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Derrick Williams Exploded in the Fourth Quarter to Snap Knicks Losing Streak

By William Lee

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27. 96. 64. Final. 108

Tuesday night the New York Knicks took on Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons.

Recently the first tally for the 2016 NBA All-Star voting were released on Christmas day, and both Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis trailed Drummond. As it stands Drummond will be a starter in the All-Star game with the third most votes for any Eastern Conference frontcourt player with 148,278 votes.

Detroit’s offense relies heavily on the pick-and-roll play of Reggie Jackson and Drummond. New York was well aware of this, with heavy emphasis on containing the big man. Robin Lopez made sure of that early on, really outplaying Drummond in the first half. In fact, Lopez was throwing Drummond a block party, rejecting his shots left and right! Along with Kristaps Porzingis, the two played a modern day “twin towers” Tuesday night.

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Lopez was magnificent in the first half, scoring 8 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and rejecting 4 shots. Lopez really showed why the Knicks signed him this summer, anchoring the defense and shutting down the best opposing big man. Drummond, who is having an All-Star year; averaging 18.3 points and a league-leading 16.3 rebounds – only finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Drummond went only 5/15 from the field getting blocked five times, most of which came one-on-one against Lopez.

Lopez finished the game one block shy of tying his career high with 6 blocks. Although, he was not the only big man playing spectacular Tuesday night. Kyle O’Quinn went berserk off the bench, scoring 10 points in four minutes!

O’Quinn’s play really kept the Knicks in a tightly contested game.

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While New York were able to contain Drummond all night, the same could not be said for his fellow frontline teammates… The Knicks allowed Ersan Ilyasova and Marcus Morris to go off. Ilyasova finished the game with 19 points, doing most of his damage from the outside. Ilyasova connected on three three-pointers, and it was Porzingis who was the culprit for leaving him open most of the time. Morris finished the game with 17 points.

The game was close throughout the first-three quarters of play. Enter Derrick Williams.

Williams was a huge spark off the bench, breaking open a tight game with a couple of momentum changing dunks. First one, was a massive two-hand jam along the baseline.

Then a minute later, Williams threw down a reverse dunk worthy of an All-Star Slam Dunk Contest!

Williams said that dunk surprised even himself.

"“I didn’t see the rim — surprised myself on that one.”"

Williams scored 16 of his 18 points in the final period, helping the Knicks finally put a stop to their four game losing streak. New York went on to easily win the game 108-96 thanks to Williams fourth quarter explosion.

Because of William’s outstanding play Tuesday night, rookie Porzingis was left on the bench. Head coach Derek Fisher chose to ride the hot-hand, and it worked. Porzingis played only 18 minutes, finishing the game with ten points and a couple of blocks.

Carmelo Anthony continues to knock down milestones, passing Hal Greer for 32nd All-time career points Tuesday night. Anthony was consistent all night, finishing the game with 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.

All in all, the win over the Pistons is something the Knicks can build on. It is the way you want to win games, with Lopez anchoring the defense, and the bench contributing big so that Anthony does not need to do too much.

Next: NBA Trade Rumors: Available Guards Knicks Must Pursue

New York will look to build on the victory in a rematch with the Chicago Bulls on New Year night. Too bad the Bulls won’t be tired and beatdown coming off a quadruple overtime game like last time…

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