Anthony & Co. blow late lead in loss to Chips
The player the Knicks prefer not to add to their roster in any Carmelo Anthony-to-the-Clippers trade proved to be the Garden hero Wednesday.
All the good of the Garden night came crashing down in the final 1:30 when the defensively challenged Knicks frittered another one away with the ex-Knick Jamal Crawford hitting the big shots and Anthony missing the final game-tying attempt .
The Knicks blew a 10point early fourth-quarter lead as the Clippers rallied for a 119-115 victory. “When Jamal’s in the game, you have to know where he is,’’ Derrick Rose said. Anthony heard positive chants and scored 28 points with nine rebounds, but again couldn’t connect when his team needed it most. It was a familiar ending, but an unfamiliar scene in the first quarter when Knicks legend Charles Oakley was ejected by security and arrested after vulgar taunts aimed partially at owner James Dolan.
The dysfunction never ends.
After Clippers center DeAndre Jordan missed two free throws with 20 seconds left, keeping the Knicks’ deficit at 3, Anthony took a nice feed from Rose. But Anthony’s potential gametying 3-pointer hit the back iron with 10 seconds left and the Knicks were toast as they fell to 0-3 on their five-game homestand.
Still, it was better than their effort Monday against the other Los Angeles squad when the Knicks were humiliated by the Lakers.
Did someone say moral victory?
“We bounced back from that Lakers game,’’ Anthony said. “The effort was there. The fight was there. We couldn’t pull it out at the end.”
Crawford, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year who is now 36, nailed back-toback baskets, including a 3pointer, to turn a 111-109 deficit into a 114-111 lead. Crawford, finished with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting as the Clippers moved to 32-21.
“Jamal made two big shots — that was the determining factor,’’ said center Kyle O’Quinn, who finished with 18 points.
The Knicks fell to a season-worst 10 games under .500 at 22-32
“If we’re not scoring in the fourth, we got to get stops,’’ coach Jeff Hornacek said.
The Knicks had no answers for the rim-rattling Jordan, who scored 28 points (12-of-14 from the field) with 15 rebounds and two blocks.
After Rose got blocked at the rim by Jordan, who got away with an apparent foul, the Clippers scored in transition with the Clippers center finishing on the fast break that made it 116-111.
Anthony drilled a 3pointer to make it a 116-114 game with 38 seconds left but Jordan answered with a tip-in and a four-point bulge.
Blake Griffin added 32 points. Meanwhile, Kristaps Porzingis busted out for 28 points and Rose had 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
“We competed but it’s the same result,’’ Rose said. “That’s not something to be happy about.’’
Point guard Austin Rivers, whom the Knicks have interest in adding to any package for Anthony, finished with seven points and 10 assists and got into the lane often.
Anthony heard positive chants in the final seconds of the third quarter as Phil Jackson has turned him into a sympathetic figure. With Luc Mbah a Moute draped all over him, Anthony hit an off balance 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left and drew the foul. Anthony competed the four-point play as the Knicks took a 95-88 lead into the fourth.
“It was a good start but we need to sustain it down the stretch,’’ O’Quinn said.