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Game 21: New York Knicks v Chicago Bulls (Review)
Actual Score: 83-76
By: Malcolm Merritt
Email: mjmerritt23@gmail.com
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| Carmelo Anthony (7) and Amar'e Stoudemire (1) led the Knicks to their 6th win of the season. |
A win is a win. That’s the exact thing that the New York Knicks
(6-15) were thinking after their win against the Chicago Bulls
(8-12). It was a tough game to win at that. A low-scoring, defensive
affair, two of the top 10 defenses faced each other in MSG. The last time the
Knicks played the Bulls at home and won was the famed Easter game. That game,
the teams were full and ready, MSG was rocking, and both teams were winning.
This was a completely different story. The Bulls were
injury-riddled in the matchup, playing without three starters. Their leading
scorer, Luol Deng
(19.4 ppg) strained his Achilles. Jimmy Butler,
their promising shooting guard, missed 12 straight games because of a sprained
toe. And their superstar, Derrick Rose, who
hadn’t played for over a year before this season, went down for the season with
a torn meniscus. His highest hopes are a playoff return. The Bulls are a team
that is trying to play tough and make something out of nothing.
New York started the game of in a defensive fashion. Both
teams did as a matter of fact. The score after one, 17-15 in Chicago’s favor.
New York didn’t do anything special until the second quarter, where they
seemingly ended the game with a 20-0 run. At the end of the first half, the
score was 46-32. New York continued this dominance into the third quarter. The
lead was still the same. But all of a sudden, the resilience of the Bulls came
out. The lead was cut to 10, and then to four, and out of nowhere, Chicago had
tied the game at 74 with 3 minutes left in the contest. Then, hinged on a huge
shot by Amar’e Stoudemire, the Knicks went on a 7-0 run to put the game out of
reach. The final score, 83-78.
The fact that the Knicks blew a 23-point lead was almost
predictable at this point. One of the main issues with this Knickerbockers
squad is consistency. They find a winning formula but can never continue it.
But the lead was great while it lasted and was the reason New York won.
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| In a defensive match-up New York was able to hold of the Bulls. |
Carmelo Anthony
was on his game the entire night. He shot 9-21 from the field but, he led the
team in scoring with 30 points, led the team in rebounding with 10 boards and
led the team in assists with 4. His play kept the Knicks afloat the entire
game. Woodson also changed up the line up. His starting point guard, Raymond Felton,
is sidelined for two to three weeks with an injury to his left hamstring. In
place of him, Pablo
Prigioni was thrust into the starting spot along with the returning Kenyon Martin.
Both brought to the floor exactly what they needed. What the Knicks have been
missing recently, which is exactly what Kenyon Martin brings. There was a
sequence in the game where he had 3 blocks in one possession. He finished the
game with 4 blocks, 2 steals, 2 assists and 7 rebounds. His effort he shows so
frequently in game tends to spread among the Knicks players. Pablo Prigioni
also fed off of that energy. He took a season high, 9 shots, shooting only 2
for 7. But his effort didn’t show up in the stat sheet. Prigioni kept the ball
moving and generated crazy amounts of pressure on the Bulls guards.
What made this win so peculiar were the rotations. Starting
shooting guard and defensive specialist, Iman Shumpert, only played 13 minutes
as he left the game with
a left knee bruise. That gave more minutes to Tim Hardaway
Jr. and Beno Udrih. Udrih, who hasn’t played much recently, played 17
minutes and scored 8 points along with 2 assists. Though he played well, he was
completely outshined by Amar’e
Stoudemire. Game after game, the 11-year veteran is looking like his old
self. His curls and slams are energetic and he hit the biggest shot of the game.
He shot 7-11 for 14 points and 9 rebounds along with a block and a couple of
steals. He also played a season high 30 minutes. If Stoudemire’s play continues
to improve at the rate it is, he may be inserted in the starting lineup and
more over, create a real impact in games, becoming an offensive and defensive
threat.
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| Amar'e Stoudemire (1) is playing like he played in Phoenix, a dominating force. |
Bull’s Mike Dunleavy
led the way for his team with 20 points in 45 minutes. The three-point
specialist was abysmal from deep, shooting 3-11. As a whole, Chicago was shut
down by New York. They shot 33.3% from the field and 28.6% from beyond that
arc. Chicago’s offense has been lacking and like the Knicks, their losses are
going to pile up, if they cannot find a way to score. This is the Knicks first
win this year when they scored under 90 points.
This was New York’s second game in as many nights. They
travel to Boston on Friday in a rematch of Sunday’s blowout.
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