Knicks Get Westbrook’d and Kanter’d, Fall Under .500
Knicks’ six game home win streak snapped, ‘Melo has another stinker, and our editor’s birthday is ruined
It was easy to imagine Russell Westbrook doing disgusting Russell Westbrook things to the Knicks tonight, but Enes Kanter? Yikes.
Kanter and Westbrook combined for 54 of the Thunder’s 112 points, snapping the Knicks six-game win streak at the Garden. Very poor effort to keep OKC off the boards, another dismal shooting effort from ‘Melo, Brandon Jennings not getting much burn off the bench, too much Kyle O’Quinn, there’s a laundry list of things that were less than ideal about tonight’s loss, let’s take a look at the (few) fun things and the not so fun things:
Fun things
- Derrick Rose: Rose, understandably so, struggled to stay in front of Russell Westbrook all night long, but we saw another plethora of gorgeous layups and finishes at the basket again tonight. While he remains to be a non-threat from the perimeter, he was able to hit 10-of-10 free throws and grab seven rebounds. His 30-point performance (keep your pants on, Rose stans, please) was impressive to say the least, but maybe let’s try for more than four assists?
- Watching Kristaps Porzingis do anything: Kristaps has had better shooting nights (9-of-20, 3-of-6 from behind the arc) than tonight, but he was on the receiving end of a few high-flying alley-oops, a couple put-back dunks and just general Kristaps-ness yet again. I think there were two instances where the 7'3" behemoth put the ball on the floor for a couple smooth crossovers and that’s very fun.
- Imagining Russell Westbrook in a New York Knicks uniform. (Editor note: I wish.)
Not fun things
- Melo, again: Anthony followed up his 7-of-25 shooting for 18 points in the Knicks’ previous game against the Hornets with an even worse 4-of-19 shooting performance for 18 points. ‘Melo is becoming more and more reliant on go-to-hell ball this season, it’s a little maddening not to see anyone on the coaching staff pull him aside and say “Hey man it’s just not your night, pass the ball.” Sure, it’s easy to harp on his poor performances and then praise him for his fantastic nights, but damn is he inconsistent this season.
- Playing defense against Russell Westbrook: Through 19 games this season, Westbrook is averaging a triple-double. He exploded for 27 points, 18 rebounds, 14 assists and oh my god I didn’t even realize how bad it was watching the game. Not a whole lot to do to stop a guy like that.
- Joakim Noah, in general: Weirdly enough, Noah was the only Knick to finish with a positive net rating of +4. In 26 minutes, Noah logged two points, four blocks, four assists and three rebounds. That’s not enough production whatsoever from your starting center. I’m going to play devil’s advocate and say that there’s still some lingering injuries he’s dealing with, but he’s gotta be better. No way around it.
- Rebounding: The Thunder snatched 17 offensive rebounds and Enes Kanter had his way in the paint. Saw a lot of loose rebounds flying off the boards with nobody making the extra effort to grab them. Derrick Rose was the second leading rebounder for the Knicks tonight, that can’t happen especially when you have a $72 million Joakim Noah who supposedly is a great rebounder.
Tough one tonight, should be a really, really exciting game on Wednesday night as the Knicks travel to Minnesota to face the young wolves. Kristaps vs. KAT?
Thank you, basketball Gods. Let’s rally.
— Brendan Duball, senior writer
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