Hoping to avoid Christmas blues
THE KNICKS similarly arrived at their Christmas showcase game one year ago as one of the surprise teams in the NBA, with a record even slightly better than they’ve posted so far this season. That holiday loss to Boston at the Garden left the Knicks with a 16-14 mark, however, and it began a spiral in which they dropped six in a row and 11 of 13 on their way to plummeting rapidly out of playoff contention. Phil Jackson, Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose and others from that team are no longer in New York, of course, but Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks will get another shot at an important Christmas showdown when they play host to Philadelphia at noon on Monday. “Of course, it’s always fun to play on Christmas Day. It’s always a big game,” Porzingis said following Friday’s loss in Detroit. “I remember last year we were playing against Boston. It was really fun. “We lost the game, but it was a good experience. My whole family is here again, so it’s going to be a fun game against Philly. They’re a young team that’s fun to watch and I think we’re the AP same way, so it’s going to be entertaining.”
The Knicks (17-15) have posted the most home wins in the NBA at 15-5, but Friday’s late loss to the Pistons dropped them to just 2-10 outside Manhattan. That breakdown needs to be corrected quickly, with Jeff Hornacek’s team facing 16 of its next 20 games on the road beginning Wednesday in Chicago.
“Of course, we are ready, man,” Enes Kanter said of facing the Sixers on Monday. “If you look at this team, this team has the talent in this room to beat every team on every floor. We just have to learn to figure it out and work on the little details and go out and compete. That’s it.”
Winning on the road certainly hasn’t been that simple for the Knicks, who only have defeated the Cavaliers in Cleveland in October and the Nets in Brooklyn earlier this month among their first dozen contests away from the Garden.
The Knicks held a four-point lead with 1:17 remaining on Friday night, but they couldn’t close out the victory.
Porzingis at least netted 29 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, after registering just one point and missing all 11 of his field-goal attempts in a home win the previous night against Boston. KP added that he “didn’t have any pain at all” in the left knee that forced him to miss two games last week.
“The second half (in Detroit) especially, I felt better. My shot felt better,” Porzingis said. “I think I realized I was rushing my shot a little bit, trying to get it off too quick. Once I slowed down a little bit, that’s when the shots started to be longer and go in. That was it. I just kind of slowed down a little bit. But yeah, it’s a tough loss.”
MINOR MOVE: Rookie guard Damyean Dotson was assigned to G-League Westchester for Saturday’s game against Wisconsin; he hasn’t played in six of the Knicks’ past seven games.