What felt like ensuing disaster in the 2nd quarter, ended up turning into one of the most complete halves of the season for the Knicks as they took care of business in Miami and cashed in their 9th straight win. You would think that the Knicks would run away this one with BronBron and DWade sitting out, but the Heatles supporting cast kept it close for a half and a quarter before the Knicks pulled away.
Melo started off sizzling, hitting his first 7 shots and showed a plethora of moves by the time the game finished en route to 50 points.
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Melo
I kept hearing Mark Jackson in my head because Momma, there went that man. And that man was Carmelo Anthony. What else can you say about 50 points on 69% shooting in 40 minutes? He was totally dialed in and had no problem putting the team on his back offensively. It was 3 to tha dome all night as he went 7-10 from downtown and turned in a monster game on the offensive end.
2nd Half Knicks
The ball was moving, the sneakers were squeaking and the Knicks were flashing halftime adjustments as they quickly put their abysmal 2nd quarter behind them. Look no further than Miami's 32 2nd half points, one point less than they scored in the 2nd quarter. All of the heroes from the 1st half, Mike Miller, Ray Allen and Norris Cole, didn't seem to leave the locker room after halftime as they were no shows in the 2nd half. Chris Bosh made a valiant effort to keep the Heat in it, but Chandler's monster block on him with a couple of minutes left put the defensive stamp on great finish by the Knicks.
KMart's POSTERIZATION of Birdman
DAMN!
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1st Half D
It was soft. It was scared. It was basically non-existent. It's hard for me to complain after they shut down Miami after halftime, but we can't see this kind of tired effort in the 1st half when the playoffs start. Us NYKFP members are good at micro-analyzing this team down to the possession and there were plenty of times I wanted to throw my remote through the TV. There's no excuse to not come out focused.
Supporting Cast
No one really stepped up to help Melo until the 4th quarter. Felton was great in the 4th finding the open man and driving to the hole, but was terrible in the first three quarters. It was good to see Chandler out there, but he clearly has some rust to shake off. Prigs played an ineffective 13 minutes and Novak and Cope only combined for 6 points.
The Return of the Other JR
This is being a bit hard on the guy and he played some strong D down the stretch, but we saw a little bit of JR Stiff on the offensive end. He shot well from 3, but seemed to have a personal vendetta against Miller and tried to drive on him a bit too much, leading to a couple of turnovers down the stretch. Melo hadn't touched the ball in the 4th and we were subjected to Smith trying to take Miller on several occasions instead of moving the ball. Again, it's nitpicking, and he was being aggressive by driving the ball to the hole, but I want to see better decisions from him, especially in crunch time.
One may assume the Knicks would run away with this with two of the biggest stars in the league sitting out, but the the Bosh led Heat are nothing to take lightly. They took down the Spurs in San Antonio with this lineup so you know they can play.
The most important thing is the Knicks handled the Heat's run and took control in the 4th. Closing is so important and it's encouraging to see them do that a couple of times during the 9 game winning streak.
We're going for #10, which would be the longest winning streak since 15 in 93-94. We all know what happened that season.
Tomorrow night's game against Atlanta is going to be tough. We had to battle back to win this one and Atlanta has been resting at home since Monday. Not to mention, they wouldn't mind getting a little revenge after J-Smooth's 3 for the win just missed at the buzzer in their only meeting this season. After that it's back home against a scrappy Milwaukee team and then off to OKC for a tough Sunday matinee.
What's important is we're clicking and showing excellent chemistry as the playoffs draw near. That brutal West Coast trip at the end of February feels like a distant memory. The Knicks seemingly righted the ship on a dime winning in Utah and reeling off 9 straight since.
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