• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. – The New York Knicks have been a team that has been both enjoyable and agonizing to watch develop over the past couple months. There have been times like last Monday against the Charlotte Hornets, where New York have gotten blown out in a poor effort. Then there are times like tonight where the Knicks surprise you, and make a case as a serious contender out of the East. It all depends on which Knick team you get on a nightly basis. Thursday night against the Boston Celtics, New York came to play riding the back of an unlikely source.

New York did their best to contain Kyrie Irving (32 points), but Irving pulled out his entire offensive repertoire. Irving had his dribble moves and mid range game sharp, and did a good job creating for his teammates off his drives. Frank Ntilikina (two steals) did a respectable job keeping Irving in front of him, and used his long wingspan to stay solid defensively.

Collectively as a unit, the Knicks played great team defense. New York held Boston to just 38% shooting from the field, on the way to a 102-93 win in Madison Square Garden. The Knicks did a great job of playing defense without fouling, as Boston shot just 19 attempts from the charity stripe.

(Photo Credit: Barry Holmes) Beasley has shown he is still an effective scorer.
(Photo Credit: Barry Holmes) Beasley has shown he is still an effective scorer.

The story coming into the game, was the return of Kristaps Porzingis. However, Porzingis did not shoot well from the field (0-11 FG), and scored just one point. New York found their scoring from Michael Beasley (32 points), who carried the scoring load for New York in the second half. Porzingis was left on the bench for most of the fourth quarter, as Beasley did his damage from seemingly everywhere. Beasley scored 28 second half points, and looked un-guardable. It even got to a point where Beasley was serenaded by the Garden faithful to “MVP” chants.

Nonetheless, the Knicks proved that even without Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. they are capable of knocking off any team. It wasn’t just Beasley’s scoring that got New York their fourth win in five games. The Knicks got a complete team effort, and improved to 17-14 on the season. New York must find a way to translate the success they have at the Garden, to when they are playing on the road.

New York’s next opponent will be the Detroit Pistons (17-14) on Friday night in Detroit.

Barry Holmes is a Senior Writer for PureSportsNY.com. Follow him on Twitter @BHO732

(Featured Photo Credit: Barry Holmes/PureSportsNY)

By Barry Holmes

Graduate of Millersville University, with a BS in Communications focused in Broadcast. Senior Writer & Social Media Manager for PureSportsNY.

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