With the season still on the line the New York Knicks didn’t show up tonight. The Los Angeles Lakers took it to the Knicks in every way. They are having a tough season, but tonight they played like a team that wanted a win. They competed from the start and put the Knicks down fairly easy. The Lakers went on to win 127-96.
The defense by the Knicks was at it’s worst tonight. In the third quarter the Lakers scored a franchise record 51 points including ten three-pointers. They simply played the team game and moved the ball real well. They racked up 32 assists tonight due to that ball movement and made the Knicks pay for leaving guys open.
Leading the way for Los Angeles was Xavier Henry who scored a team high 22 points. Henry has torn ligaments in his left wrist, but he played like he was 100%. He shot the ball well and also made some plays to the basket. He is having his best season yet and tonight performed really well for the Lakers.
Nick Young did what he always does and that is score. Young scored 20 points in 18 minutes. He always is looking to score and tonight did that for the the Lakers. He has had his up and downs as a player, but the team can always count on Young to score.
The Knicks were simply a mess tonight. They couldn’t run an offense and their defense was ten times worse. They were beaten in every facet of the game.
The offense wasn’t the problem tonight. The defense was the issue. They gave up so many easy baskets and easy looks that the Lakers were able to just have an easy time tonight. This performance is the most disheartening because it comes at the most important time of their season.
Carmelo Antony had 29 points, but most of those came when the game was basically over. Anthony really struggled early as he missed his first seven shots tonight. Hopefully he can get off to a better start tomorrow night.
Other then Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Tim Hardaway Jr provided scoring tonight. Stoudemire scored 16 and Hardaway scored 17 points. Both gave some nice offense, but their defense was very poor. And not just them. The team as a whole struggled on that end tonight.
Basically tonight could be the end of New York’s playoff hopes. They now fall to four games back of the Hawks in the playoff race. This was just a sad performance by the Knicks and a great one for the Lakers.
Photo Credit: Harry How/Getty Images
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