The New York Knicks went up against the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night (Feb. 17), giving the team a chance to extend a seven game winning streak. Everything went wrong though, as the Knicks couldn’t find offense outside of Jeremy Lin and Amare Stoudemire, eventually losing to one of the worst teams in the NBA. Every team has an off night, and the new-look Knicks certainly proved that against the Hornets.
Playing in front of the Madison Square Garden crowd, this game should have served as a nice warm-up for better teams coming up on the schedule. Instead, the team came out very slow, managing just 13 points in the first quarter and quickly falling behind by 14 points. The Knicks would cut into that lead and trail by just four points heading into the half, but the Hornets pushed it back to double-digits in the third quarter. From there it was a struggle just to keep the game close and the Knicks eventually lost 89-85.
Every one of the starters for the Hornets finished with at least 12 points and Trevor Ariza scored 25 of them. He was a thorn in the side of the Knicks defense all night and went 4-for-7 from three-point range as well. On the other end of the court, Stoudemire and Lin both finished with 26 points on the night, but the rest of the abridged rotation couldn’t get going on offense. Other than the duo, the Knicks went 11-for-36 and finished with just 33 points total.
Despite Lin and Stoudemire playing great, the Knicks just didn’t have enough firepower without Carmelo Anthony on the floor as well. Getting Anthony back should give the team a huge boost and allow for Lin and Stoudemire to have less pressure to score with the game on the line. The recently signed J.R. Smith should also help a lot, giving the team an outside shooter and someone who can play really well in the transition game.
Sometimes losses like this just happen and it isn’t something to get too bogged down with in the scheme of things. It’s just one game and as long as the Knicks don’t have a repeat performance in the coming weeks, the team should have no trouble making it into the 2012 Eastern Conference Playoffs.
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Sources:
NBA Standings
Full Knicks Schedule
New York Knicks Website
*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.