Amar’e Stoudemire leads the New York Knicks in a 100-86 surge over the Portland Trail Blazers
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. The New York Knicks truly turned this superficial quote into a reality based statement in their matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. The Portland Trail Blazers trailed a 100-86 loss at home
ground. The Knicks were suffering in the matchups held previous year and they entered 2011 season with a new surge. They have been showing consistency throughout their games and on Tuesday night they came out with an ever stronger resolve.
Box score
Players’ stats
New York Knicks (22-15)
Amar’e Stoudemire scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Ronny Turiaf scored in double figures as he added 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Knicks. Raymond Felton was a true help as the 6’1” tall player took hold of 17 points and gave 14 assists
to his teammates. Wilson Chandler also scored 17 for the leading team.
The Knicks grabbed 12 team rebounds.
Portland Trail Blazers (20-19)
Portland saw 19 points and 10 rebounds coming from forward LaMarcus Aldridge. Rudy Fernandez added 18 points and Andrea Miller contributed 14 points to the box score.
Field goals
The New York Knicks shot 50 per cent from the field and limited Portland to 34.9 per cent only. The Knicks went surging 41.7 in three pointer attempts and let the Blazers pass with 22.2 only. The Knicks were left out only in one stat i.e. free throw attempts
going 73.3 in contrast to 85.7 percent set by Blazers.
Game stats
Blazers out-rebounded the Knicks, 43-40. They outscored them even in offensive rebounds, 14-9. Consequently, the Blazers also gave away many turnovers, 14-12. The Knicks took 12 fast break points while limited the Blazers to four only. The Knicks took the
biggest lead with 16 points and let the Portland Blazers pass out with just one. The Knicks collected 50 points from the painted area whereby Portland gathered just 40.
Five Knicks scored in double figures and Stoudemire led them all with 23 points as he went 9-23 from the field. The centre forward was 5-for-8 in free throw attempts as the ace played for duration of 36 minutes.
Stat
The New York Knicks grilled out 27 assists, Portland Trail Blazers could only score eight out. In this game they made the lowest assist entry of the season, as last season the lowest assists the Blazers scored were 15.
Turning point
In the beginning of the third quarter as Aldridge clinched a jump shot with 9:19 left in final quarter, the Blazers luckily found a close in on the Knicks, 55-56. Felton spearheaded the Blazers as the Knicks sprang open a 92-78 advantage over the opponent
team. The Knicks marginalised a 13-2 run and never relinquished.
Quote of the day
Aldridge, one of the players who saw his 25 point string coming lose said, "They had a good defensive scheme. I felt comfortable the first half, but foul trouble plagued me. The second half, I could never really get comfortable. They did a good job of
digging and never giving me clear paths to the rim."
Best player
Turiaf was in an awesome shape. The braided hair 2005 NBA draft got 8-for-9 from the field and closed in on 19 points for the winning team.
Wesley Matthews, 2-for-13 and Marcus Camby who went 0-for-6 from the field paired up just for a meagre 2-for-19 from the field. Portland Trail Blazers had to lose when its key centre and guard were trailing that way.
Upcoming Matches
Blazers, at Phoenix Friday, Minnesota Monday.
Knicks, at Utah Wednesday, Sacramento Friday, Phoenix Monday.
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