Tag: Madison Square Garden

Welcome Back, D’Antoni — Knicks Start Hot and Defeat Lakers 116-107

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The Madison Square Garden dominance continues! There were many storylines headed into last night’s clash between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. Would NY be fired up to face their old coach Mike D’Antoni? Would Kobe Bryant have a classic game to turn his squad around? Would Carmelo Anthony added further credence to his MVP campaign? But in the end, the biggest story is that a better constructed team beat up on a vulnerable, lost squad. With that said, there were several moments that I’m sure had every other Knicks fan on edge despite the final score.

Melo Drops 22 in the 1st Quarter: After Melo hit his third consecutive three-pointer to start the game (two in transition), you just knew it was one of those nights for our star player. He was on a mission to show before a national audience and also to his former coach what a talent he is. Melo got to the rim at will, simply blowing by Metta World Peace for dunks and layups. After getting a fouled for a three-point play off a drive, the “MVP!” chants rained down as the score had ballooned to 41-27, a record quarter this season for the league. Melo’s hot start had the rest of the team fired up as well with Raymond Felton getting easy penetration and Tyson Chandler drawing two fouls on Dwight Howard. Melo would finish the game with 30 points.

Hot Shooting Even with Bad Stretches: At one point in the second, the Knicks were shooting an astounding 74% from the field. Melo got to sit most of the quarter and the scoring slack was picked up by JR Smith and Steve Novak to push the lead to 26 points at one point courtesy of a 27-9 run (58-32). That was the peak though for NY, as our team got sloppy with the isolation plays and allowed LA to creep back to as close to 15  before having to settle for a 68-49 deficit at halftime.

The Knicks had to do without Melo for most of the second half when he sprained his ankle following a hard foul from Dwight Howard (punk). The Lakers hovered around 20 points for most of the quarter but some timely shots by Kobe and World Peace had them just down 93-80 going into the fourth. The offense wasn’t pretty at times in the decisive quarter, but the shooting remained solid and allowed the Knicks to push back the Lakers when they cut it six. For the game, NY shot 53% from the field and 48% (12-25) from downtown.

Chandler’s Help Goes Beyond the Stats: Tyson had 18 points, but when you look at the rebounds (just 4), you’d think he had a completely awful night on the boards. That’s not to say he couldn’t have been much better, but he did seal the game with two offensive tip backs into the backcourt that allowed NY to hold possession in the final minute and effectively ice the game. That made up for the underwhelming time he had at the free throw line, just shooting 8-14 (57%).

The Supporting Cast: Novak had to play heavy minutes (26) with Melo’s injury and made good use of it with 12 points (all from downtown). Although he got exploited on offense by the likes of Devin Ebanks, that was offset by a solid shooting night from JR, who dropped 18 points on 7-14 shooting, including a key late three-pointer. Felton was much more streaky (an ugly 9-26 from the field), but made some key jumper throughout the game. He just needs to work on those floaters. Also check youtube later for a nice crossover he put on Dwight Howard.

The Knicks are now 9-0 at home for the season and still sit atop the Eastern Conference standings at 17-5. It was nice seeing Spike Lee teasingly stare down Charles Barkley for his Knick criticisms. Steve Kerr brought some balance to Barkley’s declarations the Knicks can’t go deep in the playoffs, pointing out how Dallas and Miami won titles without dominant rebounding or low-post scoring. Melo might be sitting tomorrow night when we continue our home stand against the Cavs. That could be a tough game if Melo is out and our offense is cold.

 

Melo’s Return Lifts Knicks Over Nuggets 112-106

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Carmelo Anthony had a great return after a two-game absence from a lacerated finger to drop 34 points, 6 rebounds and two steals on his old Denver Nuggets team to help New York remain the league’s only undefeated home team at 8-0. After a horrid road game in Chicago last Saturday that saw the Knicks shoot 32% (35% from three), New York did much better with Anthony’s offense back in rotation, posting a 43% field goal percentage (12-30 for 40% from downtown). Even so, Denver still played the Knicks hard and held an 88-80 lead at the beginning of a fourth. A timely Mike Woodson timeout lead to two Novak three-pointers and a Chandler dunk to tie the game, and the Knicks would go on to outscore the Nuggets 32-22 for the quarter. Jason Kidd was once again invaluable in the fourth, dishing six assists and keeping the offense balanced with scoring contributions from Smith, Chandler, Melo and Brewer.

The Knicks are back on the “road” tonight when they venture back to Brooklyn for a revenge game against the Nets, who took the first “Battle for NY” on November 26 in overtime.

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Ball Don’t Lie! Sheed Tossed, Knicks Still Hold Off Suns 106-99

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For most of the first quarter, it looked like a rout. The Knicks were forcing turnovers and hitting nearly all of their open shots to the tune of a 21-6 lead. Then some mental lapses brought the Suns back in it — Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler picked up 2 fouls each, and Rasheed Wallace picked up two dumb technicals (off an unnecessary hard foul on Luis Scola after the whistle and yelling “Ball Don’t Lie!” when the technical shot was missed). This left the Knicks undersized, but rookie Chris Copeland stepped up huge, going 4-5 from the field in the first half to help lift the Knicks to a 106-99 win to go 7-0 at Madison Square Garden.

The Wallace ejection coupled with Melo and Tyson sitting helped prompt an 8-0 Suns run and only a 24-20 lead after one despite leading by as much as 15. Copeland responded well off the bench hitting his outside jumpers and having a monster putback dunk off a Melo miss. Steve Novak contributed three 3-pointers on a Suns teams ranked with the worse three-point defense in the league. Felton’s jumper was cooking as well, and Melo abused P.J. Tucker with several turnaround jumpers in the paint. Before you knew it, Melo had 17 points in 16 minutes and the lead was 59-42 at halftime.

The Knicks started the third strong with Melo meeting every Mike Beasley three with one of his own. As the quarter wore on, NY had a brief time of sloppy defense and let Shannon Brown get off with several shots, including two layups (one of which being a three-point play) to cut the lead to 74-60. Novak added a three, but got beat on defense that lead to a three-point play inside for Markieff Morris. Luckily, the Knicks had several guys shooting over 40% from three this afternoon, and Ronnie Brewer added another to keep the Suns clawing from behind (80-63). Melo had a nice defensive stop to prevent an easy Shannon Brown layup fast break, but Brown’s hot shooting continued. Melo put an end to that by drawing a foul inside for easy free throws and hitting a step-back three-pointer over Tucker with 2 seconds left in the third to push the lead back to 17 points (89-72) and notch his 30th point.

The Knicks were horrid for most of the fourth. JR Smith continued bricking shots and Suns shooters were being left open to drain long jumpers. Melo had to come right back in, but that still didn’t prevent Sebastian Telfair from draining a transition three to cut the Knicks advantage to 91-82 courtesy of another Suns 8-0 run. Suns would get as close as six before a Tyson putback dunk and a tough Felton drive over Marcin Gortat pushed the lead back to 10 (95-85) with 5:52 remaining. With the offense sputtering, Raymond Felton hit two jumpers to keep the Suns at arm’s length. However, a Melo turnover that resulted in a fast break layup and two missed Ronnie Brewer free throws had the Knicks clinging to a six point lead, 103-97, with 45 seconds left. It would take free throws from JR and Chandler in the final 30 seconds to finally ice the game 106-99.

This was much too close for my liking. After Melo pushed the game to 17 points at the end of the third, that should have been the end of it. But games like this happen. Why Coach Woodson didn’t give Chris Copeland any burn after a great first half was mind-boggling. Melo was huge as usual with 34 points, but it was Felton (23 pts, 7 assts, 0 TO) and Chandler (15 pts, 13 rebs.) that sealed this one. After such a nice game against Washington on Friday, JR Smith was abysmal today with just 4 points on 1-11 shooting. We can only hope JR gets it together.

Knicks are back at it on Wednesday in Charlotte against the Bobcats.

Welcome Back, JR! Knicks Stay Perfect at Home With 108-87 Wizards Blowout

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The Friday night Knicks curse? Not with the Washington Wizards in town. The Knicks lets their haphazard opponent hang around for a few quarters, but blew the game open at the end of the third and cruised to an easy 108-87 win to remain undefeated this season at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks were never in any serious trouble after falling behind 2-6 to start. The first quarter was quiet with no on taking over, but three-pointers in the final minute from JR Smith and Steve Novak pushed the lead to 26-17 after one.

This game was a coming out party, or rather a return to form for JR Smith, who after averaging 17 points off the bench to start the season had been shooting less than 30% and averaging 9 points over the last five games. His jumper was working and he finished at the rim to the tune of 10 points at the half. Pablo Prigioni was another spark off the bench; our 35 year old “rookie” was draining 3s off screens and making sure to feed Tyson Chandler. Melo’s jumper was working, but our leader was more focused on passing and notched five assists, the majority to Chandler for easy dunks and layups. Although the Wizards had eight offensive rebounds and roughly half their points in the paint, a Melo buzzer beating, 23-foot jumper gave the Knicks a 58-46 halftime lead.

Trevor Ariza had some success early in the third, but the Wizard’s deficit hovered around 14 points for most of the quarter courtesy of good shooting from Ronnie Brewer. His defense remained strong as he got a steal that lead to a Chandler dunk. Raymond Felton got aggressive getting into the lane and finding Chandler, who got a three-point play inside. Add on some three-pointers from Rasheed Wallace and Novak, and the Knicks were resting on a 84-63 lead after outscoring the Wizards 29-19 in the third.

With another blowout, Melo and the other starters got to rest all of the fourth. The rest of the team stayed productive with Novak still hitting 3s, and Prigioni delivering a sweet alley oop to JR Smith. Chris Coperland and James White got significant minutes and were able to hit shots. The Garden got loud with Marcus Camby chants, but Coach Woodson sadly ignored them, saying later that Camby’s a “pro” and understood tonight we were going with the young guys.

Outside of a few too many fouls and the continued rebounding woes, the Knicks stat lines were great. Melo had 20 points in 27 minutes on 6-13 shooting. Chandler had a double double (12 points, 10 rebounds). JR had 20 points off the bench on efficient 9-14 shooting (2-3 from downtown). Prigioni had 8 points and 5 assists. Felton had an overlooked 11 points. Novak went 3-6 from long-range. As a team, the Knicks only had 8 turnovers while forcing 17. And with this blowout, the Knicks have held 10 of their 15 opponents thus far under 100 points while having one of the toughest schedules of November.

Yes, it was the Wizards. But any Knicks fan that’s been around longer than this season remembers quite well that no victory was guaranteed against any team in previous years. The Knicks are not just taking care of inferior teams; NY is doing it in dominant fashion which should bring a smile to all our faces. Our home stand continues tomorrow afternoon against the Phoenix Suns. Get well J-Kidd, Stat and Shump!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJPbBvul5J4&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

[Photos] Carmelo Anthony and Miguel Cotto Meet at MSG

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Miguel Cotto, with son Miguel Cotto III in tow, was in the house at Madison Square Garden on Sunday to link up with Carmelo Anthony before the Knicks administered a 121-100 blowout of the Pistons. Cotto will be center stage at MSG again this Saturday when he challenges Austin Trout for the WBA light middleweight title live on Showtime. History is on Cotto side; since his debut at MSG in 2001, Cotto is a perfect 9-0 in fights there, most recently a revenge TKO of hated rival Antonio Margarito last December. Too bad Melo couldn’t bring Cotto to Barclays last night to lay a good left hook on Jerry Stackhouse.

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Home Workout: Knicks Easily Dispose of Pacers 88-76

Another game, another double-digit win for the Knicks. The offense wasn’t exactly on fire, but  the Knicks defense, forcing 19 turnovers and nabbing 9 steals, held the Pacers to 76 points (the lowest the Knicks have held a team this season) for a 12 point victory.

Melo got back to his fast starting ways, dropping 12 points in the first quarter to give the Knicks a 21-18 lead. The defense held serve in the second, holding the Pacers to just 12 points to push the lead to 41-30 at halftime.

Fouls were still a problem for Melo this game; he had to sit early in the third when he picked up two quick fouls in the lane trying to guard Tyler Hansbrough. Novak came in and helped the offense with a few 3s, but also hurt the defensive closeouts, as Paul George got hot from 3-point range and sinked three in the quarter. The Pacers hovered around the 9-point deficit mark but missed 4 free throws down the stretch and Rasheed Wallace sunk a 3 to give the Knicks a 68-56 edge despite a 26-point quarter from Indiana.

New York put the Pacers in their place early in the fourth behind several JR Smith jumpers and Melo forcing fouls inside despite getting blocked several times. Marcus Camby got some valuable minutes and made sure Roy Hibbert stayed locked up (Camby got a massive block inside on Roy). JR got his own block on David West which lead to a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 79-60. Later, a Novak 3 gave NY a 86-66 advantage, leading to the starters hitting the bench and the Pacers challenging no further in garbage time.

The shooting was weak from both squads: NY shot 36% and Indiana 39%. The defense was the difference-maker and the fact Indiana has been lost offensively without leading scorer Danny Granger. Melo lead all scorers with 26 points, followed on the Knicks end by JR Smith (13), and Raymond (11) as the only other guys to score in double digits. Paul George lead Indiana with 20.

On a very happy note, this was the first game we were NOT outrebounded; we won the boards battle (barely) 48-47. Hey, we gotta start somewhere. It was a nice bounce-back win from the battering we took from the Grizzlies and we have a pretty favorable run for the rest of the week (New Orleans, Dallas, Houston and Detroit) before the big showdown next Monday at MSG 2 (The Barclays Center) to face the Brooklyn Nets.

Next up is a road game tomorrow against the Hornets.

And Still Undefeated! JR and Melo Lift Knicks Past Mavs 104-94

It wasn’t a pretty game. Melo referred to it in his post-game interview as an “ugly, grind-out win.” The threes weren’t falling like they did in the first few games while the Mavs were red hot in the first half behind the arc. But the Knicks held strong through their defense and got hot at the right time behind a scroching 3rd quarter from JR Smith to take a 104-94 win and remain the NBA’s only undefeated time at 4-0.

The Mavs’ OJ Mayo, who has been a monster at the season’s start with several 30 points games, set the tone for his squad immediately by sinking a three-pointer to start the game. The Knicks didn’t find many fast breaks opportunities but relied on Melo working rookie Jae Crowder off the block to the tune of 10 points in the opening quarter. Raymond Felton thrived as well in dropping five assists early (finishing with nine), several being easy pick and rolls with Tyson for slams and alley oops.

Marcus Camby made his Knicks return after a 10 absence which helped immediately with rebounding, but not with Mayo’s deadly shooting (two threes to start the second quarter). Steve Novak was cold in missing his first three shots, leading to the Mavs going on a 8-0 run. The ghost of Vince Carter also found his jumper and posted up JR Smith twice for quick buckets to give the Mavs a 39-30 lead. Although Dallas was shooting 50% for three, the Knicks climbed back to tie it 44-44 behind a three point play from Ronnie Brewer and a three-pointer from Melo. However, the Mavs would finish the quarter with a 57-55 behind an emotional Melo getting a tech  for complaining about a missed foul and sitting after getting three fouls. In addition, the Mavs were finishing strong at the rim, especially a highlight worthy facial on Rasheed Wallace to close the half.

Although Mayo nailed another three to start the third, it would thankfully be the last they’d make the rest of the half. Jason Kidd was strong defensively — the veteran guard got some key steals for fast breaks and caught OJ Mayo with his fourth foul on a charge, removing the Mavs’ best shooter from the floor. The Knicks had the same problem, as Melo getting too aggressive on D forced him to sit with roughly seven minutes left in the third with four fouls. The interior defense gave up a few inside shots to Chris Kaman and Crowder, but JR Smith started getting hot with his jumper to push the Knicks in front 78-71, and later Novak found the range from three to maintain a 82-76 lead.

It was nip and tuck for a large chunk of the fourth with Kaman getting to post-up and JR Smith making a few ill-advised fouls. But JR made up for it with deflections that lead to steals, and Chandler putting a statement on the game with a putback dunk off a Melo missed layup for a 12-point lead with six minutes remaining. At that point, both squads got very sloppy with missed free throws and fouls, but NY’s lead was enough to see them down the stretch to the 104-94 win.

The Mavs didn’t get held in the 80s, but the Knicks defense succeeded in causing 20 turnovers while keeping theirs to 9 (they average 12). The scoring was impressive with Melo dropping 31, Smith 22 and Brewer 13. The defense was tenacious with multiple steals from Felton (2), Kidd (3), Brewer (2) and Smith (4). This is our best start since the Finals 1993-1994 squad and our home record under Mike Woodson has been extended to 12-2, the two losses coming in the regular and post-season to the Miami Heat.

There will still be some detractors being that the Mavs were missing Dirk Nowitzski and Shawn Marion, but it’s very hard for me to have any sympathy for banged squads when we have been without our second-leading scorer (Amar’e Stoudemire) and best perimeter defender (Iman Shumpert). Hell, we just got our backup center on the floor last night with Camby. We have a very big game coming up next Thursday on the road against the Spurs, but we have to stay focused and take care of business in our next one, a Tuesday game against the Magic. Orlando is in a freefall at the moment having lost their last three, but we need to up for them and not fall into a “trap game.”

Until then, let’s enjoy being the only remaining undefeated team in NBA!

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JR for 3… Swish! Knicks Make Easy Work of Sixers 100-84

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK CITY –After the high that was Friday’s beatdown of the NBA champion Miami Heat, there were a few select detractors amongst the media (this pathetic ESPN article by Ian Connor being the main culprit), that the Knicks big win was simply an aberration at best and at worst an indication of “fool’s gold.” Today’s matinée against the Sixers proved the Knicks are indeed a team with renewed focus, as they’ve improved on shot efficiency while maintaining excellent defense in a 100-84 win.

The Knicks opened up with good outside shooting again spurred by excellent ball movement. In what is hopefully a continued trend, Carmelo Anthony was tenacious on defense and got a standing ovation from the MSG faithful for a Charles Oakley-like dive into the stands. Outside of a few forced alley oops that lead to turnovers, the Knicks stayed strong and lead after one 31-25.

The bench, lead by Jason Kidd and JR Smith, had strong performances throughout the second. An out-of-bounds bassline pass from Kidd to Smith lead to a 3 pointer that ballooned the lead to 10, and Melo continued having a field day at the expense of Thaddeus Young, freezing him with a vintage spin move for a three-point play opportunity. Our 35-year-old guard Pablo Prigioni was productive as well in drawing charges on Nick Young and getting a steal that lead to a Novak trey. At halftime, the Knicks were sitting on a 57-44 lead after holding Philly to just 19 points in the second quarter.

The third was not as fluid; the offense started to stall badly around the eight-minute mark. Luckily, JR Smith was the spark with a few bailout jumpers on 4-7 shooting to keep the lead at 9. Nonetheless, Philly had some encouragement on the lights out 3 point shooting from Jrue Holiday (who went 5-6 and finished with 27 points).

A few more Smith 3s off steals from Prigioni and Kidd would help seal the deal in the fourth. In addition, Melo’s post game couldn’t be handled by the Bynum-less Sixers (Thaddeus Young fouled trying to keep up with Melo). And in a final “victory cigar” for us Knick fans, Chris Copeland got his first NBA points and Rasheed Wallace hit a nice post-up hook shot.

The final stat lines were great across the board. On defense, the Knicks forced 18 turnovers, had 12 steals and 5 blocks. On offense, the Knicks shot 50% from the field (39-77) and 40% from downtown (11-27). And our star Melo was able to drop 27 on 10-18 shooting.  Consider that against the Heat, he went for 30 but needed 10 more shots to do it. JR Smith was great in dropping 20 points, grabbing 9 boards and 2 steals. 18 years into his career, Jason Kidd continues to show was he can be invaluable to any team. His stat line for today was 12 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals.

Unfortunately, we won’t have long to celebrate as tomorrow night the Knicks head to the Wells Fargo Arena (MSG West) for their first back to back of the season. This is the epitome of a “trap game” as the Sixers will be highly motivated to get revenge on their home floor after getting worked today. But with Bynum still out and now Jason Richardson likely gone with that ankle injury, the Knicks had a very good chance of starting this season 3-0 since God knows when.

Until tomorrow night, Knicks fans…

In Ball Movement We Trust: Knicks Trounce the Heat 104-84

Yesterday morning, I prayed to the basketball gods that my beloved Knicks would kick off the 2012-2013 season with a nice win. But even in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t imagine my team absolutely drubbing the defending champion Miami Heat in a 20-point blowout (104-84).

For the past few months, Knicks fans have had to endure ridicule for picking up older players and being called “the second best team in New York.” Last night’s performance went a long way to shutting those critics up: Jason Kidd was integral in setting the ball movement early on along with Kurt Thomas supplying solid interior defense. Raymond Felton was phenomenal with his dribble penetration that freed up Melo for several 3 pointers in route to a 16 point first quarter and a 33-17 lead.

The ball movement continued in the second quarter to the tune of 11 assists. The defense produced 12 Heat turnovers and prevented that team’s signature fast break dominance (only 10 fast break points).

Last year our squad would routinely come out flat in third quarters and quickly blow whatever lead we had. Not so last night — although we got off to a sloppy start, our defense kept the Heat turning the ball over while Novak sank a few timely 3s to halt a late 8-0 run.

The Heat made their final run through the first few minutes of the fourth, spurred on by a few ticky-tack fouls. However, Felton and Novak both sank 3s, the latter being a beautiful escape dribble to the left that faked out Ray Allen. The game was iced by the final five minutes, and Wade and LeBron made their exists while Rasheed Wallace chants rained down at MSG. The grizzled vet blew the roof off with a final 3 pointer to make it 19 from downtown (!!!) for the night.

As Biggie’s “Hypnotize” seranaded the court post-game, I couldn’t think of a better way to start to the season. The ball movement from Kidd, Prigioni and Felton was a startling reminder of what we lacked last year. Another key aspect is that we closed every quarter strong. Last season, the Heat always picked us apart in the last minutes of quarters. This time, we met every run with timely shots that had them discouraged for a change.

The great thing about last night is there’s still room for improvement. On the injury front, we still have the returns of Shumpert, Camby and Stoudemire to look forward to. Melo dropped 30, but he got a little out of sorts in the second half by gunning and forcing too many shots. Once he reigns that in a little more and continues attacking the basket…watch out. JR Smith had one of his “brickhouse” games offensively, but made up for it by staying focused on defense (outside of a highly dumb offensive foul on a Kidd fast break).

Enjoy this win, fellow Knicks fans. We have another tough one tomorrow with division rival Philly. Let’s hope our squad continues to show the improvements and we don’t get a letdown.

Stay tuned for much more Knicks coverage as this site builds and gets off the ground fully in the next few weeks.

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