Carmelo Anthony lets one fly as LeBron James looks on during the Knicks’ 102-92 win over the Heat at MSG.
Getty Images/Frank Franklin II
Occasionally, a bright line shines on Madison Square Garden. Those moments have been few and far between for both the basketball and hockey teams. Coincidentally, 24 hours after the Rangers went into Chicago and beat the defending Cup champion Blackhawks, the Knicks rose up to the challenge and defeated the defending champion Heat 102-92 at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Everyone played well for the victorious Knicks, who suddenly have won three straight and four of five. Carmelo Anthony played an efficient game pacing the blue and orange with 29 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Melo didn’t force many shots shooting 50 percent from the field (12 of 24). He used teammates including an inspired Amare Stoudemire, who had arguably his best game of the season posting a double/double with 14 points and 11 boards in 26 minutes. In particular, STAT hurt the Heat in the paint finishing passes from Ray Felton (14 assists) and Anthony.
”We’re moving forward,” Anthony told TNT’s Rachel Nichols. ”We’re taking strides. We’re getting better. We’re learning from our mistakes we’ve made in the past and we’re going to continue to build on this and see what happens.”
Mike Woodson got a great effort from Andrea Bargnani. Despite some foolish fouls especially on LeBron James, who also turned the statuesque ex-Raptor into a dunk poster- Bargnani scored 19 on nine of 13 shooting. What I liked about the performance is he drove the ball and finished instead of settling. That included a nifty and one in which he beat Miami’s help D. Bargs isn’t the most athletic defensively and often got caught guarding LeBron one on one off switches. The results were predictable with the NBA’s best player toasting him on an array of drives that included a couple of exclamation points. James poured in a game high 32 with six assists and five rebounds but also turned it over six times. Miami was sloppy with 15 turnovers. There were some odd forces from a normally unflappable group that’s aiming for a three-peat.
”They played a great game,” credited James after playing in his 800th NBA game. ”They made some timely shots.”
Dwyane Wade played a sixth straight game and was very effective scoring 23 in 39 minutes. As usual, his dexterity was on display with a couple of circus shots that found the target. But Wade had a miserable night at the line misfiring on all six free throws. As a team, the Heat clanged 10 of 21 with even James missing three of seven. Chris Bosh was reduced to a spectator scoring just six on 3 of 10 shooting. He really looked out of sync. Miami only had three players in double digits with underappreciated third-year guard Norris Cole pumping in 12 including two treys. Despite always hurting the Knicks whenever they play, he didn’t see much time down the stretch. A questionable move by Erik Spoelstra. Instead, he stuck with Ray Allen, who had only six with one trifecta.
What can’t be questioned is Woodson Krazy gluing J.R. Smith to the bench following his latest idiocy. A failed attempt to untie Greg Monroe’s shoes in a Knicks’ win over the Pistons resulted in the NBA fining him $50,000 after repeated warnings. If you’re still left wondering who shot JR, your guess is as good as mine. Smith has no one to blame but himself. His shenanigans along with undisciplined play have resulted in a valuable member of last year’s Atlantic Division winner falling into Woodson’s doghouse. To think he won the NBA’s top Sixth Man. Look how far he’s fallen since getting suspended for engaging Jason Terry. It speaks volumes.
One player who has come on during this critical stretch is third-year man Iman Shumpert. It looks like he’s shaken off the trade rumors and decided to play the game. How many clutch daggers did he drain in the second half? Whenever the Heat got within striking distance, Shump was there dialing it up from long distance. He hit four three’s en route to 12 points while grabbing nine rebounds and playing aggressive D. It sure is nice to his confidence back.
Woodson got key contributions from rookies Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Toure Murry. Both came off the bench and added hustle plays with Hardaway Jr. having an emphatic slam on a Stoudemire miss. Murry had a pair of steals. Kenyon Martin started in place of Tyson Chandler and gave a solid effort with seven, four boards and a steal. That the Knicks prevailed without Chandler shows how up they were for the TNT spotlight. They backed up Woodson’s claim that they could play with the Heat, winning for the fourth time in the last five regular season meetings.
What really stood out aside from a balanced effort was their ability to do damage inside. Without Chandler, they scored 52 points in the paint against normally a very tough defensive team. The Heat weren’t as sharp and paid for it. However, credit the Knicks for executing Woodson’s game plan. We saw more pick and rolls featuring Stoudemire and Bargnani. Felton came on strong with a big second half. Not only did he distribute but scored key buckets with a nice finish and hit two long jumpers including one from downtown. It was the kind of gritty performance we got last year.
”It wasn’t going to last all season like that,” Felton said. ”We were just going through a slump, now I feel like we’re out of it.”
One of my favorite moments was when out of a timeout, Woodson drew up a play for Anthony with Felton dishing for an open Melo, who drained a three from the left key. That was needed because they started going away from him in the third quarter. Even though they made a conscientious effort to involve everyone, there are times you want your best player to have the ball. What I liked most was he meshed well with Stoudemire, who hurt Miami big time.
There are a lot of positives. Now, the Knicks must follow it up at Philadelphia. A place they rarely play well. It doesn’t matter. There’s still plenty of work to do. At 13-22, they’re third in the lowly Atlantic trailing first Toronto (17-17) by four and a half games. The rejuvenated Nets are second at 14-21 and host the same Heat Friday at Barclays Center.
”You can tell it’s different than one month ago,” Bargnani said. ”Our faces are different, our body language is different.”
