Game Thread: New York Knicks vs Phoenix Suns 7:30 11/3/2017 [Game #8]

NEW YORK -- Just when the New York Knicks thought their defense was in order, the Houston Rockets and James Harden rained 3-pointers all over Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Now the Knicks play host to the suddenly scorching Phoenix Suns on Friday night.

The Suns (4-4) are 4-1 since Jay Triano replaced Earl Watson on Oct. 23. They swept a back-to-back in Brooklyn and Washington by scoring 122 points in both contests and getting big nights from TJ Warren.

Warren scored 20 points Tuesday in Brooklyn and followed it up with a career-high 40 points Wednesday when the Suns rallied from a 22-point deficit.

Phoenix is averaging 113 points under Triano, which might be bad news for the Knicks, whose lethargy was questioned by coach Jeff Hornacek in a 119-97 loss to the Rockets on Wednesday night. The defeat snapped New York's three-game winning streak.

"It seemed like they were a little tired," Hornacek said after Wednesday's game. "We didn't have the same energy that we had in some of the other games. Maybe it was one of those nights."

It was one of those nights for Kristaps Porzingis, who followed up a career-high 38-point showing Monday against Denver by finishing with 19 points against Houston. Porzingis did not practice Thursday due to an illness, and he is questionable for Friday.

With Warren emerging into Phoenix's No. 2 scoring option -- and sometimes No. 1 -- to Devin Booker, the Knicks will have to account for more than one offensive threat on Friday. Warren is averaging nearly 25 points over his past four games.

"It's just me being aggressive, taking the shots I know I can take," Warren said. "(Wednesday) happened to be one of those nights where everything was just falling. My teammates did a nice job of finding me in the right spots, and me just cutting for layups was me being myself, being TJ."

Booker, meanwhile, is averaging nearly 30 points in his past three and 22.1 points for the season.

Like the Suns, the Knicks also seem to be developing a potent 1-2 punch.

While Porzingis is turning into one of the premier post options in the league, Tim Hardaway Jr. took a positive step in the past few games, including scoring a team-high 23 points against Rockets. Two games earlier, he had a 34-point outburst in a 19-point win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

If Porzingis plays, he will look to rebound -- both figuratively and literally -- against a team lacking a significant post presence aside from former Knick Tyson Chandler.

Porzingis produced his second-worst scoring output of the season as the Rockets switched on his pick-and-rolls and stymied him.


"We were missing something offensively," he said after the game. "We just need to make shots."

Phoenix won both meetings last season by two points. The Knicks swept the season series two years ago with double-digit victories.

(cbssports.com via STATS)

Thank you very much for the game thread, Rady.

Not sure if you can fix it, but thread title says Houston instead of Phoenix.

Gosh what a blunder, fixed it!

Thanks for the great game thread Rady. I see KP might not play tonight which will definitely increase the odds the Knicks lose if he doesn't play. I've seen 2 Suns game this year one was a loss to LA and then a win against SAC. They didn't play any defense against the Lakers both teams scored 70 pts at the half and against SAC they led by double digits most of the way but held on to beat the Kings 115-113. They can score the ball and while they're not a defensive team, they're a little better with Triano as the coach and playing Chriss and Mike James as the starters. It'll take a super defensive effort to beat them tonight, why not start our defensive wunderkind Frank to see if he can hold down Booker.

Suns are 4-1 since "I Don't Want To Be Here" gate. They are very unpredictable team now and we have to keep a close eye on most of their rotation. T.J. Warren is no slouch himself

KP playing and impacts the game right away blocking Chandler and changing Chriss shot at the rim.

KP 3-3 all within 15 ft of the rim. Just shooting over guys.

Booker has 8 pts. I want to see Frank cover him.

Kanter needs to be in our future plans. He is a beast on the offensive glass and his chemistry with KP is already very good. Imagine how good it will be by the end of the season?

Big-Ups Rady for another great Friday night Game-Thread .. KP suited up tonight to challenge Tyson n Warren at the start of the game .. KP making sure this is not another Rox game

Kanter nearly goes out of bounds to snare an offensive RB and whips it out to Tim who hits a 3. Then Kanter feeds KP for a 2 handed slam off another OR.

TJ Warren gets decked driving into Kanter, no foul on Kanter and Kanter gets a dunk on the other end. TJ head hit Kanters chin sending both guys to the locker room. Warren probably won't be back with possible concussion and Kanter has a cut chin.

Great 1st quarter for us on both ends of the court. We lead 32 - 19. I want to see some killer instinct from our guys tonight. Put the foot down on the throat early and emphatically.

32-19 Knicks 1st qtr. Knicks shooting 58%, KP Kanter and Timmy having nice games.

The first quarter look like Suns will be taking another Loss back to Phoenix .. Someone tell THJ to wait till the 2nd half to shoot all them 3's .. five 3-ball shots in the first quarter .. com'on .. every body wanna be Curry!

The Suns are looking like a JV team. Other than Booker who is really playing for them. We shot 58%. That?s telling. Looks like frank will get big mins tonight
Kanter perfect quarter of basketball

Frank's defense makes me smile :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Nice strong take by Frank .. keep it up! Dont care if it was a miss ..
You can see him getting more confident with every game ..

Kanter dunks the ball and then CLee steals their inbound and gets another layup, this is looking like a blowout.

dougie-fresh with the reverse jam!

Fact that suns haven’t even scored 40 pts tells me they’re JV