Friday, November 30th, 2012
Pre-Game News and Notes
Washington Wizards vs. New York Knicks
Wednesday night the Knicks had an
impressive victory over the Central Division leading Bucks even without veteran
guard Jason Kidd. Kidd will again be
sitting out Friday night because of back spasms, meaning the Knicks will go
with the same starting lineup in Raymond Felton, Ronnie Brewer, Carmelo
Anthony, Kurt Thomas and Tyson Chandler.
Here are some things to keep an eye on for the game tonight:
-Avoid a Letdown
The Wizards come into tonight’s game
sporting the worst record in the NBA at 1-12 and 0-6 on the road. The Knicks need to avoid complacency against
them, coming out strong and setting the tone from the opening tip.
One way for this to happen is Anthony
continuing his hot start in the first quarter.
Anthony leads the NBA in first quarter scoring around 11 points per and he
usually dominates the Wizards, scoring 27.1 points per game against them in his
career, his third highest mark against any team.
Anthony is in the midst of one of the
hottest stretches of his career and definitely hottest since coming to New York
and it should continue against the Wizards; they are an average team at best
when they have their best player in John Wall, but with him sidelined the
Wizards are one of the worst teams in the NBA.
-Battle on the Boards
The Wizards are not a good team, but one
thing they do well is rebound. They are
10th in the NBA at rebounding with 43.2 per game led by Emeka Okafor
with 6.1 per game. The return of Nene
gives the Wizards another big body capable of grabbing rebounds as well.
It will come down to Tyson Chandler
battling those big bodies once again with Anthony hopefully chipping in
again. Chandler and Anthony have been
battling on the boards the last two games, giving the Knicks their two best
rebounding games of the season.
They should have some more help tonight,
as head coach Mike Woodson has hinted at the possibility of seeing Rasheed
Wallace and Marcus Camby on the court together, giving the Knicks two big men
on the court more than capable of rebounding.
-Bench Play
The Knicks are far superior to the
Wizards on the bench and they will have to make that known when given the
chance. Giving the starters some rest
will only be possible if the second unit plays well; if they come out like they
did Wednesday in Milwaukee that will be no problem.
Pablo Prigioni had his best game as a
Knick Wednesday, leading the second unit with Kidd being hurt and doing it
masterfully. He had a career high 28
minutes played and put them to good use, tying a career high 11 points and
handing out a career high seven assists.
If asked, there is no doubt Prigioni would be able to run this offense
smoothly.
Steve Novak also lit up Milwaukee, playing
his best game of the season. He set
career and season highs across the board, playing a career high 40 minutes
while posting season highs in points, rebounds, steals and three pointers made.
J.R. Smith and Wallace struggled scoring
the ball for the second consecutive game but were picked up by Prigioni and
Wallace. It is good to see the Knicks have
different players pick up the slack every night, as when they all get on the same
page opposing teams will have a lot to deal with.
Keep in mind the Knicks are still
without two important players in Amar’e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert; their
return will only make an already deep team that much more difficult for teams
to handle.
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