Knicks go down with style in loss to San Antonio (98-106)

The Knicks might not win another game this season but they can still be competitive even against the top teams in the league.

With Carmelo Anthony sitting to a little knee injury, coach Jeff Hornacek went in full rotation mode, giving all of the players at least 3 minutes of playtime except Sasha Vujacic.

Willy Hernangomez getting the start, led the Knicks with a career-high 24 points and 13 rebounds while Derrick Rose scored the same amount of points.

The Spanish rookie has made this season a strong statement and from what it looks like, it’s getting more clear by the game that he might get the starting position next season.

“He’s getting better and better every game. The experience against this team with LaMarcus [Aldridge], [Dewayne] Dedmon, Pau [Gasol], those are long, long guys. You see how smart a player he is. He didn’t try to jump over the guys and challenge them — he shot his little floaters over them.” ^[Source]

The Knicks, who trailed by 20 points in the third quarter, almost nullified Spurs’ lead after cutting it to 3 points early in the fourth quarter.

San Antonio however would win it 106-98 due to a strong game by the Kawhi Leonard (29 points) – LaMarcus Aldridge (19 points & 10 rebounds) duo.

Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored 19 points while shooting 8-12 from the field and Kristaps Porzingis finished with 12 points.

With the Sixers winning in Chicago on Friday night, the Knicks fell on 13th place in the Eastern Conference and share the same record as Orlando.

New York has a chance to finish with the 4th worse NBA record if they are committed to tanking, and finish behind Orlando or Sacramento which could gain them plenty of ping pong balls for a good draft pick.

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Knicks center Joakim Noah was suspended for 20 games for banned substance. The suspension applies for the 10 games remained this season and the first 10 games of the 2017-18 season.