Someone forgot to tell the Knicks to put a body on Kevin Love. Come to think to it, someone forgot to tell Amar'e Stoudemire that this is a game that he should dominate and that his teammates don't have to shoot mindless 3-pointers on every possession.If you are looking for the most improbable and arguably the worst loss of the Mike D'Antoni era, this is it.
The Knicks blew a 21-point third quarter lead and were absolutely manhandled by the combination of Love and Michael Beasley as the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves rallied for a 112-103 victory.
The loss was the Knicks' fourth straight and D'Antoni's team could be headed for crisis mode. Love apparently loves to hit the glass as the burly forward finished with 31 points and 31 rebounds. Yes, that's 31 rebounds or 11 fewer than the entire Knicks team. He's the first player to go for 30-30 since Moses Malone did it for the Sixers in 1982.
Beasley, whom the Miami Heat gave to the Wolves for two second round picks in order to clear cap space, sliced up the Knicks by scoring 35 points, making 16 of 29 shots. You think Pat Riley would rather have Beasley right now or Chris Bosh.
Over the last 20 minutes, Minnesota outscored the Knicks 55-25, which again underscores how poorly the Knicks played at both ends. They shot 11 for 29 on three's, including 4-for-14 in the second half.
Meanwhile, Stoudemire, the Knicks' $100 million man, was limited to just 28 minutes because of foul trouble and finished with just 14 points and nine rebounds. He missed 9 of 15 shots. Danilo Gallinari scored just seven of his 25 in the second half and Raymond Felton had just five of his 22 after intermission. Rookie Wesley Johnson scored 15 for the Wolves on 6-for-9 shooting.
The Knicks fell to 3-6 heading into Sunday's home game with Houston.
Stoudemire played just one minute in the third quarter after picking up his fourth foul. Without him, the Knicks extended their 65-51 halftime lead to 78-57, but their mindless shooting allowed Minnesota to close to 87-80.
The Knicks began launching 3-pointer after 3-pointer early in the shot clock and Love seemed to grab every errant shot. Love ended up with 15 rebounds in the quarter to spearhead the comeback.
With Stoudemire on the court to begin the fourth quarter, the Wolves opened the period with five straight points and closed to within 87-85 on Love's dunk. D'Antoni immediately wanted a timeout to run a play for Stoudemire but Landry Fields' turnover led to a jumper from Love and moments later Corey Brewer hit a three in front of the Knicks' bench to put Minnesota ahead 90-87.
It was the Wolves' first lead since late in the first quarter and they had a chance to extend it when Love, after blocking Stoudemire's runner, misfired on an open three. Stoudemire then answered with jumper, the Knicks' first field goal in seven minutes.
Wilson Chandler's layup then gave the Knicks the lead with eight minutes to play before Beasley and Love combined to score the game's next seven points. The momentum was clearly with Minnesota and the crowd was finally alive.
Stoudemire's three-point play got the Knicks to within 97-94 but Love used his wide frame to create space under the basket and scored on two baskets from close range before Beasley drove past Chandler for a two-handed dunk.
The Knicks were suddenly trailing by nine until Chandler calmly sank a 3-pointer. But D'Antoni elected not to double team Beasley, and Minnesota went ahead 106-97 when Beasley hit a three with 2:36 to play.
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