Spurs-Knicks Preview

By JORDAN GARRETSON
Posted Jan 03 2013 2:03AM

The New York Knicks have sputtered recently, losing three of their last four with defense largely to blame.

Though Amare Stoudemire's return is grabbing attention, New York may have to look elsewhere to shore up that end of the court on Thursday night as it hosts the red-hot San Antonio Spurs, one of the league's best offensive teams.

The Knicks (21-10) still own an impressive 12-3 home record, but all three defeats have come in their last five games at Madison Square Garden. Stoudemire made his season debut there Tuesday against Portland and Carmelo Anthony tied a season high with 45 points after sitting out the previous two games, but New York couldn't overcome a 19-point deficit in a 105-100 loss.

Anthony had been out with a hyperextended left knee. Stoudemire, who averaged 17.5 points and 7.8 rebounds last season, was playing for the first time since undergoing knee surgery in October.

Stoudemire scored six points on 3-of-8 shooting and grabbed one rebound, with New York getting outscored by nine during his 17 minutes off the bench.

"I felt good," said Stoudemire, averaging 23.3 points in 51 career games against the Spurs including playoffs. "The game felt like it was going 100 mph that first half. Had a couple of easy-looking shots, open shots, just a little bit rusty, wasn't able to knock those down. But the second half was better than my first half. Hopefully my second game will be better than my first game."

Stoudemire, known more for his offensive talents, isn't likely to solve the Knicks' recent defensive woes. New York allowed 96.1 points per game during its 18-5 start to the season, but it has given up 100 or more in each defeat during its current 3-5 stretch.

"Forget the offense, we scored enough points," coach Mike Woodson told the Knicks' official website Tuesday. "Defensively, we are not where we were earlier in the season. You can't keep spotting teams 20-plus point leads and think you will come back."

The Knicks are trying to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season, and their last two opponents have gone a combined 26 of 63 (41.3 percent) from 3-point range. San Antonio enters Thursday's game shooting 47.5 percent from beyond the arc during a season-best seven-game win streak.

The Spurs (26-8) are shooting 53.4 percent from the field and averaging 111.7 points in that run, which continued with a 117-110 win in Milwaukee on Wednesday. San Antonio scored 69 points in the first half for the second time in five days after doing it against Houston on Friday.

Tim Duncan opened Wednesday's game by knocking down three jumpers in the first three minutes and finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as the Spurs shot better than 50 percent for the fourth game in a row.

"As his career has gone on, he has become a much better jump shooter," Milwaukee's Mike Dunleavy said. "He can beat you a lot of different ways."

Tony Parker added 23 points and 11 assists, and San Antonio could look to exploit the 30-year-old Parker's matchup against 39-year-old Jason Kidd.

Kidd was scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting against the Trail Blazers. Fellow guard Raymond Felton scored a game-high 25 points in the Knicks' 104-100 victory at San Antonio on Nov. 15, but Felton is now out with a finger injury.

New York beat the Spurs even though Anthony shot 3 of 12 and scored nine points - 20.2 below his career-best season average. The Knicks haven't won back-to-back games in this series since the 2002-03 season.

Knicks end Spurs' 7-game winning streak in romp

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Jan 03 2013 11:19PM

NEW YORK (AP) Sometime between Stephen Jackson's sideline stumble and J.R. Smith's soaring slam, the San Antonio Spurs realized this wasn't their night.

Too much fatigue and way too much Knicks defense.

Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points, Smith kept up his surge with 20 and New York snapped San Antonio's seven-game winning streak with a 100-83 victory Thursday night.

Steve Novak added 15 points and Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 14 rebounds to help the Knicks bounce back from consecutive losses by dominating the final period against the Spurs, who appeared to run out of gas in their second game in two nights.

"They shot the hell out of it and I could see it wasn't going to happen," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Just too low on fuel and their defense was too good. Bad combination, and then they made shots, which makes it even worse."

Tim Duncan and Tony Parker each had just 11 points for the Spurs, who lost Jackson to an unusual injury, then lost what had been the NBA's longest winning streak.

Jackson played just three minutes off the bench before spraining his right ankle when he took a shot then fell back into a waitress working the sideline in front of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Smith, who had scored 25 points in his last four games as a reserve, highlighted his outing with an acrobatic dunk in the fourth quarter that brought fans to their feet. The lobbed pass came from reserve point guard Pablo Prigioni, who had one of his most complete games since coming to the NBA at age 35, finishing with six points and nine assists.

That meant the Knicks needed just an ordinary game from Anthony, who finished with about half of the season high-tying 45 he scored in a loss against Portland on Tuesday.

"That's their scheme, to try to take me out of the game," Anthony said. "Just a matter of us making shots when we swing the ball, and Novak made shots, J.R. kept his streak alive of playing good basketball, Pablo came in and led our team from the point guard position. Everybody contributed in their own way."

The Knicks put away what had been a close game for three quarters, scoring the first 10 points of the fourth to take a 17-point lead. The Spurs, playing for the fourth time in five nights, went with reserves from there and never put much of a dent in it.

San Antonio, which averaged 111.7 points on 53.4 percent shooting during its winning streak and rang up 117 points on Wednesday in Milwaukee, shot just 36 percent in its lowest-scoring game this season. Gary Neal led the Spurs with 12 points.

"It wasn't the first time, it's not going to be the last one," Spurs reserve Manu Ginobili said of the tired performance. "But of course we've got to give them credit because they forced us to not find anything easy, they made us really work."

Popovich praised the Knicks' defense before the game, though it had slipped during their stretch of three losses in four games. Looking for a fix, coach Mike Woodson gave Marcus Camby a start at forward in hopes of ending the Knicks' slow starts, and they allowed just 19 points in the first quarter.

"Our defense was slacking the last 10 games or so. Our defense kind of went the other way," Woodson said. "We put a nice feel-good tape together to show our players how we started the season, that we were No. 1 in defense and on offense. There was some major slippage."

Amare Stoudemire had 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting in his second game of the season after knee surgery. He seemed more aggressive than in his debut Tuesday but is clearly without his typical explosiveness, having a number of shots blocked when he tried to power his way inside.

Leading 67-60 after three, the Knicks made it 77-60 on Novak's 3-pointer with 10:24 remaining in the game. New York poured it on from there, the lead growing to 20 when Smith caught a lob from Prigioni around his waist while in the air and slammed it home as the players on the Knicks bench jumped up in celebration.

"J.R. does some amazing things. He's a freak of nature," Chandler said.

Novak followed with another 3-pointer on the next possession to make it 95-72.

Jackson entered the game just 13 seconds in, but his night was over late in the period after his bizarre injury. Jackson launched a 3-pointer from the corner with 3:23 left, stepping backward out of bounds after the miss and falling onto the waitress. He limped back onto the court as the Knicks played with a 5-on-4 advantage that led to Anthony's 3-pointer. The Spurs then took a timeout and Jackson limped off toward the locker rooms.

It was unclear if the waitress was serving Bloomberg, who was seen eating a box of popcorn shortly after.

Jackson was unavailable for comment.

Woodson said before the game he thought the Spurs were the best team in basketball right now, though Popovich dismissed that as gamesmanship he learned from Larry Brown. San Antonio sure didn't look its best while losing for the first time since a 112-106 setback at Denver on Dec. 18 and getting held well below its NBA-best 105.9 points per game.

Notes: The Spurs hadn't played here since January 2011, so this was their first time back in Madison Square Garden since renovations began. Popovich jokingly yelled at Parker for not knowing how to get from the locker room to the court before the game. ... Ginobili, Prigioni's teammate with Argentina's national team, was held to eight points on 2-of-10 shooting.

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

Notebook: Knicks 100, Spurs 83

Mike Slane, for NBA.com
Posted Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:00 PM - Updated Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:00 PM

THE FACTS: Mike Woodson asked his players to tighten up defensively, and the New York Knicks certainly responded against the high-scoring San Antonio Spurs.

Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points and J.R. Smith added 20 as the Knicks pulled away in the second half for a 100-83 victory over a fatigued San Antonio squad, snapping a two-game skid while ending the Spurs' season-high seven-game winning streak.

New York held the Spurs' star duo of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker to a combined 22 points and San Antonio shot a dismal 36.4 percent from the field on the second night of a back-to-back on the road.

QUOTABLE: "I thought New York's defense was great tonight. They came out in the third quarter and made shots. We were a little low on fuel. They played well and kicked our butt."
-- San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich.

THE STAT: San Antonio may be one of the hottest offensive teams in the league this season, but the Knicks were able to slow it down for at least a night. The Spurs failed to reach 100 points for the first time in seven games as they shot just 22-for-77 from the field. They had averaged 111.7 points while shooting 53.4 percent during their seven-game winning streak.

TURNING POINT: Although the Knicks led from late in the first quarter on, the Spurs kept things close until the end of the third when New York began a 10-0 run. Smith put the icing on the cake with an incredible one-handed alley-oop dunk off a feed from Pablo Prigloni followed by a Steve Novak 3-pointer to give the Knicks a 23-point advantage with 5:13 left to play.

QUOTABLE II: "We played great tonight. We beat a damn good ball club. It took a team effort for 48 minutes. That team will never beat themselves, so we did pretty good tonight."
-- Woodson.

WHO'S HOT: Prigioni, the Knicks' rookie guard, matched a career high with nine assists while playing 27 minutes. His solid showing allowed the aging Jason Kidd to rest while starting point guard Raymond Felton is out with a fractured finger.

WHO'S NOT: The Spurs' bench didn't provide much help as it shot 12-for-38 from the field. Gary Neal scored 12 on 3-for-11 shooting, Manu Ginobili had eight on 2-for-10 shooting and Matt Bonner missed all six of his attempts.

QUOTABLE III: "It was great to see (Prigioni) play like that, taking over a team. And even though he's not a scorer, he can find the open teammates all over the court. He does that great. I know him very well and it's great to see him confident and managing possessions and feeding different players. That's what he does best."
-- Ginobili on fellow Argentine Prigioni.

NOTABLE: For the second straight game since returning from a knee procedure in October, Amare Stoudemire received a loud ovation from the Garden crowd when he replaced Marcus Camby with 6:30 left in the first quarter. The veteran forward went on to score 10 points and grab a pair of rebounds in 21 minutes.

QUOTABLE IV: "Amare didn't ask to get hurt. He's done everything possible to get back out on the floor to play basketball and to help this team win. I think he made another step tonight. His minutes increased a little bit. He did some nice things out on the floor. I think he's going to help us more down the road as we continue this journey."
-- Woodson.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Spurs guard Stephen Jackson left the game with a sprained right ankle early in the first quarter after tripping over a waitress who was crouched in front of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's courtside seat.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Saturday @ Orlando, Monday vs. Boston, Thursday @ Indiana. For the Spurs, Saturday vs. Philadelphia, Monday @ New Orleans, Wednesday vs. L.A. Lakers.

• Spurs: Joseph
• Knicks: Felton, Shumpert

• Spurs: --
• Knicks: --

• Lead Changes: 6
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #71 Rodney Mott, #54 Nick Buchert, #35 Kane Fitzgerald
• Attendance: 19033
• Duration: 2:06