Saturday, March 24th 7:30 P.M. ET
Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks
The Knicks look to bounce back from their first loss under interim coach Mike Woodson against the Detroit Pistons. The Knicks took a tough loss against the Raptors and are looking to bounce back against a Pistons team coming off a loss of their own the night before against the Miami Heat. The loss last night dropped the Knicks to 23-25, holding a half game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks for 8th place in the Eastern Conference. They vowed to mirror the mindset developed during the 5 game winning streak and get back to playing dominant basketball starting tonight against Detroit.
-Injury Updates
Right as the Knicks were finally finding the right rotation and pushing the right buttons, Jared Jeffries suffered an injury. His injury comes on the heels of Baron Davis’ return and is the last thing the Knicks need. Jeffries will miss at least the next 2 weeks because of inflammation in his right knee. His return cannot come soon enough as the Knicks defense, at least through one game, was a mess without him.
-Limiting the Turnovers
The Knicks need to limit the turnovers if they want to get back into the win column. Last night against the Raptors the Knicks had 22 turnovers, never being able to get into a rhythm and letting the Raptors control the pace and tempo. Detroit ranks 26th in steals per game, so the Knicks should be able to set the tempo as they want without much pressure from Detroit.
-Get Carmelo Involved
Against a weaker Detroit team, the Knicks need to get Anthony going early and often. Anthony has been in a shooting slump virtually the whole season, and needs a game where he can get easy buckets. Detroit should be the perfect antidote for Anthony to start getting out of his slump, as Detroit is allowing teams to shoot 47.3% from the field.
-Bomb squad Impact
The Knicks need their bench to be more involved in the game tonight than they were against the Raptors. When the Knicks are playing well, the bench usually is the catalyst bringing in the energy and effort that gets the crowd going. Tonight against Detroit, the Baron Davis, J.R. Smith and Steve Novak need to provide a scoring spark tonight and improve upon the 5-28 shooting from 3 point land against Toronto.
-Stop Ben Gordon
The Mount Vernon product always gets up for games against his hometown Knicks. Ben Gordon has always played well against the Knicks, especially in Madison Square Garden. Gordon is also coming off a career night earlier in the week against the Denver Nuggets in which he scored 45 points and went 9-9 from 3 point field goal attempts. Taking him out of the game should be near the top of the Knicks game plan along with stopping rookie Point Guard Brandon Knight and combo guard Rodney Stuckey.
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