SAN ANTONIO – Thump!!! That sound was the Knicks crashing back to Earth.
The Knicks blew an opportunity last night, dropping a winnable game against the injury-depleted Spurs. The Knicks looked flat, intimidated, shot atrociously but were right there entering the fourth.
Then they fell apart completely in the final period.
The Spurs, dreadful for three quarters, turned into the vintage Spurs. San Antonio (2-4), spurred by its veterans Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley, scored the quarter’s first 11 points, breaking it open, snapping the Knicks’ three-game winning streak and taking a 92-80 decision at AT&T Center.
The Knicks, who fell to 4-3 and play in Memphis tonight, were trying to post their first four-game winning streak since the 2005-06 season but shot an embarrassing 38 percent (30-of-79).
In the pivotal matchup, Tim Duncan handed Zach Randolph his head. Duncan finished with 23 points on mostly inside hoops, desperately needing to carry a team missing Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and starting Ime Udoka, Roger Mason and rookie George Hill.
“We didn’t play well,” Mike D’Antoni said. “We weren’t sharp. We let them off the hook a bit. These are nights we have to look at tape and get better. There’ll be nights on the road ball doesn’t go in.”
Duncan scored 15 of his points in the first half and shot 11-of-17 overall with nine rebounds and seven assists. Randolph, who had been smoking, couldn’t hit the side of the Alamo. He finished with 15 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Randolph was 4-of-15 from the field before making his last three shots with the game out of reach. Jamal Crawford led the Knicks with 28 points.
“We definitely had a chance to win,” Randolph said.
The day began bizarrely when D’Antoni continued to make Stephon Marbury a story. Instead of doing the normal thing and activating their only healthy body left (Marbury) to replace absent Danilo Gallinari, the Knicks coach instead dressed Eddy Curry. The Knicks center hasn’t been cleared to play because of a knee injury.
This actually was a night D’Antoni – had he put Marbury in uniform – could have tapped him as a last resort after seeing his shooters struggle. It was a bad night for Chris Duhon (six points, 1-for-6 shooting, six assists), Nate Robinson (2-of-11) and invisible Quentin Richardson (three points). Guards Mardy Collins and Anthony Roberson also didn’t have it, each going 0-for-2.
Meanwhile, Duncan lifted his game. On one play, he faked Randolph out of his blue shorts, dribbled past him at the foul line, scored and was fouled.
“It’s frustrating, whatever you do against him defensively, they’ve been running the same plays for him for eight years now,” David Lee said. “He’s seen everything that everyone’s tried.”
Finley (14 points) capped the game-sealing surge with a 3-pointer, as the Spurs got up 78-64 with 7:40 left. The Knicks didn’t score their first point of the fourth until 6:50 to go. They missed their first five shots and committed three turnovers before scoring in the fourth.