NEW YORK KNICKS (14-11)
- The Knicks will be shorthanded tonight against the NBA’s top team with both Carmelo Anthony (shoulder) and Derrick Rose (back) out of the lineup.
- In the aftermath of Tuesday’s overtime heartbreaker, the Knicks failed to match the 1974 team as the only group to start a five-game road trip 3-0.
- Courtney Lee went 6-for-8 for 14 points Tuesday and his contributions will be heavily counted on with Rose out for tonight’s game vs. the Warriors.
- Lee offered this assessment at practice leading up to Golden State: “We have to run them off the 3-point line. That’s their bread and butter and we can’t get off to a slow start like we did in Phoenix.”
- Rose was understandably down after Tuesday, when he missed the last three quarters and overtime with back spasms, saying “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know when it happened, but I felt my back tightening up and I couldn’t move.”
- Rose added at practice: “I feel like I’m in a great rhythm right now so it’s frustrating when I’m off the court. I live for these games, I’ve made a name for myself in these games. It stinks, but I have to listen to my body.”
- After scoring 34 points Tuesday, Kristaps Porzingis has now scored 25+ points in back-to-back games for the second time this season after failing to do so last season.
- Porzingis is gearing up for Draymond Green, and he remembers the triple-double Green had at The Garden in a 121-85 Warrior win last season. “Green is a smart defender,” Porzingis said. “He knows how to use his hands, and can guard multiple positions. Last year after they beat us, I already wanted to know the next time we were going to face them.”
- In light of the loss in Phoenix and the physical confrontation that occurred, Porzingis told me, “that’s the type of team we have to be, having each other’s back. What we saw in Phoenix represents what we are about.” He added, “That Suns game will bring us even closer together and we will trust each other even more.”
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (22-4)
- The Warriors return home off a 4-1 road trip where they played the five games in seven days. They wrapped up the trip with a victory in New Orleans Tuesday, winning the game down the stretch.
- Draymond Green saved the day Tuesday with a last-second steal and finished with his 15th career triple-double, his first of the season. His teams are an unassailable 15-0 in games where he has recorded a triple-double. Other notable players with insane triple-double records include Jerry West (15-1), Tom Gola (18-2) and Wilt Chamberlain (69-9).