Game Thread: New York Knicks vs New Orleans Pelicans 3:30 1/14/2018 [Game #43]

rady

Administrator
Staff member

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(21-20) -- (19-23)

VenueTVTIME
Madison Square Garden, New York, NYMSG3:30 PM EST


Probable starters:


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Injury Report

New Orleans PelicansNew York Knicks
Alexis Ajinca - Right knee injury (OUT)No injuries to report
Tony Allen - Left fibula racture (OUT)-
Solomon Hill - Left hamstring tear (OUT)-
Frank Jackson - Right foot fracture (OUT)-
Charles Cooke - G League Transfer-




Game Preview

NEW YORK -- The high-scoring New Orleans Pelicans head to Madison Square Garden on Sunday to play slumping New York, some two weeks after the Knicks shut down everyone but the Pelicans' Big 2 in a 105-103 victory at New Orleans.

Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins -- the league's most dominant down-low duo -- combined for 60 points and 28 rebounds in the Dec. 30 game.

But it was Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks' talented young post-and-perimeter threat, who ruled the game during crunch time. Porzingis had seven straight points down the stretch for the Knicks, who evened their record at 18-18 with the win.

The Knicks are 1-5 since, including two overtime losses and Friday's 118-108 setback at Minnesota.

"We didn't play well," Porzingis said after the loss to the Timberwolves. "There's a lot of things that come into that. They forced us to turn the ball over. It just wasn't a good (fourth) quarter for us. They're playing home. They turned it up. We didn't really respond."

While New York has been uneven almost throughout the season, with tremendous peaks and valleys, the Pelicans have been remarkably consistent, albeit mediocre.

New Orleans (21-20) has been within three games either way of .500 throughout the season, and the Pelicans are 3-4 since winning three straight for the third time this season in mid-to-late-December.

The problem for New Orleans, much like the Knicks: Aside from the terrifying tandem of Davis and Cousins, the Pelicans have had trouble identifying a third primary scorer as only guard Jrue Holiday (18.1 points per game) averages more than 13 points for New Orleans.

That has led to some lackadaisical efforts, including Wednesday's 105-102 loss at Memphis, which prompted coach Alvin Gentry to scold his team.

"Find some urgency," he said. "Start the games with urgency, finding more seriousness to our approach."

Like the Pelicans, the Knicks have struggled to find a reliable No. 2 for Porzingis, but the return of second-leading scorer Tim Hardaway Jr. goes a long way to address that issue. Hardaway missed 20 games with a lower left leg stress injury but returned Friday with 16 points in 25 minutes.

"Yeah he looked good -- you can tell he wasn't up to his speed," Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. "That's going to take a little while. His speed even at this (stage) is faster than a lot of our guys. His speed will pick up and ability to drive to the basket. Maybe he's not ready to make that two-set drive from the top of the key."

Hardaway's return could spark a New York offense that ranks 21st in the NBA in scoring, and Porzingis in particular.

When Hardaway was sidelined in early December, Porzingis was averaging better than 27 points for the eason. In the month of January, without Hardaway, he's scored 19 points per game.
(espn.com)
 

rady

Administrator
Staff member
(Thanks tiger for covering the previous game thread, i was out and by the time i got back home the game was already over. Really appreciate it!!)
 
Thanks for the great game thread, Rady.

Hornacek is too afraid to shake things up. He has options on the bench who are not getting minutes and he could play with the rotation in a few different ways to try to save this season, but I don?t think he will do it. Oh well. Let?s go Knicks!
 

tiger0330

Legend
(Thanks tiger for covering the previous game thread, i was out and by the time i got back home the game was already over. Really appreciate it!!)
NP Rady. I said you deserved a day off. Thanks for taking the time from you Sunday to do this one.
 
Home game against Pelicans followed by 4 straight road games against teams with bad records (Brooklyn, Memphis, Utah, Lakers). If Hornacek can?t lead us to at least 3 wins in these next 5, it is time for Hornacek to go and for us to get in the tank as Mafra and Broadway have preached.

I?m not ready to give up on this season just yet until I see how these next 5 games play out.
 
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Pregame comments from Hornacek say that Trey Burke is good in basically all facets of being an effective PG. No plans for him to play today though.
 

rady

Administrator
Staff member
Kanter with the dagger over Cousins!!!


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Pelicans defense is non-existent, ours is only slightly better. We lead 15 to 11 less than 6 minutes into the game.
 
On one play Lance Thomas is stopping Rondo, a little later in the quarter he is stopping Anthony Davis. Even if his advanced metrics are supposed to be poor, his defense is legit. Offense is still putrid.
 
Ntilkina looks like an NBA PG when he plays the 2 man game with O?Quinn. The rest of the time he looks like an off the ball guard who needs to work on his jump shot.
 
AD drains a 3 at the buzzer. Knicks lead 9 at the half. Hornacek needs to be a real coach in the 2nd half and use his rotations to prevent us blowing this lead.
 

tiger0330

Legend
Thanks for your great play by play htr10. Watching football hate to say great playoff game. 57-48 Knicks, Jack not going to give up that starting PG spot as the leading scorer but Knits job is wide open. Trey better than he is for sure so does Horn give him first PG off the bench or continue to give Nits minutes just to develop him?
 

tiger0330

Legend
Ntilkina looks like an NBA PG when he plays the 2 man game with O’Quinn. The rest of the time he looks like an off the ball guard who needs to work on his jump shot.
Everyone says nice things about the kid but what has he really shown, that 2 man game with Quinn I'd say every backup PG in the NBA is capable of that. I want to see plays like what they showed Dunn just do which he does routinely, make a steal and turn it into a dunk on the other end. Turn D into points. He's on a little honeymoon now but will it last if hes playing like this at the end of the season.
 
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