How were the Knicks going to respond to that disgraceful 40-point thrashing at home to the Boston Celtics?
With another double-digit loss, of course. Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire gave strong efforts, but found themselves failed miserably by their guards, who couldn’t score or play adequate defense as Kyrie Irving had his best game of the season (37 points, 11 assists). This second straight defeat puts the Knicks back at square one regarding the questions about their mentality and unquestionably puts Mike Woodson back on the chopping block (who says he ever left it?).
VINTAGE BAD START: The Knicks went all out in trying to duplicate the horrific first quarter of the Celtics game. They gave up 16 free throws and were at one point down 27-9. They ended the quarter in a 31-19 hole,. but tightened up their defense in the second behind the inspired bench play of Stat (15 points). A Melo three-pointer got them within a point (46-45), but then a bunch of pounding and plodding isolation plays stalled the offense and allowed the Cavs to hold a small 48-45 lead at halftime.
3RD QUARTER MELTDOWN: Melo had 7 early quarter points and the team was well within striking distance. Then the team inexplicably started playing foolish. Everyone got three-point happy, in addition to not boxing out on rebounds nor guarding the perimeter. Irving abused Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni for 12 points in the quarter and the Cavs frontcourt got several putback slams off missed jumpers. The Cavs were draining their own threes and before long the deficit had ballooned to 73-60 off a Irving crossover and pullup trey on Prigioni. The last putback dunk on the Knicks had Melo throwing his hands up in exasperation at his team’s effort.
When the smoke cleared, the Knicks took a 81-65 deficit into the fourth.
NO BETTER IN THE LAST 12: The fourth quarter was no better. The Cavs pushed the lead at one point to 19 (88-69), and basically rode the hot shooting of Irving, who made the game into an Uncle Drew exhibition on our hapless Knicks guards.
BLAME MELO? PLEASE…: Games like this serve as a perfect example of why blaming Carmelo Anthony for the wretched start to the season is so ridiculous. The man’s stat line was 29 points (12-19 shooting), 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Sure, Melo is far from perfect. He doesn’t have the best instincts with his help defense, and of course he gets into volume-shooting habits too much at times. But from day one, he’s been our most consistent player in terms of effort and contributions. The guard play was abysmal and with Bargnani having a cold shooting night (11 points, 5/17), Melo’s effort was essentially wasted.
STOUDEMIRE: Amar’e defense and rebounding will always be an issue, but he at least put up points last night and had two great blocks at the rim. He played 27 minutes and had 17 points on 7/10 shooting. If his knees hold up (stop laughing), he could end up being our bench lead as originally intended.
The bleeding likely continues tonight as the Knicks face the Bulls.
We can’t keep losing these games. – AMAR’E STOUDEMIRE
Tell me if you’ve heard this scenario before. The Knicks play solid in the first and second quarter. They pass the ball, look for the open man, and play active and smart on defense. They begin to unravel in the third quarter and finally fall apart in the fourth quarter as lack of defensive stops discourages them.
Of course you’ve heard this before since it’s been the Knicks’ M.O on their now on five-game losing streak. The Washington Wizards, a playoff team but no powerhouse, had an easy time of it once they figured out the Knicks currently have no heart or identity on offense or defense.
STILL WAITING FOR THAT FULL GAME: 12 games in, the Knicks have yet to put together a full 48 minutes of competent basketball. The first half last night saw Wizards point guard John Wall run amuck in the first quarter and early part of the second by scoring 17 points. His output was offset by a re-energized Amar’e Stoudemire, who was thriving in the post-up and pick n’ rolls (5-5, 12 points). Carmelo Anthony stayed under control in the first half as well with his shot selection, helping the Knicks to 52-49 halftime lead.
As usual, things fell apart in the third quarter. The offense sputtered into isolation plays for JR Smith (6-14, 12 points) and Melo, leading to long missed jumpers and the Wizards pouncing on the Knicks’ weak transition defense. The Wizards outscored the Knicks 27-17 to take a 76-69 lead into the fourth. While the Knicks, specificaly Melo, JR and Pablo Prigioni hit some timely threes in the fourth to remain close, they could never get any stops. Guards like Bradley Beal (18 points) and the aforementioned Wall (31 points) abused them with pick n’ rolls and penetration to score at will and prevent a Knicks comeback. The team appeared to sense their defense couldn’t hold firm. Mentally, you began to see them start slacking by the middle of the quarter. The biggest culprit was Melo, who several times failed to rotate and allowed the Wizards to sink open threes.
MELO’S GOOD AND BAD: Anthony notched another double double (23 points, 12 rebounds) and shot 47% from the field, so on the surface you’d think he’s one of the last people you’d criticize. But in this game he deserves a fair share of the blame, as he didn’t provide full effort on defense in the crucial fourth quarter. I’m sure he’s exasperated by the big weight he’s had to carry so early in the season, but the team will always take its lead from him. When Melo starts to check out, the team follows. He’s shown flashes of good passing and that’s the only way the team will regain its confidence. Two assists for him won’t suffice and neither will repeated isolation plays in crunch time. Melo was great with the “hockey assists” in a few games already this year and needs to continue that to keep Bargnani’s offense involved late in the game.
BACKCOURT WOES: Raymond Felton sat for his third straight game with back issues, leading to another start for Beno Udrih. Coming off his stellar effort against the Pacers, some fans were speculating that Udrih might be the starting answer for Felton. This game brought those views back to reality, as Udrih also struggled mightily to keep the young Wizards guards in front of him. And offensively, he wasn’t much better, mustering just 2 points and 5 assists.
Iman Shumpert was mostly invisible as well, delivering 6 points, 3 steals and 1 rebound in 27 minutes.
THE ROADTRIP OF WOODY’S FUTURE: The Knicks now face a three-game road trip starting tomorrow night in Portland before moving on to Los Angeles (Clippers) and Denver. Should the Knicks not win a game, which is very possible if the team continues playing like this, then it’s hard to imagine Mike Woodson making through the end of the week. The Knicks will at that point have a 3-12 record while being on a 8-game losing streak.
If the team comes out with no urgency in Portland, it sends a clear message about the team’s pride (or lack thereof).
The questions about Amar’e Stoudemire’s health have intensified today with the disclosure that the veteran forward underwent an unreported knee surgery in July.
The New York Daily Newsstates Stoudemire had the surgery as a “clean-up” procedure on one of the knees.
The sugery marks the third knee procedure Stoudemire has undergone in the last 12 months. Last year, Stoudemire missed the beginning of the season due to a debridement surgery on his right knee. The same procedure, this time on his left knee, caused him to miss the end of the regular season and a total of 53 games.
At press time, the Knicks are preparing for their opening media day. Stoudemire has yet to release a statement.
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I doubt many of us were expecting much from Stat this year, but it’s still disheartening to hear that he’s had yet another surgery. I’m not deterred by the claim it’s not “serious.” Anything having to do with Stat’s knees is serious, as the last 12 months have shown.
I’m sure Amar’e will downplay this and claim he’s in “phenomenal shape,” but it serves as another warning for Knicks coach Mike Woodson that Stat will have to be on a meticulously-managed minute schedule. I’d be shocked if we see him play more than 15 minutes a game this season unless we’re severely short-handed.
The 2012-2013 season is at an end for the New York Knicks. But that doesn’t mean you can’t relive all the great moments from the last seven months that returned the Knicks to prominence. From our team captains (Melo, Chandler, Stat) to our tough role players, you’ll see plays you vividly remember (like J-Kidd’s four-play against Brooklyn), to others just as spectacular, but forgotten over the course of the year (like Novak and JR smashing on the Spurs). Even if you’re still down about the second round playoff exit, these highlights will undoubtedly bring a smile to your face.
Much respect goes to www.obglobal.net for taking that time to put together this awesome collection. Go there to register and talk Knicks all throughout the off-season.
It still hurts two days later. As you all have noted, this site was quiet on a recap of the Knicks-Pacers elimination game yesterday. I was still wrapping my head around the disappointment of the game. Yes, the Knicks went down swinging (well, some of us did). But considering the level of talent assembled for our “win now” motto, the strong feeling of what could have been remains with most Knicks fans. I wasn’t one of those people who thought this squad was going to win the championship this year, but I did see a team that could make the Eastern Conference finals and give a considerable challenge to the Miami Heat. So what went wrong?
SURVIVING THE FIRST HALF: The Knicks offense was again in struggle mode for the first 24 minutes (35% shooting). JR Smith shot 1/6 and Raymond went 0/5. Luckily for NY, Melo was on and kept his team within striking distance (12 points in the first, 20 at the half on 8/16 shooting).
The other reason the Knicks were on the wrong side of a 55-47 score was the rebounding and fouling. The Pacers were getting all the hustle plays and crashing the boards (at one point a 18-5 edge). Indy was very focused while other players, most notably Tyson Chandler and JR Smith, were cyring to the refs, earning Tyson a tech late. The Knicks found themselves in the foul penalty around the 8-minute and had an astounding 16 fouls in the second quarter.
MELO AND SHUMP’S DRAMATIC 3RD QUARTER: The Pacers got the lead to 13 and the feeling was this game was about to be blown open at any moment.
Iman Shumpert had other plans.
Shump detonated for three consecutive threes to bring the Knciks within one (69-70). JR came alive for his own trey, and Shump hit yet another one to tie the game at 79.
Melo was on fire himself, at one point being 4-4 in the quarter and ending up with 15 points in those 12 minutes. A driving layup in the final 30 seconds briefly gave the Knicks a 81-79 lead. When the quarter ended, the score was tied at 81 and the stage was sent for a drama-filled finish.
THE BLOCK: Might as well get right to it. The below play from Roy Hibbert was the defining moment of the game (even more than his great rebounding and 20-plus points). Melo went up as hard as possible and got summarily rejected. From there, he became reluctant to keep that same aggressiveness inside and it led to three consecutive turnovers on his part (one of which resulted in a costly three-point play courtesy of Lance Stephenson over JR Smith for a 95-92 Pacers lead).
The Pacers used the momentum from Hibbert’s play for a 9-0 run that pretty much sealed the deal.
DISAPPEARING ACTS: Melo had 39 points in this game so even with some glaring mistakes, I can live with his effort. Shumpert as well. The rest of the team is where I have issues.
Tyson Chandler (2 points, 6 rebounds) has been abysmal this entire series and after spouting his mouth off in the media about the team’s play, he goes out and makes Roy Hibbert look like Hakeem Olajuwon for the second time. I watched in the disgust as he fumbled point-blank putbacks and failed to box out.
Felton disappointed me the most in going 0/7 from the field and managing just two points. His offense, and more importantly his playmaking, was sorely missed.
JR ended up with 15 points, but on 4/15 shooting. Some in the media have chosen to focus on Melo’s 2/7 shooting effort in the fourth, but not noting the several drives for open kickouts he got to Smith. JR couldn’t hit from the three when it mattered, and the rest is history.
Amar’e Stoudemire only got 5 mintues (none in the fourth) and managed 2 points for the game. Sure, we needed scoring, but Stat’s subpar defense and rebounding would have made the Hibbert feasting even worse.
TIME FOR CHANGE?: I’ve heard everything from fire Woodson to blowing up the roster of everyone except Melo and Shumpert. We definitely need to make some serious adjustments in regard to offensive creativity, strengthening our rebounding, and team defense IQ.
One thing I refuse to do is call this season a failure. Never at any time this season did we have our team completely healthy, yet we still managed our first 50-plus win season in well over a decade. With everyone at their best, this is easily a 60-win team.
Now if we can see a healthy Knicks team for next year is the question. More on that, and Stat’s comments on his team contributions, later today.
Amar’e Stoudemire’s productive comeback to the 2012-2013 season is now over with the confirmation that he will miss at least six weeks to have another knee debridement surgery.
Stoudemire missed the first two months of the season following the November 1 procedure on his left knee for a burst cyst. The pending surgery will be on his right knee and was discovered when Stoudemire complained of soreness in both knees following the Knicks’s 95-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Stoudemire has come off the bench since his January 1 return, but saw a marked increase in minutes after Carmelo Anthony went down with a sore knee in a March 4 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Stoudemire had been on a 30-minute playing cap per his last surgery.
Stoudemire was averaging 14 points and 5 rebounds while shooting 57% from the field.
At press time, the Knicks are expected to open the rotation back up to include additional role players like Chris Copeland.
Absolutely devastating. Per the tentative timeline, Stoudemire could be back in the playoffs by the end of the first or sometime in the second round if the Knicks get that far. But do we really want to risk playing Stoudemire fresh out of surgery in the grueling, physical atmosphere of the playoffs? This news pretty much declares to me he’s done for the year.
This puts all of the scoring load back on Melo and JR. When they’re hot, it will be thrilling stuff. When they’re not, it’ll be like watching a cat playing with a mouse (ie. a slow death). That goes for the rest of our squad — we are truly living and dying by the three-point shot for the rest of the year. This is the second player we’ve lost to injury (Rasheed Wallace being the first), and our star player in Carmelo Anthony has already missed 10 games from the wear and tear of heavy minutes and playing at power forward for most of the year. Coach Woodson said he planned on trying to get Melo’s minutes down to 35. For that to happen, someone has to step up big and I mean Linsanity-like big.
The Knicks front office have some tough decisions to make this off-season.
Nothing comes easy for this Knicks team, even when playing a banged up Detroit Pistons with only eight available players. New York got some scares throughout the night, but this one was decided in the end by talent and execution. A win is a win, but we better see a massive improvement tonight if our team hopes to be competitive against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
WHITE AND THOMAS STARTING?: When I saw James White and Kurt Thomas in the starting lineup, I expected a long night. They played for a combined 12 minutes in the game, so there wasn’t too much damage from this. But when you see Kenyon Martin still languishing on the bench, you wonder what could possibly be going through Coach Woodson’s head. Marcus Camby got six minutes, so at least there was some progress made in opening up the lineup.
STAT EATS UP DETROIT: The Pistons only had two players (who happened to be rookies) 6’10 or taller in the lineup last night, making it a feast on the inside for Stoudemire. Stat bullied his way to 10 points in the first quarter and 17 at the half. Woody made a misstep in taking Stat out with a few minutes left in the second. That, combined with the horrid ball-handling (15 turnovers), lead to a Pistons 13-2 run to get within six (44-38).
Stat started the second half, but the Knicks were more interested in chucking long jumpers than really working through Stat again. He would only post five points over the second half, but contributed solidly on the boards (9 rebounds, 6 offensive).
CHANDLER OUT OF SYNC: Tyson Chandler was mentally out of it on defense and offense for most of this game. The interior defense, which starts with him, was inconsistent and particularly bad in the opening quarter with Detroit scoring the majority of their points on layups and dunks. With Detroit’s lack of bigs, Tyson should have been feasting inside like he did to the Warriors last week in the absence of David Lee.
JR FEAST AND FAMINE: The Knicks kicked off the third quarter on the wrong side of a 10-2 run and a big part of that was due to JR chucking from the outside (4-16 early on). Brandon Knight got hot due to lazy defense and the run extended to 18-4 with the Knicks facing a 65-55 hole with just over two minutes left. JR then found his three-pointing (as did Raymond Felton) and helped erase the lead and tie it at 65.
JR nailed three treys in the fourth but his most significant contribution came when he got three big steals to help deflate Detroit.
FELTON CAN’T MISS: When Melo’s out, no other player on this Knicks squad decides to pick it up on the offensive end more than Raymond Felton. He did it in the December when he lit up the Heat for nearly 30 points and did again last night, going 10-15 from the field (4-5 from trey) for 26 points. How in the zone was Felton? The man caught a lob from Pablo Prigioni like he was Chandler.
MORE FROM SHUMP AFTER THE FIRST: I’m liking this trend of Iman Shumpert coming out aggressive and being…well… a shooting guard that actually shoots. He dropped 9 points in the first quarter off three treys but like previous games, his offense disappeared after that.
KNICKS SLOPPY BUT PISTONS “SLOPPIER”: The Knicks average a league-low 11 turnovers and had 20 last night. However, the Pistons also had 20 and theirs were way more costly with six of them coming in the fourth quarter.
WHEN MELO COMES BACK: Can we just cut the nonsense now, Woody? You’re getting a lot of deserved heat for the constant and unnecessary defensive switching and parading these crazy lineups out there. Our starting lineup needs to be Felton, Shumpert, Melo, Stat and Chandler. Mix and match as you please, but our Big Three needs to start and end games. They either prove definitively they can play together or they crash and burn. This team was put together to “win now” and that only happens with your best players on the floor.
No time like the present to get that lineup going tonight against the Thunder.
They do a lot of switching… a lot of stuff where you can get caught in laziness and hanging back. So we’re just moving and cutting and guys are cutting hard. And we got Luke Walton out there so it makes it easy. – Cavs guard C.J. Miles on the Knicks’s first half defense
As you can see from the above quote, the Cavs were feeling themselves in the first half against the Knicks. They had reason to be cocky on 68% shooting and at one point in the second holding a 22 point lead (52-30). The Knicks couldn’t make basic defensive rotations and Luke Walton was dishing dimes like a prime John Stockton. And to add to the misery, Carmelo Anthony had a Benny Hill moment in tripping over his own feet and badly hurting his right knee to knock him out the rest of the game.
But halfway through the second, the Knicks began showing signs of life and very gradually it seemed to dawn on them they were playing the Cavaliers. Without Melo, Coach Woodson was forced to do what should become a regular end-game lineup in playing both Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler.
MEET THE LATEST BENCH PLAYER TO TORCH NY: Center Marreese Speights got the start today and promptly began going to town with jumper after jumper. He hit his first 10 shots and had 15 points after the first. Whether it was Chandler or Stat, he was the Cavs’s dominate scorer in the first half. However, reality (and the Knicks defense) made him a non-factor in the second half where he only had 2 points.
MELO’S INJURY TRIGGERS RUN: The Knicks looked completely demoralized down 22 and the Melo injury appeared to signal this would be a blowout evening. The Knicks instead rallied with a 17-4 run to close the quarter and take a 49-61 deficit into halftime. In the third, the Knicks stormed out with a 10-0 run to pull within 59-61 behind tough interior defense that triggered jump balls, and solid shooting from Jason Kidd and JR Smith. Still, the Knicks couldn’t quite get over the hump despite holding the Cavs to just 1 point six minutes into the quarter and outscoring them 21-13 overall. Going into the fourth, they were still down 70-74.
LIVE BY THE THREE: The Knicks drilled seven treys in the fourth and everyone got in on the party. Novak rebounded from the horrid Sunday game against the Heat and had three treys in the quarter. Kidd nailed two crucial ones, and Raymond Felton added one of his own late. Kidd’s last trey in the final minutes put the Knicks up 97-91, which proved to be just enough breathing room down the stretch.
THE STAT N TYSON SHOW: For the first time in what seemed like ages, Woodson played our two elite bigs in the fourth to devastating effect. Guards Pablo Prigioni and Felton had Stat feasting on pick n rolls for easy dunks and Chandler was all over the boards. The game-changing plays in the last minute came down to this duo. With a slim 97-95 lead, Stat attacked the rim, got blocked and went back up strong to push the lead to 99-95. Later, a missed Stat jumper was tipped out by Chandler to Jason Kidd, leading to a free throw to push the lead to 100-97. And finally, Irving’s three-point attempt to tie was promptly blocked by Chandler to ice the game.
LOSING STREAK ENDS: For some inexplicable reason, the Cavs have been a huge problem for the Knicks even after the LeBron era. Before tonight, the last time the Knicks had won in Cleveland went back to November 2006. To put that in perspective, current Cavs all-star Kyrie Irving for 14 years old at the time.
At this time, we don’t know how much time Melo will miss. Even though the Knicks are claiming it isn’t serious, I don’t have much faith in an early prognosis from the Knicks medical staff considering what we’ve seen happen this year with Rasheed Wallace, Stoudemire and Camby.
Next up is the Pistons, so the Knicks should be able to handle that squad again without Melo.
I needed 24 hours to cool down before writing about this game. For one quarter, the Knicks looked like the formidable team we saw in November and December — sweet passing, hot three-point shooting and our bigs rolling to the basket for easy slams. As expected, the Miami Heat made a second half run that was exacerbated by bad defensive rotations and head-scratching lineups down the stretch. No, yesterday’s game isn’t a sole reason to become irate as a Knicks fan, but it sure as hell was one to make you highly annoyed.
JASON KIDD RESURRECTED: Without question, the Knicks highlight of the game was Kidd retrieving his jumper from El Segundo. The man was on fire in the first half in nailing fourth straight treys. In addition, he nabbed eight rebounds, caused several deflections and got three steals. The Heat defense phased him out in the second half, but hopefully this performance will do wonders for his confidence.
REALLY ONE GOOD QUARTER: A lot has been going around over the last 24 hours about the Knicks playing really well over the first half, but it was really just the second quarter, where NY outscored Miami 37-22. In the first, no one could score outside of Melo, who had 17 of NY’s 22 points.
THE WALKING USELESS: James White got the starting assignment again and might as well have been wearing a Heat uniform. In less than five minutes, he had three fouls, one of which being a three-point play given up to Mario Chalmers on the Heat’s first possession.
Steve Novak had three open looks from downtown that he bricked. His biggest detriment was on defense, where he gave up a defensive rebound by being out-hustled by Ray Allen which lead to the LeBron James trey that tied the game.
Why these two got burn while Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby languished on the bench was mind-blowing.
JR GUNNING: Jr Smith went 5-18 from the field and took 14 treys! Where was the leash for this man? Another Woodson blunder had JR still in chucking while benching Stoudemire, who had been giving Miami fits down low. JR was handling the ball way too much with his more blatant mistakes being two telegraphed cross-court passes that LeBron picked off (the last being the game-killer in the last 30 seconds).
MELO HURT AND SHUT DOWN: Melo had 24 points at halftime but injured his arm on a three-pointer in the second. He only went 3-11 in the second half which was combination of James, the Heat help defense, and Stat not being on the floor. When they did play together, Melo’s pick and roll with Stat lead to two easy dunks.
GET IT TOGETHER, WOODY: Coach Woodson is quick to give guys the Ice Cube early 90’s screwface when they mess up. He needs to give himself that face in the mirror. The Heat experimented with many lineups, but in crunch time their Big Three is on the floor, and that’s why they closed the fourth strong (outscoring the Knicks 26-16). On our end, Stat rotted on the bench while JR was cold and the Heat defense zeroed in on Melo.
And again, not playing K-Mart or Camby while guys like Novak weren’t scoring and getting the red-headed stepchild treatment is inexcusable.
CRYING AND GIVING UP POINTS: Sure, LeBron James did his share of complaining (and even gets caught on camera calling a ref a “bitch ass nigga..”). But guess what — King James doesn’t do it when the game is still in play. Raymond Felton did it at the end of the third and didn’t get back on defense, leading to an open three-pointer from Shane Battier that brought the Heat within four, 77-73. In the fourth, James got away with a foul on Chandler, who sat on his ass and literally threw a fit while James sprinted back, got an offensive rebound, and put in a layup to get the Heat up 91-87. Those two sequences where huge momentum swings and five important points the Knicks literally gave away.
The Knicks get to redeem themselves tonight in Cleveland against the Cavaliers. This is by no means a guaranteed win, as the Knicks have had a lot of problems winning up there in recent years going back to the LeBron era.
Games like this will have you beside yourself. Warriors point guard Steph Curry walked into the Garden last night, became possessed, and put on one of the most amazing shooting displays I’ve ever seen. I think I speak for every Knicks fan when I say I’m thankful we only have to see this kid twice a year (We damn near got a repeat of the infamous “Double Nickel”). But luckily we had our own beast last night in Tyson Chandler, along with high-level scoring from Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith to pull out an important home victory. While the game wasn’t decided until the final seconds, the Knicks made some crucial adjustments to pull this one out.
CHANDLER HAS A GAME FOR THE AGES: With no David Lee to counteract him in the middle, Tyson Chandler was feasting from the opening tip. Our man in the middle had 13 rebounds in the first quarter along with seven points. He never let up throughout the entire game and snatched 10 offensive rebounds and ended up with a career high of 28 rebounds (the most by a Knicks player in over 20 years).
While we can’t expect Chandler to grab that many rebounds regularly, the team definitely needs that high energy as the defense begins and ends with him.
FELTON TAKES A BEATING BUT PROVES HIS WORTH: For most of this game poor Raymond Felton was getting the Ike-Tina Turner treatment from Curry. Sometimes it was Curry taking advantage of the Knicks’s overall poor transition defense and popping pull-up treys off fast breaks. Other times it was beating Felton off the dribble and getting to the rim or nailing short jumpers. At halftime, the kid had 27 points and was 4/6 from downtown.
Curry dropped 11 points on Felton’s head in the third and a three-pointer briefly gave them the lead (67-65) with over 7 minutes left. Felton responded with his own three that helped NY get back in front 77-73, but Curry continued blitzing from downtown. He had four more treys (one being an absolute dagger with just 4 seconds left on the shot clock to put the Warriors up 103-102).
At this point, you’d think Felton would have been sufficiently demoralized. But the man remained focused even after missing two wide-open momentum threes and bricking two free throws. On the other end, he finally succeeded in pushing Curry off the three-point line and forced him into a jumper he was able to block. The key defensive play resulted in a score off a JR Smith jumper to make it 107-105. Felton would later steal a simple inbounds pass to burn more time off the clock and even though he bricked two more crucial free throws, he secured his own offensive rebound to kill additional time.
His stat line overall doesn’t jump out at you (10 pts on 3/10 shooting, 4 assists), but Felton’s 4 steals were invaluable.
JR FROM DOWNTOWN: The only Knick consistently hitting from downtown last night was JR Smith, who had a great game on 10/19 shooting (6/11 from the arc). Smith is much better from the arc when he catches and shoots as opposed to a bunch of dribbling. He was quick with the trigger and seemed to have a timely triple every time Curry started feeling himself. And another overlooked contribution from JR was his five aggressive rebounds, several on them in the key fourth quarter.
STAT CORRECTS 1ST HALF WOES: Amar’e Stoudemire came in with a dunk late in the first quarter and promptly caught two cheap fouls. He picked up his third early in the second and got a tech for mocking the referee. Wasn’t solely his fault, but Stat’s problems were huge in the second unit going scoreless for six minutes. That allowed Golden State to make a run behind Curry’s hot hand to tie midway in the second and only be down 58-53 at halftime.
The third was a little better but Stat too often found himself switched onto the perimeter on defense. The fourth was different with Stat, Melo and Chandler playing at the same time. Melo made it a point to look for Stat when he drew double teams, resulting in Amar’e getting several easy dunks.
While the rebounding (4) could have been better, Stat ended up with a very solid 14 points on 6/7 shooting.
MELO’S 35 POINTS: Melo went 10/26 but there’s more behind those numbers. Yes, he took a few bad shots (two very ball iso ball possessions late in the fourth), but other times it was the result of the offense being stagnant and the guards passing to him late in the shot clock looking to be bailed out. With his shooting erratic, he got to the line (13-15) and moved the ball to the open man (Felton, Stat etc.) and notched 8 assists. Overall he made the right decisions, and his late three-pointer and post-up jumper are two of the baskets that took this game from Golden State.
WOODY’S HEAD-SCRATCHER: Coach Woodson left me dumbfounded with the decision to leave Felton on Curry. A few times JR got the assignment, but it wasn’t until Shumpert got on him that we got a breather from the three-point barrage. Granted, no one was going to be stopping Curry last night, but at least Shumpert would have made him work a little harder, as he did in the second quarter in being physical. Shump made his defensive presence known all the night to the tune of 6 steals and securing a key turnover late in the fourth — he and Chandler forced Jarrett Jack into a baseline trap resulting in a travel.
Outside of that, the most important decision Woody did right was making sure Jason Kidd and Novak had nice seats on the bench as their contributions were nil.
IT’S A TEAM GAME: In all the marveling about Curry’s 54 points, people forget that basketball is a team sport for a reason. The rest of the starters combined for 5 points at halftime and 13 points for the game. The team outside of Curry had 51 points. Once the ball got taken out of Steph’s hands down the stretch, the Knicks victory was sealed.
JASON KIDD IS MIKE BIBBY STATUS: I get no joy out of saying that, but Kidd should be in the doghouse for the foreseeable future. The man cannot hit an open shot to save his life — he bricked four wide open threes and couldn’t get anything going. I do think Kidd gets out of this slump, but for now he needs a mental and physical rest… on the bench.
K-MART’S WELCOMED DEFENSE: Kenyon Martin had a very limited 5 minutes of work in the second quarter. But in that stretch we saw why he should have a nice place on this team. He got switched off on Curry and forced him into a pass and later on covered up Novak getting burned with some timely help defense. If Woody insists on playing Stat and Novak at the same time, a guy like Martin can help tremendously in covering the defensive mistakes those two are prone to make.
The Knicks get to enjoy their victory today but need to get refocused on Friday when they face the Wizards, who embarrassed them earlier in the month.
![[Video] Kyrie Irving Goes for 37, Knicks Lose 109-94](https://nykloyalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/kyrieirving_knicks.png?w=394&h=510&crop=1)
![[Video] Allergic to Defense: Wizards Eat Up Knicks in 4th](https://nykloyalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/stoudemire.jpg?w=422&h=510&crop=1)
![[Video] Are You Not Entertained?! Curry & Chandler Post Career Highs, Knicks Win Thriller Over Warriors](https://nykloyalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/martin_curry.jpg?w=300&h=229&crop=1)
NEW YORK KNICKS LOYALIST 