Westchester Knicks: Observations From Five-Game Road Trip
The Westchester Knicks concluded their last major road trip of the 2016-17 season. Who stepped up, where were the games played, and what transpired?
The Westchester Knicks concluded their final major road trip of the 2016-17 season. Westchester struggled during their five-game road trip, as they went 0-5. Along with that, the injury bug struck the team.
Travis Trice, Jaylen Bond, Von Wafer, and Courtney Fells missed part of the five-game stretch due to injury.
The Knicks are currently 16-26 and mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. While the results aren’t what the team expected, there were several positive notes from their five-game road trip.
The biggest highlight from the Westchester Knicks’ road trip was the play of John Jenkins. Not only did he total 31 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field against the Canton Charge, but he outdid that performance against the Long Island Nets.
The Vanderbilt product posted 40 points, four rebounds, and two assists on 15-of-30 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from 3-point range.
The 40-point performance by Jenkins tied Doron Lamb’s record for the most points in a single game by a Westchester Knick.
Jenkins was scoring in many fashions. He drained 50 percent of his 3-pointers. He had chemistry going with Damien Inglis, who dished him two fine inside passes.
Keith Wright played some of his best basketball of the season during their road trip. Wright had done a little bit of everything. On the scoring side, he scored in double figures in all five games. To put that in perspective, Wright scored in double figures five times in the previous 14 games.
The Harvard product has played a big role for the team on the offensive side.
To go along with his scoring, he handled the glass well during the road trip. He averaged 9.0 rebounds per game and recorded two of his six double-doubles during the five-game stretch. Wright had one of his best games of the season against the Long Island Nets.
In their final game of their road trip, Wright posted 16 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
With Travis Trice returning to the Westchester Knicks, Kevin Capers was moved to the bench. When Trice suffered an ankle sprain, however, Capers rejoined the starting line-up and had a stretch of solid performances.
In the final three games of the road trip, Capers averaged 13.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 3.3 steals per game on 38.0 percent shooting from the field.
Not only has Capers been getting it done on the offensive side, but he’s been effective on the defensive end, as well. In back-to-back games against the Maine Red Claws, he recorded at least three steals, along with a career-high four steals against the Long Island Nets.
The Florida Southern product has greatly benefited in his second season in Westchester.
Despite missing the final two games of the road trip, Courtney Fells was a bright spot for Westchester. Fells was efficient in many ways.
In three games, the Westchester guard averaged 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.0 block per game on 55.8 percent shooting from the field and 40.0 percent from beyond the arc.
Despite the strugglez the Westchester Knicks went through during the five-game road trip, Jenkins believes the team grew through the adversity.
“I think we grew just because we went through adversity,” John Jenkins said following Westchester’s win over the Long Island Nets. “I think we could have done one of two things: back down or push forward and keep going with it. I think we choose the latter. We choose to bounce back and just go hard for these last seven games. It’s very important that we just give it all we have cause everybody’s going to be playing basketball after this. We want to make sure that we will be able to put good tape out there for the team and for ourselves.”
Must Read: Westchester Knicks Rewind: Reliving Doron Lamb’s 40-Point Performance
Despite struggling during their road trip, several players had some great performances during that five-game stretch. John Jenkins put up an impressive performance that will stand in Westchester Knicks history. Keith Wright played some of his best basketball during that stretch.
For the second-year guard, Kevin Capers displayed his effectiveness on both ends of the court. Despite suffering a knee concussion, Courtney Fells showcased his ability as a shooter.