Knicks-Bobcats Preview

By PAUL DIGIACOMO
Posted Jan 24 2012 5:39PM

Carmelo Anthony is banged up and missing shots, and Amare Stoudemire is shooting less and averaging his fewest points since his rookie season.

As a result, the New York Knicks are on the verge of their longest losing streak in nearly two years, and heading out on the road to face the Charlotte Bobcats may not be the best way to end their struggles.

The Knicks look to avoid a seventh straight loss Tuesday night in Charlotte, where they've dropped nine of 13 all-time meetings with the Bobcats.

New York (6-10) saw its skid continue with a 119-114 double-overtime defeat to Denver at home Saturday. It was Anthony's first game against the Nuggets since they traded him to the Knicks on Feb. 22.

Anthony led New York with 25 points but again struggled from the field, missing 20 of 30 shots. He scored 35 in a 100-86 loss to Milwaukee on Friday but went 11 of 26 from the floor and was ejected late for picking up a second technical foul.

Anthony is shooting a career-worst 40.4 percent, and that mark is at 33.3 over the past four games after spraining his ankle and hurting his non-shooting wrist in a 94-83 defeat Jan. 12 at Memphis. That was the first game of New York's losing streak.

"Expectations are still high. Things will still be great. I'm not down," said Anthony, who leads the Knicks with 25.7 points per game.

Anthony said that he might need to pass up some shots.

"When you're missing shots and they're right there and they're not going in, you say 'Maybe the next one, maybe the next one.' That's kind of the mentality that you have," he said. "But maybe I need to stop shooting a lot, I don't know. It's just a bunch of stuff that goes through my mind right now."

New York may want to get Stoudemire more involved in the offense. He's second on the Knicks with 17.6 points per game, but that's his lowest number since his first season in the NBA. His average of 15.2 shots is his lowest since 2008-09.

Stoudemire attempted just nine shots in 45 minutes Saturday but said afterward that he doesn't really concern himself with the box score.

"We had a chance to win, it's all about winning with me," Stoudemire said. "It's not about numbers, it's not about shots. It's just about winning. So we had a chance to win, we had momentum going, just couldn't pull it out."

Stoudemire scored 25 points in each of New York's games against Charlotte (3-14) this season, as the teams have split two meetings at Madison Square Garden. He attempted a season-high 25 field goals in a 91-87 win Jan. 9.

Anthony averaged 27.0 points and shot 42.9 percent (18 for 42) in those two matchups.

The Bobcats have dropped four straight and 10 of 11 since beating the Knicks 118-110 on Jan. 4. They averaged 88.3 points on their three-game road trip which ended with a 97-87 loss to New Jersey on Sunday.

Already playing without Corey Maggette and DJ White, Charlotte lost starting point guard D.J. Augustin after the first quarter due to an inflamed right big toe.

Rookie Kemba Walker stepped in and scored a team-high 16 points but shot 5 for 13 and led the Bobcats with three turnovers.

"I'm going to have ups and downs," he said. "I'm trying to be consistent. But (the condensed schedule is) tough on my body."

Walker will start Tuesday as Augustin is expected to miss the next four games.

Knicks snap 6-game skid, rout Bobcats 111-78

By STEVE REED
Posted Jan 24 2012 10:57PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) If you think this has been a crazy NBA season already, try this one on for size: Carmelo Anthony was held to a career-low one point and the New York Knicks won by 33.

Yep, that's crazy.

And yet that's exactly what happened Tuesday night as the Knicks routed the Charlotte Bobcats 111-78 to snap a six-game losing streak.

Tyson Chandler had 20 points and 17 rebounds to help the Knicks overcome another poor shooting night from Anthony, whose only point came on a technical free throw in the third quarter.

Anthony missed all seven shots from the field.

Only once in his previous 42 games with the Knicks had Anthony failed to finish in double digits. That came last March 18, when he had six points. His previous career low was two points when he was with the Denver Nuggets.

Anthony did contribute 11 rebounds and four assists.

"Sometimes defenses are going to load up on him because they understand he's our number one option," said Chandler. "So when they load up and he hits the open guy like he did tonight, we're still effective - and he's still effective - because of that."

On this night the Knicks didn't need much scoring from their premier player.

Chandler picked up the slack as the former Bobcats star shot 9 for 10 from the field, six of those coming on dunks. Amare Stoudemire chipped in with 18 points and eight rebounds while Landry Fields added 18 points and four assists for the Knicks, who won for the first time since Jan. 11.

The Knicks dominated inside the paint, outrebounding the Bobcats 53-33 while handing them their fifth straight loss.

They had 14 dunks against the defenseless Bobcats.

"We didn't come out ready to play," Charlotte center Byron Mullens said. "I mean Carmello scores one point and we still get beat by 33? That's uncalled for. It makes us look bad. I know we're a young team but there aren't any excuses for getting beat by 33 and their main player scoring one point."

Anthony didn't seem fazed by his off night.

"I needed a night like this where I didn't have to do too much and we still won the game by a lot," said Anthony. "We got a long road trip ahead of us. We got another one tomorrow at Cleveland so it's another day. This one is over. We won a game, team effort. Get ready for tomorrow."

Still, Anthony's recent shooting slump has to be a concern for the Knicks.

He came into the game shooting just 35.4 percent from the field over his previous eight games.

The Bobcats have plenty of problems of their own.

Point guard D.J. Augustin will miss at least three more games with a right toe injury which means they will rely heavily on rookie Kemba Walker.

Walker led Charlotte with 22 points but struggled early on with turnovers, seemingly bothered by the Knicks' bigger guards. Gerald Henderson and Derrick Brown each scored 15 points for the struggling Bobcats.

"We just didn't have enough," Bobcats coach Paul Silas said. "We had really two players that played tonight, that's Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson. I think Brown scored a little bit there at the end but that was it. When Carmelo Anthony goes 0 for 7, come on, you know? We should at least be in the game."

Boris Diaw, who had averaged 21.5 points per game in his previous two games against the Knicks, had just four points on 1-for-6 shooting from the field.

The Knicks jumped out to a 52-42 halftime lead behind a near-perfect first half by Chandler, who was 6 of 6 from the field with 13 points and nine rebounds and simply outplayed Mullens.

"Tyson was unbelievable," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I thought he was phenomenal."

"I think a lot of offensive rebounds came because we were attacking the rim," Chandler said. "When we get great penetration off the pick and roll I kind of got some easy lanes. That's the biggest help to get to the glass and get the opportunity to put it back in."

It was a good start for the Knicks in their first of four straight road games.

"It was important that we start playing better," D'Antoni said. "We can't get too excited because we have a game Wednesday night (at Cleveland) and we need to win that too."

Walker was 5 of 6 from the floor for 15 points in the first half but turned the ball over four times.

The 6-foot-1 Walker seemed to be bothered by the 6-foot-5 Iman Shumpert and 6-foot-7 Landry Fields. However, the Knicks failed to take advantage of very many of Charlotte's nine first half-turnovers, regularly missing easy layups. Shumpert even missed a breakaway dunk, clanging it off the back of the rim.

Still, the Knicks began to pull away in the third quarter as the Bobcats shot just 6 of 24 from the field. The Knicks were a solid 9 of 10 from the field during that same span and then expanded the lead in the fourth quarter while resting their starters, including Anthony.

NOTES: The Bobcats will be without Augustin for at least three more games after he injured his right toe earlier in the week. ... Knicks center Josh Harrellson had successful surgery Tuesday on his fractured right wrist and will miss six weeks of action, according to the team. ... Bobcats owner Michael Jordan sat courtside with his former agent David Falk.

Notebook: Knicks 111, Bobcats 78

By Derek S. Smith, for NBA.com
Posted Tuesday January 24, 2012 11:06PM

THE FACTS: The New York Knicks snapped their six-game losing streak and cruised to a 111-78 romp over the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night at Time Warner Cable Arena. All 13 Knicks in uniform scored, led by Tyson Chandler's 20 points and 17 rebounds while Charlotte's Kemba Walker led all scorers with 22 points.

QUOTABLE: "We played smart and let the game come to us tonight. We really flowed out there and played together as a team and did what we had to in order to get the win. It just took us some time to play through it. It was fun being out there tonight."
-- Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire

THE STAT: Rebounds. The Knicks won thanks in part to their dominance on the glass. New York outrebounded Charlotte 53-33 for the game and its starting frontcourt of Carmelo Anthony, Stoudemire and Chandler grabbed more than the entire Bobcats squad. The Knicks scored 21 points in second-chance opportunities and allowed the Bobcats just seven such points.

TURNING POINT: Turn off the music. The Bobcats have been struggling with injuries, but suffered their biggest setback of the season with the announcement that D.J. Augustin would be sidelined. The Charlotte point guard is the team's primary ball handler and left the team with two rookies to fill in for him. Augustin will be sidelined for at least five days and is expected to miss a total of four games for the Bobcats. The Knicks were able to force 15 turnovers and score 22 points off them in the win.

HOT: Chandler. The Knicks center and former Charlotte Bobcat had a banner night. Chandler led the Knicks with 20 points on 9-for-10 shooting which included six dunks while grabbing 17 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end. He also added two assists and a blocked shot for the Knicks. Chandler is averaging 12.0 points and 14.0 rebounds in his last four games for New York.

NOT: Anthony was the only Knicks player to not score a field goal in the win over Charlotte. The perennial All-Star had just one point on 0-for-7 shooting and played just 29 minutes. It was his lowest scoring game in his NBA career and the first time since Nov. 28, 2005 in which he didn't score a field goal.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Landry Fields got it done all over the court for the Knicks. Fields scored 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting while adding four rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocked shots. He also led the defense, which held the Bobcats to 32.9 percent shooting.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Michael Jordan sat courtside with his former agent David Falk adjacent to the Bobcats bench. Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason and defensive lineman Everette Brown were in attendance along with former Panther Julius Peppers. NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin was also in attendance along with Christian Bodin, a Bobcats super fan who traveled all the way from Norway for the game against the Knicks.

ROOKIE WATCH: Walker led all scorers with 22 points while grabbing five rebounds and adding a pair of steals and two blocked shots. Walker got his first start at point guard and sixth overall. He is averaging 15.7 points in the starting lineup and has scored in double figures in six of the last seven.

NOTABLE: Charlotte shot a season-high 95.5 percent from the free throw line (21-for-22) ... Gerald Henderson recorded his sixth straight game with double-figure scoring. It was his 14th game in double figures this season ... Bobcats forward Derrick Brown scored a season-high 15 points ... Chandler recorded his sixth double-double of the season ... Anthony recorded his fourth game with 10-plus rebounds ... Knicks forward Jared Jeffries scored a season-high 11 points ... Josh Harrellson had successful surgery to repair his fractured right wrist and is expected to miss six weeks.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Wednesday @ Cleveland, Friday @ Miami, Saturday @ Houston. For the Bobcats, Wednesday @ Washington, Friday @ Philadelphia, Saturday vs. Washington.

• Knicks: Davis, Harrellson
• Bobcats: Maggette, Williams

• Knicks: --
• Bobcats: Thomas

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #30 John Goble, #60 James Williams
• Attendance: 16802
• Duration: 2:11