There were no “M-V-P” chants for Kristaps Porzingis inside the Garden Wednesday night and not much for the fans to cheer overall.
After three games of Porzingis performing like a superstar and the Knicks playing like a team that was committed to defense, they were completely taken out of their game by the Rockets.
Houston is tough to defend, the way they move and move the ball. The Knicks weren’t up to the challenge of slowing the Rockets or James Harden. Instead the Knicks looked zapped of energy like they were with heavy legs, which is a bad combination against Mike D’Antoni’s team.
The Knicks allowed 100 points before the buzzer sounded to end the third, trailed by as many as 29 and were shredded, 119-97.
Their three-game winning streak came to a screeching halt as did Porzingis’ run of three straight games of 30 points or more. The Rockets (6-3) attempted 52 three-pointers — many of them wide open — and made 19.
“You can’t play soft on these guys and be off four or five feet,” Jeff Hornacek said. “They can all shoot the crap out of the ball. I thought our close-outs weren’t good enough. We stopped short. You can’t do that against those guys.”
Hornacek said his players seemed “tired.” Porzingis admitted he was run down, perhaps from carrying the load more than he ever has in his career. He also said the Rockets “drained us mentally.”
Source: newsday
Post a Comment