Knicks mail it in vs. Blazers
PORTLAND, Ore. — There was no Derrick Rose in the Rose City, nor Carmelo Anthony.
Indeed this was Tank City at Moda Center as the Knicks went through the motions of competing Thursday night. They allowed 37 points in the first quarter, trailed by 21 at halftime and predictably fell 110-95 to the hot Trail Blazers (33-38), who are zeroing in on the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
The Knicks (27-45) are zeroing in on a juicier lottery seed in dropping to 0-3 on this Western swing. They own the NBA’s seventh-worst record — just one game out of being fifth-worst. With 10 games left, they are well on their way to posting a worse record than last season’s 32-50 mark, needing to go .500 just to equal it.
Anthony rested his sore left knee on the second leg of a backto-back, missing his third game of the season, and Rose sat and nursed a sore right foot. Rose admitted he would’ve played — with the aid of pain medication — if the game had playoff implications.
Without Anthony and Rose, Porzingis became the focal point of the offense and it was a rough night. He shot 8-of-21, missing all five of his 3-point attempts, to finish with 18 points and nine rebounds. In the first half, Porzingis, proving he’s better with Anthony on the court, was 3-of-9 and a team-worst minus-21.
“The attention is more on me,’’ Porzingis said. “[His absent teammates] draw a lot of attention. But I’m still disappointed. I had a lot of good looks.’’
Hornacek is starting to get the hang of this tank thing. In the second quarter, Hornacek fielded one of the worst rebounding crews imaginable with rookie center Hernangomez, Mindaugas Kuzminskas at power forward, along with Justin Holiday, Courtney Lee and Sasha Vujacic. Hmmm.
The Blazers scored 37 points in the first quarter and commanded a 67-46 lead at intermission. The Knicks tightened the defensive screws in the second half, but it was too late.
“Defensively we were tentative,’’ Hornacek said. “We didn’t have ball pressure on the ball until the second half.’’
Chasson Randle scored 13 points and Courtney Lee added 16 for the Knicks, who shot 41 percent.
Portland’s Damian Lillard lit the Knicks up from the perimeter with 19 of his 30 points in the first half as the Blazers shot 58 percent from the field to the Knicks 35 percent.