For the second consecutive game, Mike Woodson would start both JR Smith and Amar’e Stoudemire with the hopes that his ball club would come out of the gates ready to play.
New York jumped all over Minnesota to start reeling off the game’s first 9 points before Kevin Martin got the T-Wolves on the board with a couple of freebies from the line. It was a rare beginning for this Knicks team that has had their share of lackluster starts. The early run was a balanced attack with all the participants chipping in leading to the team scoring an impressive 38 first quarter points, which also tied the teams season high. Carmelo Anthony continued his stellar play with 13 points in the first 12 minutes.
Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton had it going on in the 2nd propelling the Knicks on a 10-0 run to open up a 59-42 lead. At the outset it was believed that the Minnesota’s frontcourt duo of Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Love would be too much for the Knicks to deal with, however it was the Wolves who were having their issues defending New York’s suddenly formidable frontcourt unit. Pekovic and Love had combined for 72 double doubles on the year but neither would register one last night. Quite the accomplishment for New York as they have recently seen many big performances put up against them.
As has been the case on many a nights when New York has built a large lead the opposing team usually finds a way to get back into the game and last night was no different. Minnesota used their second straight 31 point quarter but they also ramped up the intensity on the defensive end making it possible to narrow the deficit to just 2 points at the end of three. A quick 6-0 run for the Knicks to begin the 4th set the tone for the remainder of the game.
New York wouldn’t look back and actually padded the lead some more going up by as many as 15 points following an alley oop jam from Felton and finished by Tim Hardaway Jr. In the end Anthony would wind up with 33 points and New York had all 5 starters score in double figures. The first time the team had accomplished that in 2 seasons.
Final Knicks 118 Timberwolves 106
Wilson Caicedo: PureSportsNY