Knicks find no answer to Davis, fall to Pelicans 104-92

The Knicks were unable to stop NOLA’s star, Anthony Davis as he scored 23 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in Pelican’s 104-92 win.

After being ejected against the Hawks, Carmelo Anthony scored 26 and added 13 rebounds but couldn’t cut the Knicks losing streak as New York drops to 16-16 before the last game of the year. Anthony shot 8-22 and insisted in playing isolation ball causing a lot of frustration in the offense rhythm.

A photo posted by New York Knicks 🏀 (@nyknicks) on Dec 30, 2016 at 6:34pm PST

Kristaps Porzingis also logged a double-double with  21 buckets and 12 boards but went blank from the three-point lane.

“I need to get better at being more effective once I have that advantage in the post, whether it’s scoring or trying to be aggressive by taking healthy shots.”

– Kristaps Porzingis

The Knicks were behind for the better part of the game, with an exception late in the second quarter, when after a 11-0 run they went up by 3, but couldn’t hold on to it. The Pelicans would build a 15 point lead in the 4th quarter and in the five minutes that remained, New York made no threats.

Joakim Noah went scoreless and collected just 6 rebounds after one of his most productive games of the season. He was limited to 16 minutes for getting in foul trouble and was unable to stop Davis.

Derrick Rose, who dropped 20 points was visible irritated by the lack of defense displayed against the Pelicans, and reiterated the idea that it’s the cause that affects the offense.

“Offense? I don’t even want to talk about offense. If we stop people, it will be a lot easier for us to score. I’m tired of being down 10 after the quarter. It comes down to defense. I don’t know when we’re going to get tired of it.”

– Derrick Rose

Sasha Vujacic got another start due to Courtney Lee‘s injury. He played 22 minutes, scored 3 points, grabbed 2 rebounds and delivered 2 assists. Later in the fourth quarter, he was inexplicably awarded with a technical after confronting Terrence Jones for hitting him in the face. Jones pushed him and the referees called a double technical foul.

The Knicks become a .500 team again and stand little chances to finish the year with a positive record as they will visit Mike D’Antoni’s reinvented Houston Rockets tonight.