New York Knicks vs Brooklyn Nets
Game 7: November 9, 2016
Knicks 110, Nets 96
Written by Eric Weinstein – @ericcweinsteinn
The EuroKnicks came to play!
After all the talk of too much triangle and Kurt Rambis taking over as the defensive coach, the Knicks came and played a solid basketball game, as they defeated the Nets at the MSG, 110-96.
Takeaways from this game:
Defense:
Even though it was against the rebuilding with no draft picks Nets, this was the best game the Knicks played on the defensive side of the ball. After giving up 55 points in the first half, they tightened up the defense and gave up only 41 points in the second half. A huge improvement from the past few games. This is also the first time the Knicks hadn’t given up 100 points in the game. Baby steps, as the defense still needs to improve if they expect to compete with the better teams in the NBA.
The Bench:
Could the Knicks perhaps have (gasp), a playable bench? Well, Willy Hernangomez, Mindaugus Kuzminskas, and Brandon Jennings were excellent off the bench in the second half. Jennings had his best game as a Knick, with a season high 11 assists. The biggest positive of the game was Hernangomez though, as he definitely locked up the backup center spot for at least another game (sorry KO). 14 points on 6-7 shooting with 6 rebounds in 15 minutes? Sounds great to me. Can’t expect this every night, but the defense and ball movement was awesome to watch. The lineup with Jennings, Vujacic, Kuz, KP, and Hernangomez was a lot of fun as well.
KP on the P&R:
Finally, we get to Porzingis.
I still don’t know why it took the Knicks this long to realize that Porzingis in the pick and roll is their best offense. After too much triangle, KP started playing pick and roll with Jennings and immediately hit consecutive threes, and had an and one dunk after a sweet pass from Jennings.
Why the Knicks don’t run that every time down the court is beyond me. He finished with 21 points on 7-15 shooting, 8 boards, and 2 blocks.
Oh yeah, and Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose, and Courtney Lee had a combined 49 points.
Solid outing from those three, even though Melo only really had it going in the third quarter.
This was a solid game to build on, with a tough matchup in Boston this Friday, as they look to get back to .500 with a win there. 3-4.
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