Knicks-Bucks Preview

By PAUL DIGIACOMO
Posted Mar 08 2012 4:50PM

The New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks are struggling and under .500, but Friday night's matchup at the Bradley Center will still have some bearing on the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.

Milwaukee looks to shave a game off New York's lead for the eighth and final postseason spot in the East as it tries to continue its recent dominance in the series.

The Knicks (18-21) have lost three straight and six of nine following a season-high seven-game win streak that coincided with Jeremy Lin seeing more action and moving into the starting lineup.

Despite its struggles, New York is in eighth place in the conference, leading Milwaukee (15-24) and Cleveland by three games.

With the Big East tournament being played at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks embarked on a four-game road trip Sunday and have dropped the first three. They fell 115-111 in overtime to Boston on Sunday, 95-85 to Dallas on Tuesday and 118-105 to San Antonio on Wednesday.

Poor shooting has doomed New York on the trip, with Lin and Carmelo Anthony making 38.6 percent of their field-goal attempts. Anthony bounced back from a 2-for-12 shooting night against the Mavericks to score 27 points while making 12 of 24 shots Wednesday.

Anthony is averaging 21.2 points and shooting a career-low 40.1 percent. His scoring average is his lowest since his second season in the NBA in 2004-05, and New York is 2-5 since he returned from a groin injury that cost him seven games.

The Knicks won six of those seven contests, when Linsanity was at its peak.

"You have to work through. But there's no reason why it can't co-exist," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "There's no reason why everybody shouldn't do well. We just got to find the right balance of everybody getting into their spots."

D'Antoni made a change against the Spurs, inserting rookie guard Iman Shumpert into the starting lineup in place of Landry Fields. Shumpert shot 1 for 5 while Fields scored eight points on 4-of-8 shooting.

New York played without starting center Tyson Chandler, who missed his first game of the season due to a strained hamstring. His status for Friday is uncertain.

The Knicks could certainly use him to help slow down Milwaukee's Drew Gooden, who's averaging 20.5 points and 8.2 rebounds in six games since missing four with a wrist injury.

He had a season-high 27 points Wednesday night and Ersan Ilyasova scored a career-best 32, but it wasn't enough as the Bucks lost 106-104 at home to Chicago on Derrick Rose's jumper at the buzzer.

"It hurts a lot that we lost this one, just the fact that we played so hard for 48 minutes," point guard Brandon Jennings said. "Guys were down there battling."

Milwaukee has dropped 13 of 18 but seems to have a good chance to get on track Friday, as it's won 11 of 13 against New York.

Jennings has played a big part in that success, averaging 20.1 points in going 7-1 against the Knicks since entering the league in 2009-10.

He scored a season-high 36 points to outduel Anthony, who had 35, in a 100-86 win at MSG on Jan. 20.

Ilyasova scores 26, Bucks beat Knicks 119-114

By CHRIS JENKINS
Posted Mar 10 2012 1:37AM

MILWAUKEE (AP) Ersan Ilyasova isn't exactly a household name like Jeremy Lin.

Lately, the Milwaukee Bucks forward's game has been pretty impressive.

Ilyasova had 26 points, including a critical putback in the final minute, and the Bucks held on to beat the New York Knicks 119-114 on Friday.

"Ersan saved the day again," Brandon Jennings said.

Ilyasova was coming off a career-high 32-point performance in Milwaukee's last-second loss to the Bulls on Wednesday. Heading into Friday's game, Ilyasova was averaging 18.5 points and 11.6 rebounds over his previous 11 games.

The native of Turkey was just happy the Bucks didn't let this one slip away after losing on Derrick Rose's buzzer-beater earlier in the week.

"It was a hell of a win, especially to lose the game against Chicago in the last second," Ilyasova said.

Jennings and Mike Dunleavy Jr. added 25 points each for the Bucks.

Amar'e Stoudemire had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Knicks, who have lost four straight and seven of their past 10.

"Once you get down by 15, everything has to go right and we couldn't do it," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We played hard, we had a good chance but we couldn't pull it out. We couldn't get enough stops."

Carmelo Anthony had 22 points, while Lin had 20 points and 13 assists, with four steals and five turnovers.

"They hit some tough shots," Lin said. "We didn't get all the rebounds we should have gotten. Tonight wasn't a lack of energy, it wasn't a lack of heart or will. They just came out with this win. We played extremely hard. We moved the ball and shared the ball."

Asked about Lin's play, Jennings praised him - but only to a point.

"I don't know about the whole `Linsanity' thing," Jennings said. "But he's a good point guard in a great system, if I could put it like that. He should be able to get numbers, should be able to get assists with Amar'e, with `Melo, Landry Fields, J.R. Smith and all those guys. If any point guard goes there, they all should be able to get numbers. But, I mean, he's a good player."

Knicks forward Steve Novak said Lin isn't showing any signs that his star is fading.

"It's not going to disappear," Novak said. "He's the real deal and an even better person. It's fun to watch. Everywhere we go, you can't even take the kid to dinner, movies or anything. He's a rock star."

The game had some significance to the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Knicks came into the game holding on to the No. 8 playoff spot in the East, with the Bucks three games behind. Milwaukee's win cuts the deficit to two.

Jennings said the Bucks definitely are paying attention to playoff scenarios.

"Of course," Jennings said. "That's why this was a big game."

Even after the win, though, Drew Gooden was troubled that the Bucks couldn't close the game out.

"It hurt us losing the one to Chicago," Gooden said. "Tonight, we still did a terrible job trying to close the game out in the fourth. It's like they just took the ball in at will for layups, just kind of clawed their way back into the game at will. And we can't allow that."

With the Bucks already leading by 13, Lin gave the ball away to Jennings, who darted down the court, spun around Baron Davis and sank an acrobatic layup to put Milwaukee up 108-93 with 7:28 left.

But the Knicks got back in the game with a 12-0 run.

Later trailing by five, Lin hit a long jumper and Davis drove for a layup to cut the lead to one with 2:45 left.

A foul sent Ilyasova to the line, and hit both free throws to put the Bucks up by three. Anthony drove for a layup on the other end, cutting the lead back to one with 52.7 seconds left.

Lin then hounded Jennings into throwing up a wild shot with the shot clock running down - but Ilyasova was there for the putback, giving the Bucks a 116-113 lead with 28.7 seconds left.

Stoudemire then tried to drive for a layup, but was called for traveling.

The Bucks then were called for a five-second violation on the inbounds play, and Anthony tried to drive for a dunk and missed. A foul call on Gooden sent Anthony to the line - enraging Bucks coach Scott Skiles - but Anthony missed the first and hit the second to cut the lead to two with 10.8 seconds left.

The Bucks got the ball in this time, and Jennings was fouled. He hit both free throws to put Milwaukee ahead by four with 9.7 left.

"We have a long way to go as a team but we have a lot of good pieces," said Novak, a Wisconsin native who played at Marquette. "If we're just able to blend those and figure it out, by the end of the year were going to be tough."

Notes: Knicks guard J.R. Smith said he regrets posting a photo of a scantily clad woman on his Twitter account, which earned him some unwanted attention on the web Friday. "I didn't know it was going to be as big deal as it is now," he said. "I definitely regret it. It takes away from our team." ... The Bucks got back defensive stopper Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, but he had to leave the game after playing only 7:39 because his knee flared up again. ... Bucks guard Shaun Livingston left the game with a left ankle injury.

Notebook: Bucks 119, Knicks 114

Posted Saturday March 10, 2012 12:25AM

By Rick Braun, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Ersan Ilyasova scored 26 points, including five in the final 1:06, Brandon Jennings tallied 25 points and 10 assists and Mike Dunleavy added 25 as the Milwaukee Bucks survived a big New York rally to hold off the Knicks 119-114 Friday night at the Bradley Center.

The Knicks rallied from a 108-93 deficit with 7:29 left and had a possession with a chance to take the lead but committed two costly turnovers in the final 90 seconds.

Amar'e Stoudemire scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Carmelo Anthony had 22 points and Jeremy Lin had 20 points and 13 turnovers, but the Knicks (18-22) closed a four-game road trip at 0-4 and now lead the Bucks (16-24) by just two games for the eighth playoff spot in the East.

QUOTABLE: "In games like this you just have to find a way to get to those balls. We did a really good job as a team just keeping the play alive and never giving up."
-- Ersan Ilyasova on his two huge plays on the offensive boards

THE STAT: On four separate occasions -- three by Lin and once by Anthony -- the Knicks made shots from the 3-point arc with toes on the line. Turn those four 2-point baskets into 3-pointers and it's a very different story in the final minute.

TURNING POINT: The Knicks had cut a 108-93 deficit down to a single point, and Ilyasova had just one rebound in the first 46:54 of the game. But when Drew Gooden's shot was tipped by Anthony, Ilyasova was in perfect position for a tip and was fouled by Baron Davis. He wasn't credited with a rebound, but his two free throws made it 114-111 with 1:06 left. Just 38 seconds later, Jennings' desperation underhand shot with the shot clock running down was tapped toward the basket by Gooden, and Ilyasova was in perfect position to tip it in for a 116-113 lead with 28.7 seconds left. Ilyasova capped his big final 66 seconds by claiming the rebound of Steve Novak's missed 3-pointer with four seconds left and made 1 of 2 free throws to close the scoring. Ilyasova also had a game-winning tip with two seconds left in a 119-118 victory over Washington on Feb. 28.

QUOTABLE II: "He was on small guys quite a bit. They were playing small tonight so he was away from the basket quite a bit. He's been near the rim late in games for us and bailed us out multiple times."
-- Bucks coach Scott Skiles on Ilyasova's big plays down the stretch

HOT: Ilyasova was 9-for-13, making him 23-for-31 (74.2 percent) in the last two games and averaging 29 points.

NOT: Gooden made just 4-for-12 shots but still had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. He also had five assists.

INSIDE THE ARENA: With Lin making his first appearance at the Bradley Center since the onset of Linsanity, the Bucks recorded just their second sellout of the season (18,717), with an unusually high amount of Asian-American fans in the stands cheering for Lin and the Knicks.

GOOD MOVE: As the Bucks sat and watched the Knicks make their first 11 shots, Skiles sent in second-year forward Larry Sanders for defense. Sanders helped turn the game around as an inside defensive presence and finished with 11 rebounds, nine points and three blocked shots in just 16 minutes.

BAD MOVE: With a 116-113 lead and the ball with 23 seconds left, the Bucks could not get the ball inbounds and were called for a five-second violation. They managed to hold on despite that gaffe.

NOTABLE: The Knicks made their first 11 shots of the night to race out to a 26-16 lead. Their first miss wasn't really a missed shot so much as a bad pass on a lob, but the official scorer called it a missed shot rather than a turnover. The Bucks then closed the quarter with an 18-6 run and led, 36-34, after one. ... The Bucks are 12-4 when scoring 100 points or more. ... Milwaukee went 13 for 26 on 3-pointers. ... Lin's double-double was his sixth of the year. ... Bucks forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute returned after missing two games with a sore right knee but did not return after the half because of the injury. Also, Bucks guard Shaun Livingston did not play in the second half because of a left ankle injury. ... Knicks center Tyson Chandler missed his second straight game with an ankle injury but could return Sunday vs. Philadelphia.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Sunday vs. Philadelphia, Monday @ Chicago, Wednesday vs. Portland. For the Bucks, Sunday @ Toronto, Monday @ New Jersey, Wednesday vs. Cleveland.

• Knicks: Jeffries, Walker
• Bucks: Bogut

• Knicks: --
• Bucks: --

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 6

• Arena: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
• Officials: #26 Pat Fraher, #71 Rodney Mott, #52 Scott Twardoski
• Attendance: 18717
• Duration: 2:15