The New York Knicks played the Phoenix Suns last night in Phoenix. Since Nash left to join the Lakers during the off-season the Suns just have not been the same. Before last night’s game the Suns record was 11-17, so this should have been a pretty easy win for the 20-8 Knicks. Then came the news that two of the Knicks starting players, Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton would not be playing in the game. Anthony was out with a hyper-extended left knee and Felton out with a fractured right pinkie finger.
Last night the Knicks starting five were Tyson Chandler (12.6), Jason Kidd (8.1), Ronnie Brewer (5.2), Kurt Thomas (2.2), and James White (1.6). All together the starting five have an average of 29.7 points per game; only about one more point than Anthony’s average of 28.5 ppg. Maybe this game would not be as easy of a win as it should have been.
For most of the game the Knicks kept a good lead, 54-44 at the half and 68-54 with 7:13 left in the third. After that the Suns took over the lead with a 20-4 run. With only 34.5 seconds left in the game the Suns were up 97-95. Then with 10.6 seconds left J.R. Smith made a fade away that tied up the score 97-97. The Suns next possession resulted in a turnover when Sebastian Telfair stepped out-of-bounds with only one second left in the game. After the Knicks 20-second timeout J.R. Smith walked onto the court preparing himself. Smith said, “I was like you’re going to make it! You’re going to make it!”
Resources:
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400278141
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8782994
http://www.nba.com/standings/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.htm