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Game 17: New York Knicks v Brooklyn Nets
Score 1: 113-83
Game 18: New York Knicks v Orlando Magic
Score 2: 121-83
By: Malcolm Merritt
Email: mjmerritt23@gmail.com
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It was 9-game losing streak. Now it’s a two game winning
streak. It might not mean much to you, but this Knicks (5-13)
team is getting exactly what they needed. On Thursday, they defeated the Brooklyn Nets
(5-14) 113-83.
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| The rivalry feeling was bustling Thursday Night as the Knicks came together to end their losing streak in Brooklyn. |
The game was supposed to be a slugfest between two
struggling teams. The predictions were wrong. So wrong. The Knicks average 95.5
ppg. They scored nearly 20 points more than that. The Nets were missing some
players and New York was fully aware of that.
The game started off well for the Knickerbockers, who scored
29 points in the first quarter, tying their season high. The first half ended
with an honest 7-point lead, as New York was struggling to control Brook Lopez, who
recorded 16 points and 8 rebounds in the first 24 minutes. The lead wasn’t
enough for New York though, they wanted more and they snatched it from
Brooklyn. The team heated up in the third quarter, looking like the Knicks of
old. Outscoring the Nets 34-16 in
the 3rd quarter, they went on a 20-5 run and hit their opponents
with a barrage of three pointers. After the final buzzer, the stat sheet read
16-27 from downtown, their highest percentage up to that point, as well as the
most they’ve made thus far.
Everybody played in the game and their core players played
extremely well. Once again, Carmelo Anthony
led the team with 19 points, shooting 67% from the field on 12 shots. He also
grabbed 10 boards and led the team with 6 assists. Bargnani
continued his defensive ways with 3 blocked shots while also shooting 54% from
the field. Shumpert’s
play was a completely different level from the rest of the season. The third
year guard out of Georgia Tech might as well held three fingers up the entire
game. He scored 17 points, shooting 5 for 7 from beyond the arc. The most surprising
of the players was Amar’e
Stoudemire. He has been in a slump for a long time and for this game, he
looked like the Stoudemire that signed with the Knicks through free agency. He
shot 5 for 6 from the floor and played extremely well in the pick and roll
game, especially with Carmelo Anthony, which is nothing but a good sign.
The Knicks were able to shoot 57.1% from the field and 59.3%
from the three-point line, while accumulating 24 assists and only turning the
ball over 12 times.
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| There was plenty of this Thursday night as the Knicks hit 16 Three-pointers against their Cross-Town foe. |
But New York wasn’t done. Friday night they played the Orlando Magic
(6-13) at home. It was raining outside in Manhattan and it was raining
inside Madison Square Garden. The Knicks continued their three-point attack
hitting 17 from downtown. The Magic had absolutely no answer and at one point,
the Knicks were up by 40 points. They obliterated Orlando, 121-83.
This game was another hot start for the Knicks, but their
defense wasn’t there in the first quarter, as they trailed by 3 heading into
the second. Carmelo Anthony drove down the lane and was blocked by the rookie Victor Oladipo.
Oladipo is coming off a triple double in the Orlando’s most recent loss to
Philadelphia. Then, the Knicks galloped away with the game. Three after three
after three, New York piled up the points. They had 7 players score in double
figures and the bench outscored the Magic’s bench 57-21.
Iman Shumpert said before the game, “I’m mad at everyone… at
the world.” It showed. He scored 10 effective, strong points, with a strong
dunk being an exclamation point. Carmelo Anthony once again played well,
shooting less and doing everything else. He still led his team in scoring for
the 18th straight game with 20 points on 60% shooting. Anthony
talked to the media after the game, “Yeah, for me, I wanted to do something a
little different to see if it worked. Me scoring 30 wasn’t working… There’ll be
a time again where I need to step up and score those points, but the last
couple games, the guys stepped up big time and it just allowed me to make them
better and they made me better… We got tired of losing. Whether we figured
everything out in two games, that’s yet to come, but we’ll take these two
wins…”
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| Iman Shumpert's (21) slam dunk was nothing short of spectacular. He and teammate J.R. Smith (left) knew that. |
Those were words of wisdom. It was evident that New York’s
energy and morale were somewhat back after two consecutive blowout wins. After
Brooklyn winning on Saturday, the Knicks are still last in the Atlantic Division, but
they are only 2.5 games out the Atlantic Division lead. Their goal is nothing
less than the playoffs right now.
Worst-case scenario, they are 3 games away from a top-8 spot in the
conference.
New York will play the division leading Boston Celtics
(9-12) on Sunday. They are looking to take down a team that is only a
skeleton of what it was when they played each other in the playoffs last
season. With the way New York has been playing, this game has a tremendous
upside, but hey, we’re dealing with the Knicks.
Stay tuned for the prediction of this Atlantic Division
rivalry.
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