By Kenneth Teape (@teapester725)
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Portland Trail Blazers vs. New York Knicks
Post Game Recap
The Knicks suffered yet another tough home loss Wednesday night, falling to the Blazers 94-90. Execution for both teams was sloppy throughout the night but the Blazers were able to get it together a little more than the Knicks when it counted. During pre-game Wally Szczerbiak said it was going to be a game of shot takers and whoever was more of the makers would come out on top. That is exactly what happened as the Blazers made eight three pointers compared to four for the Knicks, a 12 point difference that ultimately proved to be the difference. What makes it worse is the Blazers were clearly not on top of their game but the Knicks were still unable to take advantage. There is no use for morale victories for this Knicks team, but hopefully they can take some of the positives from the game tonight and put them towards their next game Friday night against the Denver Nuggets at Madison Square Garden.
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| Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports |
Player of the Game: Knicks Bench
The Knicks bench was outstanding tonight and is as responsible as anyone for the Knicks being in the game tonight. Jeremy Tyler, Amar’e Stoudemire, Tim Hardaway Jr. and J.R. Smith all gave the Knicks a spark and played well tonight. In only 11 minutes Tyler was extremely active, getting second possessions for the Knicks on the offensive end and playing with intensity. Stoudemire was on fire offensively, scoring 15 points in his 22 minutes and backing up his talk after practice Tuesday about warranting more playing time. He also grabbed seven rebounds. Hardaway Jr. and Smith were not knocking down their perimeter shots efficiently but they were able to score 12 and 18 points respectively and help in other areas; Hardaway Jr. grabbed five rebounds and Smith had three rebounds and six assists when given the chance to run the offense. They outscored the Blazers bench 50-20 on the night.
Matchup of the Game Recap:
Shockingly Damian Lillard did not go off on Raymond Felton like expected. Lillard, like his Blazers teammates and virtually everyone else in the game, struggled from the field going 4-12. Felton wasn’t much better going 2-6. They even had similar other stats, as Lillard had five rebounds and four assists while Felton had four rebounds and three assists. The big difference was the playing time, as Lillard was on the court in crunch time leading his team while Felton was stapled to the bench, not appearing in the fourth quarter. Lillard played 38 minutes while Felton garnered only 23.
-Positives
