Blazers 88
Knicks 81
PORTLAND – The bad news is the Knicks are 0-3 since Antonio McDyess came back. The good news is that McDyess, if his left knee doesn’t explode, may make the skeptics look bad real soon.
Don Chaney admitted the Knicks (7-13) probably would’ve won this game if it were played in a month when team doctors aren’t still afraid McDyess’ left knee will shatter with too much playing time.
In their 88-81 loss to the Blazers in which they blew a 19-point first-half lead, McDyess, playing his third game, soared for rebounds and looked smooth as silk in the low post.
He played just 20 minutes, scored 14 points, made 7 of 11 shots and hauled in six rebounds. Chaney took him out with 6:29 left when he was rolling to keep with the doctors’ program. Chaney did put him back with 3:07 left, he took a charge on the first possession but lost his offensive rhythm.
“There is a tempation to leave him in, no doubt about it,” Chaney said. “He’s very nice, jumping above the rim. You’re tempted to play him forever. I have to pull myself back in.”
Chaney said before the game he would play just 16 to 18 minutes because it was the first night of a back-to-back as the Knicks play at Golden State tonight. But he couldn’t help playing him more.
“Things are getting better and better,”said McDyess. “I’m getting back to where I was.”
After rallying from a 19-point deficit, closing within three at halftime, the Blazers took control in the third. Rasheed Wallace buried a left-wing trey to cap a run and give the Blazers a 55-47 lead with 6:45 left in the third.
The Knicks rallied briefly and went up by one point after three quarters, on Keith Van Horn’s putback layup to make it, 63-62, but couldn’t stall the Blazers, who got a fourth-quarter lift from newcomer Wesley Person (eight points). The Knicks shot 52 percent for the game but scored just 18 fourth-quarter points.
“When you shoot 52 percent on the road, you should either win or be in the game,” Chaney said.
When McDyess came in with 3:46 left in the first, he lifted a hot club, making his first four shots, including two feathery post-up turnarounds right out of his All-Star past.
He came out with 8:02 left in the half, scoring eight points in eight minutes. He also had a wonderfully athletic one-handed rebound at the first-quarter buzzer as the Knicks led 28-16.
In the second half, McDyess had put back a tip-in off a missed Eisley layup – almost a repeat scenario of that tragic preseason night 14 months ago. This time, McDyess landed smoothly. Late in the fourth, he took a charge and ran into the crowd crashing a ball.
Following yesterday’s morning shootaround at the Rose Garden, point guard Williams declared himself “ready” to inherit the Knicks starting point guard position.
“I think I’m ready,” Williams said. “It’s just a matter of time before they think so.”
Problem is, Chaney wasn’t ready to make the move before last night’s encounter in Portland. Howard Eisley remained the starting PG and the Knicks came out blazing.
