It was a good game. The team was sluggish and lacked energy in the first half... but they didn?t beat themselves with unforced errors, so they remained in the game despite being dominated on the boards, losing the shooting % battle, and not getting the brakes with the 50/50 plays.
Knits lit the spark in the third quarter, and the team finally played well after the half.
Kanter and THjr were easily 2/3 best players on the floor tonight (either team). Knox was impactful and clutch and played well.
NYK got nothing offensively from the bench (other than Knox). Burke was off, but he made a sweet play setting up Kanter to tie the game with 17 seconds.
Now, this brings me to what most the game, obviously, the Lavert bucket with 1 secon left... why isn?t Knitiklina guarding Lavert?
Hey, Fizdale, it?s not hard to predict so let?s call upon Knits!
You had to know the Nets were going ISO to Lavert.... you claim to posses a potential first team all defensive player.... deploy your weapon accordingly. Put Frank on Lavert... Use your stopper.
Instead, Knits is taking out of the play, bc the Nets wisely force him to stay on a guy to defend the corner 3. Timmy should?ve been in Doowiddy, standing in the corner. Frank should?ve been on Lavert!
In 10 days, the Knicks (1-1) and Nets (1-1) meet again, at Madison Square Garden. Until then, Hardaway may still be thinking about LeVert?s shot that slipped by his outstretched left hand.
?I feel like I could have defended it a lot better. That?s all I can say,? Hardaway Jr. said. ?He?s been going right the whole entire game, so I just need to know that.?
?Got to know that he?s going right. Got to know that,? Hardaway said of his former teammate. ?It falls on me. Just being around him all this time, I should know that.?
?I thought (Hardaway) did a good job,? Knicks coach David Fizdale said. ?I thought Caris LeVert made a tough shot. Tim slid his feet. We even had help come over from the weak side. He hit a tough spinner off the glass. The kid is a big-time talent. He really had a good game.?
For the Knicks (1-1), it ruined the chance to go 2-0 for just the third time in the last 20 years. It also marred strong performances from Enes Kanter (29 points, 10 rebounds) and Kevin Knox (17 points, six rebounds).
Hardaway added 29 points but also took 25 shots.