Kristaps Porzingis by Keith Allison is licensed under CC by 2.0
Kristaps Porzingis produced another jaw-dropping performance to carry the Knicks past the Rockets in Houston.
The 20 year old finished with 24 points, leading all Knicks scorers. He also crashed the boards with 14 rebounds, including 5 on the offensive end! His defensive effort was also on show with an astounding 7 blocks in the game, including multiple blocks on all-star guard James Harden.
The Knicks fans will also be pleased to see Arran Afflalo contribute 16 points to the cause. This was just his 6th game of the season, winning 4 of the games he has featured in so far.
Carmelo Anthony came up with 14 points in this one, but played significantly less minutes than normal, just 24 minutes for the all-star.
That didn’t stop the Knicks from getting it done though, Jose Calderon had 11 points, and also had 7 assists. Langston Galloway came off the bench and came up with 12 of his own. He has been particularly impressive off the bench this season.
The starting 5 combined for 73 points for New York, which clearly shows the chemistry among the starters. This was in a game where Melo had limited minutes too, so if he’s at his best the number could easily be higher. This is a real positive for Knicks fans.
For the Rockets, Dwight Howard was rested, which meant Clint Capela started at Center and he didn’t disappoint. The big man had 16 points and 14 rebounds, including offensive boards.
James Harden ended with 24 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to get the win at home.
The Rockets have had a slow start to the season and now sit 11th in the Western Conference with a 5-9 record. Their next game is on Wednesday night where they’ll take on fellow Southwest Division rivals Memphis at home.
The win for the Knicks moves them up into 8th in the east, with 8 wins and 6 losses. They have now won 4 straight, and have begun their 4 game road trip with wins against OKC and Houston. Next up for the Knicks they take on Miami at the American Airlines Arena on Monday night before taking on the Magic on Wednesday to complete the road trip.
This was the Knicks’ first win in Houston since November 18th 2004. Trevor Ariza was in fact part of the Knicks team that day.
