Brooklyn beat the Knicks at Madison Square Garden despite New York’s 4th quarter comeback.
Knick Youth Made 4th Quarter Run
Knicks were down by 19 early in the 4th. Fizdale put in Frank Ntilikina, who had been benched the previous 3 games, along with Alonzo Trier, Damean Dotson, Kevin Knox, and Mitchell Robinson. Ntilikina got cheers as he moved the ball upcourt. And soon the Knicks defensive energy — keyed by Robinson, Ntilikina, and the others — and a hot shooting streak by Dotson — got the Knicks back in the game.
The young Knick lineup played the entire 4th quarter — they pulled to within 5 and almost 3 when Dotson drove right baseline for a reverse that rolled in and out.
Kanter Wrecked Havoc on Jarrett Allen
Earlier in the game, Enes Kanter destroyed the Nets interior defense — Jarrett Allen could not stop him on his post up and inside moves. But the Knicks fell behind as the Nets 3-point shooting — especially Allen Crabbe — vaulted them ahead. At the heart of the Knicks falling double digits behind, as usual, was a piss poor shooting performance by Tim Hardaway Jr. It was Nets 3, Hardaway miss, Nets bucket, Hardaway miss, Nets 3, Hardaway miss — that kind of thing.
Hardaway finished 2-12 and 0-5 from 3 and was benched for the 4th quarter.
Ntilikina the Story of the Game for Knicks
Ntilikina led the 4th quarter comeback — he even made a layup which excited the crowd, and drove to the basket then flipped a bad alley oop pass to Mitchell Robinson that Robinson had to reach back for to get. Ntilikina played pretty good defense on D’Angelo Russell, as the Nets were running Ntilikina through screen after screen after screen.
The controversy over whether Ntilikina is really a lockdown defender or a bit overrated continued to be discussed on Twitter after the game.
The boxscore:
http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071063
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