Knicks Downed At Buzzer by Dirk Nowitzki Jumper

By Kenneth Teape (@teapester725)

Monday, February 24th, 2014

Dallas Mavericks vs. New York Knicks

Post Game Recap

Grass is green, the sky is blue and the Knicks suffered yet another disappointing loss. Tonight the Knicks suffered the tough loss at the hands of the Mavericks by the score of 110-108 by the way of Dirk Nowitzki buzzer beater. The Knicks fought back and came up short like they have so many times this season, wasting yet another outstanding performance from their leading man Carmelo Anthony. As the losses continue to pile up, the reality is beginning to set in that the playoffs will be out of reach. With the loss tonight the Knicks record drops to 21-36 and six games out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Player of the Game: Carmelo Anthony

EPA/Jason Szenes Corbis OUT

For a player who has a reputation of being a gunner and nothing else, Anthony has disproved that all season. He has continued to put up the monster scoring numbers but he is the only Knick player you can honestly say has shown up night in and night out during this forgettable season. Tonight Anthony did it again, pouring in 44 points on 14-29 from the field (7-12 3pt, 9-9 FT) as he was on fire all night. He kept the Knicks in the game single handedly multiple times throughout the night as the offensive side of the ball looked to be the only place anyone looked interested in playing. Anthony added nine rebounds, four assists and one block to round out his stat line for the night. It has been nice watching Anthony throughout the season as he has proven time and time again he is one of the best players in the NBA and with every passing loss not only do the Knicks playoff hopes diminish the likelihood of Anthony staying seems to go with them.

-Positives

The Knicks shooting percentages were through the roof all night. Overall they shot 52.6 percent from the field and an impressive 14-33 from the three point line, good for 42.4 percent. They assisted on 23 of their 40 made baskets as the Knicks offense clicked whenever they were able to hold onto the ball.

Stan Hondastan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

The Knicks were able to hold Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks leading scorer, relatively in check. Nowitzki hurt them in the end with a buzzer beater to win the game but outside of that he struggled for the most part. Nowitzki didn’t score for the previous 18 minutes before the buzzer beater and ended with only 15 points on the night, below the 21.8 he is averaging on the season. Nowitzki shot 6-13 from the field overall, struggling with his jump shot as he missed all three of his three point attempts.

Cole Aldrich has seen as little playing time as anyone on the Knicks this season but tonight he was pressed into duty with Tyson Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire and Jeremy Tyler all getting into foul trouble. Aldrich responded well with his eight minutes, as the finished with a +12, grabbing three rebounds and making his only shot attempt. Aldrich responded as well as you could have hoped with what was asked of him out of nowhere tonight.

-Negatives

Stoudemire drew the start tonight alongside Anthony and Chandler and it was not pretty. The three are a poor mix together as Stoudemire and Chandler looked lost on multiple occasions on both ends of the court. Chandler and Stoudemire get in each other’s way more than help each other because they are both comfortable in the same areas on the court. Neither player put up bad stats, as Stoudemire finished with nine points, two rebounds and one block while Chandler had 12 points, 12 rebounds, one steal and two blocks. The problem was the Knicks just weren’t very good when either player was on the court; Stoudemire finished -8 and Chandler finished -14.

The Knicks offense was not running as smoothly as it could have because of the pressure the Mavericks put on them. The Mavericks force 15.3 turnovers per game, sixth best on the NBA and they showed why tonight. The Knicks finished with 21 team turnovers on the night, resulting in 25 points for the Mavericks. On the other hand the Knicks were only able to force 10 Mavericks turnovers and scored 17 points off of them.

Stan Hondastan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

At this point in his career Vince Carter knows as well as anyone he is not the high flyer he once was. He is more than content in his role as a secondary player that can still knock down a jump shot. Someone forget to pass the memo along to the Knicks, who left Carter open throughout the night. Carter went off, scoring a season-high 23 points on 8-17 shooting, making 7-12 from behind the arc.

The Knicks didn’t defend the three-point line or anywhere while the Mavericks played offense for that matter. The Mavericks shot 47.7 percent on the night and 41.7 from the three point line. The Knicks were unable to get a stop whenever they needed it most, as the Mavericks were able to get a basket whenever they needed. The Knicks also struggled to stop Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon, as they scored 22 and 20 points respectively, knocking down 7-14 combined from the three point line.