Jan 21 2013
Notes From the Knicks 88-85 Loss to the Nets
Joe Johnson’s 25 point effort led the resurgent New Jersey Brooklyn Nets to a 88-85 victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden this afternoon. Following Johnson’s lead, the Nets sunk 12 of 24 threes on the day while the Knicks hit just 6/21 from the land of three. Carmelo Anthony was the Knicks leading scorer with 29 points, but it also took him 29 shots to get there. Nursing a three point lead entering the fourth quarter, the Knicks were outplayed 23-17 as Joe Johnson came up huge in crunch time. With 7:58 left in the quarter, Iman Shumpert reached his 20 minute limit. He came off the floor and Johnson hit three shots in a row. Trailing by one in the final seconds, Carmelo Anthony threw up an air-ball. Jason Kidd missed a clutch free throw late and JR Smith missed a three pointer at the buzzer that would’ve tied the game. In summary, this was a pretty poor game for the Knicks. Give credit where it is due, but New York was not on it’s A-game tonight. Whether it was the countless defensive breakdowns, stagnant offense or just poor execution, there wasn’t a whole lot the Knicks did well today. Unlike the pattern from the rest of the season, the Knicks were outplayed badly in the 4th quarter which ended up being the difference in the game. I’ll get into this more. More