I must admit, I was extremely nervous heading into last week. The Knicks were riding a 5 game losing streak and showed no sign of breaking that skid. Then, on the horizon was their annual early season West Coast trip so I didn’t think that time away from the Garden would do them any good. Just the opposite, though.
Housekeeping:
Record: 6 – 8 (Home 1 – 4. Road 5 – 4)
Streak: W3
2nd place in the Atlantic Division
7th place in the Eastern Conference
Team Leaders:
Points: Amar’e Soudemire, 23.1
Rebounds: Amar’e Stoudemire, 8.5
Assists: Raymond Felton, 7.6
Steals: Toney Douglas, 2.0
Blocks: Wilson Chandler, 2.2
Tuesday, November 16 at Denver Nuggets. Final score, Nuggets 120 – Knicks 118
The storyline heading into this one was about how Carmelo would be taking on his future team. I didn’t look that deeply into it. I just saw another game on the schedule. After losing 5 straight, I wasn’t too optimistic for this one, especially since the Nuggets are clearly a better team. I wondered how Mozgov would fair against Nene. Last week D’Antoni did the right thing and finally started Wilson Chandler and brought Mozgoz off the bench, but he didn’t have that luxury against Nene (does anybody remember when he used to be Nene Hilario? What happend to the Hilario?) Nene would end up with 17 points and a modest 5 boards, but Mozgov certainly had his hands full and it seemed like he had a bigger night than that.
The Knicks were playing catch up the entire night as, despite the 2 point loss, they never led and Denver’s biggest lead was 16. The culprit, once again, was the volume of 3s that were attempted. The Knicks hoisted up 31 3s and connected on only 9. I don’t think any team would win any game with those numbers.
New York did what they always do and rallied back late to provide false hope before coming up short. Amar’e had a team high 24 points and just 6 boards, but the star of the evening for the squad was rookie Landry Fields who had a career high 21 points and 17 reb. He was very impressive and has proven to be one of the most consistent Knicks this year along with Wilson Chandler.
Carmelo had 26 points in the win and when asked if he was thinking about the swirling trade rumors which have him pegged to go to New York, he said
“I never thought about that tonight. Never. Not once. Never. That wasn’t even on my mind throughout the game.” I say, yeah right.
Wednesday, November 17 at Sacramento Kings. Final Score, Knicks 113 – Kings 106
If the Knicks would’ve lost this one, I was going to write off the season. Seriously. Top the bottom, the Knicks have a more talented roster than the Kings so I thought this was a no brainer. After the loss at Denver, Mike D’Antoni was questioned by the New York media about the number of 3s that the Knicks jack up. In typical fashion, D’Antoni made it seem as if he had no idea why his team shot so many 3s, even though that’s the basis of his system. Well, miraculously, the Knicks only shot 15 3s against the Kings. Coincidence? I think not.
Reigning Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans has 23 points, 5 boards and 5 assists (are you surprised?) and it always seemed like he had the ball in his hands. But it was a weird game as each team held a double digit lead. Both Amar’e and Danilo Gallinari had 27 points, which lead the way for the team. Also, the Knicks were on fire from the line as they were an amazing 33 – 39 and Gallinari mad 16 of those. It was a much needed win and I look no further than them cutting the 3-point attempts in half.
Friday, November 19 at Golden State Warriors. Final score, Knicks 125 – Warriors 119
Just a few days prior, David Lee brought his Warriors to the Garden and beat his former team in the ultimate case of sweet revenge. This time around, Lee did not suit up and the Knicks took advantage of that as they out-rebounded the Warriors 42 to 33.
Twenty-three 3s were hoisted up but I must admit, most of them seemed in the flow of the offense unlike most nights where it seems like they shoot so many 3s because they are simply instructed to do so. Raymond Felton was the bright spot for the Knicks as he had a career 35 points and 11 assists. I just mentioned that ‘Melo is rumored to be traded to the Knicks and last summer we heard Chris Paul’s name as well. This may sound crazy, but with Felton, the Knicks don’t need to trade for Paul especially if it’s going to cost multiple draft picks. Paul is definitely a better player than Felton, but after having the luxury of seeing him up close and personal on a nightly basis, I’m not sure if the addition of Paul and subtraction of Felton would make a huge difference in terms of wins and losses. Paul is a better scorer but Felton can push the rock just the same.
The talented backcourt for Golden State of Steph Curry and Monta Ellis finished with 29 and 40 respectively but that wasn’t enough to beat the Knicks who led by as much as 18. Amar’e, who is playing much better of late, had 26. Despite that, he still plays on the perimeter too much for my taste.
Saturday, November 20 at Los Angeles Clippers. Knicks 124 – Clippers 115
Yeah, so what Blake Griffin had 44 points and a couple of crazy dunks? The Knicks still won behind Amare’s season high 39 points and 11 boards (Ok, I can’t like, Blake had some crazy dunks in this one). The knee jerk reaction is to think that the Knicks are soft down low because of what Blake did. Not quite. It has more to do with the fact that Blake is an absolute animal than anything else.
The Knicks shot 24 3s but what they’ve been able to do quietly this year is get to the free throw line. They made 43 – 51 and are one of the best FT shooting teams in the league.
The Clippers were without Baron Davis again as I think Baron is one of the biggest disappointments of his era due to injuries.
General Thoughts
The Knicks swept their California swing and suddenly, Knicks fans can feel a little better about the future. Coming up this week they have a home and home series against the Bobcats on Tuesday and Wednesday (look for Felton to try and show up his former team), at Atlanta and home vs. Detroit. I say they split these 4 games. I’ll fill you in next week.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
