Kristaps Porzingis DeMarcus Cousins New York Knicks
(Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

The New York Knicks held on late against the New Orleans Pelicans on the road after blowing a 16-point lead. Kristaps Porzingis came up huge in the clutch to help his team avoid a five-game losing streak.

  • New York Knicks 105 (18-18)
  • New Orleans Pelicans 103 (18-18)
  • NBA, Final, Box Score
  • Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA

Kristaps Porzingis led the way for the Knicks with 30 points and seven rebounds. He was clutch down the stretch with a corner three and a thunderous dunk in consecutive possessions that tied the game at 101.

With under a minute left to play, Joakim Noah found an open KP at the foul line and the shot was pure. With only seconds to spare, Anthony Davis got an open look from deep, but his shot bounced off the rim and the Knicks avoided a 5 game losing streak.

This is a nice step forward for the Knicks.

Wednesday night’s loss to the Chicago Bulls was marked by horrendous decision making and playmaking down the stretch. This victory was the complete opposite. Porzingis made the clutch buckets when he needed to and led his team when it mattered most.

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This was also an important win because it was a sorely needed win on the road. The Knicks are in the midst of a 20 game stretch with 16 of those coming on the road. It’s no secret the Knicks are a bad team on the road, so they will need to grind out wins like this if they hope to stay afloat in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. This was just their third win on the road this season

The Knicks controlled this game for most of the first half, but the second half was a much different story. The Pelicans outscored the Knicks 33-23 in the third quarter and they were led by Anthony Davis who scored 14 in that period alone. Davis had a game-high 31 points and his frontcourt running mate, Demarcus Cousins chipped in with 29 of his own. Porzingis found himself in some foul trouble in the third quarter and the Pelicans took advantage of this.

The Knicks were outplayed by the Pelicans frontcourt. Kyle O’Quinn racked up five fouls in only 15 minutes of play. Enes Kanter was a non-factor tonight, only putting up 4 shots in 20 minutes of play. Despite coming up big down the stretch, Porzingis had his struggles as well after taking some bad fouls. The unsung hero from this victory has to be Joakim Noah. He played good defense down the stretch and had a great assist off of some three-man action with KP and Jarrett Jack.

The Knicks needed this win in the worst way. They were trying to avoid a completely spiraling and letting a great start to the season slip away. They’re going to look to build off of this momentum Tuesday night at home against the Spurs

 

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Danny Small
NY/NJ hoops reporter (NBA/NCAA) & sports betting writer for XL Media. Never had the makings of a varsity athlete.

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