The players on either side will swear to you that there is no rivalry. And maybe there isn't one just yet. But could there be a more compelling set of games to try and kindle one?

New York's Jason Kidd —all 39 years of him—made what turned out to be the difference: a game-winning three-pointer with 24 seconds left in the contest, giving his club a 100-97 victory over his former team. The game was sealed when both Brooklyn's Gerald Wallace and Deron Williams missed three-pointers just before the buzzer went off.

Knicks guard Jason Kidd, left, is surrounded by teammates after making a three-point shot over Brooklyn Nets forward Jerry Stackhouse for the win. Reuters

The game between the Atlantic Division foes was a knockdown, drag-out boxing match that thrilled a divided sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center; one that stood on its feet as the game came to a close.

The contest played out almost the same way as the last meeting between the clubs—only with a different winner. This time, it was Brooklyn (11-9) that couldn't hold onto its fourth-quarter edge.

Carmelo Anthony had a season-high 45 points—15 of which came in the final quarter—leading the Knicks (16-5) back from a five-point deficit that the Nets built up over the course of a game they once dominated.

Net fans will point out some costly, controversial calls—particularly a tip-in by Andray Blatche (23 points) that was later disallowed by officials—but Brooklyn certainly had its chances.

The nationally televised game between the teams, for all its glitz—Knicks supporter and filmmaker Spike Lee sat courtside on one baseline, while rapper and Nets minority owner Jay-Z sat across from him on the other—was much more scrappy and physical than the first game two weeks ago, which went to overtime—and which, incidentally, Kidd missed.

Early in the opening quarter, a Nets fan shouted at Anthony, "Melo, you're soft like Wonderbread!" prompting a smile from the 6-foot-8 forward after he drew a foul. In an ironic twist moments later, Anthony was inadvertently kicked in the mouth by Wallace, giving Anthony a gushing bottom lip that would force officials to call a timeout for.

Brooklyn held an enormous 32-12 scoring advantage in the paint during the game's first half—a startling stat, given they were playing without center Brook Lopez, who was out with an injured foot.

Still, after being thoroughly outplayed in the first quarter—which the Nets at one point led by as much as 17—the Knicks played their way back into the game late in the second quarter, on the strength of their three-point shooting. Anthony hit a 26-foot three, the team's seventh in 14 tries, to cut his team's deficit to four, 51-47 (They'd finish 14-for-28 from three).

Then, after a Wallace layup pushed Brooklyn's edge back to six, Anthony schooled Wallace with a layup with 1.8 seconds left. The bucket gave Anthony 22 points in 20 minutes and left the Knicks trailing the Nets, 53-49, at half, even as Brooklyn shot a scorching 60% during that stretch.

That the Nets held the lead to that point was a bit of a surprise, based on the different trajectories the clubs were on coming into the game. New York had won seven of its last eight games, with the lone loss coming in Chicago, where they didn't have an injured Anthony to suit up. The Nets, on the other hand, had lost four consecutive games while dealing with Lopez's absence on both ends of the floor.

In particular, their defense had taken an apparent step back without Lopez, allowing more than 106 points per contest in those four recent matchups—up from the 92 per game they surrendered during the 14 contests in which he played.

That same defense held for three quarters, but couldn't stop Anthony in the fourth. They committed to him heavily on the Knicks' final possession, determined to make someone else beat them. But as the Knicks have shown repeatedly this year, and illustrated again Tuesday with Kidd's game-winning shot: They are stronger than just their star.