TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), FSN Southeast (Charlotte)ABOUT THE KNICKS (4-4): NY was largely uncompetitive last season and Tuesday’s victory was another example of the difference in the psyche of the team.
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Meanwhile Clifford has both Jeremy Lamb and Jeremy Lin coming off the bench and they have both been great which has Hornets fans clamoring for one of them to take the starting spot.
The Hornets were outrebounded 48-34, but outscored Minnesota’s bench 57-23. Nicolas Batum added 17 points for the Hornets, who overcame a combined 7-for-21 shooting from Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker to beat the depleted Timberwolves. “I think now, all I can do is keep working and really focus on having a good season individually and as a team, get a few wins and see where we can go”, said Lamb after his 20-point performance on 9-of-10 shooting in Charlotte’s 130-105 win over Chicago on November 3. It was his sixth straight game with at least three blocked shots; only Darko Milicic (6 games) and Eddie Griffin (7 games) have tallied streaks of 6+ games with 3+ blocks in franchise history.Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves for his first shutout this season and 56th of his career, leading the NY Rangers to a 3-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes last night.
Rubio was a late scratch from the starting lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Hornets with a sore left knee.
Wolves coach Sam Mitchell said he didn’t find out Rubio and Wiggins would be out until just before the game. NY was 11-of-23 from 3-point range and scored the most points the Raptors have allowed this season. LaVine turned it over eight times. Lamb and Line got going in the second quarter against Minnesota’s porous backcourt defense from the reserve guards. He scored his only point of the game on a free throw in the second quarter. But with defensive stalwarts Garnett, Wiggins and Rubio all out, the Wolves were powerless to stop the fresher Hornets. The Hornets started the final quarter on a 6-0 run to go up 91-80 with ten minutes remaining. “We wanted to make up for what we did last game, which was give them a negative boost against the Spurs when the starters came out strong”.
The Timberwolves have options to back up Rubio that include veteran Andre Miller and rookie Tyus Jones.
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Zach LaVine started in place of Rubio at point guard.
