Days before the Knicks took on the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Thursday night, Knicks small forward, Carmelo Anthony, called his team the laughing stock of the NBA after plummeting to the bottom of the Atlantic Division and losing 9-straight games.
"We are the laughingstock of the league," Anthony said about the rivalry between the two New York teams. "I mean, it's nothing to hide. We are...that's why it's a big game for us."
But it seems as if the tables have turned on the Knicks after they blew out their former point guard Jason Kidd's team. More orange and blue fans filled the Brooklyn arena than black and white and when the Nets hit center court, it seemed as if the Knicks had home court advantage. Fans booed Brooklyn, but no one received a more unwelcome reception than Jason Kidd.
"Put Jason Kidd in," a Knicks fan yelled to the Nets.
Brooklyn played horribly and any true fan should be embarrassed. Thursday's 113-83 blowout loss was the second consecutive loss that Brooklyn fell short by more than 20 points on their home court.
Everything pretty much went wrong for the Nets. The Nets fell behind double digits in the first quarter and though they cut it by less than five in the second quarter, they were never able to regain a lead over the Knicks (4-13.)
But, hey both teams couldn't lose, right? And the better team out of the worst won.
Anthony had a huge night with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Iman Shumpert scored a season-high 17 points. Shump took to Twitter after the game to pop off to fans about jumping back on the Knicks bandwagon.
He retweeted this message: "Now everybody back on that @I_Am_Iman bandwagon again. Some of y'all kill me."
Meanwhile, Andrea Bargnani showed out and scored 16 points before he was ejected in the fourth quarter for taunting Kevin Garnett after they had a scuffle.
"I don't speak Italian," Garnett said after the game, when asked what Bargnani had said to him.
Brook Lopez ended the night with 24 points and nine rebounds, who again played without injured Paul Pierce and Deron Williams.
Nobody was laughing at the Knicks after Thursday night.
Matinee games and the Knicks have been going together like those hideous orange uniforms they have displayed having lost all previous 6 games. So it was interesting (especially coming off their last 2 games) to see how they would fare against the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday afternoon at the World Most Famous or some would say "infamous" Arena.
With the heat mounting on head coach Mike Woodson and injuries to Raymond Felton, Kenyon Martin and Pablo Prigioni, Woodson elected to go with his bigs in the starting line-up, Tyson Chandler and Andrea Bargnani against the smaller Grizzlies. The strategy backfired as Memphis jumped out to a quick 17-8 lead after a Mike Conley short jumper. New York managed to right themselves going on a 14 to 8 run cutting the deficit to two points (25-22) at the end of the first period.
Tim Hardaway, Jr got the crowd into the game with a vicious dunk after a Carmelo Anthony steal giving the Knicks a 3-point (28-25) lead that would not last long. In the blink of an eye, the Grizzlies outscored the Knicks 25 to 12 taking a 10 point (50-40) halftime lead. Ex-Knick Zach Randolph 11 and Tony Allen 13 points leading the way. Meanwhile, the Knicks shooting was atrocious. They attempted 10 three-pointers missing 9. Anthony misses 6 of his first 10 shots, Bargnani 4 out of 5 and Iman Shumpert missed all four of his.
It went from bad to worse in the third period even though New York was only outscored by 1 point (22-21). Jammal Franklin, the latest guard the Knicks made look like an all-star, goes in for an uncontested lay-up pushing the lead to 14 (72-58). Memphis, crushing them on the boards out rebounded them 44-23. Seventeen second chance points and a whopping 11 to 4 in offensive rebounds. The final results would be even more horrific.
Down by 12 to begin the final period, the Grizzlies went up by as many as 19 (85-66) with more than five minutes to go. Boos raining down from the frustrated crowd. The Knicks frantic comeback was started by a Hardaway, Jr 3-point bomb and when Anthony finishes a lay-up, the lead dwindled to 10 (85-75) getting the crowd back into the game. But just like all game and all season, the defense that defined the team last year, could not get stops when needed.
New York managed to get the lead down to four points (91-87) after Chandler converts free throws with 25.6 left. It would be the last points of the game for them as the Knicks lost for the 10th time at home. The big line-up was anything but as Memphis outscored New York 60 to 28 in the paint and out-rebounded them by an astounding 56 to 29. Something Woodson was not pleased with.
"That is embarrassing especially when you start a big lineup," Woodson said.
He called out players he felt were responsible.
"Tyson, Bargnani, Melo have to rebound the ball better and we have to do it as a unit. We could not keep them out of the paint and that was a problem."
The loss dropped their record to 8 and 18 and they are quickly becoming an afterthought in a division that can be taken by anybody.
"I take pride in trying to win games at home" continued Woodson. "That was the whole beauty the last two years. We have been slow in that area and that has put us in a hole. If we won half of our home games we would be sitting at the top of our division the way it is playing out. We have to put a string of wins on the road. That is the only way we can get out this hole."
If the New York Knicks keep losing, be it at home or on the road, Woodson may not be around if they do climb out.
The Cleveland Cavaliers re-signed some of its top free agents including Iman Shumpert, Kevin Love and Lebron James. Curiously, the Cavs have yet to sign Tristan Thompson, and failing to do so won’t bode well with the king moving forward.