boutons_
01-12-2006, 05:23 PM
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/logoprinter.gif (http://www.nytimes.com/)
January 12, 2006
Knicks 117, Mavericks 115, O.T.
High-Five: Quality Streak for Knicks
By HOWARD BECK (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=HOWARD%20BECK&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=HOWARD%20BECK&inline=nyt-per)
Judge it by length, by quality of opponent or by the quality of the games themselves. However the Knicks' (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) winning streak is defined, it is growing exponentially in stature and significance.
A night after winning in Cleveland, the Knicks came home, blew a huge lead against the Dallas Mavericks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/dallasmavericks/index.html?inline=nyt-org), then held on for a thrilling 117-115 overtime victory last night at Madison Square Garden.
The victory was the Knicks' fifth in a row - their longest winning streak in two years - and their second straight against a highly regarded team.
They extended the run with timely baskets by Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford and behind relentless rebounding by Antonio Davis. They hustled, they believed and they won again, looking nothing like a team with a 12-21 record.
"Our confidence is way up," said Crawford, who finished with 25 points and 7 rebounds. "We just want to show that we're for real, it wasn't just a fluke or we played well at home. We've played some quality teams now, and we're taking their best shots and we're responding."
Dallas (26-10) arrived with the third-best record in the league and was tied with Detroit for the most road victories. The Mavericks fell behind by 18 points in the second quarter, then rallied in the fourth behind Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki.
The Knicks absorbed it all and even survived a few instances in overtime when poor pick-and-roll defense left the 5-foot-9 Nate Robinson guarding the 7-foot Nowitzki.
"That wasn't by design," Coach Larry Brown said, smiling. "I think it was by their design."
Nowitzki's 8-footer over Robinson gave the Mavericks their last lead, 109-107, in overtime. But the Knicks' superior rebounding pulled them through. Davis, at 37 the oldest Knick, kept alive an offensive rebound that Eddy Curry converted for a layup and a 3-point play, pushing the Knicks ahead, 110-109.
On their next possession, Davis tipped in a Marbury miss for a 112-109 lead. After Nowitzki's 3-pointer tied the score at 112-112, Davis bailed out the Knicks again. Marbury had his shot blocked by DeSagana Diop and Robinson missed a 3-pointer, but Davis came up with the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws for a 114-112 lead with 39.4 seconds left.
Jerry Stackhouse missed a jumper, and Davis grabbed what became the game-sealing rebound. Crawford secured the victory with three free throws in the final 11.2 seconds. Davis finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds, 7 at the offensive end. The Knicks outrebounded Dallas, 54-37.
"They understand how much I care about this team and how badly I want to win," said Davis, who also provided sturdy defense against Nowitzki (32 points). "I don't want to open the paper and see us in the position that we're in."
As the elder statesman of the locker room, Davis has often set the tone.
"When they see me getting down in a stance or they see me running after a rebound or something like that, they really understand what this game is all about and what it's going to take to win," he said.
Marbury led the Knicks with 28 points. Curry added 21 points and 7 rebounds.
Dallas took its first lead of the second half, 103-101, on a Nowitzki fadeaway with 1:31 left in the fourth quarter. Curry and Terry traded baskets, leaving the Knicks trailing, 105-103, with less than a minute to play.
Marbury drove the lane and was turned back by Diop. Marbury's two free throws tied the score with 27.8 seconds left.
Nowitzki missed from 15 feet with only Robinson in front of him, and David Lee grabbed the rebound, giving the Knicks possession with 9.2 seconds remaining.
Crawford, well covered by Nowitzki and Josh Howard, missed a 10-foot fadeaway, and Dallas took possession with one second left. Nowitzki was short on a 30-footer at the buzzer, and the Knicks - who began their winning streak with a triple-overtime victory over Phoenix - needed overtime once more.
There are a lot of reasons for their 5-0 record in 2006, but Marbury said confidence trumped them all. A night earlier, the Knicks rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat Cleveland, which has the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference. Once left for dead, the Knicks are, incredibly, just two games out of eighth place in the East.
"The biggest part is that the way we're approaching the game is totally different," Marbury said. "We feel like we know we're going to win and we're not going into games feeling like we're not going to give ourselves a chance. I think before, we were just trying to stay in games and we weren't as competitive down the stretch. We kind of gave up. Now we're a very resilient group."
REBOUNDS
After the game, the Mavericks' owner, Mark Cuban, complained that the Knicks' Maurice Taylor should have been ejected for shoving the referee Tony Brown, who got between Taylor and Jerry Stackhouse as they were jawing at each other. "He just pushed him," Cuban said. "He put his hands on his chest and he pushed him. That's a huge play in this game to have a no-call." http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gifhttp://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gifhttp://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif ... The last time the Knicks won five straight games was Jan. 30 to Feb. 8, 2004. ... Larry Brown wore a No. 11 Rangers jersey to his pregame and postgame interviews. Brown has never met Mark Messier (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mark_messier/index.html?inline=nyt-per), whose jersey will be retired tonight, but he said he admired what he represented. "The thing that always makes me partial to guys like him - all hockey players - is all they ever talk about is team," Brown said. "They room together, they eat together, they always talk about what great teammates they have. And he's always been somebody everybody mentions being a special leader." The N.B.A., Brown said, could use more of that attitude. "Our league spends so much time talking about individual players," he said.
Copyright 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)
January 12, 2006
Knicks 117, Mavericks 115, O.T.
High-Five: Quality Streak for Knicks
By HOWARD BECK (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=HOWARD%20BECK&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=HOWARD%20BECK&inline=nyt-per)
Judge it by length, by quality of opponent or by the quality of the games themselves. However the Knicks' (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) winning streak is defined, it is growing exponentially in stature and significance.
A night after winning in Cleveland, the Knicks came home, blew a huge lead against the Dallas Mavericks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/dallasmavericks/index.html?inline=nyt-org), then held on for a thrilling 117-115 overtime victory last night at Madison Square Garden.
The victory was the Knicks' fifth in a row - their longest winning streak in two years - and their second straight against a highly regarded team.
They extended the run with timely baskets by Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford and behind relentless rebounding by Antonio Davis. They hustled, they believed and they won again, looking nothing like a team with a 12-21 record.
"Our confidence is way up," said Crawford, who finished with 25 points and 7 rebounds. "We just want to show that we're for real, it wasn't just a fluke or we played well at home. We've played some quality teams now, and we're taking their best shots and we're responding."
Dallas (26-10) arrived with the third-best record in the league and was tied with Detroit for the most road victories. The Mavericks fell behind by 18 points in the second quarter, then rallied in the fourth behind Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki.
The Knicks absorbed it all and even survived a few instances in overtime when poor pick-and-roll defense left the 5-foot-9 Nate Robinson guarding the 7-foot Nowitzki.
"That wasn't by design," Coach Larry Brown said, smiling. "I think it was by their design."
Nowitzki's 8-footer over Robinson gave the Mavericks their last lead, 109-107, in overtime. But the Knicks' superior rebounding pulled them through. Davis, at 37 the oldest Knick, kept alive an offensive rebound that Eddy Curry converted for a layup and a 3-point play, pushing the Knicks ahead, 110-109.
On their next possession, Davis tipped in a Marbury miss for a 112-109 lead. After Nowitzki's 3-pointer tied the score at 112-112, Davis bailed out the Knicks again. Marbury had his shot blocked by DeSagana Diop and Robinson missed a 3-pointer, but Davis came up with the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws for a 114-112 lead with 39.4 seconds left.
Jerry Stackhouse missed a jumper, and Davis grabbed what became the game-sealing rebound. Crawford secured the victory with three free throws in the final 11.2 seconds. Davis finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds, 7 at the offensive end. The Knicks outrebounded Dallas, 54-37.
"They understand how much I care about this team and how badly I want to win," said Davis, who also provided sturdy defense against Nowitzki (32 points). "I don't want to open the paper and see us in the position that we're in."
As the elder statesman of the locker room, Davis has often set the tone.
"When they see me getting down in a stance or they see me running after a rebound or something like that, they really understand what this game is all about and what it's going to take to win," he said.
Marbury led the Knicks with 28 points. Curry added 21 points and 7 rebounds.
Dallas took its first lead of the second half, 103-101, on a Nowitzki fadeaway with 1:31 left in the fourth quarter. Curry and Terry traded baskets, leaving the Knicks trailing, 105-103, with less than a minute to play.
Marbury drove the lane and was turned back by Diop. Marbury's two free throws tied the score with 27.8 seconds left.
Nowitzki missed from 15 feet with only Robinson in front of him, and David Lee grabbed the rebound, giving the Knicks possession with 9.2 seconds remaining.
Crawford, well covered by Nowitzki and Josh Howard, missed a 10-foot fadeaway, and Dallas took possession with one second left. Nowitzki was short on a 30-footer at the buzzer, and the Knicks - who began their winning streak with a triple-overtime victory over Phoenix - needed overtime once more.
There are a lot of reasons for their 5-0 record in 2006, but Marbury said confidence trumped them all. A night earlier, the Knicks rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat Cleveland, which has the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference. Once left for dead, the Knicks are, incredibly, just two games out of eighth place in the East.
"The biggest part is that the way we're approaching the game is totally different," Marbury said. "We feel like we know we're going to win and we're not going into games feeling like we're not going to give ourselves a chance. I think before, we were just trying to stay in games and we weren't as competitive down the stretch. We kind of gave up. Now we're a very resilient group."
REBOUNDS
After the game, the Mavericks' owner, Mark Cuban, complained that the Knicks' Maurice Taylor should have been ejected for shoving the referee Tony Brown, who got between Taylor and Jerry Stackhouse as they were jawing at each other. "He just pushed him," Cuban said. "He put his hands on his chest and he pushed him. That's a huge play in this game to have a no-call." http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gifhttp://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gifhttp://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif ... The last time the Knicks won five straight games was Jan. 30 to Feb. 8, 2004. ... Larry Brown wore a No. 11 Rangers jersey to his pregame and postgame interviews. Brown has never met Mark Messier (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mark_messier/index.html?inline=nyt-per), whose jersey will be retired tonight, but he said he admired what he represented. "The thing that always makes me partial to guys like him - all hockey players - is all they ever talk about is team," Brown said. "They room together, they eat together, they always talk about what great teammates they have. And he's always been somebody everybody mentions being a special leader." The N.B.A., Brown said, could use more of that attitude. "Our league spends so much time talking about individual players," he said.
Copyright 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)