New York Knicks center Enes Kanter (00) drives against Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
The Knicks extended their win streak to a season-best three games with a come from behind road victory against the always tough Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
The Knicks had every reason to pack it in when they went down 13 points early in the third quarter. Instead, they began chipping away at the Grizzlies’s defense behind a massive effort from Enes Kanter, who dominated the boards with a career-high 26 rebounds to go along with 21 points. Kanter’s efforts were an integral part of a 25-5 run to get the Knicks in front headed into the fourth quarter.
Tim Hardaway would chip in 22 points, including a late clutch three-pointer that gave New York a one-point lead with 2:20 left. Others found different ways to contribute. Although Trey Burke didn’t shoot well (3/15, 15 points), but he hit clutch shots down the stretch and secured a key steal that lead to a Mudiay And-1 dunk to put the Knicks up three with 1:35 remaining.
What I’ve enjoyed most about these wins is the young guns finding ways to win as opposed to the myriad of ways they stumbled into losses during the six-game losing streak. You can see the confidence building every game in guys like Burke and Mudiay.
Coach Fizdale tried to downplay the importance of this game, but we all know he took immense satisfaction in beating the team that fired him. Think he and Marc Gasol exchanged any pleasantries after the game?
Next up is another road test on Tuesday against Blake Griffin and the Pistons.
Emmanuel Mudiay continued his excellent play last night in helping the Knicks take a hard-fought road win over the Memphis Grizzlies. His most dazzling play happened with under two minutes left when he converted a Trey Burke steal into a monstrous And-1 slam over Garrett Temple. Note the contrast between the Knicks and Grizzlies announce teams.
A few factors made this dunk extra sweet. Garrett Temple fouled out on the play and it put the Knicks up 96-93 with 1:35 remaining. It also took some of the fight out of Memphis. And Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr.’s reactions were the proverbial cherries on top. These are the momentum plays a young team has to learn to execute to pull out close games. We’re slowly getting there…
Courtney Lee has made significant recovery from neck spasms and will begin non-contact court drills.
Lee was re-evaluated by the team physician, who determined the Knicks forward is “progressing well” from the neck problems that have kept him sidelined all season.
At press time, Lee’s workouts will be limited to running drills on the court.
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With Lee’s name being floated in trade talks, the Knicks are hoping he gets healthy sooner rather than later. If he comes back and maintains his usual numbers, contending teams will be intrigued by his solid defense and perimeter shooting (38% career shooter from three). And with next year’s free-agent class, the Knicks would be ecstatic to have the additional $12.75 million from Lee’s salary.
The fire was there from the Knicks rookies, but the execution faltered in the fourth quarter against the Washington Wizards, who snapped their five-game losing streak behind 26 points from John Wall to hand New York a 108-95 defeat on the road.
As I stated in my Dallas game recap, I viewed this as a trap game. The Wizards were motivated after getting booed off the court in their last defeat. Although Allonzo Trier and Mitchell Robinson took the fight right to the Wizards, particularly Wall and Dwight Howard, this game showed the value of having All-Star level talent in crunch time.
SECOND HALF FIGHT: The first half was mostly fought on even terms with the Knicks trailing 50-58 at halftime. The third quarter started rough and the Wiz jumped out to a 13-point lead. The Knicks then powered back behind a 14-4 run powered by the efforts of Trier (9 pts), Robinson (10pts, 6 rebs) and Enes Kanter (18 pts, 12 rebs).
We got to see the fire in our rookies as Trier jawed with Wall after a hard foul and later forced him into a dribbling turnover, prompting cheers from Coach Fizdale. Robinson and Howard exchanged dunks on each other with each being liberal with shoves and elbows (Robinson later earned a tech for his mouth).
Early in the fourth, the Knicks’s were finally able to tie the game at 86 just in time for the starters to get back in.
THE COLLAPSE: Unfortunately for New York, everything fell apart. Tim Hardaway Jr., hobbled by a back injury on an earlier hard foul, couldn’t muster anything and had a quiet night of 7 points in 24 minutes. Emmanuel Mudiay, Trey Burke and Frank Ntilikina combined for 9 turnovers. This gave Wall plenty of fast-break opportunities combined with his three-point shot falling (3/6). Add Bradley Beal chipping in 22 points and you had a hill too big for the young Knicks to overcome.
SLOPPY BALL-HANDLING: The Knicks committed a season-high 20 turnovers and shot only 19% from three. The turnovers and being held under 100 points was particularly humbling as the Wizards came into last night the league’s worst-ranked defensive team.
BEAL PRAISES TRIER: The league is starting to take notice of our rookies. Bradley Beal had this to say about Trier’s focus and potential.
The Knicks won’t have long to lick their wounds as they’re back in action Monday night against the Bulls. Closing thoughts:
Kevin Knox feels he’s ready to return after being sidelined seven games due to an ankle injury. Fizdale is more cautious, wanting to see him in 5 on 5 practice drills first. I’m thinking we won’t see him until the end of this week at the earliest.
Courtney Lee’s neck has not improved. I’d be shocked if we see him before December.
Wonderful things happen when you move the ball. The Knicks got their first road win of the season last night in Dallas after tallying 26 assists and getting seven players in double figures for a comfortable 118-106 over the Mavericks.
This game was fun to watch and you can see these young players have sky-high confidence right now.
TRIER TAKES OVER: It feels like every game you have to ask the rhetorical question of how this kid went undrafted. He was a tour de force by scoring 14 points in the third quarter alone. And he does it on an assortment of moves while never shying away from contact.
A team-leading 23 points in 24 minutes on 8/10 shooting and 6/7 from the line. He’s averaging 10 points on 53% shooting for the season. I can see him upping that to 12-14 points at this pace. He’s still a bit careless at times with the ball (3 turnovers this game), but his offensive output is such a bench spark you can live with it.
MITCH’S AMAZING LOB: Coach Fiz went on record this week saying Robinson’s defensive presence was the main reason he got the starting nod. This game showed how disruptive his length is to opposing teams. Outside of his one big block, he got three steals off pass deflections that stopped lobs and open layups. This lead to fastbreak opportunities in the third that seemed to demoralize the Mavs.
While his stat-line was impressive (13 pts, 10 rebs, 3 stls, 1 blk), the memorable play of the night was his 180 alley oop catch from Trier. I hope Rasheed Wallace continues working with the team as Mitch’s current glaring weakness is his boxing out on rebounds.
SHARING THE BALL: After a struggle-filled second quarter where New York was outscored 32-23, the Knicks were down 56-59 at halftime. Mario Henzonja deserves a mention here as his 11 point blitz in 9 minutes kept the Mavs from pulling away.
The fear of a flat third is always there for this team. Instead, the Knicks stormed out with excellent ball movement and bench contributions. Lance Thomas was the second part of the bench 1-2 punch this quarter when he scored all of his 10 points on 3/4 shooting. They outscored the Mavs 33-18 in the period.
It says a lot that Tim Hardaway Jr.’s performance was viewed as having a “quiet” night (18pts, 6 rebs, +10). Because of Trier and others like Damyean Dotson (11 pts, 8 rebs, +18) and Enes Kanter (13 pts, 5 rebs), Timmy wasn’t needed at all in the fourth.
MUDIAY’S BEST GAME: This might be his best performance as a Knick. He was vital to New York extending their lead early in the fourth behind a nifty fast-break dunk pass to Trier and hitting back to back mid-range jumpers. The stats aren’t eye-popping (6 pts, 4 asts), but he controlled the pace very well and kept the Mavs
sslower players off-balance on defense.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Has anyone considered the crazy thought that Kevin Knox might not turn out to be our best rookie?
I hope the team doesn’t get comfortable because the struggling Wizards are next up. Washington got booed off their own floor last night so they’ll be highly motivated come Sunday.
Courtney Lee’s neck issues worry me. It’ll be hard to trade him and we don’t want to hurt our future cap space by stretching the last 2 years of his contract.
Dennis Smith Jr. sure looked frustrated with that hard-foul and step-over stunt he pulled on Ntilikina. Lord knows Frank still has a long ways to go. But getting another look at DSJ, particularly his defense and six turnovers, makes me more secure in our draft choice.
Let the Allonzo Trier hype begin! Fans got to see why Coach Fizdale is ok with iso plays for Trier as the rookie gunner went for 20 first half points and finished with an efficient 25 points on 8/14 shooting (8/8 from the line) in 26 minutes. Yes, it’s just one game and a preseason one at that. But on a team low with players who can create their own shots, Trier displayed why it’ll be hard to keep him stashed in the G-League.
The Knicks started very slow, going down 9-20 early. The ball wasn’t moving and the team was lethargic on defense. Trier became that offensive spark with his assortment of moves. His mid-range jumper was money and he got to the rim with an elusive first step. His teammates recognized he was on fire and rode the wave to take a small halftime lead.
Trier is on a two-way contract. This means should the Knicks want to add him to the 15-man roster, cuts need to be made. With Joakim Noah on the way out, NY might also take a hard look at removing Luke Kornet if Trier keeps this up.
KEEPING POISE: The Knicks had a comfortable 12-point lead early in the 4th when Fizdale cleared his bench. Of course, the bench players lead by Baker and Mudiay got too lax and allowed the Nets to crawl back in and narrow the lead to just two points in the final three minutes. From there, Damyean Dotson (4/4, 8 points) proved to be a stabilizing force by hitting two clutch mid-range jumpers.
On the defensive end, Baker had a key steal (his second of the evening) that lead to a Hicks fast-break dunk to put the Knicks in control for good.
One of the big question marks this years is how the young kids would respond in late game situations. Mistakes were made, but I was encouraged to see no one got down on themselves and the defensive intensity was high.
BEAST MODE: Enes Kanter went on a rampage last night, dropping 22 points and grabbing 20 rebounds in 27 minutes. For all his defensive woes, Kanter is a valuable piece when used correctly. I don’t believe we’ll be paying him the money he wants to keep him, but expect many more light-out nights like this during the year.
QUIET NIGHTS: Kevin Knox had a lowkey game, shooting 50% (3/6) and scoring 7 points. Mitchell Robinson didn’t light up the scoreboard either (2 points, 2 rebounds), but he had two sensational blocks. One came while stuffing a layup attempt. The second was even more impressive when he chased down a three-point attempt and managed to keep the ball inbounds. The league will learn so enough to respect this kid’s wingspan.
GUARD WATCH: Frank Ntilikina (9 points, 2 blocks) had some good moments. Early on he drove to the basket for an emphatic dunk. His defense included a strong block to prevent a layup which lead to a Trier three-point play.
Hardaway spent too much time camped out on the perimeter. He was 3/11 with his best moments coming when he decided to get in the paint. Mudiay was just awful all-around (1/5 and -10). Even with our roster I’m finding difficulty figuring out where he fits.
The Knicks conclude their preseason Friday night at home against the Pelicans.
For all their dysfunction in recent years, the Knicks continue to be the league leaders in one category — turning a profit.
The New York franchise had been crowned the most valuable team in the NBA by Forbes.com. The Knicks are reportedly worth $3.6 billion, making them the seventh most profitable sports franchise in the world (Note: The Dallas Cowboys top the list for the third straight year at $4.8 billion).
A big contributing factor to the fiscal windfall is the $1 billion dollar renovation that Madison Square Garden completed in 2013. According to Forbes, the additional suite rentals account for over $1 million per year.
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And we wonder why James Dolan isn’t interesting in selling. Think about it this way — New York has one playoff series win in 18 years. Imagine the profits when we actually get good?
After four Summer League games, Kevin Knox has achieved his first NBA milestone.
The Knicks rookie was the only team member selected to the Summer League’s All NBA First Team. He averaged 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in 32 minutes per game. Knox’s scoring average ranked fourth among all Summer League players.
The one glaring improvement area is the 35% field goal percentage, exacerbated by poor shot selection.
Overall, it was promising Summer League campaign and gives us a lot to forward to in preseason.
![[Video] Watch Emmanuel Mudiay’s And-1 Slam Over Garrett Temple](https://nykloyalist.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/knicks_mudiay_dunk_temple.png?w=825&h=510&crop=1)
![[Video] The Iso Chronicles: Trier Gives Bazemore Bambi Legs](https://nykloyalist.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/trier_bazmore.jpg?w=739&h=416&crop=1)
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