TORONTO – So far, so good.
The Knicks may have beaten one of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams tonight, but they showed some refreshingly new elements in this new era. In a close game, the new Knicks finally have a star to carry them home and a defense that could make a final-minute stop.
Amar’e Stoudemire, relatively quiet for three quarters as Wilson Chandler carried the offensive load, punctuated his Knicks debut with a rocking fourth quarter as the Knicks squeezed out a 98-93 season-opening win over the Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
After sitting out for a seven-minute stretch late in the third and early in the fourth, Stoudemire rocked back into the game, scored inside, got rebounds and finished with 19 points (7 of 16) and 10 rebounds. Stoudemire scored 7 points in a two-minute span, mostly on inside post-ups, as the Knicks pulled away for 94-87 lead and held on.
The Knicks, after two seasons of cap purging, are 1-0 and face perhaps the East’s best team, the Boston Celtics, Friday in Beantown.
Chandler took his demotion to the bench personally and played like a demon, firing up 16 shots, making 10 of them, and finishing with a team-high 22 points in 28 minutes. Chandler missed two shots in the final minute, but the Knicks clinging to a 96-93 lead with 11 seconds, they forced a bad corner 3-pointer by Leandro Barbosa, who shot an airball with Chandler on top of him.
The Knicks won despite no production out of Russian rookie starting center Timofey Mozgov, who got in early foul trouble, picking up two in the first three minutes, leading to Chandler’s emergence from the bench. Mozgov went scoreless in eight minutes.
The Knicks other starting rookie, Landry Fields was solid – 11 points and 4 rebounds. And starting point guard Raymond Felton was productivewith 15 points.
Chandler and backup center Ronny Turiaf came in played with energy, lifting the club early. Turiaf, blocked shots, creating havoc and the Knicks responded.
To close the first quarter, Turiaf corralled an offensive rebound in the paint, turned and lofted it off the backboard and in to give the Knicks took a 29-22 lead after one quarter. They shot 50 percent in the first period of the season and scored 20 points more than LeBron James’ Heat in their season’s opening frame.
The Knicks held Toronto to 39 percent shooting.
A 9-0 run to start the second quarter – with Felton running the show well – had the Knicks up 40-24 in the second quarter.
Stoudemire didn’t dominate the ball in the half as much as in preseason. Stoudemire finished with 10 points on just 7 shots in the half. He was 3 of 7, 4 of 4 from the line, hard to stop on the drive.
Fields, starting at shooting guard in his NBA debut, was a lot more poised than Danilo Gallinari, who shot 3 of 9 for 12 points.
. Raptors point guard Jarrett jack led the Toronto comeback with his speed (8 points, 4 assists) and the Knicks led 51-47 at the break.
Mozgov played just 4 minutes in the first half and picked up his third with 8:34 left in the third quarter on a infraction 20 feet from the basket. Then he picked up his fourth foul 7:08 left in the third when he ran over a Raptor on the way upcourt.