Knicks-Spurs Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Mar 07 2012 1:47AM

Jeremy Lin seems to be slowing down for the New York Knicks, and he's got an elite point guard gearing up to face him next in Tony Parker.

Lin will try to help the Knicks end their eight-game road losing streak against Parker and the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

Lin had 14 points for the second straight defeat Tuesday, making 4 of 13 shots in a 95-85 loss at Dallas.

New York (18-20) has lost three straight on the road, with Lin averaging 12.0 points on 27.5 percent shooting with totals of 15 assists and 16 turnovers in those games.

The Knicks rallied from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the lead Tuesday - with Lin on the bench for that stretch - before the Mavericks closed on an 18-7 run.

"We made a run with our second team," Lin said. "We couldn't close this game out and they obviously did a great job of getting defensive stops."

Parker is eager to see what he can do against the NBA's newest sensation as San Antonio (25-12) tries to avoid its first home loss to New York since a 105-97 defeat March 18, 2003.

"Tomorrow's game is important and my matchup against Lin is going to be a good one," Parker said. "He's been playing well for them. Like I said before, it's a great story and hopefully he can maintain that level."

While the point guard matchup will be one to watch, New York would also like to see Carmelo Anthony get untracked. The All-Star forward is averaging 16.3 points on 38.5 percent shooting in six games starting alongside Lin since returning from a groin injury, making 2 of 12 shots for six points Tuesday.

"We're out of sync sometimes," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "It's harder to get everybody in there and out of there, get 'em in their rhythms, get roles defined."

Anthony is facing the Spurs for the first time with New York. His scoring averages of 20.3 points against the Spurs and 18.8 in San Antonio are his lowest against any Western Conference foe.

Amare Stoudemire seems to be adjusting better, scoring 26 points Tuesday to match his highest total with Lin as a starter.

The Spurs have dropped two of three to begin this seven-game homestand. Parker scored 25 points in Sunday's 99-94 loss to Denver while Manu Ginobili had eight in his first game back after missing five with a strained oblique.

"You bring players back, your rhythm changes, the dynamic changes, people have to get back to what roles they had before," coach Gregg Popovich said. "Any team that goes through that needs a little time. New York's done the same thing with Stoudemire and Carmelo coming back."

Knicks forward Steve Novak can reach double digits in points for a career-high sixth straight game Wednesday after averaging 14.6 in his previous five. Novak shot 54.8 percent on 3-pointers in 23 games with the Spurs last season.

"Nobody's more thrilled for Steve than we are," Popovich said. "He was wonderful in our program and it's great to see him have this place and opportunity in Mike's system to play the way he's played."

Parker, Spurs hand reeling Knicks another loss

By PAUL J. WEBER
Posted Mar 08 2012 12:21AM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) Manu Ginobili and Carmelo Anthony both missed two weeks. Cruising to wins like this is what the San Antonio Spurs pictured when their scoring star came back.

The sinking New York Knicks, meanwhile, are in a nightmare since theirs returned.

Tony Parker scored 32 points and the Spurs dealt New York a third consecutive loss, 118-105 on Wednesday night, that only exacerbated the mounting frustrations of the Knicks. Fading rapidly is the feel-good glow of Linsanity: New York has lost six of nine and has only stumbled since Jeremy Lin and Anthony were reunited just before the All-Star game.

Like the Knicks, the Spurs are finally back at full strength with Ginobili, who played his second game after missing two weeks with a strained stomach muscle. Ginobili and Tim Duncan scored 17 points apiece, while San Antonio is doing a far better job than New York of blending its pieces back together.

"We were more into this game. We knew that we needed it," Ginobili said. "We lost two out of three at home, and this game was an important one. We didn't want to let it get away."

Anthony led New York with 27 points. He was sharper than a listless, six-point game in Dallas a night earlier but had no answers afterward on what's not working.

"I don't know. I really can't answer that," Anthony said. "I really can't put a finger on it."

Amare Stoudemire, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds, took a different view after a game in which New York trailed by as much as 24 in the second half.

"(The Spurs) don't have nearly enough talent to compete with us," Stoudemire said. "Our personnel, our talent is off the charts."

It hardly looks that way lately. The Knicks are three games below .500 and bear little resemblance to their Lin-inspired resurgence before the All-Star break, and booting Landry Fields from the starting lineup before the game didn't help much.

New York played without center Tyson Chandler, who sat out with a strained hamstring.

Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said relegating Fields to the bench wasn't a demotion but simply a stab at trying to find combinations that work. The change came a night after the Knicks trailed by as many as 19 at Dallas, where Anthony afterward admitted having trouble finding his new role in the offense.

Lin came out of nowhere last month and delivered the Knicks the playmaking point guard they craved. But New York's transition has been anything but seamless since Anthony returned Feb. 20 after missing seven games, mostly because of a groin injury.

The Knicks are 2-5 with Anthony back in the lineup. D'Antoni said before the game that Anthony needs to be New York's leading scorer and said he understood the frustration of his star.

"You have to work through. But there's no reason why it can't co-exist," D'Antoni said. "There's no reason why everybody shouldn't do well. We just got to find the right balance of everybody getting into their spots."

Anthony had as many field goals in the first 6 minutes Wednesday night - two 3-pointers - than he did in Dallas. He was 12 of 24 from the floor. Lin shot 7 of 15 and had four assists. Stoudemire had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Gary Neal scored 12 points and found his way back into the starting lineup as the Spurs ease Ginobili back into playing shape. Ginobil played 25 minutes, shooting 7 of 10 from the floor and adding six assists.

DeJuan Blair, Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter added 10 points apiece for the Spurs. It was a convincing win for San Antonio, which had lost two of its last three at home after returning from the winningest nine-game road trip in NBA history, when the Spurs went 8-1 and quietly climbed to second in the West.

"We spent a lot of energy on the road when we went 8-1," Parker said. "So we want to take care of home court and we did that."

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich didn't stick around to see the end, getting ejected at the end of the third quarter following a heated exchange with officials over foul calls.

A scary moment came in the second quarter when Spurs point guard T.J. Ford lay on the floor for more than three minutes. The Spurs said the veteran received a stinger after getting elbowed in his back, and Ford appeared wobbly while being helped off the court and back into the tunnel. He didn't return to the game.

Ford missed the entire 2004-05 season because of a spinal cord injury, and the Spurs took the unusual step of noting that Ford was "neurologically intact" on a midgame injury report. It was not immediately clear how much time the Spurs might be without their backup point guard, who has played in just 14 games all season because of other injuries.

Notes: Knicks F Jared Jefferies (sore foot) didn't play and is also expected to miss Friday's game against Milwaukee...Don't expect the Spurs to make any surprise trades before the March 15 deadline. Popovich joked before Wednesday's game that he'll just let the phone ring his office on the eve of the deadline. "We're not doing anything anyway," Popovich imagined telling his staff. "Don't answer it."

Notebook: Spurs 118, Knicks 105

Posted Wednesday March 7, 2012 11:56PM

By Tim Price, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: The Spurs' Tony Parker got his first up-close look at Linsanity, and he scored 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting in less than 34 minutes while Jeremy Lin scored 20 (eight in the game's final two minutes of garbage time) in San Antonio's 118-105 victory over the Knicks on Wednesday at AT&T Center.

The Knicks (18-21) have lost four straight games all on the road and played without Tyson Chandler, who sat out after aggravating a left hamstring injury the previous night in Dallas. The Knicks also missed defender Jared Jeffries, so the Spurs (26-12) took advantage by shooting 54 percent from the floor.

QUOTABLE: "He (Tony Parker) owns the team. He knows, and we know, that almost every possession goes through him. And when you play and you feel like that it makes you play with a different serenity and cool. He knows when to attack, and defenses don't know what to do with him because his shot has been really good and, if not, he's attacking the big, getting the fouls and making the free throws. He's having a great season and he knows this is his team."
-- Spurs guard Manu Ginobili on Parker

THE STAT: Before the game fell into garbage time essentially through the entire fourth quarter, the Spurs had huge advantages in points in the paint (46-26), rebounds (39-28) and second-chance points (25-9) through the first three quarters. The Knicks also had no blocked shots. If the Dallas Mavericks are missing Chandler right now, look what his absence did to the Knicks in one game.

TURNING POINT: The Knicks hit 8-of-25 from the floor and allowed the Spurs to go 12-of-20 in the second quarter. After all that the Spurs took a 58-41 lead at halftime. The Knicks were able to trim it to a 11-point Spurs lead 7 1/2 minutes into the second half, but it was no time before San Antonio was up by 24 and put the game in their pocket.

QUOTABLE II: "Take a guess (how much it hurt not to have Chandler and Jeffries). They anchor our defense. Tony Parker is one of the best in the league. We didn't have our guys who could slow it a little bit."
-- New York coach Mike D'Antoni

HOT: Carmelo Anthony broke out of a 10-of-33 slump since the Knicks hit the road two games back with a 12-of-24 effort tonight. He was hitting his shot again, but Steve Novak missed his chance at a career-best six-straight games in double figures by making one shot for four points.

NOT: Baron Davis missed all his seven shots tonight and is 3-of-17 the past two nights.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Parker is shooting 63 percent the past three games (29-of-46) and is averaging 24 points a game.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Kevin Colis, who is a native of nearby New Braunfels and was a standout on the America's Got Talent show, belted out the National Anthem.

GOOD MOVE: Whatever the Spurs training staff has done to keep Ginobili in shape during his injuries this season has worked. After getting a surprising 23 1/2 minutes in his return from an oblique strain on Sunday, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had enough confidence to call Ginobili's number freely. He didn't start Ginobili, but he removed Danny Green from the starting lineup for Gary Neal. That put Ginobili into the rotation without cutting minutes from Neal. Ginobili turned in a 7-of-10 shooting night (3-of-5 from the 3-point line) and otherwise filled up the stat sheet in 25 1/2 minutes: six assists and four rebounds with a blocked shot and steal.

BAD MOVE: Iman Shumpert started out guarding Parker, and it did not work when Lin moved over to guard Parker, and not because Lin couldn't stay close to him one-on-one. It opened the door for Parker to cut around the high screens set by Tim Duncan and forced Amar'e Stoudemire into pick-and-roll defense. It worked best in the second quarter when Parker went 5-of-7 from the floor and made four trips to the foul line.

ROOKIE WATCH: Shumpert (subbing for Landry Fields) and Josh Harrelson got starts for the Knicks tonight. Shumpert's attention to covering Parker at times took effort from his offensive game. He missed 4-of-5 shots and committed five fouls. Harrelson was 4-of-10 for eight points and eight rebounds (five on offense). ... Kawhi Leonard hit all four of his shots for the Spurs (10 points) and continued to have quality numbers elsewhere. He had six rebounds and three steals.

NOTABLE: T.J. Ford, who missed the entire 2004-05 season with a spinal contusion, was involved in a scare when he stayed down following a scramble for the ball under the basket midway through the second quarter. Ford was diagnosed with a stinger and found to be neurologically intact, but he stayed down for minutes and needed two tries to get up from the floor even with help from team doctors. He did not return. ... The last two games Lin has 11 assists and three turnovers, but the Knicks have lost by double digits each time. ... The Knicks haven't won in San Antonio since March 2003, a nine-game streak. ... With the Spurs ahead by their largest margin at 24 points, Popovich was ejected by referee James Williams for coming out onto the floor and arguing a call with a minute to go in the third quarter.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Friday vs. Sacramento, Sunday vs. Philadelphia, Monday @ Chicago. For the Spurs, Friday vs. L.A. Clippers, Monday vs. Washington, Wednesday vs. Orlando.

• Knicks: Jordan, Walker
• Spurs: Joseph

• Knicks: Stoudemire
• Spurs: Blair, Popovich, Popovich

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #60 James Williams, #40 Leon Wood
• Attendance: 18581
• Duration: 2:09