NEW YORK—Go on, all you Raptor fans who mocked coach Dwane Casey and his “pound the rock” mantra and rolled your eyes at the thought of some 1,300-pound boulder as some talisman for the season.

Make light if you will but in the aftermath of a rather impressive victory, a guy who’d struggled all season before playing a significant role in a 90-85 road win invoked the rock, the mantra and the importance of doing your job every day because good results may come at any time.

“There are no moral victories and for us to come through tonight was good because we’re a young team and it’s going to help us with our confidence and knowing we can win tough games by closing them out,” said Rasual Butler, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.

“That’s why coach (Dwane) Casey and the coaching staff, we have this statement: Pound the rock. We know it’s going to take work, just like the statement says, it might be the 101st time that you finally crack the rock; you have to continue to work every day.”

Casey has tried to instill that kind of work ethic in a team that, so far this season, has responded with a consistently hard effort.

But before Monday night, they hadn’t had any tangible things to show for it.

They’d dropped three games in a row, blown good leads in the last two, and another group might have been in danger of throwing up their arms at the futility of it all and taking at least a night off.

But this team didn’t.

And when the Knicks made an inevitable run and carved an 18-point lead to one with just over a minute remaining, they found some inner reserve to make the right play and fight through the mental fatigue.

Andrea Bargnani made a clutch jumper in the low post to make it a three-point game and then matched a Knicks basket with two clutch free throws with 17.7 seconds left.

And after the Raptors forced Carmelo Anthony into badly missing a potential game-tying three with 13.2 seconds left, Anthony Carter sealed the game with two foul shots of his own.

“At halftime, we talked about that: they were going to make a run, we needed to keep our composure, make the easy plays,” said Casey. “We still had 18 turnovers, that’s way too many turnovers for us. Great win for us but we’ve got to learn from it and cut down on our turnovers.”

Bargnani finished with 21 points, the same as DeMar DeRozan, as the Raptors were finally rewarded with a win from a good night’s work.

“(Sunday) coach told us to stick with what we were doing,” said Bargnani. “Keep working, keep doing the same thing because it was working . . . we just had to finish the game.

“That’s what we did today, we finished the game. We played for 48 minutes and in the fourth quarter, we made really good decisions.”

Jose Calderon, with nine points and 12 assists, logged a season-high 43 minutes but calmed things down offensively late in the game when the Raptors needed it most.

Anthony led the Knicks with 35 points and Toney Douglas had 22.

The Raptors did have the benefit of catching a Knicks team with a barren bench and a distinct lack of offensive firepower.

Amar’e Stoudemire missed the game with a bad ankle, a knee injury has rookie Iman Shumpert on the inactive list, and Baron Davis is still weeks away from being able to even practise.

Stoudemire, who hurt the ankle on Thursday against the Lakers, said before the game that he could be back Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats, but that there were no guarantees.

That means extended minutes for the likes of rookie Josh Harrellson, who was a nonfactor, and a thin bench that puts all kinds of pressure on the starters to play long minutes.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

NEW YORK—Go on, all you Raptor fans who mocked coach Dwane Casey and his “pound the rock” mantra and rolled your eyes at the thought of some 1,300-pound boulder as some talisman for the season.

Make light if you will but in the aftermath of a rather impressive victory, a guy who’d struggled all season before playing a significant role in a 90-85 road win invoked the rock, the mantra and the importance of doing your job every day because good results may come at any time.

“There are no moral victories and for us to come through tonight was good because we’re a young team and it’s going to help us with our confidence and knowing we can win tough games by closing them out,” said Rasual Butler, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.

“That’s why coach (Dwane) Casey and the coaching staff, we have this statement: Pound the rock. We know it’s going to take work, just like the statement says, it might be the 101st time that you finally crack the rock; you have to continue to work every day.”

Casey has tried to instill that kind of work ethic in a team that, so far this season, has responded with a consistently hard effort.

But before Monday night, they hadn’t had any tangible things to show for it.

They’d dropped three games in a row, blown good leads in the last two, and another group might have been in danger of throwing up their arms at the futility of it all and taking at least a night off.

But this team didn’t.

And when the Knicks made an inevitable run and carved an 18-point lead to one with just over a minute remaining, they found some inner reserve to make the right play and fight through the mental fatigue.

Andrea Bargnani made a clutch jumper in the low post to make it a three-point game and then matched a Knicks basket with two clutch free throws with 17.7 seconds left.

And after the Raptors forced Carmelo Anthony into badly missing a potential game-tying three with 13.2 seconds left, Anthony Carter sealed the game with two foul shots of his own.

“At halftime, we talked about that: they were going to make a run, we needed to keep our composure, make the easy plays,” said Casey. “We still had 18 turnovers, that’s way too many turnovers for us. Great win for us but we’ve got to learn from it and cut down on our turnovers.”

Bargnani finished with 21 points, the same as DeMar DeRozan, as the Raptors were finally rewarded with a win from a good night’s work.

“(Sunday) coach told us to stick with what we were doing,” said Bargnani. “Keep working, keep doing the same thing because it was working . . . we just had to finish the game.

“That’s what we did today, we finished the game. We played for 48 minutes and in the fourth quarter, we made really good decisions.”

Jose Calderon, with nine points and 12 assists, logged a season-high 43 minutes but calmed things down offensively late in the game when the Raptors needed it most.

Anthony led the Knicks with 35 points and Toney Douglas had 22.

The Raptors did have the benefit of catching a Knicks team with a barren bench and a distinct lack of offensive firepower.

Amar’e Stoudemire missed the game with a bad ankle, a knee injury has rookie Iman Shumpert on the inactive list, and Baron Davis is still weeks away from being able to even practise.

Stoudemire, who hurt the ankle on Thursday against the Lakers, said before the game that he could be back Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats, but that there were no guarantees.

That means extended minutes for the likes of rookie Josh Harrellson, who was a nonfactor, and a thin bench that puts all kinds of pressure on the starters to play long minutes.

Comment Below!.

The Knicks’ poor first-half effort gave Toronto another big lead.

Then their poor final-minute execution allowed the Raptors to keep this one.

Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan each scored 21 points, and the Raptors held onto a big cushion this time, beating New York 90-85 on Monday night.

Jose Calderon added nine points and 12 assists for the Raptors, who blew a 16-point lead Sunday in Orlando before losing 102-96. They opened a 17-point advantage at halftime in this one thanks to the Knicks’ inept second quarter then held on to snap a three-game losing streak.

“We didn’t let their run get to us,” DeRozan said. “The last couple of games you know teams made runs on us and we let it get to us and we kind of broke down on the defensive end. So tonight we didn’t let that happen.”

Carmelo Anthony had 35 points and 11 rebounds as the Knicks played their second straight game without Amare Stoudemire, who has a sprained left ankle. But they couldn’t duplicate their impressive play from their victory without him on Saturday in Sacramento, shooting just 36 per cent from the field and misfiring on 25 of their 35 three-point attempts.

Toney Douglas had 22 points for the Knicks, 12 during a third quarter that finally woke them up after a dreadful second period in which they made three baskets. But he appeared to forget the play when the Knicks inbounded down three in the final seconds, forcing Anthony to launch a long-range attempt that missed with 13 seconds left.

Coach Mike D’Antoni was all the way on the court hollering for Douglas to move before the ball was thrown in, and he said after the game the Knicks forgot the play that was to be run.

“I thought the whole first half our energy was down. We didn’t play real hard. And then I think we got a little snake bitten in the sense of when you’re not playing hard, things aren’t falling, it started being contagious and everybody started missing shots, and we were playing on our heels,” D’Antoni said. “Halftime we talked about it and we came out and played aggressive and I thought second half was really good, but we needed obviously 48 minutes and didn’t get it.”

Missing a chance

The Raptors missed a chance to extend a three-point lead in the final 90 seconds when Amir Johnson blew a dunk, and Anthony followed with a drive into the lane to cut it to 84-83 with 1:04 to go. Bargnani answered with a jumper, and after Tyson Chandler’s dunk, Bargnani sank a pair of free throws to keep it at a three-point edge with 17 seconds left.

Anthony missed the three-point attempt and Anthony Carter, who finished last season with the Knicks, hit two free throws to make it 90-85 with 10.7 seconds remaining.

Rasual Butler had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto.

“A little bit different than last night,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “They made the run. We knew they were going to make a run. Our guys bounced back, hung in there, took the blow and absorbed it.”

Stoudemire could be back Wednesday against the Bobcats, and Iman Shumpert could return this week, ahead of the two to four week absence that was expected when he sprained a right knee ligament in the Christmas opener.

The Knicks showed how badly they could have used his help in the first half.

New York led 23-22 after one, but then shot 3 of 19 (16 per cent) in the second quarter. They heard some boos at Madison Square Garden, where the loudest cheers came when receiver Victor Cruz of the playoff-bound Giants was shown in his courtside seat.

The Knicks didn’t monopolize the ugliness — Toronto’s Jamaal Magloire threw up an airball on a free throw. But Toronto shot 56 per cent in the second quarter and ran off seven straight during one Knicks drought to open a 17-point lead before taking a 51-34 advantage into halftime.

“Second half we played with a lot more confidence,” Anthony said. “First half, I really don’t know what was wrong with us. No excuses, but I think, I know, in the second half we did a better job defensively. Offensively guys made shots.”

DeRozan hit a three-pointer to open Toronto’s second-half scoring, but the Knicks surged back behind Douglas, who had a four-point play among his 12 points in the period as New York got within three before Toronto took a 67-58 lead into the final period.

Rookie Josh Harrellson, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds as Stoudemire’s replacement Saturday, was limited to two points and five boards. Chandler finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Gotta run!.

The lesson to learn from Monday night’s game (Jan. 2) is that if you live by the three-pointer, you also die by the three-pointer. The New York Knicks attempted 35 three-pointers against the Toronto Raptors, making just 10 of them to finish 28.6 percent from beyond the arc. Overall, the team went just 28-for-78 from the field (35.9 percent) in a game that simply got away from them at the end.

This 90-85 loss to the Raptors is extremely frustrating; especially with how good the Knicks looked against the Sacramento Kings back on Saturday (Dec. 31). The team had to play without All-Star power forward Amare Stoudemire again, and at first it didn’t seem like it would hurt the team. The Knicks took a nice 23-22 lead at the end of the first quarter and it looked like a great game was brewing. The second quarter got out of control though, as Toronto out-scored the Knicks 29-11 in those 12 minutes alone.

Heading into halftime with a 17-point deficit to a team that won 22 games last year is not what Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni wanted to see, and at least the team put in more effort in the second half. The Knicks fought back to within one point with just 35 second left but couldn’t stop the Raptors when it mattered most. In the early Atlantic division standings, New York now falls behind Toronto by means of the head-to-head tie-breaker. This is definitely not where the team wanted to sit after five games in a shortened season.

Carmelo Anthony finished the game 13-for-31 from the field, often taking shots he wasn’t comfortable with just to get the offense going. Far too many times there were other players passing up shot opportunities and it seemed like Bill Walker was afraid to even take shots on Monday night (Jan. 2). I don’t blame Anthony at all for attempting 31 shots, but I would have liked him to make a couple more. He did finish with 35 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists though, so fantasy basketball owners that have him had to come away happy from this game.

Next up for the 2-3 Knicks are the Charlotte Bobcats, who come to town on Wednesday (Jan. 4) for a 7:30 p.m. ET game.

More From YCN :

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni likes the direction his offence is heading. Even if Amar’e Stoudemire isn’t on the court demanding defensive attention.

The Knicks hope to have Stoudemire back as they try to build on their best offensive performance of the season Monday night against the struggling Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m. ET).

Stoudemire, who is averaging 17.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in three games, is listed as day-to-day with a sprained left ankle. The six-time All-Star didn’t dress Saturday against Sacramento, but that didn’t seem to have much of an effect on New York’s offense.

All five starters had 14 points or more for the Knicks (2-2) in an easy 114-92 win. Carmelo Anthony led the way with 23 points, while Stoudemire’s replacement, rookie Josh Harrellson, finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for New York, which had averaged 80.0 points on 35.8 per cent shooting in losing its previous two games.

“Our team is starting to pick up things in the offence that if we continue to do it, we can be successful,” D’Antoni said. “When you have a Carmelo with an Amar’e, it tends to open the floor even more. When the ball moves, our younger guys can get more involved.”

The Knicks finished with season highs of 26 assists and 46 points in the paint.

“When the ball is moving like that, you can see how successful we can be offensively,” Landry Fields said. “It’s a very nice win. Hopefully it brings us momentum going into our next game.”

New York had no trouble offensively against Toronto last season, averaging 114.5 points in sweeping the four-game series. Stoudemire averaged 26.8 points and 11.5 boards against the Raptors in 2010-11, while Anthony had 23 points and nine rebounds in the lone game he played in last season’s series, a 131-118 win at MSG on April 5.

The Raptors (1-3) were 26th in scoring defence last season (105.4), and although they’ve been more sound defensively in 2011-12, yielding an average of 96.8 points, it hasn’t translated to many wins.

Toronto’s defense played well through three quarters Sunday in Orlando but didn’t get many stops down the stretch. The Raptors led by as many as 13 in the fourth, but the Magic shot 70.6 per cent (12 for 17) in the final period to rally for a 102-96 win. It was the second consecutive second-half collapse by Toronto, which squandered a seven-point, third-quarter lead in Friday’s 99-86 loss to Dallas.

“I don’t really have an explanation as to why this game got away,” said Jose Calderon, who had 18 points and 13 assists. “It’s tough. It’s kind of like the same thing that happened with Dallas. They’re two veteran teams. They know how to play in those moments. We’ve got to learn from that.”

Andrea Bargnani paced the Raptors with 28 points Sunday, but only scored three in the fourth quarter. The 7-foot Italian, who is averaging 26.3 points on 53.6 percent shooting in his last three games, had a career-high 41 points in a 113-110 loss at MSG last December.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Kobe Bryant‘s injured wrist did not prevent the All Star guard from lifting the LA Lakers to a 99-82 win over the visiting New York Knicks on Thursday.

Skipping, spinning and grinning, Bryant unleashed his full arsenal of moves while scoring 13 of his 28 points in the third quarter despite playing through a right wrist injury.

Bryant also dished out a pair of game-clinching assists in the final quarter to give the Lakers their second win in a row following an 0-2 start to the season.

Los Angeles also looked more comfortable with first-year coach Mike Brown’s game plan as they took control in the first quarter and never let go.

“Obviously, Kobe is Kobe,” Brown told reporters. “You can’t downplay what he does because he did everything for us.”

The Lakers held the Knicks to just 31 percent shooting and never allowed the visitors to settle. Los Angeles, with Pau Gasol scoring 16 and grabbing 10 rebounds, took a 63-51 halftime lead and New York got no closer than eight in the second half.

“We’re growing as a team,” Lakers guard Steve Blake told reporters after finishing with 11 points. “Every day in practice, every game we grow more comfortable.”

New York’s Carmelo Anthony scored a team-high 27 and Amar’e Stoudemire had 15 but made just 4 of 17 shots as the Knicks fell to 1-2.

“You have to be able to score,” said New York coach Mike D’Antoni. “We just weren’t able to make shots. We’re not moving the ball and not playing real well as a team right now.”

The Knicks did not defend particularly well either, allowing the Lakers to shoot 52 percent.

Tyson Chandler, signed in the off-season to bolster the Knicks’ defense, finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds but his presence inside did not deter the Lakers.

Bryant showed signs of discomfort in his wrist at times as he flexed his hand during free throws and breaks in the action.

However, he was at his most entertaining in the third quarter where he recorded 13 points, including a 32-foot three-pointer that drew a foul and ended up a four-point play.

In the final few minutes of the game Bryant found Blake and Matt Barnes for consecutive three-pointers to put the game away.

The Lakers are expected to welcome back center Andrew Bynum on Saturday against Denver after serving a suspension for a flagrant foul during last season’s playoffs.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Gotta run!.

Kobe Bryant scored 28 points in yet another dynamic performance
against the Knicks, and the Los Angeles Lakers pulled away in the
fourth quarter for their ninth straight victory over New York,
99-82 Thursday night.

Pau Gasol had 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the
Lakers, who have won two straight after a 0-2 start to the
compressed season.

Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points in his first showdown with
Bryant since joining the Knicks, and Amare Stoudemire had 15 points
on 4-for-17 shooting as New York again struggled down the stretch
in the middle stop of a three-game West Coast road trip.

Steve Blake scored 11 points and hit two big 3-pointers while
the Lakers opened the fourth quarter with a 17-3 run, taking a
22-point lead and forcing the Knicks to miss nine of their first 10
shots while committing seven turnovers. Bryant didn’t even need to
score in the fourth quarter, contributing three assists as Los
Angeles roared away.

The Lakers have dominated this rivalry between the signature
teams from the nation’s two largest cities in recent years, winning
every meeting since February 2007 with Bryant averaging more than
34 points per game.

Tyson Chandler had 13 points and 11 rebounds in his hometown for
the Knicks, whose nine-game skid against the Lakers is their
longest current stretch against any opponent.

New York opened the season with a gritty win over Boston on
Christmas Day, but lost to Golden State on Wednesday. The Knicks’
frustration showed in technical fouls for each of their Big Three,
who incessantly argued calls despite New York’s 41-22 free throw
advantage.

Josh McRoberts scored 10 points for the Lakers, who made 23 of
their 32 shots before halftime for their highest shooting
percentage in one half in nearly 13 years. New York pulled within
eight points heading into the fourth quarter, but then committed
five turnovers in the next 2 1/2 minutes as reserves Blake and Matt
Barnes led the Lakers’ runaway.

Although Bryant is playing with a torn ligament in his right
wrist that requires a brace whenever he isn’t playing, the 13-time
All-Star’s latest injury is doing little to slow him. He has scored
at least 25 points in each of the Lakers’ games so far, and he
shredded the Knicks’ spotty defense.

The Lakers were the only team to begin the season with three
games in three nights, losing the first two before routing Utah on
Tuesday for new coach Mike Brown’s first victory. Although the
Lakers struggled early, they’ve been downright dominant on defense
in the past three games at home, showing they’re already picking up
the finer points of Brown’s defense-based system.

The Lakers, who held the Knicks to 31.3 percent shooting, will
get even better on defense with center Andrew Bynum wrapping up his
season-opening four-game suspension for his misbehavior in last
spring’s playoff finale. He’ll be in the lineup for the Denver
Nuggets’ visit to Staples Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Lakers returned from their first day off with a sharp first
half, taking a 16-point lead in the second quarter with crisp
offensive execution that frequently left behind the Knicks. Anthony
scored 18 points in the half with six field goals _ the same number
managed by all of his teammates combined.

Los Angeles’ bench missed just one shot in the first half, and
nobody in a gold uniform missed more than two.

Bryant scored 13 points in the third quarter, even banking in a
long 3-pointer while getting fouled on a four-point play late in
the period, but the Knicks trimmed Los Angeles’ lead to 80-72
heading into the fourth.

NOTES: The Lakers made 77.1 percent of their shots in the second
half against Orlando on March 21, 1999. … Baron Davis is
traveling on the West Coast with the Knicks, but not playing while
resting a herniated disc in his back. The veteran guard grew up in
Los Angeles. … Former Lakers broadcaster Spero Dedes returned to
Staples Center for the first time since abruptly leaving Los
Angeles during the summer to work for the Knicks. … Fans near
courtside included USC QB Matt Barkley, Angels ace Jered Weaver,
Willie McGinest, actress Kaley Cuoco and Richard Lewis, who sat in
with the Lakers’ radio broadcast team.

That’s all for today.

The New York Knicks stopped by the Staples Center to take on the Los Angeles Lakers December 29 and the Lakers were not hospitable to the their East Coast visitors, beating them, 99-82. The Lakers smothered the Knicks and showed that their new coach, Mike Brown, is not about “Showtime” but he leans towards a different method of winning.

The New York Knicks Amar’e Stoudemire pumped up the fans before the 2010 season.
Photo by: Chamber of Fear WIkimedia Commons

The final score was not indicative of the pace of the game. Despite the Lakers falling just short of breaking through the century mark, defense was the key to the Lakers beating the Knicks. The Lakers pounded the Knicks into submission and sent them on their way to Sacramento with their tail between their legs.

This was the second game of a three-game West Coast swing for the Knicks, who lost to the Golden State Warriors, 92-78, in Oakland December 28. Now after going down in defeat to the Lakers, the Knicks will now travel back to Sacramento to take on the Sacramento Kings on New Year’s Eve. The NBA scheduler must have it in for the Knicks with those travel arrangements.

The Knicks, playing their third game of the season with the Lakers and their first back-to back of the season, looked slow and frustrated most of the game. There were several dumb fouls on the Knicks side, including an ill-advised foul on Kobe Bryant as he threw up and hit a three-point bomb from long-range.

The Lakers are not lighting up the scoreboard as they have in year’s past. This Lakers team is going to play grind-it-out basketball every game. The days of 120 point Lakers games is over and the Mike Brown era has begun.

The Knicks have added depth in the last few days with their pick up of Jeremy Lin and through the off season with the key additions of Tyson Chandler and Baron Davis. Davis has not played due to a back injury but Chandler is in the news for his comments about Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks

Chandler has been in the news since he made it clear the Mavericks are positioning themselves for the 2012-2013 season. Chandler spoke before the Knicks embarked on their three-game trip and said the Mavericks roster strategy was a major reason for him signing with the Knicks this off season.

The win over the Knicks was a huge boost to the Lakers because they did not have Andrew Bynum under the basket for this game. The Lakers are a much better team when a healthy Bynum is wreaking havoc under and above the rim. Get ready for a patented Los Angeles Lakers hot streak early in the season.

*Todd Jacobs is a native Southern Californian and longtime Los Angeles Lakers fan since the early ’70s.

Sources:

ESPN Clubhouse: Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks stats and news.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

It’s time for the New York Knicks to prove that the changes made to the roster were the right moves and that this is a team ready to compete. After a really tough loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night (Dec. 28), it’s time to bounce back and beat a struggling Lakers team. The Knicks play in Staples Center on Thursday (Dec. 29) at 10:30 p.m. ET, making for a long night for dedicated fans back east.

I wrote last night how the Knicks were very flat against the Warriors in the second half, especially after holding a six point lead at halftime. While Tyson Chandler was going through foul trouble, the Knicks just seemed to lack the defensive intensity necessary to beat the better teams in the league. It almost seemed like a number of players on the roster have put too much pressure on Chandler to become the only one putting out the extra effort on defense. It worked in the first game against the Boston Celtics when Chandler blocked 6 shots, but he can’t do it every night by himself.

The Lakers are a much different team without Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum, and that is what the Knicks get on Thursday night (Dec. 29). The Lakers have also lost two of their first three games, losing to the Chicago Bulls and Sacramento Kings before beating the Utah Jazz on Tuesday (Dec. 27). Now the Knicks come to town, and the game goes into primetime for viewers watching on the West Coast. It’s also the second game on the TNT schedule for the night, meaning the game is about to get over-analyzed. Hopefully the Knicks can put up really good numbers and leave a lasting opinion with the broadcasters.

Any success for the Knicks is going to come from shutting down Pau Gasol on defense and working an inside-outside game on offense. Kobe Bryant is going to score his points, but Chandler and Amare Stoudemire have to keep Gasol from catching fire in the low post. On offense, it needs to become a balance between the three-point shooters for the Knicks and the post-up games of Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. The shooting percentage has to get better than the 4-for-21 (19 percent) effort that New York had on Wednesday night (Dec. 28) though.

It’s time to put the excuses aside and for the Knicks to prove that they can get up for a game against one of the elite teams in the Western Conference.

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

What are your opinions.