The Knicks got the loss, but had the highlight.
There were very few smiles in the locker room after the Knicks dropped a 110-104 decision to the Nets at Barclays Center, but Derrick Williams did smirk briefly when asked by The Post about “The Dunk.’’
In the second quarter, Langston Galloway and Williams broke in on a fast break with the Knicks guard delivering a between-the-legs, back pass to Williams. He clutched it and soared above the lane for a monster right-handed tomahawk jam heard ’round Kings County. He tied his career high with 31 points — the lone bright bulb on a dim evening in Brooklyn.
“I should’ve windmilled it, honestly,’’ Williams said, cracking a smile. “I tried to bring out some stuff. It was a good dunk. At the end of the day we lost. It might be on ESPN but at the same time we lost.’’
Said Galloway of Williams’ dunk-a-thon: “His confidence is growing, you can tell. He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
“He was attacking the rim and doing what he does best,’’ Kristaps Porzingis said.
Williams, stepping up in Carmelo Anthony’s absence, didn’t get many chances in the final minutes, when the plays went to Arron Afflalo and Porzingis. But Williams couldn’t handle a pass underneath for a turnover. He also missed a key defensive rebound and on the next possession, let Young drive in for an uncontested layup as he took a dive without drawing a foul.
Anthony was born in Brooklyn and spent his first 10 years there, but he didn’t play on a sprained right ankle in the first game this season at Barclays Center between the Knicks and the Nets.
Anthony didn’t even try it, very willing to skip the encounter and save himself for Saturday night, when the Knicks face Memphis at FedEx Forum.
Anthony said his ankle was “very sore’’ but added he “probably’’ would be healed by Saturday.
“We hope to have him ready for Memphis,’’ coach Derek Fisher said.
Anthony missed the Dec. 23 game in Cleveland with a sprained right ankle, but said that had healed completely before he stepped on the foot of a referee late in the first half against Boston on Tuesday.
Anthony sat out all but the first 19 seconds of the second half as he tried to go on it but couldn’t push off.
Following the win over the Celtics, Porzingis became the first player in NBA history to notch at least 40 3-point baskets and 75 blocks in his first 40 games. Porzingis is averaging 2.0 blocks per game and has at least five blocks in four contests.