NEW YORK -- New Yorks once faint, nearly unrealistic playoff hopes have become a real possibility. NHL Jerseys . The Knicks intend to seize the opportunity and run with it. "We know what we want," Carmelo Anthony said. J.R. Smith had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Anthony added 23 points and 10 rebounds, and the Knicks beat the city rival Brooklyn Nets 110-81 Wednesday night to move percentage points ahead of Atlanta for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The Knicks were 21-40 on March 3 after a seven-game skid and are still just 33-43. But they know that record gets wiped away if they can finish off this turnaround. "We want to get there. Thats the goal," Anthony said. "Despite this emotional season, this up-and-down season, I think it would be a big deal to get in that spot." Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 17 points a game after spraining his right ankle to help the Knicks win for the 12th time in 15 games, dominating a team that had the best record in the Eastern Conference since the new year. New York won its third straight. The Knicks made 24 of 36 shots in taking a 63-38 halftime lead in front of new president Phil Jackson, who wouldnt have much to fix if they looked like this more often. They finished at a season-high 60 per cent and outrebounded Brooklyn 41-23. "Our guys are hungry," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "Normally anybody that comes off the West Coast, when youve been out there for a while, that game coming back is normally a tough game, but our guys came out with energy and came out ready to play." Joe Johnson scored 16 points for the Nets, who had won three straight. A night after clinching a playoff berth by beating Houston, they were out of the game by the opening minutes of the second quarter. "It was very frustrating the way we got blown out," Johnson said. "For whatever reason, we had a few guys fighting and a few guys who wasnt fighting. If were not all on the same page, you get a lopsided score like that." In a game that both clubs need for different reasons, the Knicks were the more desperate team, taking a 2-1 lead in the season series. None of the games has been close, but both have bigger concerns than city bragging rights, anyway. The Knicks have almost no margin for error in a final seven-game stretch against playoff-bound opponents. They had no problem with the first one and will face the Nets one more time on April 15 on the second-to-last night of the season. Brooklyn is hoping for home-court advantage in the first round, but fell 2 1/2 games behind Toronto and Chicago for a spot. The Nets led 20-19 late in the first quarter, but Anthony had two baskets, Smith made a 3-pointer and found Hardaway for another at the buzzer as the Knicks scored the final 10 points for a 29-20 lead. Hardaway made another 3 to open the second and Iman Shumpert scored to make it a 15-0 run and give the Knicks a 34-20 advantage. Anthony had the first six points of an 8-0 burst that pushed it to 58-34 with 1:36 remaining in the half, and it was 63-38 at the break. The Nets were angry with the officiating, with Johnson picking up a technical foul at halftime and coach Jason Kidds assistants stepped in front of him as he tried to yell toward the refs. Brooklyn got within 14 with 2 minutes left in the third, but the Knicks, unveiling a small lineup that had Anthony as its centre, stretched their lead to 82-61 heading to the fourth. "They were the better team tonight," Kidd said. "Lose by one, lose by 100, its just a loss. We move on." Knicks guard Raymond Felton went the locker room early in the third quarter with bruised ribs and back after a hard landing while trying to grab an offensive rebound, but was able to return early in the fourth. NOTES: The Nets had won two in a row at Madison Square Garden. ... On World Autism Awareness Day, the Knicks honoured Tarrytown, N.Y., educator Virginia Campbell with this months Sweetwater Clifton "City Spirit" Award for her more than 18 years teaching and helping more than 100 autistic children. The award is named for Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, the first African-American to play for the Knicks. ... Referee Dick Bavetta was honoured before working his 2,633rd consecutive game assignment, an ironman streak even longer than the one compiled by baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. Custom Jerseys . He will just have to wait a little longer. Bester grabbed an early lead before Scotlands Darren Burnett took over and ran away with the mens singles lawn bowling final 21-9 on Friday. China Jerseys . I wondered how NHL coaches would feel about a playoff schedule that allowed them to open a best-of-seven series on the road, which many claim to favour, yet still gave them the precious home-ice edge for a seventh game. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/ .com) - Sixth-seeded Feliciano Lopez was a first-round winner on Monday at the Delray Beach Open tennis event.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Houston Rockets have won five games in a row just once this season and will try to reach that mark Wednesday against the Orlando Magic at Amway Center. The Rockets started the season with six straight wins and are currently riding a four-game winning streak. They headed to the Big Apple to face the Brooklyn Nets on Monday and came away with a 113-99 victory behind James Hardens 30 points. Harden leads the NBA with 26.9 points per game and is averaging 28.2 ppg in his previous 12 games. He has scored 30 or more points 16 times this season. Donatas Motiejunas scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Dwight Howard finished with only eight points and five rebounds, and Josh Smith netted 13 points for the Rockets. The Rockets have won three in a row on the road and are 14-5 as the visitor. Tempers were heated in this matchup at Barclays Center, as Howard and Nets big man Kevin Garnett almost came to blows. The two were tangled underneath the basket in the first quarter, and Garnett was later ejected for throwing the ball at Howard and head-butting him after he was shoved in the mid section. The two then stepped towards one another, with Garnett delivering a head butt to Howards jaw and the latter retaliating with an open right hand to the face before both players were ultimately restrained. In the good old days, that was a play-on. Now, they throw people out, said Rockets head coach Kevin McHale. I didnt think it was a big deal. Garnett was suspended one ggame without pay for initiating the altercation and head-butting Howard, who was fined $15,000 for pushing Garnett in the neck area. Soccer Jerseys. Houston will return to Space City for the next three games versus Oklahoma City. Golden State and Indiana. The Magic are back home from their four-game sojourn (1-3) and will play the next three games at Amway Center versus Houston, Memphis and Oklahoma City. Orlando is winless in its last four home games and 4-12 in central Florida. It did put the brakes on a six-game slide with Mondays 121-114 triumph over the Chicago Bulls, as Nikola Vucevic and Victor Oladipo both scored 33 points. Oladipo scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, Vucevic grabbed 11 rebounds and Elfrid Payton rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points for the Magic, whose 121 points and 59.3 percent shooting were a season-high. Orlando led by as many as 17 points in the second half and later saw its lead trimmed to 109-104. The Bulls got no closer the rest of the way. Magic guard Evan Fournier (knee) and forward Tobias Harris (ankle) are both questionable Wednesday. Orlando lost both games against Houston last season and will visit the Rockets March 17 at the Toyota Center. Houston has won four straight against Orlando after losing the previous five games in this series. Howard was drafted No. 1 overall by Orlando in the 2005 NBA Draft and spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Magic, including an NBA Finals appearance in 2009. ' ' '