New York Knicks at Washington Wizards
Game 12: November 17, 2016
Wizards 119, Knicks 112

Written by Eric Weinstein – @ericcweinsteinn
flagrant2blog.blogspot.com/ 

#TrapGame

The Knicks traveled to Washington to take on the Wizards on the second game of a back to back, and showed a lot of fatigue. They came out sluggish in the first half, got creamed in the third quarter, made it interesting in the fourth quarter, but ultimately fell to the Wizards, 119-112. John Wall once again tantalized the Knicks, to use a Clyde-ism, with 23 points and 11 assists to lead the Wizards. Derrick Rose had his best scoring game as a Knick with 27 points, and Brandon Jennings had an excellent game off the bench with 17 points and 10 assists.

Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony both struggled from the field after great games last night, as they shot a combined 14-33 for 35 points.

Takeaways from this game:

Point guard play:

The lone bright spot from this game was the great minutes from Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings. Both of these guys were scoring at will in the second half, with Rose going off in the third, and Jennings in the fourth. Jennings continues to move the ball effortlessly as he eclipsed the 10 assist mark once again. Rose was getting into the paint with ease and hit a few three pointers, a shot he has struggled with so far this season. Jennings also caught fire from three in the fourth quarter when he hit three in a row from downtown to make the game at least somewhat interesting, but it was too little, too late for the Knicks. What else is new?

Lack of three point defense:

Not much to say here other than the fact that it was horrible. The Knicks let the Wizards, who are one of the worst three point shooting teams in the NBA, shoot 15-25 from three point land, good for 60% from the field. There is no way a team can expect to win when they let their opponent shoot that well from three. The Knicks weren’t fighting to get over screens, which led to countless open threes for Washington. Good to see Kurt Rambis has made some adjustments on defense! (Not).

Otto Porter Knick effect alert:

21 points, 8 rebounds. One of his best games of the season.

All the good feelings from the win against the Pistons pretty much went away by the third quarter of this game. The Knicks didn’t show any life in the first 40 minutes and it showed on the scoreboard. They always seem to make it interesting, but this was one they should’ve had easily. The Wizards are a struggling team coming off a bad loss in Philadelphia last night, so it wasn’t like they were coming in well rested either. These are the games the Knicks will look at in April if they are fighting for a playoff spot and see that it was one they had to have. A playoff team HAS to take advantage of games like this, especially with the tough games the Knicks have coming up next week. With Atlanta, Portland, and Charlotte all coming to the Garden the next three games, the Knicks are going to need to bounce back quickly to avoid falling into a deeper hole to start the season. 5-7.