Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Sacramento Kings 10:30 pm 12/09/2016 [Game#23]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Carmelo Anthony does not want to see the positive vibes surrounding the New York Knicks disappear because of one bad night against the defending champions.

The memories about too many bad nights in the past turning into several consecutive ones remain too fresh for the 14-year veteran, now in his sixth full season with the Knicks.

"Weve got to put this behind us," he told reporters in video shown on Knicks.com after New York braced for a five-game road trip with a 126-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. "We just want to chalk it up as a bad night, put it behind us, and get ready for this road trip."

The road trip comes just as the Knicks are winning for the first time in years. New York opens its longest sojourn of the season when they face the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at the Golden 1 Center. The trip is entirely against Western Conference teams, against whom New York has won six of nine, one of them a 106-98 home victory against Sacramento on Sunday.

In that one, Anthony and guard Derrick Rose scored 20 points and Brandon Jennings 19 for the Knicks, part of a 9-4 stretch that has propelled them to their best 22-game start (12-10) since the 2012-13 campaign. In this one, theyll try to put away the stench of a game they never were in after a 20-4 Cleveland run put the Knicks behind 34-17 in the first quarter

"Well learn from this," Anthony said. "We dont want to let this linger around when we have the opportunity to go on the road and do something good."

New York faces only one team with a winning mark on the trip. The Golden State Warriors (19-3) are two-time defending Western Conference champions, but the other four opponents entered Thursday with a combined mark of 32-57. New York has played only one other road game against the Western Conference, a 106-104 victory at Minnesota on Nov. 30.

Rose didnt play against the Cavaliers because of back spasms, but the New York Daily News reported that an MRI exam did not reveal any serious injury. Rose played in New Yorks first 21 games, averaging 16.7 points and 4.8 assists in 32 minutes per contest.

The Kings (8-13) could use a boost, period, after a very uneven first quarter of the season. Back-to-back victories could provide it, and the Kings are coming off a 120-89 blowout of the Dallas Mavericks that finished off a 2-3 road trip that included a cancellation of a scheduled game in Philadelphia.

Sacramento has strung together consecutive victories only twice this season.

"Were competitive," first-year Kings coach Dave Joerger told the Sacramento Bee. "The spirits good, the chemistry is good, different guys have been in and weve had a chance to look at different guys in the rotation, and well continued to do that going forward."

Center DeMarcus Cousins averaged 32.2 points and 13.2 rebounds during the trip, He is averaging 28.8 and 10.6 for the season, ranking third and 10th in the NBA through Wednesdays games.

(cbssports.com)

Derrick Rose will miss this one too because of the back spasms
http://nypost.com/2016/12/09/derrick-rose-out-again-as-knicks-star-struggles-with-back-spasms/

nice thread!
so far the knicks are 4-1 in the first 5 games of the 10 game stretch i was hoping they'd end with a 7-3 record. let's see if they can make it 5-1 tonight. they have not been good on the road this season, but the teams they're playing during this trip can help them turn that around and improve their road record. hopefully sasha is ready to knock down some shots and play some D as backup PG if hornacek decides to go that way.
let's get it!

Knicks win 103-100. Good win to start the road trip.

Only saw the last couple of minutes. Noah closed out the game and made 2 critical FTs. It wasn't easy for Noah with both his FTs hitting the rim and falling in. Knicks didn't score a basket in the final minutes but Jennings and Melo hit 4 FTs along with the Kings missing shots sealed the game for the Knicks.

On to LA to take on the Lakers. Let's hope DRose is back.

Ugly win but still impressive.... we kept making plays and getting stops.... they earned this one. Remember, this was the 3rd game in 4 days and they travelled across country. A sign of a decent playoff team is you consistently beat the teams you should beat.

Carmelo was outstanding (except for going cold in the 4th)... KP and BJ struggled mightily on offense but still grounded it out and made plays. Kuz and Thomas and Holliday and KOQ and NOAh supported Melo and KP.

A good win. Lakers will be tough.... 4th game in 6 days. Hope they don't party too much Sat night and come out with the same energy and determination they had tonight to get the win.

its not easy beating teams twice in a few days (like they did against minny and SAC)....

this team
needs to find a way tknget wins in LA and PHO and this trip will be successful.

mafra said:

A good win. Lakers will be tough.... 4th game in 6 days. Hope they don't party too much Sat night and come out with the same energy and determination they had tonight to get the win.

Click to expand...

We're gonna face a Lakers team that has won only 2 games in the last 10 and they're going through some injuries right now with 3 of their guards . D'Angello Russell hasn't played since Nov 20 and has only returned to practice on Thursday while Young is not eyeing a return for Sunday's game. Calderon is also going to miss up to a month.
Rose should be back in the lineup which means we should get two more wins before the Warriors game

Thanks for the nice Game Thread Rady .. This were a tough win. It was hard to watch at times because we were shooting ourselves in the foot with sloppy play on offense with our point guards/guards and also our same defensive mistakes repeating. KP was missing everything in the first half.
But great to get the win and be tied for the fourth best record in the East. I am surprised we are right there with Boston right now tied for 4th best record in the East. Keep it up.

Melo was Melo. Plenty of talk about Phil Jackson comments but we saw immediately Phil's magic in the press. Melo came out with a reason and purpose. I was even counting to see if he was holding on to the ball long and he was quick and decisive especially in the first half. In the second half he and Jennings began to ball hog a bit and I did not like that I thought we slowed down and became predictable.
Jennings is like no other player. One moment you love him next you yell at his decision making. Overall though he's been a fantastic signing for the Knicks. We definitely miss Rose in these last 2 games. Sasha at the point need more playing time at the point to be effective, he's a SG. We got to get Rose back asap, the missing piece of having a combo-guard Galloway or Grant are showing. The Kings DNP Affallo inconsistent lazy performance in this game lol.

KP had two different halves. First was awful. In the second half he played decent, he made some good shots and on defense he made some big plays. In what I'd call a pretty ordinary game he finished with 17 points and 10 boards a double-double in 35 minutes.

Noah with HUGE free throws. Say what you want about Noah, his competitive fire is a joy to watch. He clearly lifts this team up with that fire.
Good win. Hornachek continues to be a question mark coach. He's using Lance Thomas in the rotation again, I hope its just for the under .500 opponents. I would rather develop Willy/Kuz/NDour in the rotation and let Lance sit till midseason.
We need to get the teams that are not doing well in this road stretch. Kings were actually one of the better teams. Lakers are injured and not playing well. Denver isn't playing great either. Hopefully we can get a few more wins on this trip.

Melo deserved the game ball for a great game, not only his shooting but his D and playmaking as well. He was clutch at the FT line only missing his last 2 when it didn't matter. Have to give credit to others for making key clutch plays like Lance and Holiday for making key 3s and Noah for making 2 FTs after Joerger hack a shaqed him.

Still have to credit the Kings esp Gay and Cuz for missing shots throughout the game esp at the end. Lakers Russell may play his first game coming back from injury so it may be a tougher game since the Lakers are about 10 pts better with him running the point than Clarkson.