Knicks eye payback after 2 losses to Cavs
Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks have been on the losing end of two of Cleveland's 11 wins this year, including a loss in Carmelo's second game with the Knicks on Feb. 25. Credit: Getty Images
GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Don't think for a second that this is just another game for the Knicks. Defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night is about more than just collecting another win in their pursuit of a playoff berth.
"[Friday night's] a payback game, man," Carmelo Anthony said Thursday afternoon. "It left a bitter taste in my mouth and the team's mouth and we remember that. We hold grudges."
Inexplicably, the woeful Cavaliers (11-49) have defeated the Knicks twice this season, including last Friday's 115-109 victory in the second game for Anthony and Chauncey Billups with the team. Now the Knicks (31-28) will face the Cavs at Madison Square Garden, and they're determined to protect their homecourt advantage. This time they won't be outhustled or outplayed, they said. Even without Billups.
The point guard, who missed Wednesday night's game against the Hornets because of a bruised left thigh, did not practice Thursday and is doubtful for Friday night. Coach Mike D'Antoni tried to sound optimistic, saying "there's a chance he can play," but Toney Douglas is expected to run the team for the second straight game.
Douglas, who scored 24 points and shot 10-for-13 on Wednesday in Billups' absence, said the Knicks can't afford to take off possessions, nor can they afford to play lackluster defense against a team with the worst record in the NBA.
"We should have learned [our lesson] when we lost the first time," he said. "We can't make the same mistake twice, which we did. But we can't have the same thing happen a third time."
Forward Shawne Williams, whom D'Antoni praised for his improved defense, said every Knick is entering the game with the same mind-set: We owe 'em one.
"The teams you're supposed to beat, that's what the great teams do," he said. "But it's the NBA. You're vulnerable to being beat any night."
D'Antoni, on the other hand, said he doesn't think the game will be personal for his players. Instead, he expects them to be focused on the task at hand.
"We're trying to get to the playoffs, so Cleveland's Cleveland and whoever we got Sunday [Atlanta], we've got to worry about whoever we've got Sunday," he said. "I just think they would want to keep going with what they got and know that it's an important game for us."
The new-look Knicks are a work in progress, Anthony said, but they're headed in the right direction. With time and preparation, they believe their "Big Three" can rival Eastern Conference powers Boston, Miami and Chicago - hopefully in the playoffs.
"I think a lot of people, the New York Knicks fans, understand what we're doing and where we're trying to go and where we're headed," Anthony said. "In the playoffs, as you know, anything can happen. We feel like we're a good enough team to make a run in the playoffs."
