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Ahhh, that was annoying. New York's starters dug themselves a hole in the first quarter, running okay offense but shooting dismally and exposing the rim at the other end. The team spent the next 2 hours getting juuuuuust close enough to get the Garden hyped without ever really seizing the game. As is often the case when "playing catch-up," weak legs and unfortunate rolls kept things from breaking the Knicks' way. A few Vines to tell the tale:
(First of all, don't even bother watching any of this. Just watch Kristaps hammer put-back dunks and feel pleased.)
The Knicks' offense really looked fine to me to start the game. Melo cut a lot of passes through the zone defense, but shooters (Calderon and Vujacic!) couldn't score off them. Things worked better when he got Robin Lopez the ball right at the rim a couple times:
But you just can't go around missing shots when you're letting Giannis Antetokounmpo get all the way to the rim over and over again:
Here's a Kristaps palette cleanser for u:
Just like other games, the key to New York's run was forcing turnovers and scoring on the break. When the Knicks are in that mode, Jerian Grant tends to be involved:
Also nice: Melo choosing to bully a decent defender off his first step and actually succeeding a couple times:
But in the end, the Knicks' stupid little boners piled up:
... and John Henson kinda worked Kristaps down the stretch:
(Porzingis was in there at the end. Jerian hopped in and out. Jose stayed benched for Langston Galloway.)
I don't know about "should" right now, but the Knicks could have won that game. Lotta silliness prevented that from happening. I hope they win some games soon!