NY Knicks Takeaways From Victory vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

Not many of them dropped. “It was just unlucky that we didn’t pull the win out”.

A nine-point deficit shot to 16 in an instant, and another fourth-quarter was lost, this time in a 3-point shootout that was extremely one-sided. “I give our guys a lot of credit for really hanging in there”.

Up 11 to start the fourth, the Knicks’ first three baskets were three-pointers. Without Kevin Durant in the lineup, the Thunder are now under.500, as they are 2-3 in games that he hasn’t appeared in this season. “I don’t know if the one behind Russell was open or not, but clearly made the right decision getting to Serge, because he got him a clear, wide-open look”. “No KD out there”. I know I’m not going to suck. “We did the best we could”.

The Thunder got within 87-81 after a Waiters three-point play with 1:57 left. Then, a D.J. Augustin layup was quickly erased by threes on consecutive possessions by Derrick Williams to put the Knicks up 82-66 at 8:53. Last season when they visited the Oklahoma City Thunder, they were blown out of the water by 28 points.

With Westbrook pushing the ball without any real numbers advantage as the Thunder tried to come back in the fourth quarter, Waiters got behind the defense on the left-hand side and cut towards the rim.

It was originally called a flagrant foul on Afflalo, but the refs reviewed it and called it a common foul.

Anthony was fouled with 33.1 seconds and missed both free throws.

Anthony knows a thing or two about being a highly sought free agent.

Waiters’ miss was the third 3-pointer in the final stretches that didn’t fall for the Thunder.

“I think the Thunder are a case study in how you want to see a league operate where it ultimately becomes about competition and to manage the best franchise, as opposed to competition based on the depth of the owner’s pockets or the size of the market”, Silver said. I feel like I can do a lot more.

And the fact Durant asked Westbrook to be his presenter shows what their true relationship is, according to Westbrook.

“Kevin and the state of Oklahoma, I think they have the same temperament”, Durant’s mother Wanda Pratt said.

And hopefully we’ll be here next year for Russell Westbrook’s induction.

Oklahoma City reserves made 12 of 26 shots. The starters sank 23 of 66…. Waiters’ and Westbrook’s shots might not have happened if a well-designed play out of a Thunder timeout had been successful. Kristaps Porzingis is third amongst all rookies for points per game with 12.8.

The Knicks didn’t win their 7th game last season until January 21st.

Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points on 9 of 20 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds.

NEW ORLEANS – Ryan Anderson scored a game-high 30 points and Anthony Davis added 20 points and 18 rebounds to power New Orleans to the upset victory.

The Nets (2-11) shot 42 percent in the first half and turned the ball over 11 times, including four times during Boston’s second-quarter spurt. Enes Kanter had 11 points and 13 rebounds in 24:48 off the bench….

“The difference here was the 3-point line”, Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said.

The Knicks will continue their road trip tomorrow night on the second night of a back-to-back as they will travel to take on the Houston Rockets.

The Thunder will be back in action on Sunday when they host the Mavericks at 6 p.m.