Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Houston Rockets 8:00 pm 12/31/2016 [Game#33]

rady

Administrator
Staff member

header.jpg


NYK.gif
AT.png
HOU.gif

(16-16) -- (25-9)

VenueTVTIME
Toyota Center, Houston, TXMSG8:00 PM EST


Possible starters:


2546.png
2772.png


204001.png
201583.png


201149.png
2403.png


201584.png
201976.png


201565.png
201935.png


Injury Report

New York KnicksHouston Rockets
Courtney Lee - Sore right wrist (QUEST)Clint Capela - Left fibula fracture (OUT)
Maurice Ndour - Sprained right ankle (OUT)Chinanu Onaku - D League assignment (OUT)
--


Game Preview

HOUSTON -- With madness breaking out all around them in the second quarter on Friday night, the Houston Rockets did what they have done throughout this runaway month of December, particularly at Toyota Center: They steadied the ship and kept on rolling offensively.

The Rockets (25-9) improved to 14-2 this month and 8-1 at home with a 140-116 victory over the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers, racking up a season-high point total while dismantling the Clippers in the paint (56 points), at the line (36 of 43 free throws) and from behind the 3-point arc (14 treys).

Houston is blistering opponents at home this month, averaging 121.9 points with a 17.8 point differential. The Rockets are shooting 49 percent from the floor, including 38.1 percent on 3-pointers, at Toyota Center in December while also hitting 77.1 percent from the line on 27.2 free throw attempts per game.

Their offense has been exceptional since guard Patrick Beverley returned from an 11-game injury hiatus, but the string of home performances this month has been otherworldly, so much so that coach Mike D'Antoni could nitpick at the scoring barrage that unfolded Friday night.

"We did score 140 points and I don't think we shot that well," D'Antoni said. "So it was OK."

Houston will host the New York Knicks (16-16) on New Year's Eve, marking the Rockets' first back-to-back home games since Feb. 19-20, 2012. The Rockets will host another back-to-back at Toyota Center later this season when the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls pay visits on Feb. 2-3.

The Rockets received a surprising boost from second-year forward Montrezl Harrell, who continues to masquerade as an undersized center with starter Clint Capela sidelined with a broken left leg. Harrell had a career-high 29 points off the bench, including 13 in the fourth quarter. His previous best was 17.

"When you've got guys on the floor who shoot the ball at a high clip the way we shoot, it makes my job easier," said Harrell, who finished 10 of 14 from the floor. "(Defenders) don't want to pull off that corner 3 or that slot 3 so they stay hugged up and that makes my job easier."

The Knicks fell to 0-2 on their three-game road trip and dropped to 5-11 away from Madison Square Garden with their 104-92 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. They played a second consecutive game without guard Courtney Lee (sore right wrist) and are seeking defensive answers at the wrong time.

New York fell at home to Houston 118-99 on Nov. 2. The Knicks have yet to make the most of center Joakim Noah and his defensive reputation and without Lee, their top perimeter defender, will arrive in Houston vulnerable against a team that is rolling in every way imaginable on the offensive end.

The Knicks have lost six of eight games overall.

"It's the defensive side of the ball. If we stop people, it will be a lot easier to score," Knicks guard Derrick Rose said. "I'm tired of being down 10 quick. When you play that type of game, it affects you offensively.

"It's a lot of elements: effort, once again communication, trusting."

(cbssports.com)

 

tiger0330

Legend
Thanks for the game thread Rady. Always felt these New Years Eve games were stupid because most are out for the evening and won't watch a game but its a Rockets tradition and its our turn in the barrel to play them.

Knicks fans and Rockets fans think its going to be a Houston blowout and I think it will be if Horn starts that Noah/Sasha lineup, if it was me I would change up and start KP at C and Melo at PF to counter 2 guys in Nene and Ryno who I think they would have an advantage over. Maybe a hot BJ shows up and is looking for redemption after missing a wide open layup with no one within 10 feet of him last night, start him at the 2 or anyone else but Sasha.
 
Last edited:

and1

Rotation player
nice thread once again.
i hate to be a negative here, but i'm curious about something. just assuming that the knicks are going to lose this game (personally i still think they're capable of beating the rockets, but just for the sake of argument)... what would upset you guys more?
a.) getting blown out and embarrassed by 20 or more points? or...
b.) actually making it a competitive game and losing by only 1-3 points
which one would upset you more? because me personally, if they lose by just 1-3 points tonight i might lose my mind. i know it sounds silly and maybe even a little crazy, but if that's how they go out i'll be so upset that they didn't win the last 2 games. i don't know, that's the way my brain works sometimes :)
 

rickjv3

Rookie
Rather have them lose close than a blowout. Too many games they just seem to be going through the motions.
Happy New Year to all.
 
Last edited:

RunningJumper

Super Moderator
Kuzminskas finally gets minutes again and look what happens. I don't know why he didn't get them the previous three games.
 

mafra

Legend
Just another typical NBA game.... refs decide who wins the game. I think HOU has attempted 12 FTs so far in the 4th.... harden has been awarded 17 FTs.
 

tiger0330

Legend
Just another typical NBA game.... refs decide who wins the game. I think HOU has attempted 12 FTs so far in the 4th.... harden has been awarded 17 FTs.
What did you think about the Rivers ejection yesterday. Horrble call by a ref I've never seen. The NBA better rescind that call on him or there's no justice.

Harden draws fouls against everyone but no mention of that awesome game he had 53/17/16 in a back to back. I think he had a triple double in yesterday's game also.

Knicks made it a game I see w/o KP and Melo for most of the game. Jennings had his best game as a Knick but the dude sucked last night and is streaky as hell so you can't give him CLee's job on a permanent basis and while the second unit guys made it competitive I doubt the Knicks can win with them on a permanent basis.

We need KP and Melo back healthy otherwise we might be looking at a repeat of last year when the Knicks went into that tailspin in Jan. The boys made it close but a loss is a loss and we go into the new year under .500 and barely clinging to the 8th seed. Still need to make some changes, bringing up Randle is the first change, if he can make a couple of 3s a night and play credible D I think it will help. I'd start looking to do trades as well for LT.
 

mafra

Legend
There's no way 1 player should attempt as many FTs as the other team.... if touch fouls are called on Gs, then you call them for bigs.... Again, the way they officiate and cater to Gs is why ratings are plummeting....

NYK were 21-21 last year thru the halfway mark.... doesn't look like this year will be much better.... methinks NYK should be sellers and try to move away from Melo. Lottery pick this year and next, trading Rose, BJ and whoever is only way we can build something sustainable around KP.
 

rickjv3

Rookie
There's no way 1 player should attempt as many FTs as the other team.... if touch fouls are called on Gs, then you call them for bigs.... Again, the way they officiate and cater to Gs is why ratings are plummeting....

NYK were 21-21 last year thru the halfway mark.... doesn't look like this year will be much better.... methinks NYK should be sellers and try to move away from Melo. Lottery pick this year and next, trading Rose, BJ and whoever is only way we can build something sustainable around KP.

I think your right. We are not going far with this group, best to reset and build around KP and the future.
 

mafra

Legend
So glad to hear Hornachek state it clearly (instead of gushing over Harden's insane stat line)....

Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek rained on Harden’s parade and was riled up during the action at calls Harden got in initiating contact.
“He grabs with his left arm, has the ball in the right hand and wraps his left arm around your hand and pulls up to grab the ball,’’ Hornacek said. “To me, that’s an offensive foul. He does it fast, quick and it’s hard to see.’’

(good to hear such honesty.... it's a disgrace the way refs call games for these mega-star guards. They initiate contact and get Free Throws but bigs get hacked in the paint and there's hardly a whistle).

Then Melo added:

Said Anthony, “As an opponent, I don’t admire it. As a fan, you admire it. We as offensive guys we try to find tricks that can work in our favor. He found something that’s working, but as an opponent I hate it."

(Too bad Melo doesn't get these calls at MSG.... he's more
likely to get called for the OFF foul).
 

mafra

Legend
The above bit was the NY Post take.... here's the NY Daily nees piexe:

Still, the Knicks weren’t totally bowing down to Harden’s historic night. Jeff Hornacek was on the referees for allowing Harden to bait calls by grabbing the defender’s arms while shooting. Thrice Harden was fouled while taking a 3-pointer, and afterward Hornacek outlined Harden’s underhanded tricks.
“What he does, he grabs with his left arm,” the coach said. “He has the ball in his right hand and he wraps his left arm around your hand and pulls up to grab the ball. There’s a couple guys in the league that do the same move. To me, that’s an offensive foul. You can’t grab another guy’s arm. But he does it fast and quick and it’s hard to see. But he gets the calls. He’s a great player.”


“When your hand gets in there, they shoot it,” Holiday said. “It’s a thing (the Rockets) do. It’s something we talked about before, but sometimes it’s not as easy as you think to keep your hand out of there when you’re trying to get over a pick and things like that.
“When your hand gets in the cookie jar, pow.”
 

tiger0330

Legend
Harden is a magnet for drawing fouls in every game not just against the Knicks, DRose could learn something about how to draw fouls like him as much as he takes it into the lane.

Sour grapes if anyone doesn't admire that performance last night.Those 17 assists and 16rbs had nothing to do with the refs, I'll see the game tonight but if it's like most Harden games he got his teammates alley oops and layups off his drives to the basket. The guy hit 9 3s and was over 50% from there so take away his 16 made FTs and he still scored 37 pts with phenomenal shooting on the perimeter and in the paint (I assume his other 10 pts were not mid-range shots).

He also had a triple double the night before like 30/13/10 and did this in a back to back. I would kill to have Harden here instead of Melo who doesn't shoot the 3 that well, plays mostly iso bball, I can't remember when he ever got 10 assists. I'd trade DRose and Melo for Harden that's how good I think he is.
 

paris401

Starter
I could only watch the 1st half and thought the way the rockets were moving going into 1/2time, it was goin to be a blowout- it appears by the final score the knicks made a game of it... but against 'No-D'antoni, u gotta score a bucketful of points to win... on an ordinary nite scoring 122points u come out a winner 9out of 10times...
 

tiger0330

Legend
I could only watch the 1st half and thought the way the rockets were moving going into 1/2time, it was goin to be a blowout- it appears by the final score the knicks made a game of it... but against 'No-D'antoni, u gotta score a bucketful of points to win... on an ordinary nite scoring 122points u come out a winner 9out of 10times...
Thats true but you're talking about a team that D'ants said when they scored 140 pts against the Clips "I don't think we shot the ball all that well tonight" . I wonder how many pts they would have scored if Deandre Jordan wasn't playing.
 
Last edited:

jimkcchief88

All Star
To be honest, I love James Harden. His offensive game is so beautiful to watch...I think he's MVP over Steph, Durant, LJ because Harden has so little help you should be able to focus on him and shut him down and teams can't seem to do it. And the stepdaddy jumper man whoooo...Happy New Year everybody:)
 

tiger0330

Legend
To be honest, I love James Harden. His offensive game is so beautiful to watch...I think he's MVP over Steph, Durant, LJ because Harden has so little help you should be able to focus on him and shut him down and teams can't seem to do it. And the stepdaddy jumper man whoooo...Happy New Year everybody:)
Happy New Year to you Chief. I hope the Knicks and Bulls are better in the new year than 2016, the computers predicted 9 and 10 seeds and both teams falling out of the playoffs despite the re-make of both teams and we're not to far away from that.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Harden is a magnet for drawing fouls in every game not just against the Knicks, DRose could learn something about how to draw fouls like him as much as he takes it into the lane.

Sour grapes if anyone doesn't admire that performance last night.Those 17 assists and 16rbs had nothing to do with the refs, I'll see the game tonight but if it's like most Harden games he got his teammates alley oops and layups off his drives to the basket. The guy hit 9 3s and was over 50% from there so take away his 16 made FTs and he still scored 37 pts with phenomenal shooting on the perimeter and in the paint (I assume his other 10 pts were not mid-range shots).

He also had a triple double the night before like 30/13/10 and did this in a back to back. I would kill to have Harden here instead of Melo who doesn't shoot the 3 that well, plays mostly iso bball, I can't remember when he ever got 10 assists. I'd trade DRose and Melo for Harden that's how good I think he is.


Happy New Rady .. Big ups on the final 2016 GameThread .. KO Forum lives-on!
Great points Tiger .. I still believe the NBA robbed the young OKC Thunders Franchise Big-3 Durant/Harden/Westbrook of 2 trips to the Finals in 2010 series vs Lakers, then 2011 series vs Dallas.
Harden has such a tricky dribble it enable him to get as close as he want up on opponents who dont keep their hands raised high to get tangle up in Harden move to catch a foul. Coach Horn screaming at the ref bout Harden tricky move when he should have called a time-out to tell players defending Harden to just keep your hands high n feet flat when Harden is 15 ft from basket.

Wow! 53 points, 16 rebounds, 17 assists .. Harden's stat last nite vs coach Jeff Horn weak-weak defensive system. I was happy KP sat out n slow running Melo received 19 minute playing-time .. I got pissed when coach Horn took a red hot scoring Kuz out of a uptempo scoring game, plus limited Kuz to only 16 minute of playing-time when Kuz were ready to have a 25 pt game .. this 4th consecutive loss adds up to Horn being a LOSER coach with Rambis (3 wrong coach selection Phil).
And our best all-around bench contributor big-man K'Quinn has been inside coach Jeff Horn Dog-House throughout this 4 game LOSER streak.

We will only become a winning team when coach Horn start adding a bench lineup to his rotation (Jennings/Holiday/Kuz/Willy/K'Quinn), this would help get the Starter-lineup committed to team-offense and team-defense instead of isolation-ball and man to man defense to be a starter lineup capable to outscore opponent for 10 straight minutes.
Hint: Sasha would have played better in the starter lineup if he been getting playing-time off the bench 30 games ago .. Didnt Sasha get DNP for 25 straight games this season?
 
Top