Tom Piccolo

Despite losing Kristaps Porzingis just two and a half minutes into the game, the Knicks were able to use their size to dominate the Hassan Whiteside-less Heat on Wednesday by a score of 115-86. The most glaring statistical difference between the two teams was points in the paint where New York outscored Miami 58-32, a 26-point differential. The reason for that discrepancy was the type of shots the Knicks were generating.

The Knicks had an early scare as Kristaps Porzingis turned his ankle and needed help getting to the locker room.  By the time the 2nd quarter announcement came out that Porzingis was fine the Knicks were well on their way to a convincing victory. 

Welcome to the first Knicks Stat of the Game, inspired by my Study Hall column for SB Nation's Spurs site, Pounding the Rock. The goal is to provide a statistic or series of statistics that help illuminate why a game turned out the way it did. Clearly, stats cannot tell the whole story, but they can often provide the backbone of an explanation. Then, at the bottom are a bunch of advanced stats and shot charts for the Knicks nerds among you. 

The Knicks tried to reach into their bag of tricks one more time tonight to pull out another come-from-behind victory but came up a little short.  The team heard the first boos of the season from the Garden crowd after struggling through 3 quarters and trailing by 26.  A strong run to start the 4th quarter was not enough to overcome the deficit and the Knicks fell back to .500 on the season.  The Knicks faithful will hope that the teams recent skid is just a minor setback after their hot start and will look to right the ship Wednesday night against Miami. 

The short-handed Knicks lost a streaky game to the Houston Rockets. Kristaps Porzingis and Enes Kanter both missed the game with back issues. Despite their absences, the Knicks jumped out to a 29-7 lead in the first quarter before Houston took over the game. The Knicks made it somewhat interesting again late in the fourth but never got close enough to put a scare into Houston.

The Knicks missed Enes Kanter (out with back spasms) and had a major letdown as they fell to the 4-15 Atlanta Hawks. The Knicks led by 15 after the first quarter but faded quickly and were unable to come away with a victory. Their road woes continued as the Knicks are now 1-5 on the road this year.

The Knicks only outscored the Raptors in one quarter in Wednesday night's game at Madison Square Garden.  Fortunately for the Knicks, they outscored the Raptors by 31 points in an incredible 3rd quarter, leading them to a 8 point victory over one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

Tom Piccolo

When ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski first tweeted the details of the deal that sent Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Knicks fans were split about the the quality of the return: Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and the Chicago Bulls' second-round pick. Now that we have 17 games under our belt, let's take a look at how these players and assets have fared so far.

The Knicks followed up an ugly loss to the Raptors with a win over the Los Angeles Clippers in a game of runs. It wasn't always pretty as the Knicks turned it over 22 times but they ultimately pulled out the victory. Kristaps bounced back somewhat as he scored 25 points on 7/20 shooting after only scoring 13 points against Toronto.