By Kyle Soppe
The Knicks made a second half serge to best the Cavs by a final score of 120-103.
In every quarter, one team scored at least 30 points. Neither team managed a 30+ point quarter in three entire games last night.
The Knicks took their first lead of the night with 2:52 remaining in the third quarter.
The Steve Novak led Knicks won the second half 71-42. The 71 points was more than either team in the Golden State/Atlanta game scored through three quarters. The three point specialist has made at least as many triples as deuces in every single game this season. For the month of February, he averaged a made three every 6.89 minutes. He combined with Daniel Gibson of Cleveland to make 8/13 three pointers. The two reserves made more threes than the rest of the players combined, despite launching 14 fewer bombs.
While Novak was stroking his sweet jumper (worth noting that the man needs his own celebration, Aaron Rodgers has a monopoly on the “championship belt”), his teammates struggled to find the range, as five players didn’t make a single trey despite attempting at least one.
New York is now 10-3 when Jeremy Lin plays at least 26 minutes and 14-7 when he appears in the game. In those 14 wins the Knicks are averaging 103.6 points per game.
Seven Knicks scored at least 12 points. One of those players was Tyson Chandler, who converted on at least half of his attempts from the field for the 21st straight game, and has done so in 24 of his last 25. He swatted a season high four shots, after not blocking a single shot in his two games previous.
J.R. Smith was stranded in China for the seasons first six weeks, and his jumper has yet to recover from the jet lag. He missed all four attempts from distance last night, and is now 6/27 since joining the Knicks. He has made 14/23 shots from inside the arc, but teaching him to move in a few steps doesn’t seem like a reasonable thought for this long time gunner.
Baron Davis played less than a third of this game, but managed to hand out eight helpers. The .57 assists per minute were the greatest of any NBA player to play at least 10 minutes last night, and his eight assists were more than any Cavalier produced.
Jared Jeffries last missed shot (includes free throws and field goals) came more than a week ago.
A high scoring affair typically includes efficiency on the offensive end, but that wasn’t the case in New York. The teams combine to shoot a woeful 46/69 from the free throw line and 15/40 from deep.
Omri Casspi recorded more rebounds (7) than points (5) for the forth time in his last eight games. Casspi started the season with 25 games in which his point total at least equaled his rebound total.
Alonzo Gee recorded a month low in points (6) and shot 1/9 from the field. Gee has missed at least eight field goal attempts twice in the past week, something he didn’t do in the seasons first six weeks.
Kyrie Irving is proving his worth as the #1 overall pick. The Duke product has tallied at least 20 points in nine of his last 13 games. He’s also handed out at least six assists in eight games over that stretch.
A pretty solid quartet of games on the NBA schedule tonight, who do you want to see broken down tomorrow morning?
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