Knicks vs. Cavs - 3/8/14 - Emergency 4th Quarter Game Thread

Strong first half more or less erased by terrible 3rd quarter. Trying to close it out here in the 4th with the Cavs fighting us hard. Presumably Lebron still watching (in Cleveland for Zydrunas Ilgauskas night), unless he bailed at some point after halftime. Stat having a beautiful game by his current standards, 17 points with 11 boards and 3 blocks early in the 4th quarter, as well as 4 or 5 assists I think. This is a pivotal game in whether or not we can continue to talk as if we are still in the race for the 8th playoff spot (in my mind). We need to close this one out. Let's go Knicks!

Wow, incredible first 4 and a half minutes in the 4th quarter to get the lead back to 10. Stat comes out, not sure why, but hopefully he comes back in a few minutes given how well he is playing. Never want to see JR on the court in the 4th, even if he is playing well. Let's go Knicks!

In honor of Cleveland retiring Ilgauskas' number, I was going to share some favorite Ilgauskas memories, but as it turns out, I don't seem to have any. He was one of the better second tier big men in the league for a while, played a lot of years with Lebron (both in Cleveland and then in Miami), was a good player on both ends of the court, and he is one of those rare big men to come back after prolonged crippling foot problems. That's all I got.

With only 5 minutes to go, we have the lead as high as 11, but can't count out Irving going berserk against us in this final 5 minutes. We need to tighten up on D.

Ugh, why did Chandler try to tip that missed three instead of just grabbing it and re-starting the offense. He had no one even near him. We continue to make stupid mental mistakes all season long from even our most seasoned veterans. Now we're in the penalty with 3 and a half minutes, giving them a chance to slowly trim down this lead. Not loving this setup with the ghosts of Lebron and Ilgauskas looming tonight.

Not sure if it's just the competition, but another nice night for Chandler with 11 and 11 so far. Why did it take so long for us to get it together like this? I guess there's a million answers to that question.

Lead is now 13 with only a minute and a half to go. I think Cavs on the verge of throwing in the towel at this point. Just need to close this one out and keep rolling. Three in a row, here we go. Playoffs might not happen, but this is still a battle to save face (and also, in the pathetic EC, our playoff dreams continue to linger).

Knicks @ Cavs

Great road win tonight, and best of all....no choke in 4th

Knicks pull within 4 games of the Hawks with 18 to play. If the Hawks lose to the Clippers later tonight, the lead will drop to 3 and a half with 18 to play. We have no business being in the race for the 8th seed, but we're in it, so we might as well have some reason to keep watching the last month or so of the season. If we had this kind of effort and execution for the last month, our position in the playoffs would have been a certainty, instead of a luxury at this point. Let's go Knicks!

htr10 said:

Not sure if it's just the competition, but another nice night for Chandler with 11 and 11 so far. Why did it take so long for us to get it together like this? I guess there's a million answers to that question.

Click to expand...

I think every analyst, coach and player has said the Knicks are better than their record. Just the law of averages catching up for the Knicks, no sense in tanking without a draft pick and I'm hoping the Knicks show some pride and get that last playoff spot and not have to give Denver a lottery pick.

I think Woody starting Stat is a big factor in the win streak. He's a consistent scorer and those extra points he gives us allow us to win the close games.

Not gonna lie I gave up on playoff hopes after that OT loss to the Magic but if we can somehow get that 8th seed i'll be ecstatic

Funny thing is if we can somehow manage to back our way in, we could be a tough out vs Miami or Indy. And I hate both those squads so bring them on. A streaking Knicks team would be the 8th seed no one would want to see.

And rep points for htr10 for keeping hope alive and rooting for our boys instead o just coming here to dump on Melo on chief