Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Post Game Recap
Final Score: New York Knicks: 111 Dallas
Mavericks: 114
Furious Comeback Falls Short for Knicks
The Knicks fell tonight to the Dallas
Mavericks 114-111, as they just did not have enough in the tank in the end to
pull off the comeback. Dallas built a 12
point lead in the fourth quarter, yet the Knicks never laid down and had a
chance to win right up to the final buzzer.
The biggest problem in the game for the
Knicks was on the defensive end of the court, as they surrendered 65 second
half points. The Knicks had no answer
for the Mavericks perimeter players tonight, as Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo and
Vince Carter all had great games.
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Collison scored 19 on seven of 11
shooting, adding seven assists. Mayo
continued his hot shooting start to the season, knocking down 10 of 17 shots
for 27 points and two assists. Carter
was the Knicks killer tonight, as he knocked down five of 10 three point
attempts and nine of 17 shots overall for 25 points.
Jae Crowder also stuffed the stat sheet
for the Mavericks, as he scored 12 points and grabbed four to go along with one
assist and a steal. Crowder knocked down
some big shots for the Mavericks, killing the Knicks momentum whenever they
would start building some.
Overall, the Mavericks shot 49.4 percent
from the field overall and 44.8 from the three point line.
The Knicks also had problems taking care
of the ball for portions of the game in Dallas, turning the ball over 14 times
in the game. Carmelo Anthony turned the
ball over seven times alone, and Raymond Felton had four turnovers of his own.
Felton was strong otherwise in the game,
scoring 18 points and dishing 11 assists, continuing his outstanding start to
the season and proving all his doubters wrong thus far.
Anthony was the recipient of two very
questionable calls down the stretch of the game. The first was on a circus lay-up that Anthony
did a 180-turn in the air, banking it in; but it was waived off as the refs
called an charging foul against Anthony when Carter slide underneath him.
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The second call Anthony drove to the
basket and was hit in the face with a Chris Kaman elbow after blowing by Shawn
Marion. What happens after the ball is
out of a players hand is supposed to be irrelevant, but jump shooters get those
types of calls all the time. Anthony
does not receive the start treatment from refs that many other All-Star caliber
players do.
Anthony finished the game with 23
points, six rebounds and four assists but missed the game winning shot with 6
seconds left, fouling out afterwards.
Anthony’s stat line didn’t end up looking to bad, but he struggled in
the first half shooting only one of six for four points in the first half.
In their returns to Dallas, Jason Kidd
and Tyson Chandler had arguably their best games of the season. Kidd looked like vintage Kidd, putting on a
show for the Dallas fans. Kidd finished
the game with 17 points, five assists, six rebounds and five steals. Again, Kidd had no turnovers and the Knicks
played best with him on the court, as the Knicks were a +12 with him on the
court.
Chandler showed up for the Knicks
tonight and dominated when he was on the court.
Chandler finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds and showed why he won
Defensive Player of the Year last season.
Chandler finished with one block and one steal, all the while having
multiple plays that will not show up in a box score; there were a number of
times Chandler changed the shots of Mavericks’ players and made it difficult on
anyone who drove the paint.
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Mike Woodson was out coached tonight
plan and simple, but he held himself accountable like he does with his players
post game. Woodson admitted that his
strategy of an eight-man rotation in the game tonight did not work, as the
energy just was not the same on the defensive end of the court with the cut
down rotation. It was a questionable
decision by Woodson, as the Knicks were coming off the second night of a
back-to-back and normally play nine or 10 players double-digit minutes.
It was also surprising to not see Marcus
Camby of Kurt Thomas come off the bench tonight, as the Knicks struggled on the
boards once again. Camby, even in his
older age, is a dominant rebounder; he led the NBA in rebounding percentage
last season. Thomas offers veteran
leadership and a no back-down mentality and would have helped slow down the
Mavericks onslaught tonight.
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Next up for the Knicks is a visit to
Houston to take on Jeremy Lin and the Rockets.
Lin will not be the only person the Knicks need to keep an eye on, as
James Harden has taken to his new role as lead dog and ran with it in Houston.
