Tag: basketball

Aw, No Sweep? Celtics Outlast Knicks in OT

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Was that a game 7 atmosphere or what?! I had to check my emotions and remind myself that we were still sitting on a 3-1 lead after Jason Terry lead Boston on an overtime surge to pull out their first win of the series, 97-90. The game was the Knicks to lose in the 4th quarter, and boy did we ever behind Melo’s worst performance in recent months.

 

MELO GIVES THE GAME AWAY: Carmelo Anthony (10-35, 36 points) has had some bad games during his Knicks tenure, but this was one of, if not the worst shooting performance I’ve seen from him. I’ve said before that I could care less about his field goal percentage as long as he scores when it counts in crunch time. For the first three games in this series, he did just that. Yesterday, he couldn’t covert if his life depended on it.

Playing iso at point forward, Melo missed repeated drives and pullup jumpers. Tyson Chandler (11 rebounds) and Iman Shumpert (12 points, 12 rebounds) got repeated offensive rebounds, and still Melo couldn’t buy one. I knew it wasn’t his night when he couldn’t even nail a short 5-7 footer, and bricked two free throws that could have extended the Knicks lead to four late in the fourth. No worries, as Melo will redeem himself on Wednesday.

 

CAN WE GET ONE COMPLETE GAME?: Much has been said about the Celtics blowing a 20 point halftime lead and not being able to play a full 48 minutes. Well, it’s not like the Knicks have had a complete game either this series — the difference is NY has been turning it on in the second half and running the Celtics out the building. But with JR Smith, that extra punch was missing yesterday afternoon.

 

FELTON GOES OFF: Raymond Felton (27 points)  is the man. His 16-point third single-handedly brought the Knicks back from 20 down in less than eight minutes. And that long three-pointer at the third quarter buzzer to bring the Knicks within three (68-65) was absolutely breath-taking.

 

WOODY’S HEAD-SCRATCHERS: Coach Woodson made two calls that ended up being disastrous. First was going with Quentin Richardson to start the second, which began the big Celtics run. Second was repeatedly going to Melo at the expense of Felton, who Boston had no answer for. Yes, conventional wisdom said Melo would hit something, but Felton should have gotten about 3-4 of Melo’s 4th quarter shots.

 

ALL BECAUSE OF A DAMN ELBOW: JR Smith learned the hard way how one sneaky elbow can result in another 48 minutes of work. I expect him to take this personally and go for at least 25 points on Wednesday when the Celtics come back to town.

Flagrant Elbow Earns JR Smith Suspension for Game 4 Against Celtics

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The NBA announced late last night that JR Smith will serve a one game suspension for his flagrant 2 elbow on Jason Terry during the fourth quarter of game 3 against the Celtics Friday night.

The play came when Terry attempted a hard swipe of the ball on the perimeter, resulting in Smith swinging an elbow that first landed on Terry’s chest and then face. Terry had to be restrained by teammates and officials. Smith was ejected after the play was reviewed.

The Knicks went on to win the game 90-76 and take a commanding 3-0 series lead. Smith has been averaging 16 points thus far in the playoffs and is the Knicks second leading scorer.

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This decision is just another reminder to the Knicks that as one of the premier teams in the league, they’ll be extra scrutiny on everything they do. Much like Kevin Durant got a BS fine for simply doing a throat slash, the Knicks have been victim of overreactive disciplinary actions from the NBA front office. Melo got one earlier in the season for attempting to confront Kevin Garnett after the game despite no punches or up-close confrontation happening. Hell, KG choked a Knicks players after a game in the 2011 and there wasn’t a peep from the NBA about a suspension.

In a way, I’m glad JR learned how important he is to the team and not to risk his contributions on silly retaliatory shots. Nonetheless, I still want the sweep today so someone else needs to step up and bury the boys in the green. I’m looking at you, Chris Copeland.

[youtube http://youtu.be/1dbh-xgZxjI]

Baking Beans in Boston – Knicks Smash Celtics, Take 3-0 Series Lead

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It was a beautiful game last night for Knicks fans as our squad broke the spirit of the Celtics with a commanding 90-76 victory. The narrative coming into the contest was how the Knicks would deal with the emotional energy of a Boston team looking to inspire their city after the tragic Boston Marathon bombing. Knicks fans will recall we had our own emotional lift to start the season when we blew out the Heat in the season opener on the heels of Hurricane Sandy. Unfortunately for Boston, they were facing a team that had them beat in talent and focus.

 

TAKEN OUT EARLY, BLAME PRIGIONI: The Boston fans wanted something to cheer for, but the Knicks would have none of it. Pablo Prigioni set the tone with two quick treys. Neither side shot well particularly well in the opening quarter (each squad below 40%). However, you never got the feeling this game would be competitive. Raymond Felton was penetrating at will and kicking out for open shots, one of which being a JR Smith triple. The Celtics got open looks but were shrinking away from meeting the challenge by blowing layups. And even with Melo struggling with his shot going 2-7, the Knicks still lead 23-18 going into the second.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_4cY1cHpcw&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

 

OFF TO THE RACES: You know the most impressive thing about the 2nd quarter? For me, it was the fact the Knicks built the lead with Steve Novak in the lineup. Seriously, Novak had been woeful on offense and defense during this series. Last night, he moved well and wasn’t a liability. The Knicks defense as a whole completely stifled the Celtics guards — passing lanes were clogged up and their offense completely imploded. A JR Smith three-pointer brought the lead to double digits (34-23), and there it remained for the rest of the game.

Melo (26 points), dubbed the “ball hog” by the Celtics media pundits, promptly re-entered the game and drained three straight long jumpers and an alley-oop courtesy of Jason Kidd to push the lead to 47-31 at halftime.

Where was Paul Pierce, you ask? The Celtics main scorer was held to just 4 points on 2-10 shooting. In addition, he was forced into 3 turnovers, mostly courtesy of some stifling defense from Iman Shumpert, who ended up with 3 steals and 8 rebounds for the game.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH3UUFSSapc&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

 

MORE DOMINATION: Outside of a quick 7-0 Celtics run to the start the third, the Knicks were never seriously challenged in the second half. Without Rajon Rondo, the Celtics couldn’t protect the ball (17 turnovers). Melo continued nailing jumpers, and Felton blew past his defenders throughout the game to the tune of 15 points and 10 assists. The Knicks held a 68-52 lead after the third, and the fourth was decided early on when Novak hit his first three of the series to push the lead to 73-54. After that, the game was basically extended garbage time for 7-8 minutes.

 

THE ONE BLEMISH: JR Smith had a solid game (15 points, 4 rebounds), but committed a costly reckless moment when he responded to a hard swipe from Jason Terry by elbowing him in the face. Terry sold it a bit, but it was enough to get JR tossed early in the fourth. To his credit, Smith walked away immediately, got a stern talking to from Coach Woodson, and headed right to the back. It looks like a suspension isn’t coming, so the Knicks dodged a bullet.

It JR’s defense though , Jason Terry has a face that’s begging for a good elbow.

[youtube http://youtu.be/or8qsOh0czM]

CHANDLER WORKING HIS WAY BACK: Tyson Chandler’s recent bulging disc injury at has made his contributions this post-season very sporadic. Last night’s game was promising in Chandler showing some good rolls to the basket for dunks like the Tyson we all know. His numbers don’t jump out at you (6 points, 8 rebounds), but watch out when he truly gets back to form.

I have a good feeling Sunday will be the last we see of the Celtics this season.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wizw8LWAwmw&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

Another 2nd Half Shutdown: Knicks Rally Behind Defense, Beat Celtics In Game 2

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23! No, I’m not talking about the iconic number of one of game’s greatest players. 23 indicates the new record for offensive futility that the Boston Celtics set last night in the second half while under pressure from the Knicks defense. The Celtics could only put up 23 points (11 and 12 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively) when faced with the likes of Kenyon Martin in the lane, resulting in a decisive 87-71 Knicks victory.

We’re still waiting on that complete 48-minute game when it comes to defense, but the Knicks put the clamps down when it mattered and reminded the Celtics this isn’t the team they swept back in 2011.

 

TRIGGER-HAPPY REFS IN 1ST QUARTER: For whatever reason, the referees decided to call the first quarter like they were afraid a fight was going to break out. BS fouls were being called on both teams, resulting in Iman Shumpert, Kevin Garnett and Tyson Chandler having to take quick seats. Offensively, the Knicks didn’t truly get going until newly crowned Sixth Man of the Year JR Smith came in. Swish went 4-4 for nine points in just 8 minutes with the last two being his patented stepback outside jumper and a breathtaking buzzer-beating three-pointer from 36 feet to give New York a 26-20 lead.

SLEEPWALKING THROUGH THE SECOND: The Knicks had a putrid second quarter all-around. Steve Novak and Chris Copeland continued their invisible play. Jason Terry found his stroke from downtown (3-3) that helped spark a 11-0 Boston run to take a 31-27 lead. At one point, Boston lead by as much as 10 as the Knicks offense degraded into predictable Melo isos. The Knicks couldn’t protect the ball either as the Celtics got 16 points off turnovers and outscored the Knicks 28-16 to hold a 48-42 halftime lead.

The only positive from this quarter was Garnett getting hit with his third foul.

 

BACK TO REALITY: The Celtics shot 57% over the first half and we know that wasn’t going to continue. Iman Shumpert hit back to back treys that erased the Celtics lead, and from there it was all Knicks. Melo rebounded from a slow first half (3/11 shooting) and lit up Boston for 13 points in the third and 34 points overall. Whenever the Celtics tried to make a run in the fourth, a few quick Melo jumpers kept them from getting closer than nine.

With Melo and Smith guaranteed to get theirs every night, the Knicks always have a need for a third guy to step up on offense. Last night it was Raymond Felton (16 points, 7 rebounds), who pushed the pace and ran the Celtics ragged with his drives into the lane.

The interior defense from Tyson Chandler, who had a huge block on Avery Bradley, and Kenyon Martin, who had four big blocks in the second half, kept the Celtics a jump-shooting team. K-Mart in particular was huge with 11 rebounds (3 offensive) and keeping Garnett (4-9, 12 points) working hard to get post position. His defense was also the main catalyst for Jeff Green not being able to get anything going to the basket.

The Knicks will need to be even better on Friday when they head into Boston for what will no doubt be a highly emotional game. Let’s pay back that 2011 series with a sweep of our own.

The Grind: Knicks Ride 2nd Half Defense, Take Game One Over Celtics 85-78

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The Knicks can’t win without hitting a ton of threes. No one on that squad plays defense outside of Kenyon Martin and Tyson Chandler. They can’t handle a physical defense. There has been a lot of bullshit spewed against the Knicks by network talking heads over the last few months. I don’t expect much of their flawed narrative to change due to one game, but the Knicks sure looked like a team ready for the tough playoff grind as they gutted out an old-school, half-court battle with the Boston Celtics. This was far from a polished performance, and that’s exactly why this win is promising as the Knicks will surely improve as the series progresses.

 

THE HELL WITH EFFICIENCY. GIVE ME BUCKETS WHEN IT COUNTS!: It’s no secret that success for the Knicks starts and ends with the play of Carmelo Anthony. Early on Melo was on fire in hitting his first four shots (two from downtown). He then went extremely cold from the field. People made a lot about this, claiming that Melo was holding the ball too long. That’s true on some possessions, but many times Melo was given the ball in the possession’s final seconds when our guards failed to get any penetration.

Melo stayed with it and got hot when it counted in the fourth quarter. With the game on the line, he hit back to back jumpers to push the Knicks lead to 76-72. A deflection caused a Boston turnover and Melo promptly went on a one-man fastbreak to hit a layup and make the lead 81-76. The final dagger would come with little over a minute when Melo hit a long jumper over Jeff Green. And for further emphasis, Melo countered a hard trap by finding K-Mart under the basket to make it 85-78.

I’m not a stat nerd and could care less if Melo shoots 35% or 60% as long as we win. These games will be decided in the fourth and from what we saw yesterday, Melo is ready to meet the challenge.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH2vUCxpmh8&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

 

25 AND 8: These are two numbers sum up our second half defense. First off, the Knicks should have been embarrassed to give up 53 first half points to that Boston offense (particularly letting Jeff Green go off for 20 points). They took the challenge in the second half by holding Green to just six points in the final 24 minutes. The Celtics only scored 25 points in the entire second half and 8 points in the fourth quarter!

Two guys were essential in this defensive stand: Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin. Kidd was all over the passing lanes and totally killed the ball movement in the Celtics offense, being the catalyst for six fourth quarter Boston turnovers (20 for the game). And K-Mart played superb D on Garnett, swallowed up numerous offensive boards, and protected the pain like a madman. The below block sums up what we want out of our defense on every possession.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0f_5sXXcyE&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

 

JR’S DUNK: JR’s shot wasn’t going down yesterday, but he remained aggressive. Like Melo, he had key buckets in the fourth, including a three-point play layup over Kevin Garnett. His biggest play came in the first half courtesy of this massive dunk below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWWlmdPreyo&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

 

NO FAVORITES: I was highly worried about Coach Woodson’s sanity when I heard he was considering starting James White. Thank God that didn’t happen. What I liked most about Woody’s decisions is that he played no favorites with the lineup. Tyson Chandler wasn’t as strong defensively as K-Mart, so Woody went with the latter to close out the fourth. Chris Copeland has been a prolific scorer to close out the season, but he had jitters and also couldn’t contain Green. Woody quickly benched him as well. They’ll get more chances to contribute as adjustments are made, but I’m extremely happy to see Woody’s stubborn tendencies eradicated.

The Knicks get one more day of rest tomorrow which bodes well for a potential Tuesday return of Pablo Prigioni.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gYRrGcZ4Sc&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

Copeland Drops Career-High 33 Points in Knicks Season Sweep Win of Hawks

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No Melo. No JR. No Felton. No Chandler. No K-Mart. It felt ugly just to write that, so you can imagine how disjointed last night’s game was with most of the Knicks starters resting. The Knicks were still able to come out on top behind the offense of Chris Copeland to take a season series sweep over the Hawks with a 98-92 win.

 

YET ANOTHER INJURY: Does it ever stop? Pablo Prigioni was manning the point and doing a great job of moving the ball for open shots (the Knicks shot 50% in the first quarter). And even better, Pablo had the green light and was gunning from three.

Disaster struck when he went bassline and sprained his right ankle. The X-rays were negative, but Prigioni didn’t return and the offense suffered with Iman Shumpert forced to play point guard. There’s no word yet on if he’ll have to sit out the playoff opener on Saturday against Boston.

 

SHUMP SETTLES DOWN: Shumpert had a real tough time with point guard duties. He couldn’t penetrate consistently so a lot of times the ball remained stuck on the perimeter with long jumpers or isos to Copeland.

The offense pretty much stayed that way until a minor Copeland left shoulder injury forced others to contribute. Shump was then able to start getting in the lane and finishing for layups and finding James White for jumpers. The pair connected for a nice fast break alley oop that pushed the lead to 93-78 late in the fourth.

 

FIND YOUR SHOT, NOVAK: Steve Novak got a lot of good looks yesterday but couldn’t hit anything (going 0-6 in the first half). He wouldn’t score until  the closing minutes of the fourth and got a sarcastic applause from the crowd when his three-pointer gave the Knicks a 98-86 lead.

Since Novak is a huge liability on defense, if he isn’t scoring he’ll need a firm seat on the bench in these upcoming playoff games.

 

THE “NEW OLD KNICKS:” This game marked the return of two Knicks from the franchise’s dark ages in Earl Barron and Quentin Richardson. 

Barron must have seen what happened to Solomon Jones because he started fast in scoring the first few points and eating up rebounds. He came back to earth real quick and we started to see his liabilities, namely a penchant for fumbling passes. He’s a big body though and in spots he can be effective, as evidenced by the fact he had 18 rebounds to go with 11 points.

Quentin Richardson hit his first shot, a three-pointer, and promptly did the “three to the head” taunt. After that he missed his next 10 shots. His defense was mostly solid and he nabbed 10 rebounds, so if that holds I’ll be ok with this signing.

 

COPELAND THE THIRD OPTION: Copeland dropped a career-high 33 points and was the reason the Knicks held the lead the full game. When the Hawks would get within the 3-5 point deficit range, Cope would secure a bucket inside or a three-pointer. His job was made harder by the fact no one else on the Knicks could create their own shot.

We already know in the playoffs that Melo and JR will carry the bulk of the offensive load. But for the Knicks to really go deep, there needs to be a third scorer in there. Copeland has proved over these last two games that he’s versatile enough to be that guy.

Carmelo Anthony Wins First NBA Scoring Title

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Carmelo Anthony has long been viewed as the “best scorer” in the league by many observers. Now that title now has more credence behind with the confirmation of Anthony winning his first NBA scoring title.

Although initially coming into this season claiming that his days over scoring 30-plus regularly were over due to the improved Knicks roster, constant injuries to the team forced Anthony to be a nightly prolific scorer.

The Thunder’s Kevin Durant was ahead in the scoring race for much of the season, but a strong Anthony surge in April saw him average 37 points over 8 games to average 28.7 for the year despite resting the last two games.  Durant finished with a season average of 28.1 points.

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Bravo, Melo! What he did this season was the epitome of carrying a team on your back.Without our second best scorer in Amar’e Stoudemire for most of the year, Melo took the challenge every night of playing power forward, taking a pounding, not getting calls, and still pulling out victories.

LeBron is still the best player in the league, but Melo should finish up a distant second in the MVP race. Let’s hope Melo has saved some of that hot scoring for the playoffs.

Knicks Resign Quentin Richardson for Rest of Season

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After waiving center Solomon Jones on Monday following two subpar games, the Knicks announced yesterday the surprise resigning of 12-year veteran Quentin Richardson.

Richardson has been out of the NBA this season, but spent 4 years with the Knicks from 2005-2009. During that span, he averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds.

In his last NBA stint in 2011, he averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds over 48 games for the Orlando Magic.

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The Knicks made it clear after Jones got dropped that they were looking for another wing player. That made most Knicks fans believe all our bigs were set to go. Then after Rasheed Wallace had to leave Monday’s Bobcats games early because of a sore left foot, the talk went back to possibly signing another backup big.

No one saw Quentin Richardson returning to the Garden. I admit, I have bad memories of those dark seasons. However, Q-Rich has always been a no-nonsense guy who as a Knick had several confrontations with Celtics players. At the very least, he’ll be physical. Now we don’t need him being as physical as we see below, but I wouldn’t mind him popping Garnett one time. Welcome back, Quentin!

Knicks Clinch East #2 Seed In 90-80 Pacers Win

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The Knicks checked off one last regular season goal this afternoon by defeating the Indiana Pacers to not only lock up the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but also have the luxury of resting key players over the season’s remaining two games. The Pacers weren’t a squad to make it easy though, and they gave the Knicks, specifically Carmelo Anthony, a taste of the rough and physical defense they’ll have to overcome for a deep playoff run.

 

FIRST QUARTER UP AND DOWNS: Melo came out firing hitting his first three shots and scoring the first 11 points for the Knicks. The problem was none of the other Knicks could find their shots and the Pacers remained close until Chris Copeland came in. Along with Felton, Cope sparked an 8-0 run to finish the first 12 minutes with an 23-15 lead.

 

MELO JR: Speaking of Cope, or “Melo Jr.” as I’ve started calling him, he did a marvelous job in being the focal point of the second unit. He hit back to back three-pointers to start the second quarter and was integral in the Knicks going on a 21-4 run with Melo on the bench to get a 41-21 lead.

With the Knicks big men still convalescing, Copeland was again relegated to having to guard the center and power forward positions. It was no easy task for him this game as he had David West and Roy Hibbert to contend with. He rose to the challenge defensively, and had one stretch where he stripped Hibbert and then drew an offensive foul on Lance Stephenson.

Cope was the most efficient Knick this afternoon in dropping 20 points on 8/12 shooting. The Knicks are in dire need of having a third option to compliment Melo and JR, and Cope has shown over the the last month he’s the most consistent Knick offensively to do it. His three-point shooting really helps to open up the paint, and he can finish at the rim. I’m hoping for a big first round playoff performance from him.

 

PACERS GOON TACTICS GIVE THE KNICKS AN EARLY TASTE OF THE PLAYOFFS:   Because of their defensive reputations, the refs really let the Pacers roughhouse with the Knicks down low. And to NY’s credit, they gave as good as they got (most of the time). Melo got a tech in the third for complaining too much, but he also made sure to get the ball in the basket, hammering down an angry two-handed stuff after a Hibbert hack wasn’t called.

Hibbert got a flagrant 1 for basically face-palming an Iman Shumpert’s dunk attempt, and Melo had to sit late in the third after suffering a left shoulder contusion from a David West hard foul. Nonetheless, the Knicks kept working in the paint, and two JR Smith drives help to give them some breathing room heading into the fourth with a 69-60 lead.

 

HOW ABOUT OUR DEFENSE?: The Pacers had 24 turnovers in this game (and we didn’t have to maul to do it). Many of them were just savvy plays from the Knicks. Jason Kidd literally snatched the ball out of Lance Stephenson’s hands on a drive to the basket. The 7’2 Roy Hibbert should have had a dominant game with Copeland and Solomon Jones guarding him, but the Knicks trapped extremely well, forcing him into five turnovers and holding the big man to just 4 points.

The problem for the Knicks this game was Lance Stephenson, who was being given way too much room to shoot threes (4/9 from downtown). He did most of his damage in the first half and finished with 22 points.

 

SOLOMON “RAGDOLL” JONES: Coach Woodson saw early on that Jones wasn’t going to be anything but food out there to the Pacer bigs. Hibbert and West had him falling all over the place in the first quarter. In his 13 minutes, he only had 1 rebound as he couldn’t establish any good position in the paint. We’ll see if he fares any better tomorrow, but I doubt it.

 

ELECTRIC RELAXATION: Melo (25 points) made it clear in the post-game that his shoulder is nothing serious. In addition, he confirmed he won’t be playing tomorrow. Now this is the only time it’s permissable to have James White in the starting lineup. Let guys like Novak and Shumpert get ample time to work on their shots, and hopefully Rasheed Wallace will be back to log a few minutes and shake off his rust.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN4YwIQxNWM&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

Knicks Sweep Cavs Season Series, Move Within One Game of #2 Seed Lock

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After last night’s physical overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls, the short-handed Knicks had every reason to play lazy tonight against the Cavs. Instead, the Knicks rode a combined 62 points between Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith to easily defeat the Cavaliers 101-91. The win is significant in that the Pacers dropped one tonight against the Nets, meaning New York will need just one more game to lock up the #2 seed in the East and enjoy home court through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

 

SOLOMON JONES: This game was notable for being the debut of newly signed 6’10 center Solomon Jones, a former Atlanta Hawks player under Mike Woodson several years back. With the team having literally no healthy bigs, Jones at best was hoped to be a presence on defense and at worst six extra fouls. Tonight, he was understandably lost on the plays and his new teammates weren’t too trusting. In his 12 minutes, Jones got dunked on by Tristan Thompson, committed two turnovers and got a rebound. Sure, it’s nothing memorable, but all we need Jones to do is buy our squad time to heal and not overwork our depleted roster. After that, he can find a cozy spot on the bench next to James White.

 

THIS IS THE CAVS WE’RE TALKING ABOUT: Cleveland had lost 8 of their last10 coming into this and pretty much played like a team in disarray. Kyrie Irving finished with 31 points and helped his team get withing about nine on a few separate occasions, but the game was decided early on in the fourth behind the man below…

 

JR SMITH REBOUNDS: JR took his frustration from the Bulls game and channeled it properly tonight. He was red-hot from the field (13-16, 31 points), and did his damage on jumpers and drives inside. He manned the offense so well in the fourth that Woody was able to keep Melo rested. Speaking of our leading scorer, Melo continued to put more room between himself and Kevin Durant for this year’s scoring title with another 30-plus effort (31 points, 14 rebounds).

 

COPE BOUNCES BACK: Our “big man” in Chris Copeland chipped in 12 points tonight and fared much better now that he wasn’t being swarmed by Chicago’s defense. Copeland remained an offensive threat throughout the game and did his best work inside.

 

QUICKEN LOANS ARENA NO LONGER A SCARY PLACE: The Knicks have now won back to back games in Cleveland after previously losing their last 10 there going back to the LeBron James era.

 

WIN AND REST: The Knicks haven’t had the luxury of resting Melo and JR due to all the injuries, so it’s highly important they lock up the #2 seed on Sunday against the Pacers. From there, Melo and JR can at least get shut down or have their minutes highly reduced over the next two games against Charlotte and Atlanta.