New York Knicks vs. Los Angeles Clippers: Postgame grades following 4th loss in a row
By Matt Shetler
The shorthanded New York Knicks fell victim to their fourth consecutive loss Sunday afternoon, thanks to a 93-80 loss to Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers.
To say that this five-game west coast trip, which concludes Monday night in Utah, has been brutal would be an understatement.
Playing without Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire the Knicks lineup is a joke right now and couldn’t hang with a talented Clippers team. With J.R. Smith the main scoring option, naturally the Knicks shot only 35.8 percent from the floor as a team. New York made only 29 shots from the floor, but 12 of them came from behind the arc.
March 17, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New York Knicks point guard Raymond Felton (2) shoots a basket against the defense of Los Angeles Clippers power forward Lamar Odom (7) during the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Unfortunately they allowed the Clippers to shoot 45.8 percent for the game, which along with getting outrebounded 51-39 proved to be their downfall.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how each Knicks player graded out during another awful loss.
Raymond Felton (16 points, 7-of-15 shooting, 9 assists, 3 rebounds)
Felton’s line is decent, but he was a non-factor for most of the game. He started very slow and built his stats up when it was far too late. Defensively he struggled once again, although to his credit it was against Chris Paul, but the trend continues where the Knicks don’t get anything valuable from their point guard. Felton logged 41 minutes and the Knicks didn’t get enough out of him. Grade: C-
Iman Shumpert (5 points, 2-of-6 shooting, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal)
It was another frustrating day for Shump as he played only 17 minutes and had very little impact on the game. It would have been nice to see him on Paul during crunch time, but Mike Woodson continues to show little faith in the second-year guard in crunch time. Grade: C-
Chris Copeland (13 points, 5-of-11 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists)
Cope drilled three of his four attempts from downtown and shot 45 percent from the field, finishing with 13 points. He got 26 minutes in his third consecutive start and played well at the offensive end of the floor, but continues to be brutal defensively. He’s part of the reason the Knicks got crushed on the glass as it almost seems illogical that a 6’8″ forward can’t rebound. Add that in with the bad fouls he continues to make and you see the holes in his game. But his offense is worth having him on the floor with the Knicks so shorthanded. Grade C+
Kurt Thomas (2 points, 1-of-5 shooting, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal)
Thomas scored only two points in his 16 minutes but did a decent job on the Clippers bigs, even though it looked like he tweaked something in his leg in the second half. Grade: B-
Kenyon Martin (4 points, 2-of-6 shooting, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block)
Because of the injuries, K-Mart is playing way too many minutes as he logged 28 more on Sunday. He struggled offensively, but he is there to play defense and rebound, where he was decent against the Clippers as the combination of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan combined for only 20 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Grade: B-
Steve Novak (9 points, 3-of-3 shooting, 2 rebounds, 1 steal)
Novak managed to get three triples to fall and was the only Knick to log a positive plus-minus, at plus-nine. Grade: B
March 17, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul (3) controls the ball against the defense of New York Knicks point guard Jason Kidd (5) during the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Marcus Camby (1 point, 0-of-6 shooting, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal)
The 38-year-old didn’t bring much to the table on a day he was needed to help out with the Clippers size. He failed to make a field goal and finished with one point, four boards and no blocks in 22 minutes. Grade: D
Jason Kidd (11 points, 4-of-7 shooting, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals)
Kidd made some shots for a change, including 3-of-5 attempts from three-point range. But when Kidd finishes with only one assist in 25 minutes, which means he hasn’t been very effective. Grade: C
Pablo Prigioni (2 points, 1-of-2 shooting, 1 assist, 1 rebound)
Prigioni continues to fall out of Woodson’s rotation as he didn’t get into the game until the second half, but he and Kidd played pretty well together. Grade: C
J.R. Smith (17 points, 4-of-20 shooting, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal)
Smith had a team-high 17 points, but don’t let that fool you into thinking he played well as the Knicks sixth man did not. He was a miserable 4-for-20 from the floor, which included making only 1-of-7 shots from behind the arc. He also was lousy defensively when he drew the assignment of guarding Paul. With the Knicks as banged up as they are, Smith is the primary scoring option and that’s bad news for the Knicks as he tries to do too much when the Knicks are healthy. When they are injured he tries to do even more. A performance like this at both ends of the floor is simply unacceptable. Grade: F
Tyson Chandler: DNP (strained neck)
James White: DNP (coach’s decision)
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