Post Game Reaction: Knicks 105 Pistons 102
The New York Knicks have their first winning streak as they have won 2 games in a row. The Knicks got revenge on the Pistons after losing to them last week. The Knicks beat the Pistons 105-102 on Wednesday night. They barely squeaked it out as they were comfortably up 8-10 points until the very end, when Pope had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer. The biggest reason for the win has to be the break-out performance by Kristaps Porzingis. Here are a few of my other observations.
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Porzingis plays his best game of the year. He set a season high in points in the first half, scoring 21 on 8 of 12 shots. He finished with a career high 35 points on 13 of 22 shots. He had it going on from the beginning. The Knicks did a great job of making Porzingis the focal point of the offense. He has such a mis-match every night and the Knicks are starting to understand that. He was truly dominant and adding a post-up game has made his game that much better.
Knicks defense makes an appearance. On a rare night, the Knicks defense was sighted for the first three quarters of the game. They were locked in and forced the Pistons into some difficult shots. They held the Pistons to 49% from the field and 34% from the three point line and until the fourth quarter struggles, the Knicks were headed to holding the Pistons under 100 points. This type of intensity has to be brought every night and that is the only way the Knicks will become a playoff contender.
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Noah looked energized after benching. Last game Noah did not play a single minute of the second half and the Knicks actually played better. That must have ticked him off and he played with lots of pride and energy tonight. He finished with 7 pts 15 rebs and 3 assists. He was aggressive on offense, looking to score and was a presence on the boards. He did not play in the 4th quarter but for three quarters he was excellent.
Offensive rebounding by the Knicks. Offensive rebounding is one of the areas that tells you how much energy your team is playing with and the effort they are putting in. Tonight the Knicks got 19 offensive rebounds and out-rebounded the Pistons 52 to 40. The key one came on the last possession for the Knicks, after the Melo miss, the offensive rebound by Lee after the tip-out by Holiday, got the Knicks that extra possession. In the end Rose could only make 1 of 2 free throws but it forced the Pistons to have to go for a three-pointer on the last possession of the game.
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Bench provides some relief. Hornacek is still trying to figure out this bench because in the first half, both Kuminskas and Hernangomez played and never played again, while Ndour only played in the 2nd half. He still is trying to figure out the rotation. In the end Jennings, O'Quinn and Holiday were the key contributors tonight. Jennings finished with 7 assists, Holiday had 9pts and 5rebs, while O'Quinn had 6pts 5rebs 2asts and 3blks. You can see that Hornacek has figured out that end of game lineups as Holiday or Jennings will be in there with the starters.
Overall this was one of the best wins of the season for the Knicks because they beat a playoff team and played a solid game from start to finish. The Knicks are realizing that Porzingis is their best offensive weapon and are featuring him more and more. Now they just need to get better on defense and figure out the second unit rotation. But the Knicks are trending in the right direction and have to build off of this win.
