Reeling Knicks can’t handle Trail Blazers
i| Thursday, december 12, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao
N the wake of an easy win, the Portland Trail Blazers agreed they needed the rout for their own morale.
Damian Lillard had 31 points, including eight 3-pointers, and Portland handed the wretched New York Knicks their 10th straight loss, 115-87, on Tuesday night.
“anytime you have that type of win, and the way that we did it, i think we should feel good about it, especially in a game that we feel we should have won,” Lillard said.
Hassan Whiteside added 17 points and 15 rebounds as the Blazers ended a two-game skid. Portland led by as many as 32. “Those kind of games feel good,” Coach Terry stotts weighed in. Julius Randle had 15 points for the Knicks, who have won just four games, fewest in the NBa. They have one victory on the road.
The Knicks opened their four-game West Coast trip in disarray after Coach David Fizdale was fired on Friday, just hours after he ran aP practice. Mike Miller was named interim head coach, and New York lost 104-103 at home to indiana the next night.
“in an 82-game schedule you may have some nights where it won’t go in, and we found ourselves in that,” Miller said.
in Portland, New York faced Carmelo anthony, who played for the Knicks from 2011-2017.
When the Blazers picked up anthony on November 19, the 10time all-star had been out of the game for more than a year. But he has fit in well with Portland as a starter, averaging nearly 16 points and six rebounds a game.
anthony finished with 16 points.
“We were locked in, since this morning, since shootaround, we were locked in,” anthony said. “Dame came out and led us, Hassan played great, but i thought overall defense was what got us going. We were talking, we were active, a lot of energy on the defensive end.”