Knicks' defense holds Nuggets to eight points in second quarter
New York Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire and Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Fariedstad look for a rebound in the second half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2014 in New York City. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Knicks opened the game by giving up open shots all over, and Denver made them pay. But the Nuggets couldn't buy a basket in the second quarter Sunday.
The Knicks held the Nuggets without a field goal the first 11:59 of the second before Ty Lawson's layup at the buzzer ended the run at imperfection. Denver ended up misfiring on 15 of 16 shots and scored only eight points in the quarter.
"We allowed them to make so many shots in the first quarter, they kind of ran out of steam, I think, a little bit as the game went on," coach Derek Fisher said after the Knicks' 109-93 win.
Six of the Nuggets' first 10 field goals were three-pointers in a 31-point first quarter. The rest of the way, they shot 20-for-57 (35.1 percent), including 7-for-25 from three-point range, for 62 points.
Fisher continues to show a willingness to allow threes. He's stressing pushing opponents to the sideline and protecting the paint. "We've kind of gone in to this emergency state of being afraid of teams shooting 28-foot shots as though that was going to beat you," Fisher said. "In the first quarter, they made some, but we just continued to remind our guys that they won't beat you doing that. Our guys stuck with what we asked them to do. We were asking them to make the floor small and then get back [in transition]."
Do you see a triangle?
Fisher said former teammate and fellow Phil Jackson disciple Brian Shaw isn’t running the triangle with Denver, but Shaw said he is. “Actually, we have a lot of triangle principles within our offense, a lot of two-man game going on on one side of the court, three men on the other side,” Shaw said. “So I would say I’d beg to differ.”
Still waiting
Jose Calderon (calf) and Andrea Bargnani (hamstring) shot before the game, but Fisher doesn’t expect them to practice until later in the week.
Charity case
The Knicks shot a season-high 27 free throws and took more than their opponent for the first time.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
