Tag Archives: knicks postgame recap

Postgame Reaction: Knicks 109, Nets 98

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The Knicks (36-45) defeated the Nets (44-37) by a score of 109-98 on Tuesday night in Brooklyn. 

Carmelo Anthony sat this one out for New York, so the Knicks’ secondary scorers stepped up to carry the load. Tim Hardaway Junior led the team in scoring for the 2nd game in a row, with 16 points including 4 three-pointers. Amar’e Stoudemire, JR Smith, and Shannon Brown (not a typo) were next with 14 points apiece. Cole Aldrich (I’m serious, guys, I promise!) had 13 points  and 13 rebounds, and Iman Shumpert had 11 points and 3 steals (including one incredibly athletic deflection which has me convinced that he would be the Jets’ best cornerback).

Mike Woodson used this game to take a look at some players who haven’t seen many minutes, such as Brown, Aldrich, and youngsters Toure Murry and Jeremy Tyler. All four of them looked pretty solid. As a result, veterans Pablo Prigioni and Tyson Chandler only played 5 minutes tonight. Tyson spent the rest of the game practicing his clapping.

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Keep practicing, TC…

The Knicks won the season series 3-1 over the Nets. All 4 games were blowouts. While the Nets are headed to the playoffs and we are not, it’s nice to win the season series to get some personal, one-on-one bragging rights. The Knicks have now won 3 in a row, and will look to finish their season strong on Wednesday night against the Raptors at Madison Square Garden. Tickets can be purchased here

-Tommy Rothman

 

 

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Postgame Reaction: Knicks 100, Bulls 89

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The Knicks (35-45) defeated the Bulls (47-33) by a score of 100-89 on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.

Tim Hardaway Junior led the way for the Knicks with 20 points. He was followed by Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith (17 points each), Raymond Felton (14), Amar’e Stoudemire (12), and Iman Shumpert (10). Tyson Chandler only scored 1 point, but he managed to contribute by pulling down 12 boards and playing solid defense. 

The Knicks got out-rebounded, they sent the Bulls to the line on seemingly every play, and they weren’t very efficient from downtown. The key to this victory was New York’s defense, which held the Bulls to 39% shooting and forced 16 turnovers. 

Smith, Stoudemire, and Shumpert all had their struggles earlier in the year, but have been solid down the stretch and hopefully they can make a more consistent contribution next year. Tim Hardaway Junior has been a bright spot for the Knicks all season, and he was once again great in this game. He is a very important piece of our future.

Like I said before the game, we wanted to get this win for Melo-Retention reasons and to screw over the Nets a bit. We were also “Playing for Pride”. Getting a win is always nice, so even though we’ve already been eliminated, this was a fun and stress-free night to be a Knicks fan.

Up next: The Knicks will visit the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. Tickets can be purchased here

-Tommy Rothman

Postgame Reaction: Knicks Beat Raptors To Stay Alive… For Now

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The Knicks (34-45) beat the Raptors (46-33) by a score of 108-100 in Toronto. 

Carmelo Anthony led the way for the Knicks, scoring 30 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and notching 3 steals.

Amar’e Stoudemire was fantastic as well for New York, pouring in 24 points and pulling down 11 boards. 

Iman Shumpert had another solid game, with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals.

It was nice to see Carmelo have one of his usual games tonight, after having 2 awful games against Washington and Miami. His shoulder looks much healthier after 4 days of rest. 

Stoudemire’s resurgence has been the best story of the 2nd half for this Knicks team. After all he has fought through, seeing him get back to being a force on the offensive end is inspiring. Hopefully he can finish the year strong, and contribute again next season. 

The Hawks won last night. This simplifies things. If the Knicks go 3-0 (against the Bulls, Nets, and Raptors), and the Hawks go 0-3 (against the Heat, Bobcats, and Bucks), the Knicks will make the playoffs. In any other scenario, the Hawks would make the playoffs. If the Knicks go 2-1 and the Hawks go 0-3, or the Knicks go 3-0 and the Hawks go 1-2, the two teams would finish tied. But even though they split the season series 2-2, the Hawks have the tiebreaker (which is ridiculous, but I’ll write about that later). So if the Knicks lose again, or the Hawks win again, it’s all over.

 

We need the Heat to help us out by beating the Hawks tonight. Then we need to keep the pressure on Atlanta by beating the Bulls tomorrow. 

-Tommy Rothman

Knicks Lose 102-91 In Miami, Putting Playoff Chances On Life Support (Postgame Reaction)

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The Knicks (33-45) lost to the Heat (53-23) by a score of 102-91 on Sunday afternoon in Miami.

The Knicks started out hot, jumping out to a 16-3 lead. But the Knicks quickly squandered their advantage, and were down 8 in the blink of an eye. The Knicks did rally to regain the lead by halftime, but a miserable 3rd quarter rendered a decent 4th quarter comeback attempt irrelevant. 

J.R. Smith was amazing today. Smith hit a Knicks record 10 threes on an NBA record 22 attempts. Smith also broke NBA records for most games with 10 or more threes made (3) and most threes made in a three-game span (24). 

Carmelo Anthony was bad for the second game in a row. He was also battling a shoulder injury for the second game in a row. Maybe they are related, and he shouldn’t be playing 44 minutes a game?  

Amar’e Stoudemire was cold for most of the game, but I don’t think he passed once. He has to be better about moving the ball…

Raymond Felton was pretty good today, but 2 early fouls (both of them bad calls) sent him to the bench when he was hot and helped Miami go on a run.

The Knicks had no answer for LeBron James, who scored 38 points. However, the thing that killed New York was their inability to stop Miami’s shooters. Every time the Knicks threatened to gain some momentum, Miami would hit from beyond the arc.

The Knicks will almost certainly miss the playoffs at this point. If the Hawks beat the Pacers tonight, it’s practically over. The Knicks are 1.5 games back, and because Atlanta has the tiebreaker, it is really 2.5. New York’s “tragic number”— the combination of Knicks losses and Hawks wins needed to eliminate the Knicks— is now 4. The Knicks have 4 games left and the Hawks have 7 (including the Pacers game tonight). The Knicks play the Raptors twice, the Nets, and the Bulls. The Hawks play the Pacers, Heat, Nets, Bobcats, Celtics, Pistons, and Bucks. If the Knicks go 4-0, the Hawks will need to lose 4 of those games, so they would have to lose to at least one of the Celtics, Pistons, and Bucks. If the Knicks go 3-1 (with the Bulls game looking like a very tough game to win), Atlanta would need to lose 5 of those games, meaning at least two losses against those 3 weak teams. The game the Hawks are most likely to steal is the one with Charlotte. I could see them losing to the Pistons. 

Either way, the Knicks have a huge uphill battle ahead of them. New York does not have another game until Friday, while the Hawks have 3 games during that span (Pacers, Pistons, Celtics). On Friday, the Knicks will play the Raptors and the Hawks will play the Nets. So in the next week, we will find out whether the Hawks can help us out and keep the Knicks alive. 

-Tommy Rothman

Postgame Reaction: Knicks 89, Wizards 90

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The New York Knicks Knicks lost a nail-biter to the Washington Wizards on Friday night at the Garden, coming up short in the final seconds and suffering a 90-89 defeat. 

J.R. Smith had an amazing game for the Knicks, scoring 32 points and hitting eight three-pointers. However, his off-balance, contested shot in the final seconds was off the mark. 

Amar’e Stoudemire got off to a slow start for New York, but turned it around after halftime and finished with 16 points.

Raymond Felton struggled for most of the night, but did dish out 7 assists and pull down 5 rebounds. Raymond also hit a huge three to put the Knicks ahead in the final minute. 

Pablo Prigioni and Iman Shumpert both looked very solid on both ends of the floor. Pablo had 7 assists and Iman had 3 steals.

Carmelo Anthony was horrible in this game. Melo finished with 10 points on 5-14 shooting, and turned the ball over 9 times. He was also unable to hold on to the ball on his drive to the rim in the final seconds, and as a result, JR Smith was forced to take a ridiculously difficult shot (which he almost made, of course). Melo appeared to be hurt throughout the game, and after the game Anthony said that there were times where he couldn’t use his arm. Melo was diagnosed with a strained right shoulder, and plans to play through it in Miami on Sunday. The Knicks have to hope that this injury doesn’t take a huge hit on Melo’s level of play going forward, but Anthony was very disappointing tonight, and perhaps Woodson should have called a play for Smith, rather than, as Felton spilled to reporters after the game, simply telling the Knicks to “give the ball to Melo”. Anthony did have 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals, so there are some positives, but overall, it was a very poor game for the Knicks’ superstar.

The Hawks won tonight, so they have a 1 game lead (really a 2 game lead, because they have the tiebreaker) over the Knicks for the final playoff spot. The Knicks have a chance to make the playoffs, but it is a long shot. New York has lost several games that they should have won, and now they need to hope that Atlanta will return the favor in the final 2 weeks of the season. And at the end of the day, the Knicks will probably need to steal a win or two against teams most people don’t think they can beat. 

Tough loss, but it’s not over yet. Let’s see what happens.

-Tommy Rothman

Postgame Recap: Knicks 110, Nets 81

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The Knicks (33-43) crushed the Nets (40-34) on Wednesday night at The Garden, beating their crosstown rivals 110-81.

J.R. Smith was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points. Smith, who has been red-hot lately, also grabbed 8 rebounds and dished out 6 assists. Carmelo Anthony was right behind Smith with 23 points of his own to go with 10 rebounds, 3 assists, a pair of steals, and a highlight block. Tim Hardaway Junior also filled it up, finishing with 17 points and knocking down 3 shots from downtown. Iman Shumpert had one of his best games of the season, scoring 10 points, racking up 5 steals, locking down Brooklyn’s key players, and making several highlight plays. 

None of the Knicks-Nets games this season have been close. The Knicks won by 30, then lost by 23, then won by 29. But hey, any time we can see the Knicks win without having panic attacks in the 4th quarter, we’ll take it. 

The Knicks really needed this game, and they got it. With the Hawks losing to the Bulls, the Knicks and Hawks are now tied in the standings. The Knicks have one more win and one more loss, which gives them a better winning percentage and technically gives them possession of the 8th seed for now. However, each team will have played 82 games by the end of the season, and if they are still tied then, Atlanta wins the tiebreaker. The Knicks need to win the 8th spot outright. New York has 6 games left and Atlanta has 8. The Knicks currently have 1 more win than the Hawks and they need to finish with 1 more win than the Hawks. 

The Knicks will have a day off before hosting the Washington Wizards on Friday. The keys to that game will be containing John Wall and Washington’s 3-point shooting. The Knicks have some momentum, now they need to stay focused.

 

I will be doing pre-game and post-game articles for every remaining game, so be sure to check the site regularly!

-Tommy Rothman