KING'S COURT
The Knicks sustained some heavy, but hardly irreparable, damage over two games at the hands of Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns, who racked up 67 points in a home-and-home set over three days. As good as Towns was, however, the Knicks won both games.
But Sunday at the Garden, another monster of tornado force, the Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins will present the latest threat to the Knicks’ new-found homecourt serenity. The Knicks are 8-3 at home, winning seven of their past eight games at the Garden.
“He may be the best center in the league,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said of Cousins, the NBA’s thirdleading scorer and 11th-best rebounder. “The guy’s a dominating force.”
“A big body, really skilled, can shoot from outside, there’s a lot of things that he can do on the court,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “Every team has to find a way how to deal with him.”
In dealing with Cousins, the Knicks will look to their center spot, where they likely will see Joakim Noah, who despite officially being listed as questionable, practiced Saturday. Hornacek said Noah “probably” will return after missing two games with a bum left ankle.
“He practiced today and he looked fine,” said Hornacek who received a huge 20-point lift from Kyle O’Quinn as a spot starter in Friday’s 118-114 win over the Timberwolves. O’Quinn scored just two points in a similar spot Wednesday.
Whether it’s Noah, O’Quinn or Willis Reed out of retirement playing center, the Knicks will see a migraine-like pain in Cousins, who won an Olympic gold medal with Carmelo Anthony this summer in Rio de Janeiro.
“I’ve gotten a chance to get to know him a little bit better,” Anthony said. “We were together all summer, and I really got the opportunity to understand his mindset, how he thinks and his work ethic and what he likes to do and who he is as a person.”
Cousins’ physical talents never have been questioned — he averages 28.7 points and 10.4 rebounds for 7-12 Sacramento and has scored 30 or more nine times this season, including four of his last five games.
“Our friendship has grown over the summer, just having the opportunity to be there for him, talk to him, try to be that big brother to him,” Anthony said.
Anthony became a spokesman and unques- tioned leader for the U.S. team in Rio, where he became the nation’s all-time men’s basketball scoring leader. Anthony is the only U.S. men’s basketball player with four Olympics to his credit — as well as three gold medals (and a bronze). He knows what the Olympic experience did for him and concedes it likely helped Cousins enormously.
“It was a confidence booster,” Anthony said. “Just being on that team with that caliber of guys, that caliber of talent and realizing and understanding the work ethic that everybody else is having. When you’re around the best players in the world, you’re almost forced to kind of take it up another notch, your work ethic. And you start seeing how hard people work and you start wanting to be a part of that and it becomes contagious.”
But for one December Sunday (and then Friday at Sacramento, too), the Knicks can try to undo so much of the good Cousins learned in Rio. He already has been a handful for the Knicks. In 12 career games, including 11 starts, against the Knicks, Cousins has averaged 21.5 points and 11.3 rebounds.
“He can score inside, go outside and shoot 3s,” Hornacek said. “So again, when you’re in the NBA, no night is ever easy. There’s always someone, whether it’s a point guard, a two-guard or whatever position, there’s a great player on a team. Sacramento has got a few. Rudy Gay is a heck of a player too. No games are easy.”