Derek Fisher’s New York Knicks came out of the All-Star break a different team than how they entered the NBA’s week-long midseason pause. But unfortunately for Fish and his squad, the results didn’t change as their roster did.
Though most of the Knicks were able to use the break to regroup, the New York front office was plenty busy. The Knicks reached a buyout agreement with forward Amar’e Stoudemire, who was released and has since signed with the Dallas Mavericks. Point guard Pablo Prigioni was sent to the Houston Rockets in exchange for two draft picks and guard Alexey Shved.
Most notably, New York’s lone All-Star, Carmelo Anthony had surgery on the partial tear of the patellar tendon in his left knee, and has been ruled out for the season.
Without the trio of veterans, including New York’s two biggest stars, the Knicks suffered two more losses over the weekend at Madison Square Garden, a 111-87 loss to the Miami Heat on Friday night and a 101-83 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a Sunday matinee. Afterward, Coach Fisher noted that while his team is striving improve, doing so is a challenge they must work hard to overcome.
“I think our guys are trying and giving effort, but it’s a hard game,” Derek said. “We’ve been through a lot, it’s been a tough year. We’re coming out of the break without our best player, without Amar’e Stoudemire, without Pablo Prigioni—so it’s going to take some adjustment to that. We’ll keep working.”
TOO MUCH HEAT
New York’s first challenge out of the break, with Anthony officially shelved for the season came in the form of the defending Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat.
While the Knicks suffered an emotional blow at the break, in the loss of their star player, the Heat came out of the break looking up, as they acquired All-NBA point guard Goran Dragic from the Phoenix Suns at the trade deadline. Dragic was not yet available to play on Friday, but the Heat didn’t need him.
Miami got contributions from all over, with eight players scoring in double figures, paced by 18 points from Shabazz Napier off the bench.
Despite all they had to overcome, Fish’s club came out strong. Tim Hardaway Jr. stepped up and paced the Knicks in the first. The Michigan product went 4-of-4 from the field, hit a three and tallied a game-high nine points, guiding the Knicks to a 26-25 lead after one.
However, the Heat then took over, outscoring the home team 62-42 over the second and third quarters. As Coach Fish put it afterward, the undermanned Knicks just ran out of gas.
“I thought the guys ran out of steam, in terms of the level of veracity and thrust,” Fish said. “It was a four-point game with about four minutes to go in the second quarter, and it slowly started getting away from us from there.”
After New York won the first quarter, the offense struggled the rest of the way and it was all Miami to the finish as the visitors left Madison Square Garden with a 111-87 victory.
CAVS OVERRUN KNICKS EARLY
After a game in which the Knicks started strong and finished poorly against Miami, the reverse was true on Sunday afternoon when the Cleveland Cavaliers visited the Garden.
New York got off to a slow start against the surging Cavaliers and dug a first quarter hole they simply couldn’t overcome on the way to a 101-83 loss.
Cavs star LeBron James was rolling from the opening tip and tallied 12 first-quarter points. Forward Kevin Love added seven points while pulling down six rebounds, and former Knick J.R. Smith turned in another seven points. Meanwhile, the Knicks struggled to find their mark, shooting just 27.6 percent through the first 12 minutes. On the other end, the Cavs couldn’t miss, shooting a mind-boggling 71.4 percent to take a 36-17 lead after one.
“Cleveland is good, and they’ve been playing well,” Derek said afterward. “When you allow a team on the road to come in and get that type of rhythm, it’s hard to then slow it down. I thought, from that point on, it wasn’t bad, but in those first six minutes we got overrun.”
There were, however, positives for New York to take from the defeat. After the slow start, the Knicks picked it up on both ends of the floor. On defense, they limited the Cavs to just 43.1 percent shooting from the field after their early out burst.
On the other end, New York’s offensive pace was good, as they managed 99 shot attempts on the night and all told six Knicks players finished in double figures. Langston Galloway had a team-high 13 points; Lance Thomas, Andrea Bargnani and Quincy Acy each had 11 points; and Lou Amundson and Travis Wear both added 10.
But though the Knicks played three solid quarters of basketball at the Garden and actually outscore Cleveland over the final three frame, that treacherous first frame was just too much to overcome in the double-digit loss.
NEXT UP
The Knicks (10-45) will now hit the road for a pair of Eastern Conference tilts, starting Wednesday night in Boston against their regional rival the Celtics (21-33).
The two teams have split the season series so far, with the road team winning both times. They’ll meet once more at the end of the month in New York to finish their four-game regular-season slate.
Tipoff of Wednesday’s game is set for 7:30 p.m. ET from the TD Garden and the game can be seen on MSG.