by Peter Walsh / @goinginsquad
Knicks 112 (14-4), Heat 92 (12-5)
Well that was…awesome.
After last night’s 20-point drubbing, the Knicks have now blown out the Heat in both of their matchups this season. With Melo on the sideline due to a finger injury, the Knicks hit 18 three’s (while shooting 40.9 percent from three) and had six different players score in double-figures. Raymond Felton (does anyone else think he looks like a fat version of 2Pac?) absolutely terrorized the Heat and was damn near unstoppable in the third quarter. With the score tied at 53 going into the break, the Knicks came out and put up 37 points in the third with Felton doing much of the early damage by hitting a few three’s. For the game, Felton shot 10-20 for 27 points and dished out 7 assists. In the third quarter alone, New York hit eight three-pointers which is the most of any NBA team in a quarter so far this season. In the fourth, the Knicks only gave up 12 points and after a J.R. Smith three-pointer with three minutes to play iced the game, both teams cleared their benches for garbage time.
Quick Hitters:
— The Knicks only turned the ball over 7 times. Miami doubled that.
— LeBron had another great game with 31 points, 10 boards and 9 assists but didn’t get much help from his teammates. Chris Bosh shot 3-12 from the field to finish with 12 points and DWade was -33 for the game.
— Steve Novak scored 18, J.R. Smith finished with 13, Tyson Chandler scored 13 and grabbed 9 boards and Sheed chipped in with 12.
— The Heat have to do something about that frontline, and quick. Despite shooting so many three’s, the Knicks still scored 34 points in the paint and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds. A near-40 Sheed Wallace was giving them fits inside in the second half.
— The Knicks have taken over 80 three’s in the last two games.
Mavericks 97 (9-10), Suns 94 (7-13)
A change of scenery has done wonders for OJ Mayo who has always had the talent but, dating back to college, has never been in the right situation to let it shine. Now starting for the Mavs, he is responsible for keeping them in contention as Dirk heals from his offseason knee surgery. During last night’s win, Mayo dropped 23 points (9-17 shooting), grabbed 5 boards and dished out 5 assists in 40 minutes of work. Mayo also came up huge down the stretch. After Markieff Morris hit a three to cut the Mavericks’ lead to two with a minute to go, Shannon Brown stole Darren Collison’s pass and drew a foul. Brown hit both of his free throws to tie the score at 87 with under a minute left. On the next possession, the ball came to Mayo and with Bassy Telfair right in his grill, Mayo drilled a 21-foot jumper to put the Mavs up for good. Over the next 19 seconds, Dallas hit eight free throws to hand Phoenix their fifth straight loss.
Quick Hitters:
— Markieff Morris finished with 15 points and a career-best 17 boards.
— Brandan Knight and Darren Collison each dropped 16.
— Chris Kaman left late with an ankle injury.
