Friday, January 31, 2014

Streaky Knicks Crush Cavs for Fourth Straight Win

NEW YORK -- Ever since a pre-game Muhammad Ali video inspired Carmelo Anthony’s record-breaking 62-point game last week, the New York Knicks have made a habit of delivering early knockout blows.

Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving 
guards New York Knicks point guard Raymond 
Felton during the Knicks' victory at Madison Square 
Garden, on January 30, 2014 (Photo: Jon Wagner)
Building a first-half lead of at least 21 points for the third time during their current four-game winning streak, the Knicks (19-27) obliterated the Cleveland Cavaliers (16-30), 117-86, at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. 

Making nine of its first 11 shots, New York jumped out to a 26-9 lead (following a 22-4 surge) six seconds past the midpoint of the opening quarter and maintained that margin while taking a 38-21 edge into the second period, after the Knicks’ highest-scoring period of the season.

All but three of New York’s points in the quarter came from Anthony (18 points), guard J.R. Smith (11) and center Chandler (6).

“They hit us in the mouth and things became easy for them in the second and third quarters,” said Cleveland star point guard Kyrie Irving, who was rendered a non-factor on 10-of-25 shooting, despite leading the Cavaliers with 24 points. “Things went in their favor. It started when they hit us in the mouth in the first quarter.”

Two made free throws gave Anthony (29 points on 8-of-17 shooting) 16 points and the Knicks a 33-18 lead with 2:42 left in the quarter. The first of those foul shots simultaneously made Anthony the 50th player in NBA history to scored 19,000 points while breaking New York’s previous first-period high of 31 points.

After starting 5-for-8, Anthony misfired on two jumpers on the Knicks’ last trip of the quarter, to barely miss recording his second 20-point first period in a week (after he scored 20 first-quarter points six nights earlier, on his way to setting new franchise and Garden single-game scoring records).    

Joining Anthony in the milestone department was rookie Tim Hardaway, Jr., who matched Anthony’s point total while taking the same number of shots, but making three more, to lead his team in scoring for the first time as a professional.

Much of Hardaway’s damage came from behind the arc,
Rookie guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. scores two of his 
career-high 29 points to help lead the New York Knicks 
over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden, 
on January 30, 2014 (Photo: Jon Wagner)
 where he made half of his dozen 3-point attempts to tie New York’s single-game rookie record (shared by Nate Robinson and Toney Douglas). His 29 points were a career-high and came hours after being named to the rookie-sophomore Rising Stars Challenge during NBA All-Star weekend next month.      

“It’s an honor,” Hardaway said, to be selected for the game in New Orleans on February 14.

Just before their winning streak began, the Knicks’ lack of scoring from their starting backcourt contributed heavily to New York losing five straight games, which came after a five-game winning streak.

But even while getting just four combined first-half points from guards Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni (who went scoreless), the Knicks’ starters still outscored Cleveland, 43-36, by halftime, while at one point, doubling the Cavaliers, 58-29, before settling for a 60-36 lead at intermission.

Although Cleveland tried to make a second-half run, New York pulled away late while finishing 21 percent better (56.6-35.6 percent) from the field, while making a dozen more shots (43-31) despite taking 11 fewer (87-76).   

An Anthony 3-pointer put the Knicks up, 70-41, early in the third quarter, but behind 11 third-period points from Irving, the Cavaliers closed the quarter on a 24-11 spurt to get within 81-65.

They trimmed the gap to as little as 85-71 on a 3-pointer by Irving, 59 seconds into the final period, but a 10-2 run put things out of reach, with New York ahead, 95-73, with 8:50 remaining.

Just 1:14 later, Smith, who finished with 19 points, dazzled the sellout crowd with a fast break, reverse dunk, to push the lead to 100-76, after a rebound and outlet pass from Hardaway. 

Earlier, Smith excited the fans even more when he shook top overall pick Anthony Bennett in the left corner, and then blew by him along the left baseline before throwing down a vicious slam that gave the Knicks a 24-9 advantage.  

Bennett was whistled for three of 11 Cleveland’s fouls in the first quarter, which helped send the Knicks to the line 16 times (where New York made 10 foul shots) in the period.

“You have to give the Knicks credit,” head coach Mike Brown said. “They came out and jumped on us.”

With Smith and Hardaway helping out, Anthony was able to sit the last quarter out for a second straight game.

 “It was fun to watch,” Anthony said of the play by Smith and Hardaway. “Just to see them guys, especially Tim,” he continued. “To see him get in that groove tonight, it was special to watch, and J.R continues to keep getting better and playing well. That’s something that we’re going to need especially trying to make the run that we’re trying to make heading into the end of the season.”

On Smith, head coach Mike Woodson added, “I think he is playing more relaxed. He is more engaged and in tune, and he is doing what we want from him… it’s nice to see.”

Woodson also said of Hardaway, “He was steady. He picked up the two fouls early. He came back in and played beautifully. He played great.”

Having again turned things around after New York’s latest struggles, Anthony said, “The most important thing we didn’t do was point fingers. When you point fingers through tough times, it just crumbles everything, and for us, we had to face it. Everybody had to man up and face that adversity.”

Doing that has helped New York win seven of its past 10 games at home, after starting just 4-12 at MSG this season.

“It's starting to feel a lot better here on our own court,” Anthony said, before admitting that his scoring outburst last Friday night has seemed to galvanize his teammates.

“Sometimes during the season you need something to just spark it,” he said. “If that’s the case, then yeah, that 62-point game sparked it. It got guys to refocusing again, and everybody’s doing what they have to do right now.”

That Knicks won that game, against Charlotte by the same 31 points they beat Cleveland by, and they defeated Boston by 26 points on Tuesday.

New York completed its first winning month of the season, going 10-6 in January, after starting 9-21 over October, November and December. But the Knicks would also like to end their season-long, eight-game homestand with a winning record after starting that stretch 0-3. They can do that if they once again beats the defending champion Miami Heat on Saturday night, on the eve of the New York area’s first Super Bowl. New York won the teams’ only meeting, also at MSG, on January 9.

Saturday evening’s contest will mark the dawning of a new NBA era featuring current deputy commissioner Adam Silver taking over as commissioner for David Stern, who will retire after a remarkable 30-year run that grew the league’s popularity exponentially.

“This is the last game at the Garden where the ball’s going to have my name on it,” Stern told MSG Network’s Al Trautwig during the game.

Jon Wagner is a Yahoo Sports contributor covering the New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Mets. He also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the New York Cosmos for New York Sports Day. Follow Jon on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner, and visit his Yahoo Contributor Network page by clicking here.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Frantz Massenat’s Brilliant Peformance Helps Drexel Hold Off Hofstra

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Senior guard Frantz Massenat left the door open for the Hofstra Pride when he missed the first of two free throws with his team up three points and 5.6 seconds left at the Mack Sports Complex on Wednesday night.

Frantz Massenat's career night led
Drexel to a narrow road win at CAA
rival Hofstra (Photo: Jon Wagner)
But when Hofstra (7-15, 3-4 Colonial Athletic Association) failed to capitalize on its last possession, Massenat, who did just about everything else right, was easily forgiven, as the Drexel Dragons (11-9, 3-4 CAA) held on for a 77-74 victory to snap a two-game skid while handing the Pride its third straight loss.

Not only did the Ewing, New Jersey product lead all scorers with a career-high 32 points, but he did so on 9-of-18 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range, while going 8-for-10 at the foul line and dishing out a game-best nine assists, all without turning the ball over.

He also made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Drexel a 40-32 halftime lead. And after Hofstra fought back therafter, Massenat scored on a driving layup to put the Dragons up for good, 68-66, with 2:08 remaining.

“He’s a winner, that kid,” Hofstra head coach Joe Mihalich said of Massenat. “When his team needs him, he makes winning plays… he’s just a good player.”  

Graduate student Chris Fouch, from  the Bronx, added 19 points as the only other Drexel scorer in double figures.

The Pride had four players in that category, with graduate transfer guard Zeke Upshaw leading the way with 27 points, on 8-of-20 shooting, after starting just 2-for-8. 

Upshaw was one of a trio of Hofstra players to play all 40 minutes, as he was joined by freshman guard Jamall Robinson (15 points, 10 rebounds), graduate transfer point guard Dion Nesmith (13 points, eight assists, five three turnovers) and junior forward Moussa Kone (10 points, all in the first half).

A pair of treys within the first 2:31 by Massenat sparked the Dragons to an 11-2 lead before each team went on scoring streaks.

Hofstra answered with the next four points, before a Massenat jumper later in the opening half put Drexel up, 20-11, by the under-12 timeout, with Robinson accounting for nine of the Pride’s points (to already surpass his season average of 8.8 points by that time).   

Five straight Pride points followed, to trim the gap to 20-16, but the Dragons responded with the next seven points to take the biggest lead of the game, 27-16, on a 3-pointer by Massenat with 7:38 left in the half. But with Upshaw hitting a 3 after missing his first four shots, Hofstra again ran off five consecutive points and extended that run to a larger 11-2 spurt that cut Drexels' lead to 29-27.

After another 3 by Upshaw made it 32-30, Fouch matched that shot with a 3 to start an 8-2 Dragons run to close the half.

Trailing by six points within the first three minutes of the second half, the Pride went on another 11-2 surge, to take its first lead, 50-47, after a drive in the paint by Upshaw and a pass for a right corner 3 that marked Robinson’s first points since the nine he scored early in the game.

Despite the loss, head coach Joe Mihalich said, “I thought our kids played their hearts out. They just never, never quit. Where we smart at all times? No. Did we leave a lot of plays on the floor. Yeah.  Did we make our fair share of mistakes that we just can’t make if we wanna win games like this? Yeah. But our guys played their hearts out right until the final buzzer.”

With Robinson sitting just to his right after the game, Mihalich admitted, “I think I’ve done a lousy job with Jamall over the last couple of weeks, I really do. I’m going to try to do a better job with him, because there’s not a better guy on the team than this guy… as we go on here this year, and in the years to come, he going to be a big part of the solution here.”

To those words, Robinson said of his coach, “I feel like I’ll work hard on the floor and off the floor with him, because we have the same goal, trying to win. That’s what it’s all about.”

Moments after Robinson moved Hofstra ahead, Massenat completed a nice 3-point play to give him 24 points and put Drexel up, 52-50. But another Robinson 3-pointer regained the lead for the Pride, 56-54, before freshman guard Chris Jenkins made a 3 as well, for his only points, to give Hofstra a 59-54 edge.

Freshman forward Rodney Williams (eight points, six rebounds) was set up by Massenat for a dunk on the next trip, and almost 2½ minutes later, another Massenat 3 put the Dragons ahead, 61-60, with 6:08 left.

Following that basket, neither team took more than a two-point lead until Massenat assisted on a layup by junior forward Abif Kazembe (six points, seven rebounds), to give Drexel a 70-66 advantage on the Dragons' last field goal, with 1:34 to go.

Just enough free throws took Drexel home from there, even though a Nesmith 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left, drew Hofstra to as close as 76-74.

With Nesmith fouling out just before Massenat’s last two free throws, and injured sophomore forward Jordan Allen (who at times, has played the point), the Pride struggled to get in position for a 3-pointer that might have forced overtime.

Kone eventually received the ball near midcourt and frantically looked around for someone to pass to, before he finally spotted Upshaw, who could do no better than take an off-balance, desperation 35-footer that fell well short of the rim.

Mihalich noted Allen’s absence hurting his squad. “He’s a starter,” he said of Allen, who will require surgery for a broken nose that has kept him out for the past 3½ games.

“We had our sixth and seventh men on the floor a lot. If [Allen’s playing], they’re not on the floor as much… he’s getting 12 points and six rebounds in league games. He changes the whole dynamic of our rotation… because he’s versatile. He and Zeke create mismatch problems. They go back and forth and play a couple of different positions. So without him, we can’t do that.”

Yet Mihalich also pointed to other reasons for the loss, ending with some sarcasm to drive home his point. “We didn’t lose because we didn’t have Jordan Allen,” he said. “We lost the game in the first half. We gave up 40 points in the first half. We didn’t guard the shooters well, we didn’t guard the post well, we didn’t rebound. Other than that, we were perfect on defense.”

And most of all, they couldn’t stop Massenat, who had one of the best all-around games ever seen in the 14-year old Mack, on Hofstra’s campus.

Drexel, which has been besieged by its own injuries since upsetting UCLA on the road and nearly beat top-ranked Arizona on a neutral floor (when Arizona ranked fourth in the nation), desperately needed the victory to try to get back toward the team that was picked to finish second in the CAA. The Dragons will next travel to CAA favorite Towson, on Saturday, hoping to avenge a January 14 home loss to the Tigers.


Meanwhile, Hofstra could have also used the win, having lost three straight in the CAA after being picked last in the league and then surprising everyone with a 3-1 start to conference play. Starting a tough stretch of four road contests in five games, ending with a rematch at Drexel, the Pride will travel to Charleston, which lost in Hempstead on January 11.

Jon Wagner is a Yahoo Sports contributor covering the New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Mets. He also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the New York Cosmos for New York Sports Day. Follow Jon on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner, and visit his Yahoo Contributor Network page by clicking here.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

That’s More Like It: Knicks Avenge Season’s Worst Loss, Win Third Straight by 26

NEW YORK -- Following the New York Knicks’ last game (a win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday), star forward Carmelo Anthony reflected on his team’s worst loss of the season -- an embarrassing and dispirited 41-point loss to the Boston Celtics on December 8.

“That’s in the back of our minds, so we understand the loss that we had against them last time, and we want to redeem ourselves,” he said.

Not only did Anthony’s Knicks (18-27) accomplish that, but they posted just their second wire-to-wire win (and first at home) of the year, in a dominating 114-88 victory over the Celtics (15-32) at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

More importantly, New York evened its record on a season-long, eight-game homestand after losing the first three games of that stretch.

Playing just 28 minutes before taking the fourth quarter off with three other starters, Anthony led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting while filling out the box score with nine rebounds, four assists and a game-high four steals.

Guard J.R Smith and forward Jeremy Tyler scored 17 points apiece, guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. had 16 and center Tyson Chandler added 12 points and a game-best 13 rebounds.

Boston had four scorers in double figures, but none more than forward Jeff Green’s 14 points, as the Celtics only shot 39 percent (32-for-82) while allowing the Knicks to make 53.7 percent (44-for-82) of their shots and match the 114 points that Boston scored at the Garden 44 days earlier.

Unlike that game, when the Celtics ran out to leads of 18-1 and 25-3, it was New York’s turn to start fast with similar advantages of 18-5 and 24-7, to jump start a 67-point turnaround from Boston’s last visit to MSG.

“That was an old-fashioned butt kicking,” head coach Brad Stevens said. “To their credit, I think they played really locked in, really engaged and really stuck together.”

With Anthony’s 11 first-quarter points (on 4-of-6 shooting), and six of point guard Raymond Felton’s eight assists leading the way, the Knicks (61.9 percent) shot more than 30 percent better than the Celtics (31.6 percent) in the opening period.

Motivated by payback, the Knicks mainly wanted to keep playing well, in general.

“It’s definitely one of these games we wanted to win for what they did to us the last time [at home],” Felton said. “This game was a little personal, but at the same time we still want to come out and get better and play the right way.”

Leading 31-15, New York started the second quarter on a 14-5 run to open a 45-20 edge on a dunk by Chandler, off of an alley-oop pass from Smith. Boston scored the next 11 points but the Knicks answered with a 14-6 run, to lead, 59-33, before taking a commanding 63-37 lead into the locker room.

The Knicks, who had 19 assists on 24 first-half field goals, coasted from there.

Two free throws by Hardaway, Jr. capped a 15-6 spurt that swelled the lead to 78-43, a little past the midpoint of the third quarter, and New York still had a healthy 86-59 advantage as the period ended.

Nine straight Celtics points trimmed the gap to 101-82, but Boston got no closer.

Sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division, four games ahead of the Celtics, 5½ behind first-place Toronto and a half-game out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks are suddenly playing with a greater sense of urgency again.

“It seems to me that they’re more committed now,” head coach Mike Woodson said. “We don’t have a lot of room for error in terms of moving up in our division and trying to get in the playoff hunt… we’re playing better basketball right now and that has to do with the guys in the locker room.”

Although the ball has been moving well offensively, Woodson said it’s the other end of the floor which has led to New York’s recent success.

“Our defense has triggered a lot of it,” he said. “We’re getting stops early in the game and then our pace has really picked up. We’re back to playing small ball again, and the ball’s moving, guys are shooting 3s and feeling good about themselves, which is kind of nice to see.”

Those feelings have permeated the Knicks’ roster of late, but talking things out has helped changed the team’s focus.

“We are really locking in and playing for one another,” Chandler said. “We are happy and fun and enjoying the game. When you lose a couple of games, the team energy goes down and there is a cloud over the locker room. We had a couple of meetings and realized we love the game… and we are having fun again.”

Felton added, “We just came together and understand that this is how we gotta play to win games. We’ve got a lot of new guys on this team. At some point it was going to click for us, and hopefully we’re making that turn right now. The way we’ve been playing these last three games has been very fun.”

Not everything went smoothly for New York, however. Woodson was ecstatic that his reserves gave him good minutes, but not at the expense of yet more injuries affecting a club which has already suffered more than its share this season.

“Iman (Shumpert) sprained his shoulder," Woodson said. "How long he’s going to be out, I don’t know. Beno (Udrih) left the game with flu-like symptoms and he had to go home, and Kenyon (Martin) could have played if we needed him after rolling his ankle in the first half, but we elected to sit him because I thought Jeremy (Tyler) and Cole (Aldrich), along with Timmy, our bench was fantastic again tonight.”

Whoever has been on the floor for the Knicks over the past three games has been doing his job with much better effort, which Anthony noted, has to come from within.

“You cannot teach energy,” he said. “Lately we have been very consistent in that area and we want to build on it.”

New York will get two more chances to do that before hitting the road, while having a chance to finish its homestand with a winning record. 

Cleveland (16-29), which beat the Knicks by 15 points at home, two days after Boston’s big win at MSG, will come to the Garden on Thursday night. The two-time defending champion Miami Heat will then do the same on Saturday night, seeking retribution for a 10-point loss in New York on January 9.

Jon Wagner is a Yahoo Sports contributor covering the New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Mets. He also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the New York Cosmos for New York Sports Day. Follow Jon on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner, and visit his Yahoo Contributor Network page by clicking here.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Helping Hands: Carmelo Anthony (and Others) Lead Knicks to Second Straight Win


By Jon Wagner

NEW YORK -- Carmelo Anthony didn’t need to put forth a record-breaking performance this time.

Carmelo Anthony guarded closely by Jodie Meeks. 
(Photo: Jon Wagner)

One game after his brilliant 62-point effort that set New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden records, Anthony’s normal, everyday greatness sufficed, as his 35 points on 14-of-31 shooting were complemented by 67 points from four of his teammates, during the Knicks’ 110-103 victory 
over the Los Angeles Lakers (16-29) on Sunday afternoon at the Garden.

Point guard Raymond Felton reached 20 points for the first time this season (on 8-of-10 shooting, to match the same numbers Anthony had after one quarter on Friday night); Tim Hardaway, Jr. had 18 points (on 7-of-12 shooting); J.R. Smith scored 16 (while making half of his 12 shots); and center Tyson Chandler added 13 (on 5-of-11 shooting), while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds (including six on the offensive glass), for the Knicks (17-27), who won their second straight game while moving to 2-3 on a season-long eight-game homestand.

The Lakers likewise had several hot shooters, as guard Jodie Meeks scored 24 points (on 8-of-13 shooting); center Pau Gasol had 20 (on 8-of-15 shooting) and a team-high 13 rebounds; reserve guard Manny Harris (playing on a 10-day contract) scored 18 points (on 6-of-9 shooting); and forward Nick Young (13 points) and guard Kendall Marshall (12 points) each shot 5-for-11.

Los Angeles also had a 15-2 edge in fast break points, but that was more than offset by a 21-6 New York advantage in second-chance points, due in large part to the Knicks’ 16-5 dominance on the offensive glass.

Although he didn’t need to put New York on his back again, Anthony did bring the Knicks home with two consecutive baskets, to extend a precarious three-point lead to seven, with 2:33 remaining. Those buckets came after Anthony finished the third quarter with 29 points, but had only two previous points on one field goal in the final period.

Yet unlike New York’s last win, the Knicks were far more balanced on their path to victory.

A view inside Madison Square Garden, from the Chase Bridge. 
(Photo: Jon Wagner)

“It’s great when you look up at the scoreboard and see so many guys in double figures,” Chandler said. “That means it’s a team effort and with everybody involved. I feel like it just picks up the intensity.”

Forward Iman Shumpert (five points) noted New York’s good ball movement, which helped the Knicks -- on three more attempts (26-23) -- match the Lakers’ 11 3-pointers.

“I thought we spread the ball around quite a bit tonight, and everybody was pretty aggressive, so it was great to see that,” he said.

Shooting 47.8 percent (43-for-90), to Los Angeles' 52 percent (39-for-75), New York had assists (21) on nearly half of its field goals.

Almost half of those came from Felton and Anthony (game-high five assists each), whose team moved to 12-4 this season when the Knicks' best player hands out at least four assists.

Just as he did in his last outing, Anthony started hot while making three of his first four shots and scoring seven points to help New York to a 10-6 lead after 3:17.

“I thought he came out early and established himself, and was shooting the heck out of the ball,” head coach Mike Woodson said of Anthony. “His teammates rallied around him, did their part, and it was a total team effort… last year, we had five guys averaging in double figures. I have always wanted a team where you don’t know where it’s coming from. You know Melo is going to get his, but we need everybody to touch the ball, feel confident and shoot it.”

Adding to Woodson’s comments, Anthony said, “I was just trying to lock in again, get it going from the start and hopefully give my teammates some momentum, something that they can build off of and feed off of… I don’t think they wanted to just watch me out there playing offensively. They wanted to be a part of it, and they did. Before the game, we all talked about them being more aggressive, and don’t try to rely on me scoring 62 points, ‘cause it’s not going to happen today. And they did that. They was aggressive from the start and everybody seemed to get it going.”

Amused by the reaction to the insanely high bar set by Anthony last game, Chandler said, “You know it’s funny, when a guy puts up the type of numbers that he put up tonight… and you hear the crowd gasp when he misses a shot, like he’s just expected to make every single shot when he put up 62 a couple nights before.”

After the Lakers tied the game at 12-apeice, the Knicks took a 22-16 lead, but Los Angeles scored the last nine points of the first quarter to go up, 25-22.

That margin grew to 32-26, but New York tied the game at 35-all on a 9-3 run. Four more ties followed in the period, two of which came as the Knicks closed the half on a 12-5 spurt to lead, 51-47.

For New York, that was key, since the Knicks are now 15-4 (and 7-3 at home) when they lead at halftime this season, and only 2-23 (2-12 at MSG) when they don’t.

Anthony, who led all scorers with 20 points (on 7-of-13 shooting) in the first half, started a high-scoring third quarter (34-32, Lakers) with a 3-pointer to extend New York’s lead to 54-47, but Los Angeles reeled off the next eight points to lead by one.

Tim Hardaway, Jr. dunks as Carmelo Anthony 
watches. (Photo: Jon Wagner)
A pair of Chandler free throws capped a 10-4 spurt to put the Knicks up by five points, but the game was tied twice more in the quarter, before a 3-pointer and an alley-oop dunk by Hardaway gave New York an 83-79 cushion. A layup by Marshall sliced that lead in half, to 83-81, heading into the fourth period.

Driving layups by Hardaway pushed the Knicks’ edge to 88-83, and then 95-91, before a Chandler alley-oop dunk from Felton delighted the crowd and had New York ahead, 99-94, with 5:42 remaining.

Marshall answered with a 3-pointer, to get the Lakers to within 99-97, with 5:18 left, but Los Angeles managed just one field goal thereafter as the Knicks kept scoring. A layup by Anthony doubled the lead to four points, on his first points of the period, with 4:51 to go.

“We stopped them on the defensive end, held them to one shot,” Anthony said. “We played great defense coming down the stretch.”

Woodson added, “Our defense got better in the fourth quarter. If you are going to make a push in the game, your defense has to pick you up and carry you home. They shot the lights out in the third. When we had to get stops coming down the stretch, in the fourth quarter, we got stops and we executed offensively.”

Gasol made it a one-possession game by sinking one of two free throws, but a 14-foot jumper and a driving layup by Anthony finally gave the Knicks some breathing room with a 105-98 advantage.

Felton drained a 20-foot jumper to increase the lead to 107-99, with 1:31 left, and the Lakers never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Although he was well short of his previous point total, Anthony tied Bernard King (1984-85) for the third-most most points (97) in franchise history over a two-game span. It was King’s single-game record of 60 points (in 1984) that Anthony broke on Friday night. He also eclipsed the old Garden high of 61 points, set in 2009, by Kobe Bryant, who missed his 20th straight game with an injured left knee.

Bryant’s absence took some life out of the matchup, one that saw the two teams pitted against each other, each with records of at least 10 games under .500 at the same time, for the first time since 1960.

Looking ahead, Anthony said, “We’ve got to start building something here on our home court.” New York is just 9-15 there after starting 10-0 and going 31-10 at MSG last year.

Up next for the Knicks is a rematch with the fourth-place Boston Celtics (15-31), who will return to the Garden for the first time since handing New York its worst loss of the season, by 41 points, on December 8.

“We know that,” Anthony said. “That’s in the back of our minds, so we understand the loss that we had against them last time, and we want to redeem ourselves.”

Jon Wagner is a Yahoo Sports contributor covering the New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Mets. He also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the New York Cosmos for New York Sports Day. Follow Jon on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner, and visit his Yahoo Contributor Network page by clicking here.

Northeastern Beats Up Hofstra Inside and Out

By Jon Wagner

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- After three straight Colonial Athletic Association wins, the Hofstra Pride was feeling pretty good about itself.

Perhaps too good.

Admitting that his team suffered a letdown at home when it should have hungered for more success, head coach Joe Mihalich expected his Pride (7-13, 3-2 CAA) -- picked last in the conference -- to continue being the surprise of the CAA.

Instead, the Northeastern Huskies (7-14, 4-3 CAA) used the effective inside-outside game of junior guard Demetrius Pollard (25 points) and redshirt junior forward Scott Eatherton (18 points, seven rebounds) to rally from an early 10-point deficit and later and finish on a 32-13 surge, to win, 70-57, at the Mack Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.

“We let a great opportunity slip away today,” Mihalich said. “It’s very disappointing… we didn’t handle having a little bit of success.”

While each team shot the same 12-for-25 from the floor in the opening half, and finished with an identical 54 field goal attempts and 30 rebounds, the Huskies made six more shots (28-22) overall, and stymied the Pride’s offense with a tough 3-2 zone that Hofstra was unable to penetrate.

Although Northeastern only went to the foul line seven times (making five), the Pride settled for 21 3-point attempts (and made only six) while taking just nine foul shots (making seven), after entering the game with a CAA-leading 26.5 free throw attempts per game.

“The zone hurt [us],” Mihalich said. “[We] should have been more productive with our post guys.”

What hurt more though, was Hofstra’s two best players, each graduate student transfers, point guard Dion Nesmith (18 points) and CAA-leading scorer, forward Zeke Upshaw (12 points), failing to score over the final 15:13, after the duo helped put the Pride up by six points.

“I felt like they extended the zone a little bit and tried to deny me the ball with the 3-2 [zone], Upshaw said. “So it was definitely tough in that regard.”

Two other Hofstra players, freshman guard Jamall Robinson (11 points, four assists) and senior center Moussa Kone (10 points, all in the second half) joined Nesmith and Upshaw in double figures in scoring. But shorthanded, the Pride only played three other players who totaled six points between them, as Nesmith and Robinson logged 38 minutes apiece and Upshaw 37. 

It was a game In which Hofstra certainly could have used injured sophomore forward Jordan Allen.

“We’re not going to make any excuses, but man, we missed him,” Mihalich said. “He’s a starter… his stats don’t blow you away, but it’s all the other things that he does… he was playing good (before he got hurt).”

Mihalich noted the Pride’s struggles at each end of the floor, saying, “I don’t know what was worse, our defense or our offense. They were both pretty bad.”

When it came to trying to stop Pollard (who shot a scorching 9-for-14, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range) or Eatherton (an even hotter 8-for-10), Mihalich conceded, “We didn’t do either one well. They both had their way. They both did whatever they wanted.”

Early on, it was Hofstra doing that, as the Pride scored the first seven points and led, 12-2, after six minutes. But the Huskies scored the next seven points, as a pair of free throws and a dunk by Eatherton (Northeastern’s leading scorer) sandwiched Pollard’s first trey of the game.

A jumper by Robinson pushed the lead to 29-20, with 6:01 left in the first half, but a Pollard 3-point play ended a 10-4 run that pulled the Huskies to within 33-30 by halftime.

In blowing another halftime edge, Hofstra dropped to just 6-8 in games that it has led at the half.

Nesmith completed a 3-point play on either side of the under-16 timeout, with 15:30 left in the game, and Upshaw followed that with a layup, 16 seconds later, to give the Pride a 44-38 lead. However, neither would score again.

With those two silenced, Northeastern scored the next 10 points. Pollard gave the Huskies their first lead, 46-44, on a layup at the 11:34 mark, as the run became a larger 16-3 spurt that ended with Northeastern ahead, 54-47, with 8:50 remaining.

Hofstra closed to within 57-53, before a drive and a thunderous two-handed dunk by Eatherton regained some momentum for the Huskies.

Pollard followed that with a right-wing 3-pointer to push the lead to 62-53, with 4:04 to go.

Kone threw down a dunk with 1:49 left, that would have brought the Pride to within five points if not for a lucky, banked 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring, by sophomore forward David Walker (10 points), giving Northeastern a comfortable 65-55 lead, on the previous trip.

Since Hofstra didn’t play well following some prosperity, Mihalich returned to playing the “us-against-the-world” card to motivate his players for a difficult stretch over the next two games, as the Pride will visit Towson (12-8 3-2 CAA), the CAA preseason favorite, on Monday night, before hosting Drexel (10-9, 2-4 CAA) -- picked second in the conference -- on Wednesday night.

“We don’t have time to sit around and mope,” Mihalich said. “We don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves… we’ve got a big game Monday night and another one on Wednesday… we’ve got to go out there and get that chip back on our shoulder and try to prove people wrong. We didn’t prove anybody wrong today. So we’ll see if we can do that Monday night, because nobody thinks we’re going to win that game, nobody in the league, nobody down at Towson… so it’s up to us to be the ones that can do that.”

Jon Wagner is a Yahoo Sports contributor covering the New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Mets. He also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the New York Cosmos for New York Sports Day. Follow Jon on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner, and visit his Yahoo Contributor Network page by clicking here.