Playoff Challenges Clear For Knicks, Clippers
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- So let's discuss what was proved, and what wasn't, Wednesday in New York's 99-93 win over the Clippers.
What was? That the Clippers need a healthy Chris Paul to do anything of consequence in the playoffs, just in case there was any doubt of that. L.A. mustered only 74 points in the first 42 minutes of the game, with Paul's replacement, Eric Bledsoe, accounting for a mere two in 27 minutes.
Alas, the Knicks' subs nearly let the Clippers steal it by putting Steve Novak on Blake Griffin and Dan Gadzuric on the basketball court. New York didn't restore order until Tyson Chandler returned with three minutes left after a 14-0 Clippers run made things interesting.
What wasn't proved? That the Carmelo Anthony-Amare Stoudemire dynamic can work. The Bockers again played their best ball with small lineups, which makes one wonder why they're so stubbornly insistent on not using them. Nothing screams this more succinctly than "Novak: +14." The Knicks were at their best with either Anthony or Novak as the 4 and not more than one big man (either Chandler or Stoudemire, but goodness gracious, not Gadzuric) on the court.
Again, it didn't take Wednesday's game to make this known. Anthony's numbers this season as a power forward are amazing: a player efficiency rating of 28.9, according to 82games.com, compared to just 16.5 as a small forward. He's a matchup nightmare at the 4; as a 3, well, he's just a 3 who shoots a lot of long jumpers.
And the fact is, Stoudemire is no longer good enough for the Knicks to build their lineup around him. The best move for this edition of the Knicks is to bring Stoudemire off the bench, start Anthony at the 4, and ensure that of Chandler, Stoudemire and Anthony, no more than two are on the court at most times.
This has the added benefit of covering the Knicks' biggest weakness, the lack of centers beyond Chandler. With Jared Jeffries -- already a bit of a stretch as a 5 -- toughing it out on a bum knee and no other quality big men on hand (reference, again, Gadzuric's eight-minute stint), the only impediment to this approach is New York's stubbornness in trying to make the Melo-Amare-Chandler lineup work.
It doesn't.
In the meantime, this win put New York in position to claim the No. 7 seed and a renewal of its rivalry with the Heat in the first round of the playoffs; the Knicks will clinch with either a win over the hapless Bobcats on Thursday or a Philadelphia loss.
For the Clippers, it gets tougher. Memphis can wrest home-court advantage from them in the first round with a win over Orlando on Thursday, and the Magic have nothing to play for since their win over the Bobcats on Wednesday locked them into the sixth seed. The Clips will take that setback, however, if it means Paul's strained groin is healed for the start of the playoffs.
And in one sense, the Clippers finished Wednesday ahead of New York. L.A. already knows it can't win without Paul and is taking appropriate measures. New York still thinks it can thrive with the Melo-Amare forward combo and is avoiding a clear solution.
ESPN Insider John Hollinger
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Around The Association
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110 | Recap | Box score |
106 |  |
MVP: Tiago Splitter carved up the Suns for 26 points on 13 shots to lead the Spurs to victory with their big three and coach back in San Antonio.
Defining Moment: With about five minutes remaining, the chant of "We want Steve, we want Steve!" started building, until the entire arena joined together in a chilling moment pleading for one more chance to cheer on Nash.
That Was ... A Goodbye Party? We don't yet know whether Steve Nash has played his final game as a Phoenix Sun, but if so, the crowd sent him off with boisterous cheers from intros to his final curtain call.
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93 | Recap | Box score |
99 |  |
MVP: J.R. Smith. Ball-hawking but not overly risky defense (3 steals), efficient scoring (21 points on 13 shots), and five assists to two turnovers. All of this in 30 minutes of playing time. A round of applause for J.R. Smith.
LVP: Caron Butler. In very limited time on Carmelo Anthony, he proved to be ineffective defensively. On offense, he shot 3-for-8 from the field with four turnovers. Butler's mission was to hit open shots and not make mistakes. Mission not accomplished.
X Factor: The Knicks' general spacing. The whole New York team worked well in terms of spacing, which led to open looks and generally solid offensive possessions for the Knicks. Quick swing passes for open 3s, smart drives, good basketball.
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106 | Recap | Box score |
101 |  |
MVP: Ty Lawson led the Nuggets in scoring with 25 points on 8-for-15 shooting (including 3-for-5 from long range) and did a solid job elsewhere, racking up five boards and four assists.
Defining Moment: With a little more than two minutes to go and the Thunder trailing 100-99, Kevin Durant bumped Danilo Gallinari and picked up an offensive foul, taking away an opportunity for Oklahoma City to take the lead. From there, the Thunder scored only two points while the Nuggets continued to cruise.
That Was ... A Playoff Atmosphere: OKC has the second seed locked up, but the fight it put up against Denver on Wednesday drove home just how much fun a rematch of their first-round series from last year would be. The Nuggets control their own destiny -- they can clinch the sixth seed with a win over Minnesota on Thursday.
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90 | Recap | Box score |
85 |  |
MVP: Evan Turner -- and gird yourself, because I'm about to drop some Ph.D.-level basketball knowledge on your lap -- plays better when he plays often. His playing time Wednesday: often. In 40 minutes, the up-and-down sophomore posted a career-high 29 points (albeit on an Iversonian 29 shots), plus 13 rebounds and six assists.
Defining Moment: Monday night. A matchup that was circled on many a calendar just seven days ago, when the Bucks sat 1.5 games back from Philly in the race for the East's final playoff spot, was rendered moot by the Sixers' playoff-clinching 105-87 win over the Nets. For much of the night, it looked it.
That Was ... Pyrrhic: With a chance to clinch the No. 8 seed with a loss and a Knicks win, ensuring a first-round series against a Bulls team they can play with rather than a Heat squad they can't, the Sixers picked up a W they might soon regret.
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95 | Recap | Box score |
102 |  |
MVP: With Glen Davis spraining his right ankle late in the first quarter, other players for the Magic had to step it up offensively. J.J. Redick did his part, setting a career high with 31 points on 9-for-19 shooting.
Defining Moment: With a win against the Bobcats, who will own the NBA's worst winning percentage ever if they don't beat the Knicks on Thursday, Orlando officially clinched the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. What's next? A date with the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 2012 NBA playoffs.
X Factor: If Redick was the MVP of this game, Ryan Anderson was the runner-up. His work primarily on the offensive glass fueled another double-double effort (24 points, 13 rebounds), which the Magic needed from Anderson.
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92 | Recap | Box score |
87 |  |
MVP: Joalos Noaoozer. The Carlos Boozer-Joakim Noah combination was just too much for the Pacers in this game. Boozer had 16 points and seven rebounds to go with Noah's 14 and 14 night. Their combined 13-for-18 shooting helped make up for Rip Hamilton and Derrick Rose combining for 5-for-21 from the field.
X Factor: Lance Stephenson? Is that even possible? The Pacers youngster scored 22 points on 10-for-15 shooting and helped provide a spark in Danny Granger's absence for much of the game. He kept them close as long as he could.
That Was ... A Shootout: Kyle Korver and Stephenson ended up having a little scoring duel for much of this game, as Korver poured in 20 points off the bench and made four of his six 3-pointers. You never bring a Lance Stephenson to a Kyle Korver fight and expect to walk away the victor.
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96 | Recap | Box score |
85 |  |
MVP: John Wall. The 2010 No. 1 pick flirted with a quadruple-double, and finished with a game-high 21 points, 13 assists, seven rebounds and seven steals. Now that's one heck of a stat line.
LVP: Almost the entire Cavaliers team was eligible for this "award," but I'll give it to Alonzo Gee, who went 1-for-9 from the floor and scored only seven points. Then again, Gee did manage to snag eight rebounds, while Luke Harangody went 1-for-6 from the floor without grabbing a single carom. Like I said, this was not a banner night for the Cavaliers.
That Was ... A Sign The Season Is Over: D.J. Kennedy, a D-League call-up making his first NBA appearance, led the Cavaliers in scoring, getting 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field. That's a nice story for Kennedy, but not such a great sign for the rest of the team.
3. Wednesday's Best
4. Wednesday's Worst
The LOL Cats: With its 22nd straight loss, Charlotte (7-58) heads into its season finale Thursday needing to beat New York to avoid the worst winning percentage in NBA history. Should the Bobcats lose, their 7-59 record and .106 winning percentage would eclipse the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers and their mark at .110, when they went 9-73.
8. Swish Indeed
Debby Wong/US Presswire9. Stat Check
The Clippers lost their regular-season finale at New York to drop their record to 16-17 on the road. The Clippers franchise, which entered the NBA in 1970 and has existed as the Buffalo Braves, San Diego Clippers and Los Angeles Clippers, has never finished a season with a .500 or better record in road games. The closest they came before this season was in 2005-06 (20-21). Their streak of 42 consecutive seasons with a losing road record is the longest such streak in NBA history.
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