The New York Knicks have struggled on the road all season. They will try and turn that around Friday night against the lowly Pelicans.
- New York Knicks (16-15)
- New Orleans Pelicans (13-21)
- Friday, Dec. 30, 8:00 p.m. ET on MSG Network
- Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA
The New York Knicks started their three-game road trip with a devastating loss to the Atlanta Hawks. They fell to 5-10 as the visitor in 2016-17.
With Courtney Lee (sore wrist) out of the lineup and Carmelo Anthony ejected in the second quarter the odds were stacked against the Knicks. Even against an inferior team.
New York will try and reverse their road woes Friday night against the struggling New Orleans Pelicans. Anthony will be available, but as of this writing, Lee’s status is still up in the air.
The Pels recently moved rookie shooting guard Buddy Hield into the starting lineup. A matchup between the 2016 first-round pick and Lee would be one to watch.
While the Lee-Hield matchup might not happen, the duel between Kristaps Porzingis and Anthony Davis is poised to go down one more time.
The Knicks and Pelicans split the season series 1-1 in 2015-16.
Davis scored 36 points and grabbed 11 rebounds on 53.8 percent shooting in his lone appearance. Porzingis struggled, averaging 13 points on 32.0 percent shooting.
Carmelo Anthony told Marc Berman of The New York Post that Friday night’s game was one that the Knicks needed to win.
“It’s a game we have to win,” Anthony said after practice at Smoothie King Arena. “We have to go get it. I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win [Wednesday]. [Friday] is something we have to go get.”
The last time Anthony proclaimed a game a must-win was against the Denver Nuggets. Melo played his tail off to the tune of 29 points on 10-14 shooting, but his teammates didn’t back him up, and the Knicks were blown out.
But the Knicks could use this one because they’re looking at a tough Saturday game against former Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni and the Houston Rockets.
