The New York Knicks on the verge of going down 3-1 in the series and after some harsh words from Tyson Chandler about selfish play on offense, the team needs to come together for the Game 4 as they are down 2-1 with the matchup on the road in Indiana. The Knicks rebounded from their Game 1 loss with a blowout victory in Game 2, but everything was different in Game 3, as NY lost 82-71 after a fantastic defensive display from the Pacers.
Carmelo Anthony had 21 points, but the Knicks left too many points on the floor and Iman Shumpert led the team in rebounding with 10 in the defeat. The Knicks have gone 23-18 on the road this season, while the Pacers have been a solid 30-11 on their home court and they will try to add another victory on Tuesday night in the process to take that 3-1 series lead. The Knicks looked dominant and looked like a team that was sure to face the Miami Heat in the conference finals when they went up 3-0 on the Celtics, but since then the team has lost four the last six games, including two in a row to the Celtics during that series.
The Pacers were able to play their brand of basketball on Saturday with the win at home and the team has been playing well all around, with contributions coming from Roy Hibbert, Paul George, David West and George Hill, while the Knicks have not gotten enough production out of JR Smith and Raymond Felton in this series compared to the first one against Boston. Anthony said he would speak to Chandler about the comments and the whole issue highlights some of the things the Knicks have dealt with over the season.
Both Anthony and Smith have been shooting a lot and have not been as effective as they were in the Celtics series, especially Anthony. The team scored under 75 points against the Pacers, which prompted Chandler to say that some on the team need to pass more and sacrifice numbers for what is best for the team and while he said that no one is doing it with bad intentions that the team may be suffering for it. Although he didn't mention him by name, many felt the quotes were directed at Anthony and perhaps Smith. Anthony went just 6-for-16 in the defeat and the team struggled as a while by shooting under 40 percent.
The other game on Tuesday is between the Warriors and Spurs and after some tough matchups, Golden State now has the chance to go on the road and take a 3-2 series lead after winning Game 4 at home. Stephen Curry has been fantastic along with Klay Thompson to lead the Warriors and the team could pull off another huge upset after taking down the Nuggets in the first round. The team won a game in San Antonio already and has experience playing on the road.
The Warriors were one of the lest expected teams to make it past the first round and now they have a chance to put the Spurs in a tough position as they can go up 3-2 with a win on Monday night. Curry will need to have another big game and the Warriors will need to shut down Tim Duncan and Tony Parker while not letting Manu Ginobili go off again like he did in Game 1 when it seemed like he couldn't miss a shot.
The Knicks are down 2-1 to the Pacers, while the Spurs and Warriors are tied 2-2 with Game 5 on Tuesday night.
