INDIANAPOLIS – As recently as a week ago, Danny Granger would have been right on target to gloat that a home-and-home set against the Knicks this weekend represented little more than two “winnable games” for the Pacers.
But the Knicks under Mike Woodson suddenly are anything but the disjointed pushovers they’d been at the end of Mike D’Antoni’s tenure with the team, and they broke away in the fourth quarter to post their third straight win under their new coach – and second in as many nights over Indiana – Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The green-clad Knicks’ balanced 102-88 victory was considerably tighter than the previous night’s coast-to-coast rout in Manhattan, but it completed the two-game sweep and moved them a half-game ahead of idle Milwaukee for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Linsanity was alive and well in the land of the Hoosiers with backup Baron Davis nursing a hamstring injury, as Jeremy Lin pumped a team-high 19 points, with six assists and seven rebounds in 30 controlled minutes. Amar’e Stoudemire added 16 points and eight boards, Carmelo Anthony also had 16 points and J.R. Smith kicked in 11 off the bench.
The Knicks (21-24) led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, but All-Star center Roy Hibbert (game-high 24 points) drew the Pacers back within 82-79 with barely eight minutes remaining in the fourth.
Lin scored eight of the Knicks’ next nine points to push the lead back to 11 at the 5:15 mark, and the Pacers never got within 10 again.
Woodson, an Indiana native, enjoyed the comforts of home Saturday with a few of his siblings in attendance. He also reunited with long-time mentor Bill Smith, his old high-school coach at Broad Ripple High School who will serve the Knicks as an adviser to Woodson.
Jim Todd, a member of Woodson’s staff in Atlanta and also a former assistant with four other NBA teams, and ex-Knick Darrell Walker -- previously a head coach with Washington and Toronto – also officially joined Woodson on the bench for the first time.
Still, Woodson expected “a hostile environment” and got it after his team used an active defensive effort one night earlier at the Garden to build a 30-point lead en route to a comfortable 15-point win, including holding the Pacers to 31 points in the first half.
But Indiana got to the basket with greater ease inside their house, and reached that number Saturday with 1:35 left in building a 35-33 lead through one quarter.
But Woodson continued to rely more on his deep bench and admitted he’s “somewhat changed (D’Antoni’s) rotation patterns” with the intention of resting Anthony more – specifically taking Carmelo out around the 9-minute mark instead of leaving him on the court for the entire first quarter.
Led mostly by the reserves – including two threes from Steve Novak – the Knicks opened the second quarter on a 20-6 run. They hit intermission with a 60-51 lead, with Lin taking only three shots but hitting all of them, including two drives right at the 7-foot-2 Hibbert to close out the half.
In all, eight players had at least five points, led by Anthony and Stoudemire with 10 apiece and five for Mike Bibby, who got back into the rotation with Davis back in New York.
“Our bench has been great,” Woodson said. “(The starters) can’t play the whole game…I just feel good about my bench. I’ve said it since I’ve taken over the job, our bench is just as important as the guys that start the game. We mean that.”
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Davis remained in New York after tweaking his hamstring Friday night and remains day-to-day, but his injury is “not as severe as we thought,” according to Woodson…Little-used guard Toney Douglas (personal reasons) is due to rejoin the team Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment