New York Knicks at Milwaukee Bucks
Game 38: January 6, 2017
Knicks 116, Bucks 111

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

Finally, a win.

The Knicks finally ended the six game losing streak tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks After a heartbreaking loss on Wednesday thanks to Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Knicks returned the favor and took down the Bucks, 116-111. Kristaps Porzingis returned after a three game absence to score 26 points for New York. Carmelo Anthony led the way with maybe his best all-around game of the season with 26 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds. 17 assists in the past two games for Carmelo, which is the highest assists count over two games he has had in his career.

Most notably, we had a Ron Baker crunch time minutes extravaganza with him finishing 6 points and 4 assists, all in the fourth quarter. Bravo Ron, Bravo. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker both led the Bucks with 25 points each, and Greg Monroe had 19 points off the bench.

Takeaways from this game:

Fake comeback turned into a real comeback:

So I was watching this game with a couple of friends tonight, and we all felt like the game was over in the first half. The Knicks fell behind by as many as 18 and stormed all the way back to steal this one in Milwaukee. After the last game, which was such a disappointing loss, it felt great to see the Knicks respond the way they did down the stretch. Anthony and Porzingis were huge in the fourth quarter, with each of them making clutch baskets to keep the Knicks in the game. Besides the two stars, Lance Thomas and Joakim Noah were making the hustle plays that sealed the deal, including Lance diving for a loose ball which led to a Courtney Lee dunk to put New York up by 3 late in the game. The whole team came together and stepped up to come back and win this one.

Carmelo and Kristaps can compete with any duo in the NBA:

Kristaps Porzingis has been out the past three games, and we all noticed a difference in the Knicks play. Without Porzingis stretching the floor as well as protecting the rim, the Knicks became a very one-dimensional, isolation heavy team. With our friend Kristaps back out there, it sets up easy looks for Carmelo Anthony. Not only that, Melo has been looking to pass the ball out of double teams, which created easy looks for his teammates. This is something Knick fans have been longing for since Carmelo came to New York, and something we saw glimpses of last season. Melo is at his best when he is long for his teammates in that situation, and guys like KP, Derrick Rose, and Courtney Lee out there with him, there is no reason he couldn’t finish games with 5 or 6 assists. He has the talent with him, he just has to be willing to get the ball to them.

The Knicks won’t have much time to rest, as they take on the Indiana Pacers tomorrow night at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Knicks defeated the Pacers earlier this season, and are sitting behind them in the Eastern Conference standings. These next few weeks are going to prove what this Knicks team really is, as they will have to keep winning to get back to where they were in the standings. Starting with consecutive wins against playoff teams is a great way to get back on track, and they will really need to get this thing moving in the right direction. 17-19.