Melo – Page 11 – NEW YORK KNICKS LOYALIST

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

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.

Bulls Snap Knicks Win Streak, Sweep Season Series

All good things must come to an end. After weeks of stellar play, the Knicks fell into some bad habits last night (cold shooting, bad perimeter defense) and had their 13-game win streak snapped by the Chicago Bulls, who seem to have had their number this season. Even with all our bigs out, Melo having his first off night of April, and having to start Chris Copeland at center, the Knicks were still within a jumper of winning this.

ALL IS WELL THROUGH 3 1/2 QUARTERS: The Knicks came out strong in the first quarter behind their three-point shooting and jumped out of a 23-6 lead. Copeland in particular was hot behind the arc. The Bulls went on an 10-0 run to get back in it, but the Knicks kept them around the five-point deficit mark through halftime (59-54).

In the third, Copeland heated up from three again and got a fourth foul call on Luol Deng, The Knicks went up by as much as 77-62 midway through the third and seemed to be on their way to a nice victory until two-plays started the slow downfall.

THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, PABLO!: Pablo Priginio threw two telegraphed passes that were picked off by Jimmy Butler for fast-break dunks. From there the momentum shifted completely to the Bulls. The Knicks guards of Kidd, Felton and Prigioni started losing Robinson badly on screens and gave up countless three-pointers. Next thing you know, the Bulls had gone on a 16-3 run to end the third and the Knicks were clinging to a 82-80 lead.

MELO NEARLY SAVES THE DAY: The Knicks picked the worst time in the fourth quarter to start bricking their shots. It wasn’t like it was all due to the Bulls defense either — guys like Kidd and Felton got wide-open shots out Melo and JR double teams. On the other hand, Nate Robinson continued his hot hand from the second quarter on and hit a three to extend the Bulls lead to 97-90. However, a 15-6 Knicks run tied it at 105 with the Knicks in possession with a little over a second left. Melo got a good look at a long jumper, but failed to convert.

The way the Knicks had been playing, this was their best shot to pull this out. The jumpers still weren’t falling in overtime and the refs swallowed their whistles (particularly Joey Crawford), who seemed to have a grudge against JR Smith for his complaining at the lack of calls inside. As a result, the Knicks were outscored 13-4 and ended up losing 118-111.

NOT WORRIED: We were due for a bad game and considering it was a nine-man rotation without our best defensive players (Martin, Chandler). And when you let Nate Robinson score 35 points off the bench, you’re giving yourself a hard time to win. This was the first time in a minute that Melo was forcing it (13-34, 36 points), but he really had no choice with the rest of the team outside of JR shooting so poorly.

Copeland had a good first half, but went 4-14 overall and couldn’t hit anything over the second half. And when Copeland isn’t scoring, you’re not getting anything but blown assignments on defense.

The Knicks get a chance tonight to start another little streak to end the season when they face the lowly Cavaliers. NY already holds two wins over the Cavs this season.

Knicks Clinch Atlantic Division With Wizards Win

It’s been a LONG time coming, as the great Sam Cooke sang decades ago. After nearly 14 years, the Knicks have won the Atlantic division and did so in grand fashion by burning the Washington Wizards for 20 three-pointers (!!!) in a 120-99 rout last night at Madison Square Garden.

It was a grand celebration for most of the night except for a freak injury that may have a large effect on our playoff run.

KENYON MARTIN SPRAINS LEFT ANKLE: K-Mart was having a solid game keeping the Wizards bigs under wraps. In the third, he came down from a routine rebound and ended up badly spraining his left ankle. The crowd gasped in fear as most of us thought he had further damaged his knee, which was sore and had made his status questionable for this game.

Although Mike Woodson didn’t rule out him playing against the Bulls on Thursday, the Knicks need to be extra cautious and let him rest. I love this streak and want to extend it as much as any fan, but not at the expense of a deep playoff run.

MELO REMAINS MR. APRIL: Carmelo Anthony continues his amazing month and equaled his season-high for most points in a quarter by dropping 21 in the third (8-11 from the field). The Wizards are a solid defensive team but had no answers for Melo anywhere on the court. Whether it was deep jumpers, drives to baskets or post-ups, Melo had his way.

And unlike his other games, it wasn’t hocket assists but direct passes out of double-teams to our open guards that made Melo flirt with a triple double (36 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists).

COPELAND-SANITY: Melo told Copeland to remain aggressive and boy did he ever, going for 17 pointsand making the most of the mismatches that had seven-footers trying to guard him. Defensively, Cope had a tough time trying to bang inside with guys like Nene and Okafor, but his five fouls paled in comparison to the floor spacing he gave with his three-point shooting and drives to the rim. Excellent game.

GUARD PLAY: John Wall went off for 33 points, but he had to work hard for them. The Knicks guards made sure everyone else on the perimeter couldn’t get going with the exception of Cartier Martin (16 points) in garbage time. Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd pulled off a beautiful inbounds trap in the backcourt on John Wall which lead to a turnover and layup, capping a 7-0 run to end the first half with a 58-43 lead.

Iman Shumpert was one of the main reasons this game stopped being competitive in the third. After going 0-9 over the last two games, Shump had hit several treys and pullup jumpers, notching 8 points in the quarter and 18 for the game.

20 THREES-POINTERS: When the Knicks shooting is hot, this squad is very hard to beat. And when you nail 20 threes, it’s an impossible barrage to overcome. What stands out regarding this performance is it was predicated on constant ball movement (to the tune of 20 assists).

With the Atlantic now locked up, it’s time for the Knicks to close out a few more games to secure the #2 seed and home-court advatnage through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

[youtube http://youtu.be/zr2k_LUo16U]

Carmelo Anthony Passes LeBron James as NBA’s Top Jersey Seller

The media attention given to Carmelo Anthony’s recent scoring tear has translated into a bump in merchandise sales, as Anthony has now passed LeBron James for the top-selling jersey in the NBA.

Although the Knicks as a team have lead the league in merchandise sales since early in the season, there hasn’t been a Knicks player to lead the league in jersey sales since the 2001-2002 season. Last year, Anthony was ranked fourth in jersey sales.

Over the last week, Anthony has averaged 42 points and 13 rebounds, lifting him over Kevin Durant as the league’s top scorer with 28.4 points a game.

****************************

While it’s nice to see Melo and the Knicks getting recognized for their excellent play, I hope they brush this and other sudden media accolades off. They need to remember how critics had dismissed their capabilities throughout the season. I want the hunger and poise they’ve had over the win streak to translate throughout their playoff run.

Knicks Take 12th Straight Win in Wild Shootout With the Thunder

What a game! I was confident in the Knicks’ chances considering they battled the Thunder down to the final shot at Madison Square Garden last month without Melo. The big concern was how our slower and older guards would handle the merciless penetration of Russell Westbrook and OKC’s strong frontline with Kenyon Martin sitting out his second game. The response came from our bench, who fought tooth and nail to set the table for the Knicks to outgun the Thunder in the final minute to pick up arguably their best road win of the season.

OKC LIVES AT THE FREE THROW LINE, THE KNICKS BEHIND THE ARC: The first quarter was very annoying to watch as the refs called a bunch of ticky-tack fouls on what seemed like every Knicks player. Any contact on Durant, no matter how light, resulted in a foul call. Just four minutes in, Iman Shumpert and Pablo Prigioni had two fouls apiece. Melo got his second a few minutes later, helping the Thunder get out to a 21-14 lead.

Like the first game, the Knicks were not intimidated and roared back behind two three-pointers from Jason Kidd. The Knicks would end up going 6/7 in the first quarter and were only down 31-30 despite the Thunder shooting over 60% from the field.

COPES SHOWS AND PROVES: The knock on Chris Copeland is that while he can score, it’s offset by the fact he’s a huge defensive liability. That wasn’t the case today. Copeland’s first half offense was crucial in keeping the Knicks in it with Melo sitting. He had 13 points that came from behind the arc and also in the paint. On defense, he swatted away a Westbrook drive and had active hands in causing deflections. And with ball movement, he kept the forced shots to a minimum, giving a sweet assist to Steve Novak for an open trey (who was 2-4 from downtown in the first half).

The bench output was the main reason the Knicks were able to go up by as much as 12 in the first half before settling for a 65-56 halftime lead.

SURVIVING THE RUNS: As expected, the Thunder made strong pushes in the third and fourth quarters. Each time, the Knicks had an answer. When the Thunder got to within a point (84-83) with 2:52 left in the third, Melo drained a three. When the Thunder took a brief fourth quarter lead, guys like Raymond Felton brought the momentum back.

Speaking of Ray, that man knows no fear in crunch time. Like he did in the fourth quarters against the Hawks and Bucks, he continued going right into the teeth of the defense. His aggressiveness resulted in 16 points and 8 assists.

MELO WINS HIS DUEL: It’s been a minute since Durant and Melo went at each other and it didn’t disappoint. While Westbrook was the primary scorer this afternoon (37 points), Durant wasn’t too shabby either with his 27 points. However, Melo dropped 36 and was most impressive with his attack on the offensive glass, where he had a season-high in nine (12 rebounds total). It was a welcome sight to see Melo keep his cool and get the putbacks despite being fouled repeatedly. He had two key tip-ins (one off his own miss and another off a missed JR free throw) late that gave NY a little breathing room and set up the coup de grace…

JR CLOSES THE SHOW: JR Smith didn’t shoot well today. He missed a few open threes early in the fourth that could have ended some of the late drama. But like he’s done all throughout this winning streak, JR got it done when the game was on the line. With the Knicks clinging to a 115-113 lead, Smith hit a long jumper with the shot clock expiring to make it 117-113. And on the next possession, Smith bailed us out with a dagger three to ice it. Applaud this man.

THE BENCH: The Knicks bench outscored the Thunder’s 55-30. JR was JR with his 22 points, but Kidd’s 14 and Copeland’s 13 were huge contributions. A total team win.

THE CRITICS ARE QUIET: No one gave us any slack when we rolled out our banged up lineups, but we were quick to hear about how our recent Heat win didn’t mean anything with Wade and James sitting. Well, the Thunder were at full strength and out for blood. They were turned back on their home floor. Speaking of emphatic road wins, the Knicks have them in abundance this year against the Spurs, Heat (2X),Celtics and now Thunder.

The Knicks have their first 50 win season in 13 years and are just one win away from securing their first Atlantic division crown since 1994. Taking out the Thunder was their 12th straight win. And this is all without having a fully healthy roster the entire year.

You’re still not a believer? It doesn’t matter — the Knicks know they are for real.

[youtube http://youtu.be/koA1mxyxy-4]

10 and Counting — Melo and JR Turn Atlanta Into MSG South, Knicks Defeat Hawks 95-82

On the second night of a road back to back, the Knicks had every reason to pack this one in. What we received was another stellar performance from Carmelo Anthony. And even more importantly, our superstar got to lay back in the fourth quarter while others stepped up to put the Atlanta Hawks out of their misery. The Knicks win streak has now hit double digits and with this play, it might not be stopping anytime soon.

MELO CARRIES THE LOAD THROUGH THREE: After a quiet 1-4 shooting start, Melo erupted for 13 points in the first quarter and 24 points by halftime. Unlike last night’s 50 point game, which was exclusively on perimeter jumpers, Melo went inside out on Josh Smith, who was completely hapless on defense. When the Hawks doubled, Melo didn’t force it and kicked out to the open man. Unfortunately, most of the open looks from Jason Kidd, JR Smith and Raymond Felton weren’t being converted on, which allowed the Hawks to hang around.

Atlanta took a brief lead in the third behind Kyle Korver’s hot shooting (25 points, six three-pointers), but the Knicks never allowed Atlanta to get more than a point or two in front.

While it was awesome watching Melo torch Smith, you began wondering if he would have any gas left for the fourth, as he had to 36 of the Knicks’ 68 points headed into the final stanza.

FELTON AND JR COME ALIVE: Wondering how the Knicks walked out of Atlanta with a double-digit lead with Melo only scoring four points in the fourth? That falls on Felton and Smith, who combined for an astounding 20 points on 9/12 shooting. Both had been struggling with their shots, but everything came together when it mattered. Felton attacked the lane fearlessly for repeated layups due to the Hawks defense focusing too closely on Melo. And JR, who couldn’t finish at the rim for nothing in the previous three quarters, was now shaking Hawks players at will for short jumpers and a dagger three late that put New York up 87-76. The life had been sucked out of the Hawks and JR added some more dirt to their grave by blowing past Josh Smith for a two-handed slam. Smith finished with 19 points while Felton contributed 14.

THE ROUGH SPOTS: The second and third quarter were frustrating to watch as the Knicks were giving the Hawks unnecessary life. The main culprit that stood out was Iman Shumpert. He made the repeated blunder of sagging off Kyle Korver and getting burned for three-pointers. This was why Coach Woodson elected to go with Jason Kidd to close out the fourth. It ended up being a wise decision, as Kidd was huge in shutting down Korver and keeping the ball moving to the tune of 7 assists (the best being a alley oop slam to Melo in the fourth). Kidd also protected the boards with 5 rebounds.

WOUNDED WARRIOR: Tyson Chandler is jsut two games into his return froma bulging disc in his neck. Last game he complained of stiffness, and tonight he was seen holding his left clavicle area after a rebound in the first half. Although he didn’t have much in the way of points (2) or rebounds (4), he did a good job of keeping Al Horford nullified (9 points, 7 rebounds).

90 POINTS IN 24 HOURS: Let’s get back to Melo. The man’s stat line in the last 24 hours is 35/53 (8/12 from downtown) for 66% shooting, Nearly everything was within the flow of the offense and he made the right passes when needed. When you hear people say Melo is the best scorer in the NBA, these are the games that support that opinion. And I’ll go on record as predicting he’ll have a monster April and take his first scoring title.

MSG SOUTH: The Knicks are 6-1 over their last seven meetings with the Hawks. Once again, the Hawks had their arena turned into MSG South. It was downright embarrassing how loud the Knickstape faithful chanted “MVP!” for Melo in the fourth as he capped the evening with 40 points. If it wasn’t for the court colors, you’d swear they were playing in at the original Madison Square Garden.

Does the streak hit 11 games? We’ll find out on Friday when the Knicks head back home to face the Bucks.

[youtube http://youtu.be/2dJPoI3aHQk]

50 to the Head — Melo Lights Up Short-Handed Heat, Knicks’ Streak Hits Nine

So what Dwyane Wade and LeBron James weren’t playing tonight? The Knicks were missing their own superstars in Kurt Thomas and Rasheed Wallace! In all seriousness, I had some mixed feelings coming into tonight’s final regular season meeting between the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat. On one hand, I wanted our winning streak to be tested against a fully healthy version of the defending champs. On the other hand, an “easy win” on paper was needed, as the Knicks and Pacers are literally changing places between #2 and #3 in the East every game. In the end, the Knicks got a win they absolutely had to have, and move on step closer to winning their first Atlantic division title since 1994.

AN INEXCUSABLE FIRST HALF: Things started off good enough in the first quarter with a red-hot Carmelo Anthony going on an 8-0 run all by himself, But as the game settled in, the small Knicks backcourt of Pablo Prigioni and Raymond Felton had problems with Chris Anderson’s rolls to the rim and getting over screens. After leading 27-25 after one, the Knicks forgot about defense and got torched by Mike Miller of all people for 13 points (18 at the half). Look here… there is no excuse for Miller to be lighting anyone up in 2013. The defensive switches were bad for the Knicks as were the useless double teams. The NY guards in particular were being beat at will by Norris Cole and Ray Allen into the paint. Tyson Chandler was still out of sync so his post presence wasn’t much of a factor with the Heat holding a 28-6 scoring edge in the paint and a 58-50 lead at halftime.

The offense wasn’t much better for the Knicks. JR Smith was having a very difficult time getting into the paint, but to his credit he stuck with his newfound game and had 9 points to compliment Melo’s 27.

THE ROAD BACK: It was a still a one-man show on offense for the Knicks with Melo having 42 points by the end of the third quarter. The main change was the defense. Miller was held scoreless as the closeouts and rotations were vastly improved. The Knicks forced Cole to make tough decisions, leading to rushed and contested shots. The Knicks had some sloppy turnovers late that prevented them from getting any additional breathing room. However, a Melo drive and kick out for a Steve Novak trey at the buzzer gave the Knicks a slim 78-76 lead going into the fourth.

GRINDED AND SPIT OUT: Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the fourth quarter would be a grind out 12 minutes and it was in the early going. Kenyon Martin, who had been providing his usual good defense all game, smashed home a two-handed slam over Chris Anderson. Raymond Felton came alive in getting into the lane and also working a long jumper to extend the NY lead to 84-78. But the Heat battled back behind Chris Bosh’s ability to draw fouls inside to tie it at 86 with 7:49 remaining.

The biggest break for the Knicks came with them clinging to an 90-88 lead and Bosh throwing a nice one-handed pass to an open Shane Battier. The three-pointer barely missed, and the Knicks immediately called time to regroup. From that point on, with 5-6 minutes left, the Heat would not score another field goal.

Melo closed the show in efficient and deadly fashion, hitting quick, long jumpers and a three-pointer to push the Knicks ahead 95-88. Bosh’s attempt at a layup resulted in a loud, nasty block from Tyson Chandler. The scoring dagger would be JR Smith’s trey that made it 99-88 with under 2 minutes to play.

On the Knicks’ last possession, JR informed Melo that he was one field goal off from 50, promptly Melo to casually swish another long jumper to equal his career-high.

MELO STARTS OFF APRIL CORRECT: Last April it was Melo who willed us into the playoffs with off the charts play. If his play from tonight is any indication, we may get another amazing month. Melo’s 50 points came on 18/26 shooting (7/10 from downtown). Who’s bright idea on the Heat’s coaching staff was it to give Udonis Haslem extended minutes guarding Melo?

ANOTHER SEASON SERIES GOES TO THE KNICKSTAPE: A few days ago the Knicks took the season series from Boston 3-1. Tonight, Miami got the same treatment, with their lone win being achieved by coming back from a 16-point deficit. The playoffs are an entirely different animal, but the Knicks will enter it with confidence against the best team in the league should they meet in the conference finals.

Next up tomorrow night are the Hawks down in Atlanta. Let’s see if Melo’s hot shooting carries over.

Happy Easter, Boston! Knicks Dominate Celtics 108-89, Take Season Series

2004. That is the last time the Knicks won a season series against the Boston Celtics. Here we are nine years later with the Knicks breaking that drought emphatically with three straight wins (two in Boston) over their Atlantic division rivals to win the season series 3-1 and extend their winning streak to eight. Are the Knicks about to peak heading into April and the playoffs? There’s many reasons from this game to think so.

BLOWN OPEN IN THE SECOND: The Knicks had a 28-23 lead after one solely based on their hot shooting (52% from the field), punctuated by 4 three-pointers. The Celtics were right there with them courtesy of Jeff Green (27 points), who attacked the rim like JR Smith has been doing lately. But when the second quarter came around, the Knicks ran them out the building.

Chris Copeland provided some key offense with Melo on the bench by hitting his first two three-pointers. Steve Novak added a few treys and Jason Kidd added a shot-clock bailout one that extended the lead to 60-44. The three-point shooting was the main factor in the huge lead, as the Knicks hit 11 of them at the half. The ball movement was on point (15 assists for the team), and the scoring was evenly distributed.

You’ll recall the Knicks ran away with the last Celtics game in the second and capped their excellent play with a deep JR trey at the buzzer. Well, Raymond Felton did one better with a beyond half-court floater that banked in to make the lead 65-48. When shots like that are going down, you know you’re in trouble.

[youtube http://youtu.be/Enf4PBVoNyA]

NO THIRD QUARTER MELTDOWN: Over the first 4-5 minutes of the third, the Celtics were the team with momentum. They were getting to the line and hitting threes, which got them as close as 11 on a few occasions. However, the Knicks responded with timely buckets each time, the biggest being a Felton 3-point play that gave Avery Bradley, the Celtics’ best perimeter defender, his fifth foul. NY finished the quarter strong and Boston faced a 86-69 hole headed into the fourth.

BOSTON SUCKS!: These type of Madison Square Garden chants have come back to haunt us in previous games, but not tonight. The chants started at the beginning of the fourth and the Celtics never could provide any reason to shut the Knicks fans up. Paul Pierce had a good night (24 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists), but sat the entire fourth as coach Doc Rivers knew it was a lost cause.

JR COOLS OFF: JR Smith’s 30 point game, 50% shooting streak ended tonight on a very good note. I say that because we all wondered if JR would go back to his chucking ways when his shots weren’t going down. He was 4/12 from the field, but made sure to get to the line (7/10) and swallow up rebounds (12) on the small ball-minded Celtics. Tonight he faced one of the best defenses in the league and didn’t mentally have a setback, the clearest sign thus far that the “New JR Smith” is here to stay.

PABLO PRIGIONI REMAINS UNDEFEATED: Since Prigioni entered the starting lineup, the Knicks have been on this season-high eight-game win streak. It shouldn’t be surprising as Prigioni expertise in ball movement and steals/deflections have made sure the offense remains diverse with everyone being a scoring threat (except himself, of course). Pablo will get his biggest test on Tuesday against the Heat.

MELO’s 27 MINUTES: Carmelo had under 20 shots tonight (9/19) which is always a plus for the ball movement. The reason he ended up with 24 points instead of 32 is his struggles converting at the rim. A lot of them were point-blank shots that were just rimming out. But like JR, he contributed in other areas, namely in nabbing 10 rebounds. His defense was lazy at times (being late on switches and not contesting Green’s drives to the rim), but these lapses weren’t a huge detriment.

KNICKS SURVIVE THEIR TOUGHEST MONTH OF THE SEASON: How difficult was the month of March? We lost Tyson Chandler, Kurt Thomas and Amar’e Stoudemire to injuries, leaving just two bigs on the team. Melo missed several games with a bum knee and appeared in dire straits at times. Our West Coast trip proved to be a disaster going 1-4, and the Brooklyn Nets at one point were one game out of the top of the Atlantic Division. This winning streak helped the Knicks finish the month 12-6, stay atop the Atlantic by 4.5 games, and remain poised to have a healthy and confident team headed into the playoffs.

We’ve vanquished Boston. Now it’s time to make a statement to Miami and win that season series on Tuesday.

[youtube http://youtu.be/dLvKgUaT3Ls]

Knicks Extend Winning Streak to Seven, Defeat Bobcats 111-102

It was fitting that the Knicks celebrate Walt “Clyde” Frazier’s 68th birthday with a win tonight. Hell, we can’t have our Knicks legend wearing that cow-print suit for nothing. You may recall that Bobcats gave the Knicks a tough go of it in December when a JR Smith buzzer-beater was needed to hold them off. JR opted to dominate the entire game this time around, and the team had an easy go of it despite replicating their lazy second half play from the last game against the Grizzlies.

ANOTHER FIRST HALF BEATDOWN: The Knicks came out on fire again riding the playmaking of Iman Shumpert, whose five assists were marked by three-pointers from Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton. The team hit five treys in the first quarter and the weak defense of the Bobcats had JR Smith looking like a late 90s Larry Johnson in the post. Charlotte was inept on offense as well, coughing up six turnovers. The New York scoring was varied and lethal, with the team shooting over 70% with under three minutes remaining. Melo had another fast start with 13 points, Shump had 8, Felton contributed 7 and JR 9.

With the Knicks rotating well on defense and keeping the paint locked up, the Bobcats were reduced to long jumpers. Steve Novak and Felton hit more threes to push the lead up to 63-35, and JR’s focus on getting high-percentage shots in the paint enabled the Knicks to equal their season-high in halftime points at 69. On the Bobcats end, the Knicks held them to 47 points to hold a 22-point halftime lead.

SECOND HALF LAZINESS: Seriously, in order for the Knicks to stay focused after getting these big leads, the arena is going to have to start turning off the scoreboards. Just like the Grizzlies game a few nights ago, the Knicks came out flat in the third. Some of the shots just rimmed out, but defensively the big difference was Bobcats guards like Gerald Henderson were able to get to the rim for foul calls. At one point the Knicks missed eight straight shots, but they tightened up in the last few minutes to hold a 88-69 lead going into the fourth.

The Bobcats had a 33 point fourth quarter on the back of hot three-point shooting, Henderson getting a lot of superstar-like calls, and Coach Woodson waiting too long to put his best perimeter defender (Shumpert) back in. The Knicks got into the penalty around the six minute mark and that helped the Bobcats get as close as seven. However, this was the Bobcats and you never felt the lead was in danger of being stolen. Apparently, by their play the Knicks didn’t either, as the offense went into iso mode for Melo over the last few minutes. A JR drive to the hoop pushed the lead to 104-95 with under two minutes left, and a steal by him on the very next possession closed the book on the competitive portion of the game.

JR’s AWESOME RUN CONTINUES: For the sixth straight game, JR Smith shot over 50% from the field. He scored 30-plus points off the bench for the third straight game, becoming the first Knick to do so and the first player since Ricky Pierce did it back in 1990. It’s like the light bulb went off and JR’s finally realized how to maximize his skill set. Tonight his stat line was 37 points on 12/18 shooting (2/2 from downtown) and 11/12 from the free throw line.

We’ll need this same JR and a more efficient Melo on Sunday when we face the Celtics, who’ll be out for blood at the Garden after that drubbing they took in Boston earlier this week.

No Mercy in Beantown — JR Smith Powers Knicks to 100-85 Thrashing of Celtics

Let’s just be quite frank about them. We always want to beat Boston. New York in anything wants to beat Boston and when we do, it’s a great feeling. – Carmelo Anthony

There are few things sweeter for a Knicks fan than smacking around the Boston Celtics. Both teams have dealt with severe injuries in recent weeks, but it’s been the Knicks that have weathered the storm to nurse a 4-game winning streak heading into tonight. On the other hand, the Celtics were on a 4-game losing streak. With both teams missing their notable defensive bigs in Tyson Chandler and Kevin Garnett, this one was decided by who could dominate the hustle plays.

SLOOOOW START: Being that it took over 2 minutes before anyone scored, this game looked like it could be an ugly one when it came to offensive execution. On the Knicks side, the ball movement was dead with lots of useless perimeter dribbling and Carmelo Anthony isolations. Matters really didn’t start clicking until JR Smith came in. Like the other games on this winning streak, Smith kicked off his night by getting to the rim at will for acrobatic layups. His 10 points off the bench offset Jordan Crawford abusing Jason Kidd in the post for the Knicks to hold a 28-24 lead after 12 minutes.

KNICKS RIDE JR’S HOT HAND: With Melo sitting, the offense had to work solely through JR. With Boston’s solid perimeter defense, Smith wisely kept the outside jumpers to a minimum and kept attacking the basket. At one stretch, he scored 11 straight points to power the Knicks back in front after the Celtics had taken a 33-31 lead behind 7 straight points from Jason Terry.

When the run extended to 14-0, the Celtics attempted to get physical on defense. In years past, this was when they slowly broke the Knicks down and climbed back in it.

Not tonight.

The ball movement picked up and all of sudden Steve Novak was duping Paul Pierec on pump fakes and nailing threes. Pablo Prigioni was wreaking havoc defensively with steals and Melo was shoving the physicality back down Boston’s throat, most notably with a bully ball 3-point play inside (and a war yell added for good measure). By halftime, the Celtics were staring at a 58-44 deficit.

PUSHED BACK IN THE THIRD: The Celtics made a nice 16-9 run to get to within seven (67-60) due to the Knicks forgetting about penetration and settling for jumpshots. That all changed when JR came in around the six-minute mark. He righted the ship by going right back to Boston’s big weakness (lack of shotblocking) with a shot-clock beating short jumper over Brandon Bass. Now Melo’s post-ups were resulting in better perimeter shots (like a timely Jason Kidd trey to extend the lead to 74-62). Kidd had a lot of crucial cleanup plays in the final 3-4 minutes (rebounds, steals, drawing charges) to keep the Knicks in control.

And if the Celtics needed any reminder this wasn’t their night, the below JR heave from way downtown reminded them.

[youtube http://youtu.be/W14ZBDvG_vE]

A FOREGONE CONCLUSION: There was never any real drama in the fourth except how many shots was Melo going to chuck up. Melo went a horrid 10-30 to get his 29 points. To be fair, a few of them were due to not getting calls inside and getting his own rebounds (six on the offensive glass) for second chance scores. Bottom line is the Knicks don’t win tonight without his scoring output, but better efficiency is needed.

PRIGIONI, KIDD AND K-MART: This trio didn’t have big numbers, but they were highly effective in making sure the Celtics got no momentum throughout the game. Prigioni in particular chose most of his four fouls wisely (stopping fast breaks), had two steals and five assists. Aside from the previously mentioned cleanup plays he made, Kidd even put it on the floor and got a nice driving layup over Avery Bradley. Martin had his quietest stat line of the win streak with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block, but he protected the paint (causing a few blown layups) and set hard screens to get guys open. K-Mart’s toughness is a big reason the rest of the Knicks were emboldened to push back the Celtic attempts to push them around.

There would be no Knick-killing heroics from Paul Pierce tonight, as he had 16 quiet points. Four of Celtic starters got into double figures, but there was no flow to their offense — everything was disjointed and Boston never had a serious chance to get back in this after the middle of the third. After going winless in Boston for years, it’s an excellent sign to see the Knicks win two straight there as this is a potential playoff matchup. And the final icing on the cake is that this win is the worst loss the Celtics have had at home since 2010.

The Knicks will be right back at it Wednesday night when they face the Memphis Grizzlies, a squad that beat New York up and handed them their first defeat this season. Let’s see how much Martin’s presence makes a difference.

[youtube http://youtu.be/UR9al3_svKc]

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word:

Spread the Word: