Knicks Cool Off After Hot First Quarter, Losing Streak Extended to 7 Games

New York Knicks basketball resumed against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night after a week off for the All-Star break.

The Knicks did not look rusty from the layoff at all to start the game, converting on nearly 60% of their field goals to score 32 points in the opening period.

Carmelo Anthony looked refreshed despite participating in his ninth All-Star game, scoring 11 points on 5/6 shooting to lead the Knicks in the first quarter. Unfortunately the hot-shooting did not continue throughout the game, going 3/10 from the field the rest of the game. Anthony finished the game with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.

New York held Brooklyn to 38.5% in the first period, thanks in large part to Kristaps Porzingis. The 7’3″ Latvian was throwing the Nets a block party in their own house, rejecting three shots in the first quarter alone.

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The Knicks built up a nine-point lead, unfortunately the bench could not hold onto it… The second unit was extremely sloppy with the basketball in the second quarter, turning the ball over four times within the first-four minutes of the period. The turnover helped ignite the Nets’ fast breaks, highlighted by a thunderous Thomas Robinson one-handed alley-opp dunk…

Brooklyn outscored New York 27-20 in the second quarter, almost completely erasing any advantage the Knicks had by halftime. The Nets forced eight turnovers (a lot of lazy passes…) in the second quarter! And Brooklyn took full advantage of it, led by Brook Lopez – who scored 13 of his 33 total points in the second quarter.

After halftime, it was all Nets… all the time, as the Knicks were held to one field goal in a six minutes stretch in the middle of the period. In that time Brooklyn went on a 20-2 run, to take a 74-61 lead with 4:42 remaining in the third quarter. Donald Sloan went  nuts in that stretch, scoring half of the points in the Nets’ run. Sloan finished the game with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists.

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The Knicks got within one possession early in the fourth quarter with a nice 12-2 run stemming from the end of the third quarter, but ultimately fall short. New York just could not overcome the 17 point deficit, losing steam when they just got within reaching distance.

A Lopez dunk started off a 16-2 Brooklyn run just as the Knicks got close, giving the Nets a 102-85 lead with 5:38 remaining in the game. This run effectively put the game on ice, as Brooklyn went on to win 109-98.

After the Knicks’ hot-shooting from the first quarter, the Nets really turned up the pressure defensively. New York shot just 38.3% from the field after the opening quarter… The Nets stole the ball 14 times from the Knicks, forcing a total of 16 turnovers in the game Friday night. Brooklyn is not known for their defense… normally averaging just 7.3 steals per game, as per NBA.com.

The Knicks’ starters had a decent game, everyone was in double figures scoring with the exception of Jose Calderon. Porzingis finished the game with 18 points and 8 rebounds, while Arron Afflalo finished the game with 17 points.

Robin Lopez finished the game with 10 points and 7 rebounds but got CHEWED UP by his twin brother! Brook Lopez led a balanced Brooklyn attack, with six players in double-digits scoring Friday night!

Next: New York Knicks: Keys to Making the 2016 NBA Playoffs

New York will look to redeem themselves against the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday night. Let’s see if they can finally put an end to their losing streak…