Pistons-Knicks Preview

Posted Jan 31 2012 11:50AM

High hopes have given way to high anxiety in New York.

Thought to be a contender, the Knicks are the runaway leaders as the NBA's biggest bust thus far. The superstars haven't been super, the offensive guru coach can't fix the offense, and the team is closer to last place than first in the Eastern Conference at 7-13.

"It's not a great feeling. The whole purpose of playing is to contend for a championship, and right now we're not on that pace, on track right now to contend, so we've just got to keep getting better," forward Amare Stoudemire said. "It's a long season, but we can't have any excuses. We've got to start winning now, we've got to start playing top-notch basketball right now, so we've got to get it going."

That won't be easy this week, when the Knicks play three games in three nights. Even worse, they don't know if Carmelo Anthony and Baron Davis will be available.

Neither practiced Monday, and while Davis won't play until sometime next week, Anthony took part in a morning workout Tuesday and could play against Detroit. The Knicks would like to get that one, because they face Chicago and Boston during their back-to-back-to-back that starts Thursday.

"We've got to get going now," Stoudemire said. "It's an important part of the year where we've got to get going. We've got to try to win by any means right now, so we don't want to get too behind to where we have to dig out of deep hole. We've got a deep enough hole as it is now."

The Knicks have lost three straight and nine of their last 10 games, with Anthony missing the last two because of injuries to his right ankle, right thumb and left wrist. Coach Mike D'Antoni says Anthony wants to work out again Tuesday at Madison Square Garden so he can be sure he is ready to return after missing the past two games with ankle, wrist and thumb injuries.

"If we was winning, I would try to take my time, but right now I want to try to push and see what I can do," Anthony said.

Davis has been working to get into shape after missing the entire season with a herniated disk in his back. D'Antoni says Davis hasn't had a setback, the training staff just thought he should take some more time.

New York was expected to be a playoff team after acquiring Tyson Chandler to play between Anthony and Stoudemire, and maybe even good enough to unseat Boston in the Atlantic Division. But while the newcomer has been solid, Anthony has made just 31.7 percent of his shots in six games since he was originally hurt, and Stoudemire continues to suffer without a playmaker, with a 17.7 points per game average that's his lowest since his rookie year on a career-worst 42.8 percent shooting.

Despite the disappointing start, D'Antoni said he isn't worried about his job status, or lobbying management to upgrade the Knicks' talent - which wouldn't be easy anyway because they traded away most of their assets last February to get Anthony.

"We need to maximize what we got right now on the floor," D'Antoni said. "That's my job, that's hopefully what we can get done and we need to do it."

But D'Antoni, whose offense was once the envy of the league when he coached in Phoenix, seems just as baffled as anyone by the Knicks' struggles on that end. They are in the bottom half of the league with 93.7 points per game and 41.4 percent shooting, wasting their improved defensive play with Chandler, who said he never could have expected his new team to struggle to score.

"Given (D'Antoni's) history, the success has always been on the offensive end, more so lacking the defensive end," Chandler said. "The defense has picked up but we're struggling offensively. We have to find a way to make it work."

The Knicks knew their offense wouldn't be right until Davis played, giving them the veteran point guard they lack. But in the meantime, they've blown an easy part of their schedule, dropping home games against sub-.500 teams such as Charlotte, Toronto and Milwaukee, and there's no telling how long of an adjustment there will be once Davis plays.

Chandler won a title with the Dallas Mavericks last season, so he knows what an elite team looks like. And he still sees one in the locker room, even if the Knicks aren't one in the standings.

"In all honesty, I still feel like this is a team that can win a championship," he said. "You know, I feel like we definitely have the pieces, I feel like we haven't came together yet, and it's a process. I feel like guys are going to have to step up and play roles that they're not necessarily used to, and when we get everybody back healthy and get everybody on the floor at one time, we can really see what we got."

Injury-riddled and undermanned, Detroit's losing streak hit five in a 103-82 loss at Milwaukee on Monday. The Pistons (4-18), who were without Ben Gordon and Will Bynum, never led as their defense was again shredded on the perimeter and the offense inconsistent.

Both Gordon and Bynum are questionable for this game. Rodney Stuckey picked up some of the offensive slack Monday with 19 points and six assists. Detroit, though, has shot 39.5 percent while averaging 86.8 points during its five-game skid.

In the most recent three games of the losing streak, opponents have made 29 of 48 (60.4 percent) from 3-point range. The Pistons have allowed 101.0 points per game on 50.8 percent shooting in all five losses.

Anthony returns, Knicks rout Pistons to end slide

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Feb 01 2012 2:14AM

NEW YORK (AP) Carmelo Anthony came back and the New York Knicks' offensive woes went away.

Anthony scored 25 points in his return to the lineup, Landry Fields added 16 of his 18 in a flawless first half, and the Knicks snapped a three-game losing streak with a 113-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night.

Tyson Chandler had 17 points and Amare Stoudemire 15 for the Knicks, whose slumbering offense awoke in just their second victory in 11 games. They shot 60 percent from the field - amazingly the first time they bettered 50 percent all season - and fell just a point short of matching their highest scoring effort.

"A lot of that is Melo," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "You could see he was well, he looked good and we play a lot off him and he draws a lot of attention, makes it easy for everybody else, kind of puts everybody else back in their roles that they do. And we struggled with him out or with him hurt."

Anthony had missed two straight games because of injuries to his ankle, wrist and thumb, finally shutting it down after shooting just 31.7 percent in six games since he was hurt on Jan. 12 at Memphis. But he drove easily and shot well after deciding shortly before the game he was ready to go, going 9 of 14 from the field and handing out six assists.

"My legs felt great out there tonight," Anthony said. "I felt refreshed. Just taking these five, six days off that I did really helped me out big time. I could feel me having my explosiveness back. A lot of the things that I was doing prior to the Memphis game, it came back tonight."

Jonas Jerebko scored 15 points and Greg Monroe had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Pistons (4-19), who lost their sixth straight and are struggling to even be competitive while playing without Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Will Bynum.

"We're not even putting ourselves in a position where these games are in doubt," Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. "We're all embarrassed that we're not doing better. We all have to raise our hands and figure out ways we can improve."

Fields, who has played better lately after struggling early, made all six of his attempts in the first half, including four 3-pointers. The Knicks made 23 of 35 shots (65.7 percent) in the first half, going 6 of 8 behind the arc, and kept it up the rest of the night.

The Knicks have been in a season-long shooting slump, coming into the game 29th in the NBA in field-goal percentage at 41.4 percent. D'Antoni traced much of the problems to Anthony's physical struggles, saying the Knicks had no way to attack without him.

But they've shredded the Pistons twice, dunking 13 times in a 103-80 victory on Jan. 7 in Detroit. All 12 players scored Tuesday, with reserve Bill Walker chipping in 11 points.

The Pistons trailed by double digits after one quarter in their previous two games, and were quickly down 17-7 in this one. They cut into the lead before Fields and Anthony made 3-pointers in the final 25 seconds of the period to give New York a 33-24 lead. Detroit kept it close until late in the second, but New York finished the half with a flurry and blew it open easily in the third quarter, when the Pistons managed just 12 points.

"We just didn't give ourselves a chance," forward Tayshaun Prince said. "When you're losing games and playing the way we're playing, the one thing you want to do is give yourself a chance to win, but we don't do that."

New York had botched home games against sub-.500 teams Charlotte, Toronto, Phoenix and Milwaukee, but couldn't afford to blow this one with a back-to-back-to-back set that includes Chicago and Boston starting Thursday.

They got plenty of rest for that, emptying the bench early in the fourth.

"We were moving the ball," Fields said, "and just going in tonight we wanted to make a statement going into these next three games. So I think we did that."

NOTES: The Pistons finish a stretch of three games in three nights Wednesday at New Jersey, where Frank was the Nets' coach from 2004 until he was fired after losing his first 16 games in the 2009-10 season. ... D'Antoni said he doesn't expect Baron Davis to play until next week. Davis is still recovering from a herniated disk in his back and started practicing last week, but wasn't ready to debut during their four-game road trip and sat out practice Monday. D'Antoni said Davis didn't have a setback, but the team felt it was better to give him more time.

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Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Notebook: Knicks 113, Pistons 86

By Adam Zagoria, for NBA.com
Posted Tuesday January 31, 2012 10:48PM

THE FACTS: Carmelo Anthony returned to the lineup after a two-game absence and scored a game-high 25 points and dished six assists as the Knicks snapped a three-game losing streak by obliterating the struggling Detroit Pistons, 113-86, at Madison Square Garden.

New York won for just the second time in their last 11 games behind Landry Fields' 18 points, Tyson Chandler's 17 and Amar'e Stoudemire's 15.

The Pistons (4-19) lost their sixth straight.

QUOTABLE: "He's one of the best players in the world. He's a good passer so it was definitely great to have him back tonight."
-- Chandler on Anthony

THE STAT: Fields went 7-for-10 from the field, making 4-for-6 from downtown. He added five steals, five rebounds, three assists and a block.

QUOTABLE II: "Landry was phenomenal in the first quarter...He's 4-for-6 from three [overall]. Those might be the first 3's he's hit in about a month and a half."
-- Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni

QUOTABLE III: "My legs felt great out there tonight. I felt refreshed."
-- Anthony

TURNING POINT: The Knicks surged out to a 33-24 first-quarter lead behind 21 combined points from Anthony and Fields. They dished 10 first-quarter assists. The 33 points was their third-highest first-quarter total this season. Fields went 4-for-4 from the field in the period, hitting all three 3-pointers he took. After taking a 57-45 halftime lead, the Knicks clamped down defensively during a third quarter in which they outscored the Pistons, 24-12.

WHO'S HOT: After missing two games with wrist, ankle and thumb injuries, Anthony was an efficient 9-for-14 from the field, including 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. He also went 5-for-5 from the line.

WHO'S NOT: Pistons rookie point guard Brandon Knight managed just one assist and nine points on 3-for-8 shooting one night after going scoreless and giving up 21 points to Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks. He was minus-19 in this game.

QUOTABLE III: "The bottom line is we're not getting the job done."
-- Pistons coach Lawrence Frank

NOTABLE: D'Antoni said point guard Baron Davis likely wouldn't return for another week or two. The Knicks had originally projected that Davis would return from a herniated disc in his back by late January.

NOTABLE II: Stoudemire tweaked his ankle in the third period, but returned to the game.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Whoopi Goldberg and C.C. Sabathia were in the house.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Thursday vs. Chicago, Friday @ Boston, Saturday vs. Nets. For the Pistons, Wednesday @ New Jersey, Friday vs. Milwaukee, Saturday vs. New Orleans.

• Pistons: Villanueva
• Knicks: Davis, Harrellson

• Pistons: --
• Knicks: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #24 Mike Callahan, #61 Courtney Kirkland, #40 Leon Wood
• Attendance: 19763
• Duration: 2:18