Nets Continue Surge, Clobbering Knicks at Garden Joe Johnson scored 25 points to lead the Nets. Late in the third quarter of Monday afternoon's game, Raymond Felton squared up for an open 3-pointer. Perhaps he recalled the eight shots he had already missed, or heard the crowd groan. For whatever reason, he passed up the shot. Instead, he dished to J. R. Smith, who was more than willing to launch an errant jumper. It was a typical sequence for the Knicks in their 103-80 loss to the Nets, who kept their midseason surge going by embarrassing their cross-city rivals in front of a mortified crowd at Madison Square Garden. It was not the first time the Knicks (15-26) had gotten clobbered at home this season - far from it, in fact - but the spotlight is always a bit harsher against the Nets, who leaned on crisp ball movement and aggressive defense to secure a big win. The Nets (17-22), who shot 49.3 percent, have won seven of their last eight games. Joe Johnson scored 25 points, and Andray Blatche added 19. It was the Knicks" fourth straight loss as they continued to stagger toward the basement of the Atlantic Division. They trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half. They could neither shoot nor defend. They also hit the midpoint of the season on a pace to win 30 games. Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 26 points and 12 rebounds. The question for the Nets was whether their recent trip to London - where they defeated the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday - had sapped some of their energy. They limited the Knicks to 33.8 shooting and forced 17 turnovers. Much had changed for both teams since Dec. 5, when the Knicks ran away with a 30-point victory at Barclays Center. The Nets lost Brook Lopez for the season with a broken foot. Coach Jason Kidd seemed to find his voice. Paul Pierce and Johnson unearthed their shooting strokes. They started to win a few games. The Knicks seemed to be settling into a rhythm of their own by winning six of their first seven games in January. Gone was speculation about Coach Mike Woodson's job security, replaced by talk of the playoffs. In recent days, though, that confidence and good feeling have drained away, straight down a sewer grate. After trailing by 14 points at halftime, the Knicks attempted to rally in the third quarter. Anthony connected on a 3-pointer to trim the Nets" lead to 57-47. But the Knicks could not sustain their effort, and the Nets continued to take uncontested shots. The lead swelled to 23 points early in the fourth quarter when Mirza Teletovic hit a 3-pointer - one of 14 3-pointers for the Nets in a game that featured ample garbage time. Woodson, so reluctant to go with small lineups this season, was finally goaded into it by the Nets, who started Pierce at power forward. Woodson countered by starting two point guards, Felton and Pablo Prigioni, who made his return after missing 16 games with a broken toe. Last season, the Knicks had a great deal of success with the Felton-Prigioni tandem - guards who were capable of pushing the tempo and causing mismatches. But because of injuries to both players, as well as the off-season acquisition of Andrea Bargnani, the two had rarely played together this season. Prigioni was rusty. He barely grazed the back of the rim on his first field-goal attempt. He wound up playing just 19 minutes and was a nonfactor. At least he had company. Felton finished with 9 points and shot 2 of 11 from the field. The Nets were energetic from the start. Johnson sank four of his first five shots, and his second 3-pointer gave the Nets a 19-12 lead. The crowd got awfully quiet. There were rumblings when Anthony missed a pair of free throws. There were whimpers when the Nets promptly leaked out for a transition layup. The Knicks" defense was lacking - a theme in their previous three games, all losses. Then again, so was their offense. In the first quarter, they shot 41.2 percent and committed seven turnovers. It was not particularly difficult to comprehend why the Nets had built an 11-point lead. Brooklyn continued to get open looks that were more like scenic vistas. They also rebounded many of their misses. Such was the case when the Nets" Deron Williams, in his return after missing five games with an ankle injury, misfired from the left side. Teletovic grabbed the offensive rebound over the top of Smith, then curled into the lane with a couple of hard dribbles. Tyson Chandler had little choice but to offer help defense, so Teletovic simply dropped the ball to Blatche (Chandler's assignment) for a dunk. On the Nets" next possession, Smith - a 10-year veteran drawing a considerable salary - made the stupefying decision to leave his feet when Andrei Kirilenko pump-faked a long jumper. With Smith airborne, Kirilenko drove baseline before kicking to Jason Terry for another 3-pointer. Nobody was within five feet of him: swish.