New York Knicks bounce back with grace by playing defense
New York Knicks who showcase their strength on the offensive side of the court ended their elongated misery by playing defense against the invincible Orlando Magic on Monday night.
Carmelo Anthony was absolutely amazing with the ball and led the Knicks to snap their six games losing streak in an enthralling overtime 113-106 victory. The All-Star forward landed a blistering game-high 39 points and gathered 10 rebounds to outplay the
big man Dwight Howard’s 29 points and 18 rebounds.
Anthony was determined for a strong comeback and stated last week that it’s not far away. He guided the team with example.
“I said that...that is how I felt...that is how we felt as a team that it was a must win for us. We as a team backed it up tonight. We showed when we play with energy and intensity, we just play hard a lot of things fall into place for us,” he said after
the victory.
Superstars Amar'e Stoudemire, Chauncey Billups and Anthony, Knicks were finally looking like a team they should. Both Stoudemire and Anthony were so busy providing fireworks at the front court that their defense kept on fading. Before Monday’s victory, New
York dropped nine games out of 10 as their meager defense provided open chances to the opposition to dominate. The team entirely played terrible in their recent games that became the reason of their downfall.
On Monday night, Melo was truly impressive with his invincible charisma on the court. That’s the way he should play, dominate on the offense and at the same time support the defense.
New York coach Stan Van Gundy finally had some cheering moments. He was very pleased with the performance of his star forward and admired his brilliance after the victory.
“Carmelo was tremendous. I thought he was the difference down the stretch. He was great. I thought we defended the other guys pretty well but he was great,” he said.
Knicks bench players Sheldon Williams and Jared Jeffries were outstanding on the defense especially in the defining moments of the play. Although New York nabbed the victory in the last moments of the game and they were massively haunted by the opposition
but they were playing against one of the best teams of the season which is firing on all cylinders. They would have been comprehensively overshadowed if they had continued their previous line of attack.
New York Knicks were swiftly moving backwards in the Eastern Conference with playoffs just round the corner until the bounced back tremendously. The team responded completely differently from what they demonstrated in the last couple of weeks.
All they need to do is sustain this momentum as Knicks have the kind of players that are enough to propel fireworks in the playoffs. With the brilliance of the veteran coach Van Gundy, the team can be the toughest contenders for the championship title this
season.
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