San Antonio is just the second Western Conference team in history to open a season 22-0 at home, joining Portland, which won its first 26 home games in 1977-78.
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With Ginobili and Boris Diaw doing most of the damage early in the fourth, the Spurs built a 12-point lead but they wasted a chance to blow the game open by going scoreless for three minutes. “We had an opportunity to win the game and we didn’t – there are no moral victories”. We feel like we’re coming here to win.
The Knicks (18-20) were led by Porzingis, the rookie who poured in a game-high 28 points with a dizzying mixture of shots from long distance and in the paint and had 11 rebounds. NY made a final run in the last 5 1/2 minutes, cutting the Spurs’ lead to one point on an alley-oop dunk by forward Kristaps Porzingis with 32.3 seconds to play. But Green smothered the shot, forcing a jump ball, which he won and tipped ahead for a Parker fast-break layup. The Knicks come into the game with a lot of momentum and confidence as they are beginning to come together and start figuring things out. Anthony had 20 points with 12 rebounds, Robin Lopez scored 12 points, Langston Galloway had 11 points and Lance Thomas had 10 points; both of which came off the bench. But New York guard Jose Calderon’s 3-point attempt with 0.08 seconds to go rattled off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
“In the last second, Melo [Anthony] saw me in the corner and I had a good look at the shot”, Calderon said.
They may not be a title contender, but with the way things are going at the moment, there are a lot of positive things to look out for in the Big Apple. Anthony drew the defense and delivered a pass to Jose Calderon in the corner with enough room to get off a good look. “Nothing is easy in the National Basketball Association and we knew that the Knicks were playing great and feeling good about themselves and that we had to play much better than we have been to get this win – and I think we did”. LaMarcus Aldridge and Manu Ginobili each scored 14 points for the Spurs.
The Knicks closed a 12-point, fourth-quarter deficit to two on an Arron Afflalo three-pointer with just over two minutes left, they just couldn’t stop the too-deep, too-efficient Spurs. On the first possession, he nailed a 3-pointer.
“I was making shots and they were giving me the ball, ” Porzingis said. “Today the shots were falling for me”. He later drove past the speedy Patty Mills for a short hook that he missed only to follow with a two-handed dunk. On Friday, the Knicks had five 3-pointers in the first half.
On the other hand, the Knicks may not have as strong of a record as the Spurs but they are enjoying their current form as they have already hit the number of wins they recorded previous year with still over a half of the season remaining.
“They are a team that always is driving, dropping off, ” Porzingis said.
Parker answered with a floater and Fisher used another time out to get a lob for Porzingis, setting up a wild final 33 seconds.
“You know Carmelo is a guy who can shoot over nearly anyone in the league”, Ginobili said. “Don’t even try, it might explode your head”.
Magic 83, Nets 77: Victor Oladipo and Nikola Vucevic each scored 20 points to lead Orlando over Brooklyn. This game just further confirmed for me the that the kid can really, really play.
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This will be the second and final meeting between the two teams, as they faced off at Madison Square Garden back on November 2nd.
