On Monday, the New York Knicks played an LA Lakers team that had won two NBA championships in the past two years, and were crushed, mainly because of the Knick's size down low. But because of the early success of the Knicks and a past decade where winning was a rare occasion, we as fans tend to forget that this is the first year of a Knicks team that was just put together this past summer, and feel like we are 'owed a winner now'(I'm talking about myself right now, but if anyone wants to admit feeling the same, please step forward). So our expectations are high for this team, but of course we should all expect there to be "growing pains", lessons to be learned from mistakes made, adjustments and so forth.
So last night when the Knicks played the Portland Trailblazers at the Rose Garden, I noticed that Ronny Turiaf had finally received meaningful playing time at the center position in addition to starting the game. I then realized that Mike D'antoni is also still learning how to effectively coach this team, and he is growing as an NBA coach. I commend him for making the adjustment to the line up in order to match-up against the large front-court of the Trailblazers that features LaMarcus Aldridge who scored 19 points and 10 rebounds, Nicolas Batum who had 13 points and 4 rebounds, and Marcus Camby who only scored one point but did what he does best and thats grab 16 rebounds and blocked 6 shots.
Now, who ever said Knicks center Turiaf is only good for 20-25 minutes a game? Well, Don Nelson was the one to place that tag on Turiaf, who last night looked as good as when he was played for Gonzaga. In 37 minutes, Turiaf scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, blocked some shots, gave some assists, and shot 8-9 from the field! Turiaf's propensity to score should not come as a surprise because he was the main low post presence when he played for the Zag's in college. Raymond Felton also had a double-double, scoring 17 points and dishing out 14 dimes. Amar'e Stoudermire had 23 points while grabbing 8 boards. Wilson Chandler who scored 17 points had the highlight of the game with a dunk off an alley-oop during a fast break in the 4th quarter.
Honorable Mentions: Bill Walker was a good spark off the bench scoring 10 points on 4-9 shooting and did the little things like forced a couple of defections, in addition to his 2 steals and 4 rebounds, all in 16 minutes.
New York
| Starters | Pos | Min | FG | 3Pt | FT | +/- | Off | Reb | Ast | TO | Stl | BS | BA | PF | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L. Fields(notes) | G | 40:57 | 4-6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | +4 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| R. Felton(notes) | G | 39:51 | 7-16 | 2-5 | 1-2 | +15 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| R. Turiaf(notes) | C | 37:36 | 8-9 | 0-0 | 3-3 | +17 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 19 |
| A. Stoudemire(notes) | F | 36:23 | 9-23 | 0-0 | 5-8 | +15 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 23 |
| W. Chandler(notes) | F | 35:00 | 7-14 | 1-1 | 2-2 | +7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 17 |
| Bench | Min | FG | 3Pt | FT | +/- | Off | Reb | Ast | TO | Stl | BS | BA | PF | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 42-84 | 5-12 | 11-15 | 9 | 40 | 27 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 21 | 100 | ||
| Percentages | .500 | .417 | .733 | Team Rebounds: 12 | ||||||||||
| T. Douglas(notes) | 18:05 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | +7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| B. Walker(notes) | 16:53 | 4-9 | 2-4 | 0-0 | +5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| S. Williams(notes) | 15:15 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| K. Azubuike(notes) | DNP - Inactive | |||||||||||||
| E. Curry(notes) | DNP - Inactive | |||||||||||||
| D. Gallinari(notes) | DNP - Inactive | |||||||||||||
| R. Mason(notes) | DNP - Coach's Decision | |||||||||||||
| T. Mozgov(notes) | DNP - Coach's Decision | |||||||||||||
| A. Randolph(notes) | DNP - Dnd-flu-like Symptoms | |||||||||||||
| A. Rautins(notes) | DNP - Coach's Decision | |||||||||||||
Portland
Portland
| Starters | Pos | Min | FG | 3Pt | FT | +/- | Off | Reb | Ast | TO | Stl | BS | BA | PF | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Miller(notes) | G | 33:07 | 7-11 | 0-0 | 0-0 | -13 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| W. Matthews(notes) | G | 31:15 | 2-13 | 0-2 | 6-7 | +1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| M. Camby(notes) | C | 36:13 | 0-6 | 0-0 | 1-2 | -12 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| N. Batum(notes) | F | 41:05 | 5-13 | 1-4 | 2-2 | -21 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| L. Aldridge(notes) | F | 28:58 | 8-18 | 0-1 | 3-4 | -14 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 19 |
| Bench | Min | FG | 3Pt | FT | +/- | Off | Reb | Ast | TO | Stl | BS | BA | PF | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 29-83 | 4-18 | 24-28 | 14 | 43 | 8 | 14 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 14 | 86 | ||
| Percentages | .349 | .222 | .857 | Team Rebounds: 9 | ||||||||||
| R. Fernandez(notes) | 30:49 | 4-10 | 3-7 | 7-7 | -7 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
| D. Cunningham(notes) | 17:36 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 2-2 | -3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| P. Mills(notes) | 14:53 | 3-9 | 0-4 | 3-4 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| J. Przybilla(notes) | 6:04 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| L. Babbitt(notes) | DNP - Coach's Decision | |||||||||||||
| A. Johnson(notes) | DNP - Coach's Decision | |||||||||||||
| S. Marks(notes) | DNP - Coach's Decision | |||||||||||||
| G. Oden(notes) | DNP - Inactive | |||||||||||||
| B. Roy(notes) | DNP - Inactive | |||||||||||||
| E. Williams(notes) | DNP - Inactive | |||||||||||||
- +/-:
- Team net points while player in game
- TO:
- Turnovers
- PF:
- Personal Fouls
- BS:
- Blocked Shots
- BA:
- Blocks Against
Game Info
- Technical Fouls:
- New York - A. Stoudemire 1
- Arena:
- Rose Garden, Portland, OR
- Attendance:
- 20,604
- Officials:
- Dan Crawford, Matt Boland, Brian Forte
- Duration:
- 2:10
No comments:
Post a Comment