The Knicks tried to defend home court against a shorthanded Nets team, but ultimately the star power of Kevin Durant proved too much. Still, though, the Knicks had great performances from a number of young players, dulling the sting of the loss a bit.

The pursuit of empire requires powerful alliances. While there were small village-level wins for the Knicks in their 116-109 loss to the Brooklyn Nets — RJ Barrett; Immanuel Quickley; Kevin Knox — the Nets, in their first appearance since earning superpower status a few hours ago via James Edward Harden Junior, put on a show of force. Some days you fight the odds and do your best and somebody notices, somebody even gives a damn. Most days Goliath is too damn strong. On this night, Goliath was a skinny-looking David wearing No. 7 in black and white.

Both teams played nine men — the hosts by choice and the visitors by necessity. The first quarter was like two boxers feeling each other out over the early rounds. Even the rims looked nervous: of the teams’ first 10 misses, nine must have rimmed out. Julius Randle continued his strong run of play; his 3-pointer just past the midway point gave the Knicks their first lead as part of a 14-0 run. 

Quickley hit his first shot en route to a career-high 19 points.

Like Superman and Clark Kent, the second quarter showed up and the game’s competitiveness was suddenly nowhere to be found. Reggie Perry introduced himself to the rivalry with a put-back and a three from the top of the key. Control of the boards and a 9-0 run put the Nets in a privileged position they, like so many privileged, would not give up.  

This Chris Chiozza save/back-tap to Kevin Durant was the highlight of the night. Oldheads everywhere smiled and wondered were they really ever as young as they were the night Jason Kidd did the same with Richard Jefferson at Madison Square Garden.

The game was never close after halftime — sort of. For the first 88% of the second half, the Nets maintained cruising altitude. The third quarter saw Joe Harris hurting the Knicks from deep, on cuts to the basket, and driving and dishing to teammates. Bruce Brown scored 15 and had a career-high 14 rebounds. Reggie Perry’s 11 points were a personal best. Seven of the nine Nets to play reached double figures; the two who didn’t, DeAndre Jordan and Chiozza, chipped in 12 rebounds and seven assists, respectively.

Or maybe not respectively. I’m always a little embarrassed to not use “respectively,” but why? I know you can follow basic patterns of language. You’re not gonna think DAJ had seven dimes and the 5-foot-11 Chiozza hauled in a dozen rebounds. And while all the Nets played a part in the dominance, Durant is obviously the nuclear deterrent, the biggest difference between one team chasing honors and the other merely honorable effort. He’s like watching a shadow dominate a basketball game. Such frictionlessness. 

The game was never in doubt, but the Knicks did the “give ‘em hell” crowd a bitter, dragged-out death they could be proud of with a 14-1 run the last few minutes to pull as close as five. They forced the Nets to burn consecutive timeouts late trying to inbound, but for whatever reason the league changed the rules a few years ago to let teams inbound from the frontcourt to the backcourt, ‘cuz we hate late drama, right, sports fans?

Notes

• On the YES broadcast, Ian Eagle said he’s noticed the sound effects and arena music are so loud around the league that coaches are removing their masks in order for the players to hear them. Umm... I will happily trade hearing Kris Kross, Europe, and Van Halen at lower levels if it stops people from screaming germs all over an airspace they share with dozens of other people.

• Durant entered tonight with the second-highest all-time scoring average at MSG, trailing only Michael Jordan (credit to the YES pregame show for that diddy).

• The most dramatic of KD’s six assists:

• That’s some firepower, even without Kyrie Irving.

• Recent successful superteams have featured third stars who sacrificed the buffet they could insist on bringing to their box scores to focus more meanly and leanly on select areas. Ray Allen. Chris Bosh. Kevin Love. Klay Thompson. Who does that for the Nets, whose biggest needs are defense and rebounding? Neither Kyrie nor Harden are cut out for that role. KD might be, but you don’t get Michael Jackson up on stage and ask him to be a background dancer. 

• Nobody puts the ball through the net prettier than Durant. I’m not talking about who the best shooter is. Just saying audio/visual-wise, the wettest J since Tracy McGrady.

• “Easy Money Sniper.” Ian Eagle said after one Durant bucket. “French dip!” after Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot hit a tough lefty shot in transition. I would consider replacing Breen with Eagle. I don’t think there’s another announcer I can say that about.

• KD tied Bernard King for the most consecutive games with 25-plus points by a Net (I’m assuming in the Nets’ NBA history. Hard to believe Julius Erving didn’t do that at least one time in the ABA days).

• When Marcus Morris trade talk was going on last year around the Knicks and Clippers, there was a lotta talk about Landry Shamet coming to New York. The Knicks ended up with the draft pick that eventually led to Quickley. Who would you rather have?

• Quickley with his best shooting night since the win in Atlanta. He hit half his six 3-point attempts, and this was one of a number of successful drives.

• Quickley was giddy about matching up for the first time with Durant. High praise from IQ.

• Obi Toppin returned for one minute. Apparently they’re taking it slow.

• Like Quickley, Barrett had his best display of shooting since Atlanta. He rained down 14 in the third quarter, finally getting some jumpers to fall, including a three. He looked more like “good RJ” in showing some of the vision and passing I’m hoping to see more of from him when attacking in close.

• Good things come in threes. In addition to Quickley and RJ finding the touch, Knox did, too, opening his ledge with a three from one corner, and then a long two in the other corner that he was fouled on for a 3-point play.

Later in the game, he hit a running drive. On one sequence, Randle waved people out of the way to feed Knox, who delivered with a gorgeous step-back swish. His confidence as a scorer is on the ups. It is obvious and beautiful to behold. Like sun lighting a stained glass window.

• Austin Rivers looked... diffident? Tight? Not himself, not from the start and not for almost the entirety of the game. Not just ineffective, but out of sorts.

• There was all this juice right at the jump, the feeling you miss before a big game, an intracity game. KD took the first shot and hit, and the muscle memory from hundreds of Knicks-Nets/Mets-Yankees/Rangers-Islanders games had me bracing for that salty sumptuous partisan roar from the crowd that never came. Because there was no crowd. You know how all these announcers and players and coaches and executives talk about much live fans are missed, how it’s just not the same without them standing and cheering and expending their expendable incomes? The networks, owners and the players expect the fans to come back ASAP. They expect them to deliver money. What do the fans get? Why not subsidized ticket prices? Parking? Concessions? Put your money where your mouth is. Fans should organize and work toward this. The group most responsible for the league’s existence as a profit birthing machine is the only one not to share any of the spoils.  

• With eight seconds left in the first quarter and three seconds left in the third, Steve Nash had Durant check back in for final offensive possessions. Nets analyst Sarah Kustok pointed out this doesn’t just give the Nets a shot to win ends of quarters now; it gives them practice for end-of-game situations they’ll encounter in the postseason.

• New York now leads the all-time series 101-99.

Quoth Ian Eagle: “Easy Money Sniper.” Durant really is. He’s not on the overall level of MJ or LeBron. But as a pure scorer, he’s the best I’ve seen. Next game is Friday at Cleveland. Hopefully the Knicks snap their four-game skid then. If the Knicks have had one team’s number this preseason and season, it’s the Cavaliers. Fingers crossed.