Gamethread: Washington (1-12) @ New York (10-4): Break the Friday Night Knicks Curse

[29$JerZ]

Friday, November 30, 2012
7:30 PM ET - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Key Matchup

Friday Night MSG, My Curse Lives Every 5th of the Week!

New York Knicks (10-4)

POINTS PER GAME
102.3
4th Overall

REBOUNDS PER GAME
40.1
25th Overall

ASSISTS PER GAME
19.8
25th Overall

POINTS ALLOWED
94.9
8th Overall

Washington Wizards (1-12)

POINTS PER GAME
89.5
30th Overall

REBOUNDS PER GAME
43.2
10th Overall

ASSISTS PER GAME
20.5
23rd Overall

POINTS ALLOWED
96.9
14th Overall

Wizards-Knicks Preview

After enduring the worst start in team history, the Washington Wizards finally got in the win column their last time out.
Another victory could be hard to come by with a visit to Madison Square Garden in store.
The Wizards try to build on their latest result Friday night against the New York Knicks, who look to stay unbeaten at home and continue their recent domination in the series.
Washington opened 0-12 before escaping with an 84-82 win over Portland on Wednesday. The Wizards surrendered their fewest points of the season and held the Trail Blazers to a season-low 34.9 percent shooting, but they still had to sweat things out after blowing a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter.
"Well, we made it interesting, but we won," coach Randy Wittman said. "We just broke through the ice. I've lived in Minnesota for 15, 17 years. That ice was four or five feet deep, but it's broken through now.
"When you get to this level, you've got to have some thick skin, and you've got to be able to overcome those kind of things."
Jordan Crawford had 19 points off the bench while Kevin Seraphin scored 10 to go along with 10 rebounds.
"It's a great moment for us, but at the same time we can't celebrate too much," rookie Bradley Beal said. "We have a great team coming up next in New York. We have to be ready for Friday.
"We know they can shoot the ball, they're capable of pretty much anything. They spread the floor, 3-point shooters everywhere ... so we really have to be on our toes and make sure we're aware of who's on the court."
The Wizards have dropped nine straight to the Knicks (10-4) by an average of 14.0 points. They suffered a 103-65 defeat in the last matchup April 13, their 15th loss in 17 visits to New York.
After falling 96-89 in overtime in Monday's much-anticipated showdown at Brooklyn, the Knicks bounced back with a 102-88 win at Milwaukee two nights later. Carmelo Anthony continued his impressive play, scoring 29 points and shooting 9 of 18 from the field.
"He's playing at an all-time high, I think. And it's a beautiful thing to watch," coach Mike Woodson said of Anthony, who's gone 17 of 26 (65.4 percent) from 3-point range and averaged 32.5 points over his last four games.
"He's just been solid, and it's kind of nice to see. He's put a lot of time in this summer with the Olympics, and it carried over to the summer program when we got back. He came to vet camp in great shape, and it's been a nice carry-over to the season."
Anthony has been especially good at home, where he's posted an NBA-best 28.6 points per game in helping New York open 5-0 for the first time since a 9-0 start in 1992-93.
Anthony is averaging 27.1 points against Washington, his third-highest mark versus any opponent. He may need to shoulder even more of the load with Jason Kidd uncertain to be available for a third straight game due to back spasms.
The Knicks may also want to get Steve Novak more involved. The 3-point specialist went 5 for 7 from beyond the arc and finished with a season-high 19 points against the Bucks. New York is 11-0 when he scores at least 16 dating to last season.

Jason Kidd Update

Marc Berman ‏@NYPost_Berman
Kidd said hoping to play on next week's road trip. Had MRI, which was clear, he says.

Frank Isola ‏@FisolaNYDN
Jason Kidd says an MRI on his back revealed no significant damage

Amar'e Stoudemire Update

The NBA on ESPN ‏@ESPNNBA
Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire targets Christmas return:

[LeTsGoNyKnIcKs]

lets go nyk am i the first poster???
i have never had this honor

[Beltrans Mole]

Wizards are really bad...

[AI4]

I fear the worst for Kidd, our medical/pr staff is one of the worst.

[torocan]

I smell Trap game!

Watch out, the Wizards are on a Roll. 1-0 in their last 1 games. That's a 100% win rate!

Seriously, the Knicks should be ashamed if they pulled a Popovich, rested the entire starting line up, and played the bench and d-league scrubs for 48 minutes and managed to lose this game...

[Jesse2272]

I cant wait fo this game

[Jesse2272]

Give us the luck Jerz

[Backstabber]

Looking at this mini stretch of "should-wins" it's probably best for us to sit Kidd til the Heat game

[VillaMaravilla]

Everything says we should be able to rest our key players early in this one. . Expecting a blowout

[PJAF]

At the Garden? Against the Wizards? put it in the book at 11-4.

[Jesse2272]

At the Garden? Against the Wizards? put it in the book at 11-4.

yes sir

[TheNumber37]

melo, felton and Chandler better sit the 4th again.

[torocan]

melo, felton and Chandler better sit the 4th again.

If the Knicks play up to their ability, it should be a blow out by half time and Melo, Felton and Chandler should be sitting out the entire 2nd half.

What I don't want to see is a Miami vs SAS scrubs scenario where the starters are putting up 30-35 minutes. That's just unnecessary wear and tear on our starters.

[Enzo]

This should be an easy W for sure. Just waiting for the usual doomsday sayers to emerge with their doom and gloom prophecies. LOL

[Ill21]

11-4 and then 12-4 after we beat the suns