Friday, February 28, 2014

Hot Curry Leads Warriors in Rout Over Knicks


NEW YORK -- The way Stephen Curry likes to play at Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks are thankful the All-Star only visits there once per year.

Exactly one year and one night ago, Curry, one of the NBA’s best outside shooters, drained 11 of 13 shots from behind the arc while scoring a career-high 54 points -- but his Golden State Warriors lost to the Knicks, 109-105.

This time, there was no doubt, as Curry, leading the league in assists, put himself in some extremely rare Garden company. Needing just three quarters to post his third triple-double of the season, Curry led Golden State (36-23) to a 126-103 rout of New York (21-38) at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

Although he scored merely half of the points he did the last time he played at MSG, Curry, with game highs of 27 points and 11 assists, and a team-best 11 rebounds, joined LeBron James as the only opposing players to post a 50-point game and a triple-double on the Knicks’ home floor.

Carmelo Anthony is one of three Knicks (along with Bernard King and Patrick Ewing) to accomplish the same feat. While he led New York with 23 points and 16 rebounds, last year’s scoring champion uncharacteristically missed 19 of 26 shots, including five of six from 3-point range.

“I knew when I had seven [rebounds], somebody mentioned it on the bench,” Curry said of being aware that he was closing in on his fourth career triple-double late in the third period. “Once I got the last one, I heard a couple rumbles in the crowd and I put two and two together… it’s pretty special. I hadn’t had a [triple-double] since my rookie year before this year started. I have three [this year] and hopefully some more left in the tank.”

Commenting on impressing the New York crowd again, a humble Curry remained team-focused. “It’s one of those arenas that you understand the history,” he said. “To get a win this year [unlike last year] is bigger than any [personal] stats [for me].”

Reserve guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. added 22 points, and usual guard J.R. Smith (starting at forward) scored 17, but the Warriors countered with plenty offense themselves. Curry’s backcourt mate Klay Thompson scored 25 points, 35-year-old reserve forward Jermaine O’Neal had 15, reserve forward Maurice Speights scored 12 and ex-Knick, forward David Lee, added 10.

Hurting the Knicks from both the interior and perimeter, Golden State held a 44-32 edge in the paint while Curry (in 11 attempts) and Thompson (in 10 tries) each made five 3s.  

Coached by another former Knick player, head coach Mark Jackson, the Warriors won for the fifth time in six games (all since the All-Star break) while rebounding from a blowout loss in Chicago two nights earlier. During that game, Golden State allowed the same 103 points as it did in New York -- but scored 43 fewer -- as Curry was held to a season-low-tying five points on just 2-of-10 shooting.

“We know we didn’t play our best in Chicago,” Curry said. “This was an opportunity to correct that and we did that from the start.”

Meanwhile, the Knicks, who completed their second 2-11 month of the season (the other was November) after going a far more respectable 16-15 over December and January, fell to a season-high 17 games under .500. They also allowed a regulation season-high in points, giving up just three points less than the 129 they allowed during a double overtime loss in Orlando a week prior.

Coming off of a 26-point defeat in Miami one night earlier, New York was outscored by 49 points over about a 26-hour period. The Knicks also fell six games behind Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Setting the tone at the outset, Curry made three shots and assisted on an alley-oop dunk as the Warriors scored 10 straight points to lead, 15-6. Golden State extended that advantage to as much as 34-23 in the opening quarter before holding a 38-27 edge as the period ended.

A layup by O’Neal (who followed 37-year-old Vince Carter’s season-high 23 points at MSG on Monday night) pushed the lead to 43-27 less than two minutes into the second quarter. Although the Knicks responded with a 12-5 run to get within 48-39, a 3-pointer by Curry started a 22-10 spurt to close the half, and the Warriors led, 73-52, at halftime.

Giving up the most points it had in a half all season, while allowing Golden State to reach its season-high point total for a half, New York was booed off the court as an exasperated group of Knicks headed to the locker room.

That frustration boiled over for center Tyson Chandler six points, 12 rebounds), who got into a shoving match with Speights and was then ejected after picking up a pair of technical fouls within slightly more than a two-minutes span.

“It did for me, but I hope it doesn’t for the team,” Chandler said on being affected by his team’s disappointing season. “It was just me getting frustrated with everything that’s been going on. It had nothing to do with [Speights] and more to do about the season.”

Before that, the Warriors went up, 81-54. The Knicks scored the next 10 points, but four straight points by Curry capped a 14-4 run that grew the margin to 95-68.

New York ended the third quarter on a 12-4 spurt to get within 99-80 going into the fourth period, and a Hardaway jumper cut the lead further, to 105-89, with 8:27 left. But that was as close as the Knicks would get as Golden State coasted the rest of the way.

"It’s fine to think that you want to have that belief,” Smith said of the Knicks speaking as contenders all season while rarely being able to back that up. “If you can’t put it out there on the court, then it don’t mean nothing." It’s not a mental thing, it’s a heart thing. If you’re going to let people score 40, 50 points in the paint over and over again, you’re not going to win… we’ve got to stick up for ourselves. We’re letting [opposing teams] do what they want to do.”              

Unlike Smith, Anthony believes the Knicks’ struggles have more to do with execution than effort.

“I don’t think it’s heart,” Anthony said. “For me, it’s just the consistency, and that’s been all year long. As far as questioning the guys’ heart, I wouldn’t go that far. As a team, we’re not consistent in a lot of aspects.”

At least Curry has faith that New York can solve its issues before it’s too late, even with only 23 regular season games to go.

“It is very surprising,” Curry said of the Knicks’ record. “The amount of talent they have… I know a lot of things have not gone their way… but I’m sure they’ll figure it out… before it gets too far gone.”

But as long as how to do that remains a mystery for New York, head coach Mike Woodson will stay on the on the coaching hot seat.

Still, he too, continues to be positive. “I told everyone in the locker room that we still have a shot at it,” he said. “Somewhere along the line, we have to draw the line and figure out if we are committed to make the playoffs.”

Hoping to turn the page on another bad month, the Knicks will begin March with a three-game, Midwestern road swing that will start in Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Shooter’s Touch: Mavs Edge Knicks on Nowitzki’s Lucky Buzzer-Beater

NEW YORK – With more than seven weeks still left in the NBA regular season, the New York Knicks have already lost far more than they ever expected to this season. But Monday night’s 110-108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks was their most disheartening defeat yet.

New York (21-36) rallied from a 14-point, second-quarter deficit to lead at the start of the fourth-quarter, and then scored eight straight points, in 46.7 seconds, to tie Dallas (35-23) at 108-apeice, only to lose when forward Dirk Nowitzki’s lucky jumper from just inside the top of the key glanced off of the backboard, bounced off of the rim, straight up and then through the hoop as time expired at Madison Square Garden.

Not only is the Knicks’ mark of 15 games below .500 a season-high, but New York, with 10 home games still remaining, already clinched a worse mark at MSG this year than its road record (23-18) last season. That comes long after the Knicks (12-19 at the Garden) lost any chance to match their 31-10 home record a year ago.

Wasted during New York’s third straight loss, and sixth in seven games, was a 44-point effort from forward Carmelo Anthony, whose 7-of-12 shooting from 3-point range was equaled by 37-year-old forward Vince Carter, who was one of three Mavericks to reach 20 points while leading Dallas with a season-high 23 points. The Mavericks’ scoring from their starting backcourt of Monta Ellis (22 points) and Jose Calderon (20 points) overwhelmed that of the Knicks, which produced only eight points each from guards Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni.    

Conversely, Anthony was essentially a one-man show, as the three other Knicks to score in double figures -- reserve guard J.R. Smith (15 points), center Tyson Chandler (12 points, 12 rebounds) and reserve guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. (10 points) -- complemented New York’s franchise player with only limited scoring help.

“This was a tough one,” Anthony admitted.

While winning its third straight game, Dallas built five-point leads three times in the opening quarter, the last time, 20-15, on a Calderon 3-pointer, before pushing that advantage to 31-19 on a Carter trey.

A 7-3 spurt to start the second period extended the Mavericks’ edge to a game-high 38-24, but primarily with the energy and defense of center Cole Aldrich (two points, three rebounds), who only played the final 8:21 of the first half (in place of Chandler), the Knicks stormed back with a 35-19 run to take their first lead (59-57) since they were up, 7-6.

Anthony capped the stretch with a pull-up jumper, but 11.3 seconds later, Ellis drilled a 3-pointer to beat the first-half buzzer, sending Dallas to the locker room, up 60-59.

An Anthony trey midway through the third quarter kept New York within 72-71, but two more 3s  by Carter keyed a 12-5 run that gave the Mavericks an 84-76 lead in the final minute of the period.

However, Anthony again brought the Knicks back, scoring the last six points (on three free throws and a 3-pointer) of the quarter over the period’s final 32.5 seconds, to trimmed Dallas’ lead to 84-82.

Smith gave New York its last lead, 85-84, on a 3-pointer 16 seconds into the fourth quarter, but consecutive 3s from Carter put the Mavericks back up, 90-85.

Prigioni 3-pointers twice (at 92-90 and 96-93) cut the gap to a one-possession game, but Dallas stayed up by at least four points until Anthony sliced the lead in half, to 103-100 on a trey with 2:43 left, following five Knick offensive rebounds on the same trip.

Calderon answered with a 3-pointer 48 seconds later, to double the margin to 106-100, and a layup by reserve forward Brandan Wright (12 points on 6-of-8 shooting) increased the lead to 108-100, with 1:37 remaining.

But just 10 seconds later, Felton scored on a layup, and after an Ellis turnover, Felton lobbed to Chandler who scored on a layup and completed a 3-point play with a free throw, to bring New York to within 108-105, with 1:12 to go.

Chandler then stole the ball from Ellis and passed to Felton, who Anthony up for a game-tying 3 with 50.3 seconds left, and after a missed 3-pointer by Carter, the Knicks had a chance to take the lead. But Carter forced Anthony to abandon his plans to take a jumper from the right wing and instead pass to Smith on the left wing as the shot clock was winding down.

“He lost the handle on the ball and got jammed, and couldn’t get his shot,” head coach Mike Woodson said of the play. “J.R. tried to get it off. I thought he was bumped, but we didn’t get the call.”

All Smith could do at that point was force a contested 22-footer that fell short as the shot clock expired, with 10.6 left on the game clock. On his follow-through, Smith was hit on the hand by Ellis, but nothing was called.

That set the stage for Nowitzki (15 points) who hit the game-winner over Anthony.

“I waited a little too long and by the time I looked up there was not enough time,” Nowitzki said. “It was definitely an ugly shot, but I am glad it went in.”

On trying to guard the shot, Anthony said, “I felt like I couldn’t do anything better. He hit a tough shot.”

He also admitted, “It’s like a needle popping a balloon. It sucks all the air out of you.”

It was the second time in three games that Anthony, the league’s reigning scoring champion and the NBA’s second-leading scorer this year, posted a 44-point game during a Knicks loss.

“You score 40, 44 and still lose,” a frustrated Anthony said at his locker. “You ask yourself, ‘Is it worth it?’ But I’ll keep doing what I do.”

Sitting 10½ games out of the Atlantic Division lead and six games off the pace for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, Woodson sounded as if he is starting to feel how the several close games his team has let get away this year could lead to his termination as New York’s coach by the season’s end, if not sooner.

“We have had quite a few games this year where we couldn’t get over the stretch,” Woodson said. “Guys are… not quitting. They are putting forth the effort, but unfortunately, things are not bouncing our way.”

Trying to take a more positive approach, Chandler takes it upon himself to keep his teammates’ head up.

“I keep encouraging them and not let them cave in,” he said. “If it means grabbing a guy’s jersey, looking them in the eye, and saying, ‘You can have it a lot worse. You’re playing the game you love.’ I won’t let them quit.”

Even that may not be enough at his point, though, for a team that continues it’s disappointing a tailspin, to the point where earlier in the day, it bought out the contracts of two players the Knicks thought were two key acquisitions over the summer (the signings of forward Metta World Peace and point guard Beno Udrih).

Four of New York’s next five games are on the road, beginning with a trip to defending NBA champion Miami, on Thursday night, before the Knicks fly back north to host Golden State the next night.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Deep Towson Overcomes Benimon Foul Trouble to Down Hofstra


HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Just as he’s done all season long, Jerrelle Benimon led the Towson Tigers in scoring and rebounding on Saturday. But it’s what Benimon’s teammates did without him which led second-place Towson (20-9, 11-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association) to an 83-77 victory over the pesky, eighth-place Hofstra Pride (8-21, 4-10 CAA) at the Mack Sports Complex.

Benimon entered the game as the Towson’s leading scorer (18.4 points per game) and rebounder (11.6 rebounds per game), while ranking fifth and first in the CAA in those categories, respectively, and leading the nation with 18 double-doubles.

Against Hofstra, Benimon, a senior forward transfer from Georgetown, added to that production with team-highs of 22 points and six rebounds. But after scoring 17 first-half points, he committed his fourth personal foul was benched with the score tied, 43-43, and 13:19 left.

By the time he returned, almost 10 minutes later, the Tigers were up, 67-54, and although the Pride got within five points in the final minute, a layup and three free throws by Benimon in the final 1:34 helped give the CAA preseason favorites just their second 20-win season in Division I and first in two decades.

Not bad for a program that lost a Division I-record 41 straight games while becoming the first team to finish a season winless in CAA play just two years ago.

Head coach Joe Mihalich -- whose team lost by a very similar score (81-77) on the same floor to first-place Delaware in Hofstra’s previous game -- said of Benimon and Towson, “As good as he is, [and] he’s terrific, it’s not a one-man team… we may have just lost to the team that’s going to win it all [in the CAA tournament]. Everybody’s got to figure it’s them and Delaware [as the tournament favorites]. ”

Making his first five shots to guide Towson to a 23-16 lead, after 10:32, Benimon finished the opening half 6-for-7 while the rest of the Tigers went just 4-for-16.

Yet with Benimon playing just nine minutes and shooting just 1-for-3 after halftime, his teammates shot 52.2 percent (12-for-23) following the break. And six different Tigers scored more in the second half than they did in the first, led by Towson’s senior-laden backcourt, with guards Rafriel Guthrie scoring 15 of his 16 points in the second half and Mike Burwell adding eight of his 15 points after intermission.

“I thought when they had to get a little tougher, they did, and they did it without Benimon,” Mihalich said. ”Him not being on the floor kind of pushed their other guys to do some things they don’t normally do, and they responded.”

Still, it wasn’t until Guthrie caught fire after a bad start, that the Tigers finally took control. Guthrie, who started just 1-for-9, made his last three shots while scoring eight straight Towson points, to turn a 61-53 Tigers edge, with 5:35 left, into the game’s largest lead, 69-54, with 3:11 remaining.
  
“Guthrie’s really playing well,” Mihalich said. “He had three blow-by’s, made some foul shots… they made winning plays and we didn’t… we don’t have a lot of room for error.”

The Pride’s Zeke Upshaw, a graduate guard, did all he could to keep Hofstra close by scoring 23 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, while finishing 7-for-13 after a dismal 2-for-8 start.

While Upshaw struggled early, the Pride took a 10-9 lead as the game started with six lead changes and one tie over the first 3:53, before the Tigers went on a 12-4 run.

Graduate guard Dion Nesmith scored 11 points while making his first four shots to keep Hofstra within 23-21, but he scored just three points on 1-for-6 shooting thereafter.

Considering Towson went 12-for-15 from the foul line while the Pride failed to attempt a free throw in the first half, Hofstra wasn’t in bad shape to be down just 35-29 at halftime.

Even with Benimon still on the floor, the Pride started the second half well, and took its first lead since 12-10, when sophomore forward Jordan Allen (12 points) made a free throw to put Hofstra up, 44-43, with 12:55 to go (24 seconds after Benimon left the game).

However, two free throws by reserve freshman forward John Davis (six points) on the next trip regained the lead for the Tigers, for good, 45-44.

Improving its shooting from 42.8 percent (12-for-28) in the first half to 57.7 percent (15-for-26) in the second half, while going 17-for-21 from the foul line (including 12-for-12 by Upshaw) in the frame, wasn’t enough for Hofstra, which was outscored 13-0 off the bench.

“I just thought we were taking what they were giving us in the first half but we still felt like we needed to go to the basket more in the second half, so we tried to do that,” Upshaw said, while admitting that coming up just short again ”was frustrating.”

After Guthrie gave Towson its comfortable lead, Hofstra fought back with a 19-9 run, and closed to within 78-73, on a 3-pointer by Upshaw with 49.1 seconds left.

Two missed free throws by Burwell left the door open, with the Tigers ahead, 80-75, but Upshaw and Nesmith each missed layups on the ensuing possession, before Benimon made three of four free throws over the next 12 seconds, to extend the lead to 83-75, with 10.4 seconds remaining.

Despite suffering a third consecutive loss and losing for the eighth time in nine games, Mihalich was pleased with the Pride’s effort, and warned that Hofstra could be a dangerous low seed in the CAA tournament in Baltimore March 7-10.

“These guys are great,” he said. “They just won’t stop playing for me. I’m so proud of them… we’re down [15], I’m sure most people would be thinking, ‘Let’s just hope this doesn’t get embarrassing,’ and the next thing you know, we’re down five, with the ball, and Dion’s driving the baseline. It’s just a great bunch of guys. They just won’t stop fighting… we deserve to get one of these, but nobody’s going to give you one. You’ve got to earn it… but I wouldn’t want to play us down in Baltimore.”

Before that happens, the Pride still has hope of trying to avoid the first-round game between the eight and nine seeds, if it can catch James Madison, which is currently tied with Northeastern for seventh place in the CAA.

Hofstra will travel to third-place William & Mary on Wednesday night to face a team that the Pride had its biggest conference win against (by 17 points, at home, exactly a month ago), before closing the regular season at The Mack against James Madison, on March 1.

For that contest to mean something in terms of the seven seed being up for grabs, Hofstra would not only have to win at William & Mary, but James Madison would have to lose at home, to Towson, on the same night. 

Jonathan Wagner writes for the Yahoo Contributor Network, where as a Yahoo Sports contributor, he was named one of Yahoo’s Top 100 Contributors for 2013. Jonathan also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the 2013 NASL champion New York Cosmos as a credentialed writer for New York Sports Day. Follow him on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner.   

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Delaware Rallies Past Hofstra, Moves Closer to First CAA Title

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y -- While the Delaware Blue Hens and Hofstra Pride are going in opposite directions, the latter of those squads, true to its team nickname, showed a lot of pride before ultimately succumbing to the best team in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Eighth-place Hofstra (8-20, 4-9 CAA), picked to finish last in the nine-team CAA, surprisingly built a 40-25 lead, with 2:36 left in the opening half on first-place Delaware (20-8, 12-1 CAA). But the Blue Hens closed the game, 56-37, and held on for an 81-77 win at the Mack Sports Complex on Wednesday night.

“I thought it was a heck of a college basketball game, I really did,” said head coach Joe Mihalich, in defeat. “I’m really proud of our guys. It’s the team that was picked ninth… and they’re in first place now. We had our chances.”

It took a dozen games for Delaware to lose its first league game of the season on Saturday, at second-place Towson (9-3), and the Blue Hens simply weren’t ready to start their first conference losing streak of the year.

While Hofstra, in its first under Mihalich, clinched its third straight 20-loss campaign, Delaware moved a comfortable 2½ games ahead of Towson, which has four CAA regular season games left -- one more than the Blue Hens, who are trying to win their first CAA title since joining the league with the Pride a dozen years ago.

Prior to that, Delaware and Hofstra were bitter rivals in the America East Conference, where the Blue Hens won three regular season and four conference tournament titles (between 1992 and 1999) before Hofstra captured its only regular season and America East tournament championships in each of the following two seasons.

Although Delaware only closed the overall series gap to 48-30 in favor of the Pride, the Blue Hens have won the past seven meetings between the schools.

This time, it was on the strength almost exclusively of their four double digit scorers -- senior guard Davon Usher (game-high 27 points), senior guard Devon Saddler (24 points), junior guard Kyle Anderson (18 points) and senior forward Carl Baptiste (10 points, game-bests of 13 rebounds and four blocks) -- who accounted for all but two of Delaware’s points. Saddler also had the rare feat of recording every one of his team’s seven assists.
 
Meanwhile, Hofstra‘s two best players (each graduate students), forward Zeke Upshaw (26 points) and point guard Dion Nesmith (22 points), were the only two players to score in double figures for the Pride.

Each team made 27 field goal attempts with Hofstra attempting only one more (66-65), but after a fairly even whistle in the opening half, Delaware had a sizeable advantage at the free throw line (going 13-for-23 to Hofstra’s 3-for-7) in the second half, much to the chagrin of the home crowd.

He wouldn’t outright agree with that sentiment, but Mihalich subtlety hinted at the calls going the Blue Hens’ way, saying, “I guess we were fouling them more than they fouled us. You can read into that all you want.”

Another Delaware edge was self-made, when the Blue Hens fought back into the game with some full court pressure.

After Delaware missed its first eight shots, and Hofstra scored seven straight points to lead, 7-1, the Pride surged ahead, 21-7, and then by 15 points, until the Blue Hens resorted to some full court pressure to answer with seven straight points of their own.

That run stabilized the game for Delaware and brought the Blue Hens to within 40-32, before they trailed 41-32 at intermission.

“It was clearly one of the reasons we didn’t win this game,” Mihlaich said. “We didn’t handle the pressure in the first half. The foul trouble played into too… we had a couple ballhandlers on the bench and they knew to press us and they did, and we didn’t handle it.”

As it has so often for a depth-challenged roster, fatigue also seemed to play a role for a Hofstra team that led at halftime for the 15th time this season with barely more than half that many wins to show for those leads.

“We play eight guys and really it’s six guys getting [most of] the minutes,” Mihalich said. “So the second half rolls around, we get a little weary out there.”

Upshaw though, was the only Pride player to play the entire game, compared to three (Usher, Saddler and Anderson) who did the same for Delaware, which likewise had only six players getting the bulk of its team’s minutes.

And Usher (16 second-half points), Saddler (13) and Anderson (13) each scored more after halftime than before that point.

Especially Anderson, as the second half began. Making his first four shots of the half (after going just 1-for-6 in the first half), Anderson scored 10 points during a 16-8 run that pulled the Blue Hens to within 49-48.

Nesmith (who scored 17 points in the second half), had five points to key a 10-3 spurt that pushed the lead to 59-51.

On that idea of being winded in the second halves of games, Nesmith said, “We’ve been doing this all season so we’re kind of used to it.”

What Nesmith doesn’t get used to though, is losing, even when he plays well. “We’ve lost 20 times this year and every time, it gets harder and harder to lose.  The way I played doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win.”

Adding to that, Upshaw, who had 18 points (on 6-of-10 shooting) in the first half, but only one-third of that (on 3-of-8 shooting) afterwards, admitted, “I felt I could have made some shots for my team down the stretch.“

Seven points by Usher during a 15-6 run gave the Blue Hens their second lead (and first since 1-0), at 66-65, before Upshaw and Usher traded 3-pointers.

Those types of shots even out greatly after a decided edge for Hofstra early. The Pride made seven of its first 11 3-point attempts before missing its final three of the first half, and then making five of 14 in the second half. Delaware, on the other hand, missed 12 of 13 first-half shots from behind the arc before going 4-for-7 from that distance in the second half.

A trey by Nesmith put Hofstra up for a final time, 73-71, with 3:49 left, but layups by Baptiste and Saddler moved the Blue Hens on top, 75-73, just before Upshaw tied the game, 75-75, on a jumper with 2:06 remaining.

Saddler was then blocked by junior center Moussa Kone six points, team-bests of six rebounds and two blocks), but he gathered the ball back in and scored in the paint to put Delaware ahead for good, 77-75, with 47.8 seconds to go.


Missed 3s by Upshaw and Nesmith and a missed jumper by Nesmith on the next trip led to a foul and a pair of free throws by Anderson to extend the margin to 79-75, and two more free throws by Baptiste made it 81-75 in the final seconds, prior to Nesmith scoring on a meaningless layup.

Whereas the result wasn’t what Hofstra was looking for, it could serve as a confidence booster as the CAA gets closer to its conference tournament in Baltimore, March 7-10.

“I truly believe we could beat anybody in this league,” Mihalich said. “I tell [my players] that all the time… we’ve been right there with everybody… we ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

Hoping to start another winning streak, the Blue Hens will visit fourth-place Drexel as Hofstra hosts Towson on Saturday.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

A Royal Pain: West's Worst Kings Rally Past Knicks in Overtime

Sacramento Kings guard Jimmer Fredette (L) at Madison
Square Garden in New York, N.Y. (Photo: Jon Wagner,
February 12, 2014)

NEW YORK -- Closing the disappointing pre-All-Star portion of their season, the New York Knicks seemed poised to head into the NBA’s annual mid-February break on a good note, especially after building a couple of double-digit home leads against the worst team in the Western Conference.

However, the Knicks (20-32) not only coughed up those advantages, they also lost a five-point lead over the final 1:26 of regulation, before falling to the Sacramento Kings, 106-101, in overtime, at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

Nevermind that the Kings (18-35) were just 6-19 on the road, had lost the first three contests of their four-game road trip (including a defeat in Cleveland the night before while New York was playing two days of rest), or that Sacramento entered the night with a seven-game road losing streak and losses in 10 of 12 and 12 of 15 games overall.  

The Kings still managed to overcome deficits of 13 points in the opening quarter and 12 in the third period behind the efforts of three 20-point scorers, with forward Rudy Gay (9-for-22 shooting) and point guard Isaiah Thomas (6-for-17; team-best seven assists) scoring exactly that many points to complement a career-best 24 points off the bench from Glenn Falls, N.Y. native Jimmer Fredette, who made his first six shots and 9 of 14 overall, including 6 of 8 from 3-point range.

“I was aggressive,” Fredette said. “I saw the first couple of shots go in, a couple floaters, and then the basket looked a lot bigger. I was able to get some open looks and make shots.”

On having his breakout game back in his home state, Fredette added, “It’s awesome. It’s the greatest arena in the world. I had a lot of family and friends here… it’s a special feeling, a special night, but hopefully more nights to come… hopefully I can continue to gain more of a role, more minutes. This is the most minutes I’ve played in a long time.  Usually I don’t play that much, but hopefully, I’ll continue to grow.”

Center DeMarcus Cousins (19 points, game-high 14 rebounds) nearly gave Sacramento a fourth 20-point scorer, as reserve forward Derrick Williams (14 points) was a fifth King to score in double figures.

New York, which lost for the fifth time in six games, treated the Garden crowd to something rare that Knicks fans hoped they’d see on a regular basis over the past few years -- the trio of forward Carmelo Anthony (36 points on 12-of-28 shooting; 11 rebounds), center Tyson Chandler (17 points on 8-of-12 shooting; 11 rebounds) and forward Amar’e Stoudemire (20 points on 10-of-15 shooting) leading the way with strong games on the same night.

Injuries though, particularly to Stoudemire, have derailed that collective production from coming to fruition on a regular basis, as Stoudemire has been relegated to coming off the bench instead of starting alongside Anthony and Chandler as part of what New York had once thought would be the best starting front line in the league.

With Stoudemire playing nearly 37 minutes as a reserve, the threesome demonstrated that type of promise as a group, but the six other Knicks who played totaled just 28 points on 11-for-35 (31.4 percent) shooting.

Logging a game-high 48 minutes, Anthony also missed his final six shots, including all five in overtime.  

Overall, New York made 14 of its first 19 shots while turning a 5-5 tie into its biggest lead, 33-20, before settling for a 33-22 edge after the opening quarter.

But Fredette, a former college star who has underachieved as a pro thus far, reminded the Kings of the player they thought they were getting when they traded for him right after the Milwaukee Bucks drafted Fredette 10th overall three years ago.

Playing the whole second period after sitting out the entire first quarter, Fredette scored the first seven points of the second period and then added eight more, to already eclipse his season-high with 15 points (on 6-of-8 shooting), during a 26-8 run that gave the Kings a 46-41 lead.

“Jimmer Fredette changed the game tonight,” said rookie head coach, former Knicks assistant (2001-05) Mike Malone, a Queens, N.Y. native. “I give him credit. This hasn’t been an easy season for Jimmer and I realize that. At times, his playing time (11 minutes per game this year) has been a little inconsistent. But one thing I’ve been telling him lately, and I sent him a text the other night, is that I still believe in him… it was about to be a 25-point game… and his ability to get us back into it was huge… we don’t win this game without Jimmer.”    

Losing for just the fifth time in 23 games when leading at halftime this season, the Knicks closed the half on a 13-2 spurt to lead, 54-48, at the break.       

A 10-4 run to start the third quarter quickly pushed the lead to 64-52, but an 18-8 answer by Sacramento closed the gap to just 72-70, and the Kings stayed within 74-72 going into the final period.

“It happened so fast,” Anthony said. “I can’t put my finger on exactly what happened. I looked up and we gave the lead up. The next thing I knew, we were going into overtime.”

After building a four-point lead six different times during the fourth quarter, New York went up, 93-88, on a Chandler layup with 1:41 left in the period. But Fredette, who played all but six seconds of the last period while leading all scorers with nine points, on 3-of-6 shooting, in the frame (after sitting out the third period), drained a 3-pointer 15 seconds later. Gay then tied the game, 93-93, on a pull-up, 16-foot jumper with 20.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Addressing his benching in the first and third periods, Fredette acknowledged, “That’s just kind of my rotation. I come in the second quarter and the fourth quarter, in the beginning [of each]. A lot of times, I only stay in until the six-minute mark and then I come out… A lot of times I’ll come out earlier, but I was able to stay in because I played well. It felt good to get extended minutes and to help the team win.”

Anthony, who had 17 points (on 7-of-9 shooting) in the first period, but 19 thereafter, had a chance to win the game, but a shot from the same distance missed with 1.6 seconds left.

With the Knicks missing their first six shots of overtime, the Kings, who led for good on a Gay 3-pointer 44 seconds into the extra session, led by five points on three separate occasions before a Williams jumper put Sacramento up, 104-98, with 32.9 seconds to go.    

Rookie reserve guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. (seven points), who missed his first eight shots before finishing 3-of-4, cut the lead in half, to 104-101, on a 3-pointer, but a Thomas jumper with 7.9 seconds left sealed the win.  

Following another head-scratching loss, head coach Mike Woodson’s job security could be even more precarious over the All-Star break. But with New York still just 2½ games out of the eighth and final spot Eastern Conference playoff spot, chances are that Woodson will retain his job this season as long as his team stays within striking distance in that chase.

Team owner James Dolan said just before the season started, that he expected the Knicks to win an NBA title this year. However Dolan also loves to pocket playoff money, and even settling for a quick first-round exit makes keeping Woodson attractive at least for the short term, unless New York falls out of the playoff race.

Another thing that’s been saving Woodson’s job is the consideration given to injuries, and Woodson, already without key reserve guard J.R. Smith (fracture cheekbone), lost starting forward Iman Shumpert (eight points in 22 minutes).

That caused Woodson to match up with Hardaway in ways he didn’t want to.

“When Iman went down, that hurt, because we had a bad matchup problem with Timmy playing at the 3 spot, so I had to go big,” Woodson said. “We had built our lead playing small ball with Melo at the 4 and I couldn’t get back to it.”

Of course, Woodson could have played forward Metta World Peace at the 3 position and returned Anthony to the 4 spot, but he gave somewhat contradictory reasoning as to why World Peace didn’t play, when he said World Peace didn’t play because he hadn’t been playing much earlier -- even though that was due to Woodson’s own decisions not to play World Peace much of late.

Reflecting on the Knicks’ record relative to their 32-18 mark at last year’s All-Star break, en route to their division-winning record of 54-28, Anthony admitted, “I didn’t expect us to be in the situation that we’re in right now. If somebody would have told us that before the season, I would have [bet] any amount of money that they were lying.”

Remaining positive, though, Anthony added, ““We got to put this behind us and use these next couple days to kind of reboot, recharge, get ourselves together, get our minds right and come back ready to make a push.”

Before that, Anthony will head to New Orleans where he will start for the East in Sunday night’s All-Star game, his seventh. He’ll represent New York along with Hardaway, who will participate in the Rising Stars challenge featuring the NBA’s best rookies and sophomores.

Asked if New York’s rough season will put a damper on trying to enjoy the festivities, Anthony said, “Mentally, yeah.”

Candidly, he added, “Just knowing how important this game was for us to start the break off… so it’s going to be tough to kind of get into everything that’s going on but once I get down there, see friends, see family, kind of not think about this for a couple days, maybe it’ll change.”

When Anthony and Hardaway return New Orleans, their Knicks will face four straight road games and 8 of 10 away from home, beginning with a game at Memphis on February 18.

Jonathan Wagner covers the New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Mets as a contributor for Yahoo Sports, where he was named one of Yahoo’s Top 100 Contributors for 2013. Jonathan also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the 2013 NASL champion New York Cosmos as a credentialed writer for New York Sports Day. Follow him on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner.   

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Saturday Night Fever: Electric Crowd Feeds Big Hofstra Rally

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- The Hofstra Pride had never hosted a Saturday night game before. For almost 26 minutes, Hofstra almost wished it hadn’t done so for the first time, as the Pride was down 15 points to the worst team in the Colonial Athletic Association.

The Hofstra Pride defend against the North Carolina-
Wilmington Seahawks at the Mack Sports Complex 
in Hempstead, N.Y. (Photo: Jon Wagner, February 
8, 2014)
But, in front of its liveliest home crowd of the season, Hofstra (8-17, 4-6 CAA) suddenly turned up its defensive intensity, attacked offensively and closed on a 35-11 surge over the final 14:05, to snap a five-game losing streak while handing the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks (6-19, 0-10 CAA) their 14th straight loss, 62-51, at the Mack Sports Complex.

“We didn’t play at (the scheduled start time of) 7 [p.m.],” joked head coach Joe Mihalich. “We didn’t start playing until 8’oclock.”

Jumping out to unexpected leads of 8-4, 13-7 and 20-11 by the midpoint of the opening half, the UNCW looked as good as another Seahawks team that likewise visited the New York City area six nights earlier (when the Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII in East Rutherford, New Jersey).

Playing a true team game in the opening half, UNCW shot a blistering 65.2 percent (15-for-23), including 44.4 percent (4-for-9) from 3-point range, while making 14 of its first 20 field goal attempts (70 percent). Six of 10 Seahawks scored between four and six points on no more than four shots apiece in the half, as UNCW led 25-14 and 31-20 before taking a 35-21 advantage into the locker room.

Hofstra looks for a hoop against UNCW (Photo: Jon 
Wagner, February 8, 2014)
The second half was a different story, however, as UNCW made just 25 percent (5-of-20) of its shots while Hofstra, which missed 23 of its first 30 shots (while going 7-for-19 in the first half), made 13 of its last 23 shots, while often getting into the paint to key its comeback.

“This was a game we had to win,” Mihalich said. “We did everything we could to lose it in that first half. These guys played with some passion in that second half. They competed, they had that will to win… it was fun, that second half.”

Graduate guard Zeke Upshaw, who shot just 4-of-13, but played all 40 minutes while scoring a game-high 16 points, said, “We were tired of losing… so we wanted to change that in the second half and we knew it had to start on the defensive end, so we tried to pick it up on defense.”

On that note, Mihalich credited his players, saying, “It was that old expression, ‘It’s wasn’t the x’s and the o’s, it’s the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s.’ These guys just said, ‘I don’t care what defense we’re playing, we’re guarding our guy.’ I think it was more about attitude.”

At the other end of the floor, the Pride neutralized the Seahawks’ 18-4 first-half advantage in the paint with a 20-6 edge of its own in that category after halftime.

“I think we were expecting it to be a little easier than it was [in the first half], and so, I think we just put our heads down and went [at them] a little more in the second half,” Mihalich noted.

UNCW’s bench outscored Hofstra’s, 29-7, led by 15 points from junior guard Freddie Jackson (a Wilmington, North Carolina native), the only Seahawk to score in double figures.

Hofstra guard Zeke Upshaw (L) and his teammate, 
forward Jordan Allen. (Photo: Jon Wagner, February 8, 
2014)
Upshaw though, was complimented by 15 points and a game-best nine rebounds from sophomore forward Jordan Allen (playing his third game while wearing a mask, after returning from a broken nose) and 13 points and a game-high five assists from graduate point guard Dion Nesmith.

“Jordan being back, really being Jordan,” Mihalich said, has a tremendous positive effect on the Pride’s rotation. “He wasn’t for 2½ games. He was the second half and that’s when we’re at our best.”

After UNCW took the game’s biggest lead, 41-26, on a two-handed dunk by junior forward Cedrick Williams (four points), with 14:36 left, Hofstra stormed back with the next eight points, to trigger a 19-3 run that was capped with an Allen layup that gave the Pride its first lead, 45-44, with 6:03 remaining.           

Hofstra ROTC members watch its team against UNCW.
(Photo: Jon Wagner, February 8, 2014)
Playing on Military Appreciation Night, in front of military veterans, Hofstra Reserve Officers Training Corps  members and Hofstra’s loudest student section (The Lion’s Den) of the season, the Pride’s energy finally matched the crowds during its second-half rally.

The Hofstra Dance team, clad in camouflage t-shirts.
(Photo: Jon Wagner, February 8, 2014)
During the under-12 timeout in the first half, with 11:29 left, the Hofstra ROTC contingent stood up and was honored with military veterans as the crowd of 2,159 -- including students in the Lion’s Den wearing the same special camouflage t-shirts that the Hofstra dance team and Pride staffers wore -- stood and applauded.

Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In the USA” played over the public address system as the Lion’s Den chanted “U-S-A!”

An Iraqi war veteran speaks on Military
Appreciation Night at Hofstra. (Photo:
Jon Wagner, February 8, 2014)
At halftime, an Iraqi war veteran, leaning on a cane, with a bandage over his injured left eye, stood at midcourt while detailing the toll that battle had taken on him. With his guide dog Liz at his side, he then extolled the great work of an organization known as Canine Companions.

“I take about 21 pills a day to survive,” he said. “My service dog Liz is able to pick up those pills and give them to me.”

Wanting to give him, other veterans and the rest of home crowd a better effort, Allen said, “We just wanted to play hard in front of those guys and it was an honor to play in front of them. And like Coach said, we would just not accept losing.”

The Hofstra scoreboard displays the logo of Canine
Companions, a group devoted to aiding U.S. war 
veterans. (Photo: Jon Wagner, February 8, 2014)
Echoing those sentiments, Upshaw added, “We appreciated the fans coming out, so I wanted to pick it up for them.”

A pair of free throws by Jackson tied the game at 46-apeice, but an Upshaw 3-pointer put Hofstra up for good, 49-46, with 4:17 to go.

Senior forward Shane Reybold (seven points) brought the Seahawks to within 50-48 on a layup, but a three-point play by Allen pushed the lead to 53-48 with 2:52 left, before Nesmith baskets twice gave the Pride seven-point leads (57-50 and 59-52) in the final two minutes.

Hofstra head coach Joe Mihalich (Photo: Jon Wagner, 
February 8, 2014)
Thinking of Hofstra’s 69-64 win in Wilmington on January 15, Mihalich reflected on what dropping into an eighth-place tie in the nine-team CAA -- while losing to the only winless team within the conference -- would have meant instead of staying in a seventh-place tie, just one game out of fourth place.

“What’s that line from Apollo 13?” he asked, rhetorically. “Failure’s not an option? (Michigan head coach) John Beilein has this theory and I agree with him. One of the hardest things to do in conference play is beating a team on the road and then beating them again when you come back to your place, because subconsciously, these guys say, ‘Well, Coach, we beat them at their place, of course we’re going to beat them at home.’ And then [add to that] the fact that [UNCW hadn’t] won a game [within the CAA]… and so, there were some of those psychological challenges. That makes the win even better because we overcame those things.”

Head coach Joe Mihalich (L) with guard Zeke Upshaw 
and forward Jordan Allen (R). (Photo: Jon Wagner, 
February 8, 2014)
Now, the trick for Mihalich is to get his team (which started a surprising 3-1 in the CAA before struggling) to find some consistency.

“When I get upset and get frustrated is when I know these guys are better than they’re playing,” he said. “And that’s my job, to get these guys to play as good as they can play.”


Mihalich’s squad will try to do that next with road games at James Madison (8-16, 3-7 CAA) on Monday night and following a five-day layoff, at Drexel (13-10, 5-5 CAA) on February 16, before the Pride returns home to face first-place Delaware (18-7, 10-0) three nights later.

Jonathan Wagner covers the New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Mets as a contributor for Yahoo Sports, where he was named one of Yahoo’s Top 100 Contributors for 2013. Jonathan also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the 2013 NASL champion New York Cosmos as a credentialed writer for New York Sports Day. Follow him on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner.