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| USA TODAY Sports |
By Kenneth Teape (@teapester725)
Friday, March 29th, 2013
Post Game Recap
Final Score: Charlotte Bobcats: 102 New
York Knicks: 111
The Knicks continued their winning
streak by beating the Bobcats Friday night.
It was almost a carbon copy of the last game the Knicks played Wednesday
night against the Memphis Grizzlies, as they opened up a huge 30 point lead
going into halftime to only allow the Bobcats to claw their way back in the
second half, again cutting the Knicks lead to single digits in the fourth
quarter. The win put the Knicks win
streak at seven games, the first time they have had a winning streak this long
since Linsanity last February. The win
also put the Knicks 3 ½ games ahead of the Nets for first place in the Atlantic
Division as the Nets fell in Denver.
-Positives
- Who would
have thought that J.R. Smith would be the poster boy for efficient play on
the Knicks? Smith continued his
torrid pace against the Bobcats Friday night by pouring in a season high
37 points on a super efficient 12 of 18 from the field. Smith has cut back on the three pointers
recently and it has showed in his stats as he has become much more
efficient scoring the ball. Smith
became the first bench player since Ricky Pierce in 1990 to score 30+
points in three straight games, also extending his streak of games in
which he shot 50 percent or better in to six. This is the best basketball Smith has
played in his career and as long as he keeps playing like this the Knicks
will be extremely tough to beat.
- Raymond Felton
had a strong game against the Bobcats, his third in a row of shooting 50
percent or better from the field. As
long as Felton and Smith are playing efficiently on the offensive end the
Knicks will be tough to beat as they are more than making up for the lack
of efficient scoring with Amar’e Stoudemire sidelined. Against the Bobcats Felton scored 18
points on seven of 11 shooting from the field, grabbing three rebounds,
handing out two assists and getting three steals. Felton provided some good defense on
Kemba Walker as well, slowing down the explosive second year player for a
majority of the night.
- The Knicks
offense as a whole clicked against the Bobcats; exactly what you would
expect when playing against an inferior opponent. The Knicks shot the ball well from
everywhere on the court, shooting 49.4 percent from the field, 47.4 from
the three point line and 86.7 from the foul line. The most impressive stat of all of those
were the free throws, as the Knicks got to the line for 30 free throw
attempts, knocking down 26 of them.
That is way above their season averages of 16.5 makes on 21.7
attempts per game.
-Negatives
- Carmelo
Anthony got his points again, scoring 32 on the night, but it was struggle
to reach that plateau. Anthony
struggled from the field, going 11 of 28 and reached the 32 points because
of being aggressive and getting to the foul line for 10 free throw attempts,
knocking down nine. This is the
third game in a row that Anthony has struggled from the field, going 29 of
78 from the field over that span of games and an even uglier three of 13
from the three point line. Anthony
is still finding ways to score as he is dominating the offensive glass,
getting seven against the Bobcats, resulting in high amounts of free throw
attempts. It would go a long way
for the Knicks if Anthony could step up the efficiency and not be as much
of a high volume scorer.
- For the
second consecutive game the Knicks allowed a team back into the game after
having a commanding lead. It was
too similar to the game Wednesday night against the Grizzlies, as the
Knicks held a 30 point lead and watched it disappear throughout the second
half to the point the opposition comes within single digits. That is unacceptable to let up that much
in a half of a game and is something the Knicks need to change. They will not make it deep into the
playoffs as they are hoping if they cannot sustain the energy and effort
needed to win games throughout all four quarters.
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