The New York Knicks played very well last night at the Garden as they hosted the Washington Wizards. Â The team looked like a unit and the ball was moving very well. Â Players were knocking down shots and the defense was above average, against a team that always seem to have their way against the Knicks.
The Knicks built an 11-point lead in the first half and went into the locker room with a 61-52 lead.  Then, the 3rd quarter happened.  I’m not sure what was said in the locker room during halftime, but the Knicks came out like they had no busy being on the floor with the Wizards.  John Wall and Bradley Beal were carving the Knicks up like a turkey on Thanksgiving.
Pretty much all Wizard players were able to drive to the bucket for easy layups or dish it out to a wide open player who always seemed to knock down a jumper. The defense on the interior in the 3rd quarter was atrocious. Â Everyone seemed lackadaisical, with oh-le defense which lead to no help after their man blew past a Knick defender.
It also didn’t help that Coach Fizdale left the starting unit of Muiday, Timmy, Vonleh, Kanter and Mario in for to long in the 3rd quarter as the Wizards had their way with the Knicks.  The Knicks tried to make a comeback at the end of the game with Vonleh and Dotson leading the way, but it was a little too late as the Knicks fell to the Wizards for a 9th straight time 110-107.
Kevin Knox continued to play very well after receiving criticism about his play this season.  His stats didn’t reflect how well and aggressive he played.  Knox ended up with 8 points on 3-11 shooting with 9 rebounds.
Dotson continued to show why he deserves more playing time, as he added some big buckets down the stretch. Â Dot has the talent, on both side of the floor, to be a starter in this league. Â Dot added 17 points on 6-12 shooting and 9 rebounds. Â And Kanter, of course, contributed another double-double in the losing effort.
Overall, that was a game that you had to win, especially being up by 11 points early.  The young Knicks have to learn when they’re winning, they need to put the team away.  You can’t let a team hang around, play down and lackadaisical because it will come back to bit you and that’s what exactly happened last night.  That was a bad lose after such a good victory against one of the best teams in the league.
The Knicks will now travel to Boston to take on the Celtics on Thursday at 8 pm on TNT.
Final thought: The Knicks beat the best teams and lose to the worst teams.