outclassed by Spurs but horny happy with no quit
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio’s best player, Kawhi Leonard, was a late scratch due to “Return from Injury Management,” according to the team. That’s another way to say ‘Rest.’
But it didn’t really matter. The Spurs are still better than the Knicks, they’re more poised than the Knicks and they predictably defeated the Knicks on Thursday, 119-107.
Coach Jeff Hornacek treated it as a moral victory.
“I thought they played well,” he said. “The guys didn’t quit.
“That’s a good team there (in San Antonio). I was happy for the guys that in (the second game of a back-to-back) they kept fighting.”
Michael Beasley also took the moral victory approach. Obviously expectations weren’t very high going into the game. “I love how hard we fought,” he said. Kristaps Porzingis fouled out late in the fourth quarter after scoring 18 points with six blocks, having been outplayed by San Antonio’s frontcourt of LaMarcus Aldridge (25 points) and Pau Gasol (17 points, 11 assists). Porzingis shot just 6-for-16 and lamented the lack of foul calls on his shots. Specifically, Porzingis said defenders are hitting his elbow. It’s a familiar gripe from the Latvian. “It makes me super mad that those little touches on the elbow, on the arm, I know they’re small but they affect my shot so much,” he said. “And I’m confused. I’m thinking, ‘Should I change my game?’ Because I take those shots all the time and it makes me mad I’m not able to get those calls.”
For the Knicks (17-18), it’s officially trouble time. They’ve lost four in a row for the first time this season. They fell below .500 for the first time since they were 12-13. They also dipped to a putrid 2-12 on the road, with 16 of their next 22 games away from the Garden.
The previous two years, the season slipped away around January. The warning signs are there for this team. However, Porzingis said he isn’t concerned because the defeats — at least the three before Thursday — were all close. “Not at all,” he said. “There are a few things we have to fix. If we were losing by 20, that would be concerning.” Against the Bulls on Wednesday, Hornacek lamented that the team wasn’t exhibiting the requisite toughness. Against the Spurs (25-11) a day later, the Knicks were simply outclassed. They trailed for all but 30 seconds of the second half.
Despite Leonard’s absence, the Spurs jumped on the Knicks early while building a 10-point advantage in the first quarter. Tony Parker, 35, led the initial charge with 10 points in his first six minutes.
The Knicks, playing on the second night of a back-to-back following Wednesday’s brutal loss to the Bulls, rebounded in the second quarter and trailed by only 1 at the break. But the second half was all San Antonio, which shot over 50 percent. The game was killed with an 11-0 Spurs run early in the fourth quarter.
Frank Ntilikina got a chance to go head-to-head against his idol and fellow Frenchman — Parker — and notched a career-high 11 assists. Michael Beasley scored a team-high 23 points for the reeling Knicks.