Harris made his first six shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, and had 14 points in the first 4:20 as New Jersey took a 17-8 lead. He didn’t score the rest of the quarter, and the Nets, who started 9-of-12, settled for a 33-23 lead.

The Nets extended their lead to 15 in the second quarter and shot 65 percent in the period, but the Knicks kept hanging around and were down only 63-57 at halftime.

The Knicks are 1-1 on a five-game trip that now moves to the west for the final three games, starting Saturday at Sacramento.

Notes: Mobley will announce his retirement from the NBA on Thursday, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday. He hasn’t played for the Knicks after his physical revealed a heart condition. ... The Nets fell to 9-1 when scoring 100 points. ... D’Antoni said the plan is for Robinson (strained groin) to practice Friday and play Saturday at Sacramento. ... Lee finished with 10 points and only one rebound, ending his streak of consecutive double-doubles at 10.

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