Tonight's Matchup: New York Knicks vs. Brooklyn Nets
Where: Madison Square Garden
TV: MSG Network (7:30 pm)
Knicks Report (14-60)
The Knicks return to action after three days to recover from a challenging back-to-back at home against the Celtics and Saturday in Chicago. The Boston contest came down to the wire, but Derek Fisher's squad battled fatigue in a 111-80 loss to the Bulls.
Injuries continue to hinder New York's rotations, as Jose Calderon (Achilles), Tim Hardaway Jr. (right wrist) and Alexey Shved (rib) remain sidelined, but the Knicks in uniform spoke after Tuesday's practice about playing spoiler against potentially playoff-bound opponents.
Nets Report (33-40)
Brooklyn pulled out a huge victory last night, beating the Pacers to take hold of the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot with nine games left to play. With Boston, Indy and 7-seeded Miami all within two games in the standings, each game carries significant meaning down the stretch.
The Nets are playing well at the right time, having won eight of their last 10 games. They've had different players step up in support of the Joe Johnson-Brook Lopez-Deron Williams core, including rookie guard Markel Brown. Brown, who was Marcus Smart's teammate at Oklahoma State, is one of the best athletes in the NBA and has injected energy into Lionel Hollins' methodical gameplan since joining the starting lineup 20 games ago.
Game Notes
Tonight marks the final matchup between these two teams this season. Brooklyn has won the previous three...Langston Galloway pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds in the last meeting (Feb. 6 in Brooklyn).