Popovic’s men enjoy their trip to the Big Apple.
With just four games on the NBA schedule on Sunday night, the spotlight was firmly on the New York Knicks after they fell to another home defeat, this time at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs.
While coach Mike Woodson has attributed his team’s early struggles to their slowness in integrating their new players, the pressure is undoubtedly increasing following their latest loss.
Famed for their ball movement and three-point shooting during the regular season last year where they were arguably one of the better teams to watch in the league, the current roster is a far cry from that group as they struggled at both ends of the court on Sunday.
Danny Green had a game-high 24 points as he heated up from beyond the arc going 6-of-9 from his three-point attempts, while point guard Tony Parker had 17 points and 6 assists despite being rested for the majority of the game.
While the visitors were able to execute on the offensive end at will, the Knicks will be disappointed with their effort as they were also booed by the home crowd throughout.
Woodson undoubtedly has a job on his hands to turn things around and bring back some consistency, but much more is needed from his starting line-up which contributed just 45 points with the entire roster shooting just 37.8 per cent from the field.
Elsewhere, there were wins for the Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves over the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers respectively.
Kevin Love continued his impressive start to the season with 25 points to help end a 22-game losing streak against the Lakers, but there was solid scoring from the starting five with Kevin Martin leading the way with 27 points while Ricky Rubio had a double-double of 12 points and 14 assists.
The Lakers lost Steve Nash to a back injury, and the veteran point guard is now expected to undergo further tests with a specialist to find out the extent of the problem.
In the other game of the night, Bradley Beal had a game-high 34 points for the Washington Wizards, but it still wasn’t enough as late heroics from Kevin Durant (33 points) took the game to overtime for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who then went on to seal a 106-105 win.
NBA Results:
San Antonio Spurs 120-89 New York Knicks
Washington Wizards 105-106 Oklahoma City Thunder
New Orleans Pelicans 94-101 Phoenix Suns
Minnesota Timberwolves 113-90 Los Angeles Lakers
COMMENTS