A TALL ORDER
Knicks facing big challenge in Kings’ Cousins
Matthew Dellavedova scored 12 of his season-high 18 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Bucks hold off the Brooklyn Nets 112-103 on Saturday.
“I thought it got a little sloppy,” Kidd said. “I wanted to see if they were going to figure it out. I wasn’t going to call timeout. I wanted to see if they were going to talk themselves through it because that’s what good teams do.”
Milwaukee led 62-46 after a layup by Tony Snell with 8:11 left in the third, but Brooklyn closed the quarter on a 26-13 run to get within 75-72. Consecutive 3-pointers by Joe Harris gave the Nets an 82-81 lead with 10:00 to play. Sean Kilpatrick scored 13 of his 19 points in the third quarter, when he went 8 for 8 from the foul line.
“It definitely wasn’t anything the coach did,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “It was all the players playing well. We didn’t change anything and kept with our rotations. The guys came out with focus.”
With the game tied at 94, Milwaukee began a 9-1 run to lead 103-95 with 1:43 remaining.
John Henson led Milwaukee with 20 points and added seven rebounds, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Jabari Parker added 15 points, Greg Monroe scored 13 points and Snell chipped in 10 points.
“They were just finding me,” Henson said. “I was open. (Antetokounmpo and Parker) are huge threats coming down the lane and off a pick-and-roll, so it is my job to finish for them and take a little heat off of them.”
Bojan Bogdanovic led Brooklyn with 24 points. Brook Lopez had 13 points but was just 3 for 17 from the field and 0 for 10 in the first half.
“I just wasn’t good enough,” Lopez said. “I made a lot of turnovers. I missed a lot of shots that I need to make. I think I let us down on both ends of the floor.” HAVING PULLED out consecutive wins this week against Karl-Anthony Towns and Minnesota, the Knicks’ string of games against quality NBA big men will continue on Sunday night against DeMarcus Cousins and Sacramento.
Kyle O’Quinn filled in ably against the Timberwolves, but starting center Joakim Noah “probably” will be back in the lineup against the Kings after practicing in full on Saturday, coach Jeff Hornacek said. Noah has missed the past two games with an ankle injury.
“He may be the best center in the league,” Hornacek said of Cousins, who is averaging a career-high 28.7 points per game this season. “The guy’s a
KNICKS vs. KINGS 7:30 on MSG
&AP dominating force, as big as he is. He can score inside, go outside and shoot threes. So when you’re in the NBA, no night is ever easy.”
Carmelo Anthony and Cousins were gold medal-winning teammates for Team USA at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
“We were together all summer and I really kind of 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,” Anthony said. “It’s somebody that, I would say that 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, kind of realizing that your voice can go a long way when dealing with someone that – I don’t want to say is still finding his way — but is in a tough situation and looking to get better and trying to figure out ways how to do that.”
Kristaps Porzingis said Cousins is a similar player to Towns, only “more physical close to the basket.” When asked about Noah’s likely return on Sunday, Porzingis added, “We really need him and can’t wait to have him back healthy and ready to play, ready to go to war like we are.”
The Knicks (10-9) have won five of their last seven games, including scoring a season-high 118 points Friday night against Minnesota. Porzingis shot just 2-for12 from the field for 11 points, but Anthony netted 29, Derrick Rose had 24 and O’Quinn added 20 with 13 rebounds while helping to limit Towns to 20 on 5-for18 shooting after he’d scored 47 one game earlier.
“Obviously there’s some games where we kind of take a step back and then there are some things where we’re not really connecting together. But I think we are really moving forward as a team and everybody is figuring out the other guys’ game and getting a feel for each other,” Porzingis said. “I still think we have a long way to go as a team, but once everything comes together, we’re going to be really dangerous.
“Obviously with every game we gain more confidence that we can win these games…We kind of made it hard for ourselves the last couple of games, but we still won because of the type of talent that we have.”
Starting shooting guard Courtney Lee did some limited work on Saturday after also sitting out Friday’s win with a sprained left ankle. He remains questionable for Sunday, but indicated he will test his ankle before the game.
Little-used forward Maurice Ndour was assigned to D-League Westchester.