Knicks get rocked by Rockets 131-103
November 23, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (13) gestures to the crowd during the third quarter against the New York Knicks at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE
If you wanted to see some great Knicks defense, you should have turned the tv off. If you wanted to see some atrocious play by the Knicks, this was the game to watch. The Knicks gave up the most points this year in the league with 131 points allowed,and suffered their first back-to-back loss under head Coach Mike Woodson. It seemed like the Rockets were in layup lines – Lin went to the basket with his right hand, and then they switched to the left side and Harden went for a layup or got a foul. There was no help (pointing at you Chandler) when either of these guys got into the lane. There was no effort (pointing at you Brewer) when a Knicks’ defender went for for a pump fake to get back and try to defend the guy. It was just terrible. Coming into this game the Knicks led the league with the lowest opponents points per game with just over 90… they allowed 72 points in the first half and 131 overall.
The former Knicks point guards, Jeremy Lin (13 points, 8 assists) and Toney Douglas (went 3-4 from three) did not let the Knicks opponents win on their new home court due due their teammates spectacular play:
Chandler Parsons, a second year player out of Florida seemed like Michael Jordan out there, breaking his career high with 26 points in the first half and finished with 31 points for the game. Harden was also unstoppable with 25 points in the first half (33 overall and 16-16 from the stripe) and Omar Asik finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
November 23, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets small forward Chandler Parsons (25) drives to the basket during the first quarter as New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler (6) defends at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE
The Knicks’ offense was also D-league caliber. Hitting 17 threes on 39 shots and Carmelo having 37 points on 7/12 shooting from three seems like winning numbers but it was far from that. Smith was playing like his old-self (it only took time for this to happen), throwing up wild shots and going one-on-one, finished 2-13. Melo was isolating like he was on Denver leading to 7 turnovers. Felton and Kidd were not controlling the flow of the offense, Novak was not getting the ball, and Chandler was lacking the looks to the post.
Getting back to Melo, I’m not blaming him at all for the poor offense since no one else was providing scoring. Melo was as hot as a blow torch in the first and third quarter finishing with 37 points on 7-12 from three. But when he was out, scoring was a major problem especially from the second unit. When Pablo Prigioni is jacking up 6 threes in a game, you know he is not doing his job in controlling the offense. JKidd had a whopping +/- of -29, and Chandler added absolutely nothing to the game.
It only got worse in the second half:
The Knicks cut it to 10 points right off the bat, and then the Rockets went on 13-0 run and were up by 23 with 4 minutes left in the 3rd.
And it only got worse…
Carmelo, complaining to the ref for not getting a foul call, argued with the ref all the way down the court letting Patrick Patterson go in for a wide open dunk. Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier called what Melo did “inexplicable”. I call it a disgrace to the game of basketball.
And it got worse…
Chandler intentionally elbowed Omar Asik in the face when fighting for a rebound and was called for a flagrant foul. Mike Breen described the Knicks as “losing their cool again like they did in Memphis.” And that’s exactly right – their focusing way too much attention on complaining the calls instead of trying to win the basketball game.
The Rockets had 102 points going into the 4th quarter and I honestly had to switch channels to Fred Claus on TBS for a more pleasurable experience on a Friday night.
Speaking of Friday Night, what really disturbed me is with the Knicks down 24 heading into the 4th quarter, they still played the Friday Night Knicks “Get There” song. Who wants to here that when the Knicks are playing sooo terribly?
Harden finished with 33 points, Parsons finished with 31 points, and Asik finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds. If the Knicks cant handle this trio, I can’t imagine them against the Lakers trio of Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, and Dwight Howard or the Thunder duo of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
November 23, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) attempts to drive the ball past Houston Rockets small forward Chandler Parsons (25) during the third quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE
A shout out to all the veterans – where is the leadership? JKidd, you tell Melo to stop complaining. Kurt you should tell Chandler that he could play physical but still keep his composure. And Marcus (I don’t know why you didn’t play tonight), can you please tell JR Smith to stop playing like a maniac and play like he did in the first 6 games. Maybe it’s because Sheed’ was hurt this game that caused bad luck…I don’t know.
I apologize for hurting anyones feelings, but I expect more from this Knicks team. This should be their year to go all the way, and we can’t have this happening 10 games into the year. We have to stay consistent, go back to what works which is constant ball movement, aggressive defense, no complaining with the refs, and helping players out when they’re beat. Let’s hope the Knicks forget about this game.
Woodson in the post-game interview said:
"“We got to get back to the practice court. It was an awful, awful performance on our part.”"