Over three years have passed since the New York Knicks have beaten the Brooklyn Nets. New York City's quote-on-quote “little brother” had won eight straight dating back to January 2020 heading into the latest matchup of the crosstown rivalry.

That streak is alive and well after the Nets took down the Knicks 122-115 before a sellout Barclays Center crowd Saturday. And two words could sum up Brooklyn's game plan to pull out the victory down the stretch:

Kyrie Irving.

After scoring 11 points in the first three quarters, Irving dropped 21 on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 from three in the final frame to earn Brooklyn a hard-fought win. The Nets are no strangers to the guard's late-game heroics this season. Irving leads the league in fourth-quarter scoring at 9.3 points per game.

Brooklyn led by as many as 19 points before New York cut the deficit to three in the final minutes. On the following possession, Irving drove baseline and found Joe Harris with a ridiculous look to the opposite wing while falling out of bounds. Harris would fire the extra pass to Seth Curry for a momentum-halting three off the defensive rotation.

Irving would then score on three-straight possessions with back-to-back pull-up threes before driving for a layup to put the Knicks away.

The star guard has been leaned on as much as ever with Durant sidelined. And Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said many don't realize the effect Irving's late-game capabilities have on the confidence of his teammates.

“I think what people don’t understand is the confidence that he gives the other guys. There’s something to be said about that,” Vaughn said. “The game gets close. It’s a three-point game, it’s a six-point game and when the ball is in the hands of a guy that you know can produce a shot there’s a comfort level that permeates with the rest of the group.”

“They (know): we’re going to get a quality possession here. We’re going to get a good shot here and it’s probably going to go in. It relieves some of the stress that could happen at the end of a game with the other guys. I think that’s really the key of having dudes who could just get you a bucket at the end of the game.”

Irving's fourth-quarter explosion is a welcoming sight for a Nets team that has dropped six of eight since Kevin Durant went down on Jan. 8 in Miami. The fourth-year Net has been one of the league's top performers while attempting to prevent another downward spiral with his co-star sidelined. Over his last six appearances, Irving is averaging 36.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists on 50.7 percent shooting from the field and 44.4 percent from three.

All five of Brooklyn's starters reached double figures Saturday. Joe Harris provided a significant lift after struggling in back-to-back losses against Philadelphia and Detroit, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Seth Curry chipped in 14 on 5-of-9 shooting and Royce O'Neale added 14 after draining his first three triples of the game. Nic Claxton continued to provide an imposing two-way presence, filling the stat sheet with 13 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists (career-high) and 3 blocks.

After allowing over 130-plus points in their last two losses, the Nets tightened the screws defensively to open the game despite being noticeably undersized without Ben Simmons and T.J. Warren. Brooklyn held Julius Randle to 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting with O'Neale turning in one of his best defensive efforts of the season. Randle came into the contest off 36 and 37-point performances in wins over the Cavaliers and Celtics respectively.

The win brings the Nets to 30-19 on the season. Brooklyn will look to string together back-to-back victories for the first time since Durant went down when LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers come to town Monday.