Knicks Rout Jazz With Anthony-Stoudemire Tag-Team

The New York Knicks (33—29) established their first win streak since the formation of their new team last month.
Knicks Rout Jazz With Anthony-Stoudemire Tag-Team
3/7/2011
Updated:
3/7/2011
The New York Knicks (33–29) established their first win streak since the formation of their new team last month with a crushing 131–109 win over the Utah Jazz (33–31) on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire dominated in the scoring department with 34 points and 31 points, respectively, in just the first three quarters. It was a season high for Anthony with the Knicks as he shot 12-of-16 in field goals including 4-of-5 in 3-pointers in 30 minutes of playing time.

Toney Douglas continued his terrific scoring effort with 20 points, filling in for the injured Chauncey Billups. This was Billups’s fourth-straight missed game as he remains day-to-day with a bruised left quadricep.

Everything clicked for the Knicks from the opening minutes, with a fluid, great-shooting offense making way for a tight, communicative defense that got stops.

Anthony and Douglas took the scoring lead in the first quarter where the Knicks put on an offensive clinic for the Jazz, outscoring them 40–24.

The Knicks simmered down some in the second quarter finishing the half up 66–48, but picked it back up in the third quarter outscoring the Jazz 36–26 with Stoudemire and Anthony contributing 14 and 13 points respectively. Their largest lead of the night was 31 points in that third quarter.

“We know how good we can be,” Stoudemire told MSG after the game. “We applied ourselves on the defensive end tonight so we want to take that momentum from the end of the quarter into the next game.”

Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni was able to play the bench for the entire fourth quarter, including the rookie from Syracuse Andy Rautins. The bench lineup did well to keep the Jazz at bay even though the Knicks were outscored 35–29. Al Jefferson carried the Jazz for the night with 36 points and 12 rebounds.

Monday’s high scoring game for the Knicks—a new season high—came after a hard-fought 92–79 defeat of the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night in Atlanta.

Prior to that the Knicks had yet another embarrassing loss to the NBA bottom-feeding Cleveland Cavaliers in what has been a roller-coaster ride for the new Stoudemire-Anthony-Billups lineup. Monday’s win seems to have broken that spell, and the Knicks will be tested against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.