Harden, Rockets end Knicks winning streak at three (119-97)
After three straight consistent wins, the Knicks’ hype was shut down last night by Mike D’Antoni’s Rockets.
New York had a good start and took a 15-23 lead in the first quarter but couldn’t keep the momentum going as the game advanced.
James Harden scored 31, and dished 9 assists while Ryan Anderson dropped 21 for the Rockets to beat the Knicks 119-97.
Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Knicks with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and Kristaps Porzingis ended the game scoring 19.
“They were just trying to be physical like all of the teams… Something was missing offensively, just making shots really. We tried to play hard. A lot of it’s also mentally it’s hard when those guys are knocking all those threes in…I think maybe that drained us a little mentally.”
– Kristaps Porzingis
The Rockets shot 52 times from behind the arch and connected 57 points while the Knicks took with 50% less shots than their opponents and only 8 went in.
Willy Hernangomez spent 17 minutes on the floor and scored 6 points while rookie Frank Ntilikina, although shot just 1-7 to finish with just a couple, contributed with 8 assists and 5 steals.
The Knicks played 3 games in four nights and the fatigue pushed Jeff Hornacek to play the entire bench.
Damyean Dotson helped his team with 9 points, shooting 4-5 in 17 minutes.