Friday night the New York Knicks got out to a quick start, leading 8-2 minutes into the game, but the momentum quickly shifted.
With New York’s non-existent defense, the Los Angeles Clippers mounted a comeback furiously and held as much as a 9 point lead in the first quarter after going on a 12-0 midway through the opening period.
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The Knicks played absolutely no defense, as the Clippers shot over 50% after the first half. Chris Paul literally did whatever he wanted… scoring 17 of his game-high 24 points by the half. Paul went 7-for-8 from the field, and handed out 7 assists in the first half!
New York faced a 61-50 deficit by intermission. The only reason the Knicks were even still in the game was because of Carmelo Anthony and Robin Lopez. Both scored 16 points a piece after two quarters of play. Offensive rebounding really kept the Knicks from getting completely blown out Friday night, with Lopez grabbing 5 of New York’s 8 first half offensive rebounds, leading to 14 first half second chance points.
FINALLY in the third quarter the Knicks started to play some defense, causing the Clippers to shot 31.6% from the field and turning the ball over four times in the period. Although, the turnovers were more of Los Angeles just being careless with the basketball.
Kristaps Porzingis broke out of his slump Friday night, scoring a dozen of his total 23 points in the third quarter, including an amazing drive for an acrobatic reverse layup. It was especially nice to see Porzingis’ aggressiveness after having a foul-plagued first half.
New York outscored Los Angeles 24-15 in the third quarter and only trailed by one possession heading into the final period; 76-74.
The Knicks played the Clippers tight throughout the fourth quarter, but in the closing minutes New York got screwed by the officials. On two occasions the referee swallowed their whistle and did not call blatant fouls on Los Angeles as Porzingis attacked the rim. He got held down both times… and missed his dunk/layup attempt. SERIOUSLY… Porzingis got no respect from the referees Friday night.
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This was compounded by mental errors on New York’s end as well, as Lopez foolishly offensive goaltended Melo’s shot, which would have cut the deficit to one-point… A minute later, Porzingis made a 21-footer with his foot on the three point line. If Porzingis had scored a three instead,it would had cut the deficit down to one possession; instead it was 96-92 with just under two minutes remaining in the game. All in all, it was a bad sequence of events for the Knicks the last couple of minutes…
Another bucket for @kporzee and the #Knicks trail 96-92 with 1:06 to play on @MSGNetworks.#NYKvsLAC pic.twitter.com/qt6v4zJoYi
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 12, 2016
The Clippers went on to win 101-94. It was nice that the Knicks played a competitive game Friday night, but honestly it felt like Los Angeles was never truly threatened because whenever they needed a basket, they got it…
It was good to see Porzingis break out of his slump. But even more exciting to see Robin Lopez dominate the glass, grabbing a career-high 19 rebounds! Lopez also scored 20 points to collect his 11th double-double of the season.
New York Knicks
One major criticism of Kurt Rambis‘ coaching Friday night was the fact that he didn’t deploy the “hack-a-Shaq” more… With 1:08 left in the first half, Lopez intentionally fouled DeAndre Jordan, sending him to the charity-stripe. Surprisingly, Jordan actually converted both free-throws.
After that… the Knicks did not continue with the strategy… Consequently, New York bumped J.J. Redick as he was going over a screen on the next possession, sending a 88.6% career free-throw shooter to the line… instead of just following through with hacking Jordan… Then to top it all off… Jordan did an alley-opp dunk on the Knicks to end the first half… WHY NOT JUST FOLLOW THROUGH with “hack-a-Jordan”… It felt like a missed opportunity with New York down double-figures.
Next: Why the Knicks DO NOT Need Dwight Howard!
Would’ve. Could’ve. Should’ve. It doesn’t matter now. Let’s just hope for better results against the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday night.