Knicks Blow A Winnable Game Against The Warriors In The Fourth: 92-78

Added by Stephen Zimkouski on December 29, 2011.

After playing solid basketball for the first three quarters, and I really mean solid by stretching the meaning, the Knicks came out like a team that never played together in the fourth quarter. Heading into the fourth the Knicks had a lot of things go their way.

The two biggest weapons for the Warriors weren’t performing up to par. Monte Ellis shot just 4 of 17 through the first three quarters and Stephen Curry missed the game nursing an ankle injury. With that said, the Knicks offense came out in the fourth and was extremely stagnant which lead the Warriors to exploit that. That lead to the crowd getting involved and the Warriors ultimately heating up to a 92-78 win against the Knicks.

Many possessions offensively for the Knicks, players stood around the perimeter while the ball handler would isolate and end up taking a contested jumper. This is more than likely directly related to the lack of training camp and preseason games for the players to get affiliated with each other.

The Knicks also showed that they can’t rebound right now and that will be a huge concern as the season moves forward. Tyson Chandler through 2 games has only 6 rebounds and 7 fouls, those numbers need to improve and they should as he gets more comfortable with his new team.

Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire both had poor shooting nights which is something Knicks fans shouldn’t expect to happen more often than not. However, the Knicks need to find somebody that’s going to rebound the ball, whether thats Harrellson or Jordan coming off the bench or a player not yet on the roster.

The Knicks need some answers. I do like the addition of Jeremy Lin as we saw him briefly at the end of the game and I think he will be a good fit in the coming weeks as he gets affiliated with the D’Antoni system. The good news is the Knicks have a chance to rebound from this loss tonight as they head to LA to play the Lakers.