The Knicks notched their third straight home victory last night with an impressive win over the Thunder. Although playing without Kevin Durant (sprained left foot big toe), New York had to contend with Russell Westbrook, who torched the Knicks earlier this year. This time around, Westbrook went for 40 points (13-30 shooting), but couldn’t overcome the Knicks three-pronged attack of Carmelo Anthony (31 points, 10 rebounds), Langston Galloway (18 points) and Lance Thomas (17 points).
The game was tightly contested the entire way and came down for the fourth quarter, where New York’s season has been mired by heart-breaking collapses. Tim Hardaway Jr. (14 points) was pivotal in keeping the Knicks in front with three 3-pointers in the period. New York had an 11-point lead with under three minutes to go, but saw that sliced to five in the final minute due to porous defense. Lance Thomas, on his second 10-day contract, hit a short turnaround jumper to ice the game with 45 seconds left.
Two unheralded contributors last night were Jason Smith (11 points, 11 rebounds) and Lou Amundson (5 points, 10 rebounds).
The Knicks are back in action tonight on the road against Indiana.
Make that 10 straight losses. The Knicks suited up just nine players tonight against the Pistons and spent most of the game in an offensive and defensive fog, going down by as many as 30 points before settling on a 97-81 defeat. Game like this don’t yield many positives. However, the game’s last few minutes allowed for a few moments of cheering.
EARLY PROVIDES A SPARK: Rookie Cleathony Early suited up for the first time since mid-November after going down with a knee injury. Nothing about his numbers tonight will jump out at you — 5 points, 1 rebounds and a steal in 14 minutes of play. But the rook showed strong effort. His most notable moment was a coast-to-coast drive that resulted in a three-point play opportunity. His ethusiasm picked up the energy of the rest of the team and got JR nailing a few threes to bring the lead back under 20.
With only a two minutes left, the fans knew the Knicks wouldn’t be overcoming a 16-18 point deficit. But the fact the team actually gave a damn resulted in loud cheers that would make you believe we were watching a tight playoff game.
Early hasn’t been tainted yet by the constant losing. Fisher should keep him in rotation and maybe his youthful enthusiasm will get contagious.
ANGRY BOOS: Before the late run, most of the night was filled with irate boos from the Garden faithful. The Pistons started pulling away in the second via an 11-0 run that put them up 40-27. With their best players out (Melo, Hardaway Jr, Stoudemire etc.), that Knicks were relegated to contested jumpshots and were shooting well under 40% They were outscored 33-18 in the second and down 58-37 at halftime.
The hammering continued in the third with Brandon Jennings sinking repeated threes. The fans were booing at every intermission and each time it seemed to sap the team’s focus and confidence. The lowest point came with Jennings hitting a three at the end of the third that put the deficit at 82-52.
RANDOM NOTES: JR Smith lead the team with 22 points, going 8/20 from the field (mostly due to chucking threes in the final minutes). Cole Aldrich had a solid outing against Andre Drummond with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. Drummond had a low scoring night (7 points), but was a beast on the boards with 20 rebounds.
Andrea Bragnani was playing just his second game this season when he re-aggravated his right calf and left after a minute. No word on how much time he’s expected to miss.
The Knicks’ challenges mount as the team will play tough teams over the next week in the Grizzlies, Rockets, and Wizards.
Tonight wasn’t so bad, but I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring. – CARMELO ANTHONY
Melo’s above quote was about his sore left knee, but easily could have been attributed to the team’s performance in last night’s 99-78 defeat to the Clippers. Melo had 19 points (7/18 shooting) and was the only Knick to hit double figures. No one shot well, as evidenced by the team shooting 38% overall and 23% from downtown. The Clippers had six players hit double figures. DeAndre Jordan ran amuck in the paint to the tune of 14 points and 12 rebounds.
New York’s inept perimeter defense provided a feast for JJ Redick, who scored 20 points. The game essentially went out of reach in the third when the Clippers turned a 10-point lead into 23 courtesy of a 13-0 run.
Andrea Bargnani made his return and scored 9 points (4/11) in 19 minutes of play. JR Smith also returned and had 7 points (3/10) in 17 minutes off the bench.
Back to back losses on layups…LAYUPS. God hates us.
As commentator Mike Breen said in the seconds following Kemba Walker’s game-winning, easy layup drive, “The pain continues.” Coming from 20 points down mid third-quarter, the Knicks, lead by Carmelo Anthony’s game-high 32 points, staged an impassioned comeback that can down to one defensive stop with 4 seconds left. And as we’ve seen countless times over last two seasons, a speedy guard easily got into the pain the Knicks had their hearts broken.
For most the game, the Knicks appeared disjointed on defense. They couldn’t defend perimeter threes and guys like Lance Stephenson slashed to the basket at will. Melo had 15 first half points, but he still looked deflated from Thursday’s game where he shot a vile 21% from the field.
Then a light switch went off in the third quarter. Melo’s jumper started following along with And 1’s in the paint. Tim Hardaway Jr and JR Smith started going lights off from three. For most of the fourth, the Knicks hovered with an 8-10 point deficit before Melo’s back to back 3s gave the Knicks a 102-101 lead. NY had the chance to get the lead to 3, but Melo missed a short bassline jumper that set up Walker’s heart-breaking layup.
There were a lot of grumblings as to who was at fault on that drive. Should Prigioni have been more aggressive in taking the foul to give to get more time off the clock? Should Melo have jumped out quicker to stifle Kemba’s drive? Should Stoudemire have read Walker’s move quicker to get a better chance at altering the shot?
For me, teams win and lose together. Had the Knicks played with the 4th quarter intensity that had them outscore Charlotte 33-18 for the ENTIRE contest, the game would not have been decided in this manner.
By the time the first quarter ended, the Melo-less Knicks had scored a just 13 points on 30% shooting and were looking at a 17-point deficit. Being a “Knicks loyalist” feels more like being a sadist these days, as the team never got within striking distance and ended up losing 105-78.
WESTBROOK UNSTOPPABLE: In his first game back from a broken right hand, Westbrook was a terror on the Knicks’ hapless defense. He slashed to the rim for dunks and layups, hit pullup jumpers, and even dished the ball when necessary. He ended up with 32 points and 8 assists, with most of his damage being done in the first 24 minutes with OKC scoring a season-high 59 first half points. New York was held to just 33, the second fewest all season by an OKC opponent.
EMBARRASSING DEFICITS: Jose Calderon’s return has seen a marked improvement in the ball movement, but the team is still composed of too many players that can’t create their own shots and have to settle for long, contested jumpers. The Knicks were 2/19 from three-point land and could only muster 39% shooting from the field.Only two players managed double figures (Stat, 20 points and Hardaway, 11 points). In the second quarter, the Knicks were down 40-13. By the third, the deficit had ballooned to 37 points.
ALARMING NUMBERS: Right now, the Knicks are out of the playoffs by about 4 games. However, the team has went 0-3 on this road trip and 1-9 in their last 10 games.The schedule gets much tougher in December, meaning if the NY doesn’t find some type of continuity in the next several weeks, it’s likely they’ll be a lottery team headed into 2015.
MELO UPDATE: Our leader spoke to the media before the game and advised he’s getting “closer” to coming back from back spasms that started during the first quarter of the Rocket game. In addition, he’s still dealing with some nagging left knee soreness.
UP NEXT: New York gets their first crack at the new look Miami Heat on Sunday night at MSG. Although nowhere near as bad as the Knicks, the Heat are also off to a sluggish start with an 8-7 record.
Carmelo Anthony joined elite company last night by scoring his 20,000th career point as the Knicks held off a game Charlotte Hornets squad at Madison Square Garden. It was another game where the Knicks had to execute down the stretch, something that was near impossible last season. But this squad is already showing the poise and grit that will be needed later in the season and hopefully beyond in the playoffs.
HOT SHOOTING: The Knicks shot over 50% for most of the game and applied some lock-down defense early on. Samuel Dalembert gave Al Jefferson fits for most of the first half, holding the All-Star to 1/5 shooting until a late burst in the final minutes of the second. There were isolation plays for Melo, but mostly the offense stayed the course with the triangle, allowing everyone to a get a crack at open shots. This ensured that everyone stayed within the flow of the offense, patricularly our guards who need to keep their shooting touch. Amar’e Stoudemire also had a lively night as well, contributing 17 points and 10 rebounds (!!!).
A POTENTIAL BLOWOUT TURNS INTO A PLAYOFF-LIKE GRINDOUT: A 9-0 run in the second quarter put the Knicks up 15, and many thought the team might cruise to an early victory. The Hornets had other ideas and promptly went on an 20-7 run, making NY have to settle for a 52-50 halftime lead. From that point on, neither team would go up more than three points.
LANCE STEPHENSON: As usual, Lance put on a show at the Garden and flirted with a triple-double (14 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists). JR and Shumpert struggled to keep him out the paint on drives and off the boards. His dynamic play-making, including a driving layup in the closing seconds of the third to make it 80-79 Charlotte, was key in keeping the Hornets afloat.
KEY DEFENSIVE STOPS: With each team making timely 4th quarter buckets, the game had to be decided by defensive stops. The Knicks ended up with three crucial ones in the final minutes: Prigioni with an inbounds deflection off a Charlotte guard for a turnover, Melo with a similar strip past the three-point line, and Shumpert picking Stephenson’s pocket during a drive (the latter with less than a minute remaining).
Still, Charlotte had their chance at a game-winner. With the score 95-93 NY, Kemba Walker drove and got a clean look at the basket via a pump fake. The shot rimmed out, and Melo went 1-2 at the line to ice the game with just .8 remaining.
IMPROVEMENTS: The defensive energy was there, but our guards still need to improve with cutting off dribble penetration. Also, the team shot an abysmal 58% from the free throw line (10/17), making this game tighter than it needed to be.
Congrats again to Melo, who finished with 28 points (12/22, 54%).
A tie-breaking three-point play in the final 13 seconds from Carmelo Anthony was enough to hold off the Washington Wizards and close out the Knicks’ preseason record at 3-3.
Melo had 30 points on 11/19 shooting, along with 3 rebounds and 3 assists. As usual, the Knicks made it harder than it needed to be through a combination of leaky defense (3-point coverage, issues with guard penetration) and errant passes. Changing a team’s culture takes time, so fans need to be prepared for an uneven season. What is promising is that the effort and direction is there.
The Knicks will get thrown right into the fire next Wednesday when they open the season against the Chicago Bulls.
The was an overall somber mode last night at MSG with the Knicks playing their first game since being bounced from playoff contention. It was also the first time in Melo’s career that he hasn’t led his team to the playoffs. So how did the team respond? It’s not a big consolation prize, but New York put together one of their better defensive efforts of the season, holding the Bulls to 39% shooting and getting several emphatic stops in the 4th quarter to seal a 100-89 victory.
Melo, still nursing a bum right shoulder, managed to be very productive in his limited 28 minutes, notching 17 points and 3 assists. He had a lot of help tonight with three additional starters hitting double figure scoring, Iman Shumpert (10 points, 7 rebounds) providing strong perimter defense, and Tim Hardaway Jr. (20 points) serving as a 4th quarter closer by hitting four key free throws and a three-pointer to hold off a late Bulls run.
To contend with Chicago’s frontline, Coach Woodson wisely gave Cole Aldrich 18 minutes. The big man didn’t disappoint with 6 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. It makes you wonder how much of a difference he could have been if Woody has played him more after Kenyon Martin went down.
The Knicks are off to the Barclays Center to face the Nets on Tuesday night.
As all Knick fans have become painfully aware, our beloved team is now out of the playoff race courtesy of the Hawks beating the Heat last night. But before that game was settled, the Knicks were up in Toronto fighting their hearts out in the fourth quarter to keep their hopes alive. If only we could have had an effort like this the entire season.
With the Nets having the best Eastern Conference record since January, a few Nets fans have started to become too vocal. Some even have the audacity to claim they’ve “taken over” basketball in New York. Well, the Knicks had to remind them of their status with a beatdown last night at Madison Square Garden. After going 3-2 on the recent West Coast trip, there is no room for error with less than 10 games left in the season. The Knicks needed to make a big statement on national TV and boy did they ever deliver…
67%: How hot were the Knicks to start? How about jumping out to a 29-20 lead after the first and shooting 67% for the entire first half to hold a 63-38 lead. The ball movement was strong and the Knicks fed the paint (31 points) via Stoudemire post-ups (13 points) and Melo. On the perimeter, Tim Hardaway Jr., Iman Shumpert, and JR Smith all had their jumpers flowing. In addition, all three attacked the old legs of Brooklyn (who were on a back to back without Kevin Garnett) with aggressive drives, including the best finish at the rim Shump has had all year.
BRIEF LITTLE SCARE: In the third, Raymond Felton came down hard on his back and ribs during a rebound, leading to some deep contusions in those areas. His injury seemed to spark a five-minute period of lethargy where the Nets were able to pull within 14-points. The surge was finally put to a halt by a Prigoni three, and key shots from Melo and JR Smith to push the lead back over 20 headed into the fourth quarter.
LOCKDOWN SHUMPERT: Despite picking up five fouls, Shumpert never wavered in his defensive intensity. Everyone he guarded was harassed and forced into bad leads. His work caused him to be a +29 on the court, to go along with 10, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 24 minutes.
With Shump leading the defensive charge, the Nets were reduced to sub 40% shooting for the majority of the game.
THJ N’ JR: Hardaway got 28 minutes off the bench and was a sharp-shooting 7/10 from the field (17 points). JR was lethal behind the arc (6/12) and had one of his best all-around games with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
NO PRESSURE ON MELO: All the big contributions allowed Melo to take a step back on offense. This allowed him to be highly efficient from the field (8/16, 23 points), get to the line (7/8), and focus on rebounding (10).
IN THE PLAYOFFS…FOR NOW: Atlanta lost to the Bulls last night, allowing this win to put the Knicks into the playoffs. The hold is still very tenuous — New York’s next game falls on Friday against the Wizards, followed by the Heat on Sunday.
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