Knicks' Shake
CLEVELAND - The Knicks lost any sense of stability long ago. Cracks formed when Tyson Chandler broke his right leg during the team's fourth game of the season, and the season has been a patchwork quilt ever since - a ragged, ripping-at-the-seams patchwork quilt.
So on Tuesday night, hard by the frigid banks of Lake Erie, Coach Mike Woodson once again dusted off his roster and assembled a new starting five, his eighth of the season. The lineup that took the court against the Cleveland Cavaliers was born of equal parts necessity (too many injuries) and desperation (too many losses).
But while Woodson was able to change his personnel, he could not change the result. The game merely felt like more of the same as the Knicks fell again, their 109-94 loss at Quicken Loans Arena featuring the usual assortment of problems: poor defense, poor shooting, poor decisions.
Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points for the Knicks but received little assistance. Andrea Bargnani and J. R. Smith combined to shoot 10 of 31 from the field.
Kyrie Irving was dominant for the Cavaliers (8-13), collecting 37 points and 11 assists.
After the Knicks (5-15) erased an 18-point deficit in the first half, the game quickly got away from them in the third quarter. Irving sank a pair of short jumpers and a 3-pointer in an 11-2 run that extended the Cavaliers' lead to 64-54.
The Knicks kept compounding their mistakes. Later in the quarter, Smith streaked up the court like a bottle rocket, got into the lane, turned and fired a pass straight into Irving's waiting hands. The Cavaliers' Tristan Thompson followed with a jump shot, and Cleveland's lead continued to swell.
With the Knicks trailing by 18 early in the fourth, Iman Shumpert tossed up a 3-pointer that barely grazed the front of the rim. It was that kind of night.
It was the Knicks' fourth game in six days - an adventure-filled stretch that featured blowout victories over the Nets and the Orlando Magic, as well as Sunday's 41-point loss to the Boston Celtics. Absolutely nothing had gone right for the Knicks against the Celtics, so Tuesday's game - a mid-December contest, against a middling opponent, in northern Ohio - set up as a bit of an unlikely pressure cooker for them.
With Woodson scrambling for solutions, he gave Metta World Peace his first start of the season. Not so long ago, World Peace's spot in the rotation seemed much in doubt. He twice had fluid drained from his left knee last month, and his minutes migrated to Kenyon Martin and Amar'e Stoudemire.
On Tuesday, Martin sat out his second straight game with what the team described as a sore left ankle. It was more than apparent that the Knicks had missed his defensive toughness against the Celtics, and Woodson turned to World Peace to help shore things up.
At least, that was the hope. World Peace finished with 2 points and 2 rebounds in 19 minutes.
Woodson made another change, instructing Shumpert to defend Irving, one of the quicker players in the league. It was a stiff challenge for Shumpert, who got caught on a screen on the game's first possession and could only watch as Irving sailed past him for a layup. The Knicks offered no help defense.
It was a microcosm of another horrid first quarter for the Knicks, who could neither shoot nor defend. It was a terrible combination.
The Knicks were losing, 17-9, when Woodson called his first timeout, and it did little good. By the time he called for his next timeout, the Cavaliers were in the midst of a 14-0 run that showcased Irving and center Andrew Bynum, who feasted on Woodson's interior defenders.
It was all very reminiscent of Sunday's loss, when the Knicks trailed the Celtics by 23 after the first quarter.
The Knicks would have been in even worse shape against Cleveland if not for back-to-back 3-pointers from Smith and Tim Hardaway, which helped trim the deficit to 31-19 heading into the second quarter.
As poorly as they had played to that point, the Knicks were somehow able change the tenor of the game. Pablo Prigioni provided a spark off the bench, feeding Stoudemire for a layup and drilling a 3-pointer. Smith and Raymond Felton made a pair of fine defensive plays (not a misprint).
Anthony capped an 11-0 run with a short jumper that tied the game at 40-40. It was an unexpected turn of events, especially given the Knicks' early troubles and Smith's shooting woes. He went 2 of 10 from the field in the first half, but the Cavaliers were only able to go ahead by 48-45.
It actually felt like a competitive game. It did not last long.
REBOUNDS
Mike Woodson said he was hoping to have both Amar'e Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin available for Wednesday's game against the Chicago Bulls. Woodson has been especially cautious with Stoudemire, who has yet to appear in back-to-back games this season because of chronic knee trouble. He had 15 points and 5 rebounds in 28 minutes against the Cavaliers.
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