What a difference defense makes. Kristaps Porzingis returned from a sprained ankle and delivered 20 points and 9 rebounds to lead a defense-minded Knicks over the Magic 101-90. It was one of the rare times the Knicks played consistent defense and entire night and didn’t falter on defense in the fourth. How did they do it? It started with a simple lineup change.
SLIDING TO NATURAL POSITIONS: With Willy Hernangomez sitting out, Porzingis started at center, which moved Carmelo Anthony to power forward and Lance Thomas into the starting lineup at small forward. This improved the defense tremendously as Melo could no longer be exploited by athletic SFs. It remains to be seen if this can continue against teams with prolific stretch fours.
ANTHONY SETS THE TONE: Melo poured in 11 of his 17 points in the first quarter. He didn’t shoot well (4/16), but his presence was enough to open up the floor. His passing was much better than the two assists he tallied, making him a +18 for the game.
ROSE AND KP: Derrick Rose was arguably our best all-around player tonight. He poured in 19 points on 8/14 shooting, but also grabbed 7 rebounds to go with 4 assists.
The concern with KP playing center are potential injuries due to his thin frame. Tonight, he banged with Nikola Vuceviv and held his own. The three point shot wasn’t there (2/7), but he did damage on PNR and looked fluid working off the dribble.
LANCE THOMAS: I’ve been giving this guy grief for most of the year. But he finally seems healthy and ready to recapture last season’s form. His defense was a contributing factor to the Magic never getting into a groove and only managing 39 points in the second half. Lance was also competent on offense, being one of five Knicks to hit double figures with 11 points.
The Knicks road trip continues against the 76ers on Friday.
Who knew all we needed was some Latvian magic to break our streak of futility against the Rockets? Having lost the last 11 encounters dating back to 2004, the Knicks held tough and rode Kristaps Porzingis remarkable two-way performance to beat Houston 107-102.
Even without Dwight Howard’s presence, Porzingis still had to contend with an array of defenders like Terrance Jones and Trevor Ariza. But KP showed his versatility in punishing the Rockets with threes, deep jumpers and even running hook shots. Along with his 24 points, Porzingis added 14 rebounds (5 offensive) and 7 blocks, the first rookie to do so since Shaquille O’Neal in 1992.
Although Porzingis lead the way, it was a full team effort. Four of the five starters hit double figures, and Langston Galloway lead the bench with 12 points.
Games like this show another value to Porzingis’ potential that’s been overlooked. If he develops into the star we think he can be, that will add at least three more productive years to Melo’s career. Melo had a quiet night logging just 25 minutes (14 points, 50% shooting), but he didn’t need to push himself because KP handled the load. In years past, how often did we see Melo push himself through rough nights and get beat up because there was no help with the scoring load?
The scary thing is, we’re going to get nights where both Melo and KP are on fire. And when that happens, it’ll be a sight to see.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — We still haven’t fixed our fourth quarter woes, but I’ll tolerate them if we keep pulling out victories. Last night, the Knicks saw their 16-point lead erased by a 24-11 run in the fourth quarter but avoided overtime and defeated the Thunder on the road 93-90.
Bad fourth aside, there was a lot of good to take away from this one. Melo was clutch (aside from two missed free throws) in his 25 points, hitting some timely shots to OKC at bay. Lance Thomas and Derrick Williams were our biggest bench contributors with a combined 21 points with 60% shooting from downtown.
Speaking of threes, New York was 12/20 on the night while holding OKC to 10% (3/29) from deep.
Nonetheless, the Thunder were one lucky bounce from taking this game into overtime. We lost the rebounding battle badly (36-49) and will need to tighten that up tonight against the Rockets.
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.
![[Video] The Real 6 God: Porzingis’s 24 pts, 14 rebs, 7 blks Leads Knicks Over Rockets](https://nykloyalist.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/porzingis_rockets.jpg?w=534&h=401&crop=1)
![[Video] Knicks Hold Off Late Thunder Run, Win 93-90](https://nykloyalist.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/lancethomas_dunk.jpg?w=716&h=510&crop=1)
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