Coming off of a hard fought two point overtime victory, New York set out to extend its season long winning streak to six games when it took on the Bobcats, losers of 8 of their last 9 games. The two clubs have matched up on two prior occasions this season with the road team collecting each victory. This time around Charlotte would have the services of free agent acquisition, Al Jefferson who missed both meetings.
The tempo of this game was purely that of the half court variety with Jefferson being the focal point for Charlotte. One of the few traditional big men to still roam the NBA hardwood coupled with Tyson Chandler being relegated to limited minutes in his first game back from an upper respiratory infection would prove to be too much to handle for the Knicks. “Big Al” would tally a season and game high 35 points on an amazing 70% from the field. Having his way with whatever defensive strategy was thrown his way showing off an array of low post moves reminiscent of the leagues glory days when 7-footers would dominate the paint.
Charlotte would open up an 11 point advantage early in the third and would sustain that advantage throughout the quarter until Carmelo Anthony & Amar’e Stoudemire began to assert themselves offensively. Melo using his mid-range game and Stat pulverizing the defense inside including an emphatic one handed dunk over Bismack Biyombo.
This night though would belong to the Bobcats as Kemba Walker and Jefferson would pave the way to a 13 point lead. A cushion that would not be in jeopardy the rest of the way as Charlotte cruised to a 108-98 win ending New York’s 5 game winning streak.
An interesting sub-plot began to develop for New York as enigmatic shooting guard JR Smith would never get the call from Mike Woodson to enter the game instead choosing to go with the rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. A puzzling decision too many observers seeing as Smith had played in the team’s two most recent games following a Did Not Play – Coaches Decision after the much publicized “lacegate.”
Assistant Coach, Herb Williams said the team was going with the “hot hand” referring to Hardaway Jr. which was a bit surprising seeing as the rookie missed his last five shots of the game after hitting four of first to start. Mike Woodson did not want to talk about his benching of Smith simply saying “I’m not even commenting on JR, I just didn’t play him tonight.” Smith on the other hand was perplexed by the benching saying “I hadn’t the slightest clue,” and that he and Woodson had no prior conversation. The Knicks contingent in Charlotte even chanted JR SMITH with the hopes that he would be inserted into the game, to no avail.
Wilson Caicedo: PureSportsNY