D-League Knicks Start the New Year With a Win Over the 87ers
On a day when their entire starting frontcourt was saddled with big foul trouble, the Westchester Knicks turned to their backcourt for a little lift.
Guards Jimmer Fredette, Travis Trice II and Jordon Crawford combined to score 57 points on Saturday afternoon, helping the Knicks overcome the extended absence of towering center Jordan Bachynski and defeat the Delaware 87ers 106-97 in an NBA D-League game at the Westchester County Center.
With a near-capacity crowd looking on, Fredette finished with a game-high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Trice added 18 points and nine boards, erupting for 10 of his points in the fourth quarter when the foul-plagued Bachynski was sitting on the bench for all but 40 seconds.
Bachynski, the reed-thin 7-foot-2 post presence who has been instrumental in Westchester’s worst-to-first climb in the standings since last season’s 10-40 finish, was limited to less than 14 minutes of playing time and only contributed one rebound and one blocked shot against the 87ers. He never returned after being whistled for his fifth foul with nine minutes to go and the Knicks clinging to a three-point lead.
“It’s difficult,” said Knicks coach Mike Miller afterwards. “Jordan Bachynski is one of the top big guys in the league and he’s played very well. And he was out early today. He’s recently been in a very, very good stretch where he’s played at a high level. He hasn’t had a game like this where he basically didn’t get to play.”
Still, the Knicks were able to defeat their Atlantic Division rivals and improve to 13-5 this season because of the scoring ability of their three guards, who wound up sharing the court together in a small-ball lineup for nearly the entire fourth quarter. The trio accounted for all but one point when Westchester went on a six-and-a-half-minute 20-8 run to break open the game right after Bachynski picked up his fifth foul early in the final period.
“We’ve done it a little bit before,” said Miller about the three-guard lineup. “It was just kind of, we thought we could do it, and I didn’t plan on doing it the whole fourth quarter. It just kind of worked out that way. As they played well together and held the lead, I just let them finish it.”
During the Knicks’ big fourth-quarter blitz, Trice made a pair of 3-pointers and Fredette added another, while the pint-sized Crawford provided a 19-foot jumper and a layup, helping Westchester stretch its precarious lead when Bachynski departed to 101-86 with just over two minutes remaining.
“It was kind of a counter to not having Jordan Bachynski out there,” said Miller. “So we wanted to put more pressure on defensively, to be disruptive, and then we wanted to be able to spread them out offensively a little bit because maybe we didn’t have the post presence that we normally do. So that was part of it and they did a good job.”
The 87ers, who were led by Jordan McRae with 25 points and White Plains product Sean Kilpatrick with 23, did manage to score nine straight points in the waning moments and closed to within 101-95 with 32 seconds to go. But a pair of free throws by Thanasis Antetokounmpo with 29.8 seconds on the clock and two more by Fredette 13 seconds later sealed the outcome.
“I don’t remember what the lead was,” said Miller, “but with two minutes we kind of slowed it down, wanted to run some clock, and we went a good minute and some change and didn’t score. Didn’t get a good shot. With only two minutes, there’s only so many possessions. But then we gave up quick baskets on the other end. It didn’t play out exactly as we would like, but we were able to finish.”
KNICK NOTES: The Knicks returned to the County Center 24 hours later to face defending champion Santa Cruz and wound up letting a 10-point lead after three quarters disappear. The Warriors went on a 25-2 run to start the fourth quarter and defeated Westchester 116-105. Fredette led the Knicks with 27 points, while Antetokouunmpo added 17 on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor.
The Knicks don’t play again at the County Center until Friday, January 22, when they face Raptors 905 in a 7:00 tipoff. They also host the Erie Bayhawks the following evening, starting at 5 pm.
Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
Read more of Andy’s full bio here.
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