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While the New York Knicks were without Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, the Utah Jazz were without direction or passion. |
The Knicks easily overcame the absence of their star forwards Saturday night and rode a huge game from their reserves to a 113-84 home victory over the listless Jazz, who completed a winless road trip.
JR Smith scored 24 points and fellow reserve Steve Novak added a season-high 20 for the Knicks (38-22), who moved percentage points ahead of Indiana (39-23) into second place in the Eastern Conference with their sixth win in eight games.
“No matter who’s in uniform and who’s not, we got to come out with a sense of pride,” Smith said.
Before the game, the Knicks announced that Stoudemire, a six-time All-Star who missed the season’s first two months recovering from left knee surgery, will have a debridement on his right knee and be sidelined for six weeks.
“Amar’e is a big piece of this thing,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson admitted. “He had come back and really established himself from an offensive standpoint.”
Anthony, an All-Star who is second in the NBA at 28.2 points per game, sat out his third straight game with a sore right knee and remains day to day.
Smith and Novak will be expected to pick up the slack. Already the team’s second-leading scorer, Smith has averaged 26.7 points during Anthony’s absence.
Novak, who led the NBA in three-point shooting last season, drained five shots from the arc against the Jazz.
“We understand that when Carmelo’s out, when Amar’e’s out, we have to find other ways to score the ball,” Novak said.
The Knicks begin a five-game road trip Monday at Golden State. They will depart on a winning note after one of their best all-around efforts of the season.
“I just want to see us compete and make sure we put ourselves in position to win,” Woodson said. “If we come back over .500, I’m happy.”
New York got 75 bench points and shot 51 percent (38-of-75), including 13-of-32 from the arc. The Knicks also held the Jazz to 38.5 percent (30-of-78) while forcing 20 turnovers.
“We wanted to trap them and make them turn the ball over,” Smith said.
The Knicks put together an early 15-0 run and never looked back. Smith’s bucket triggered an 18-2 burst that included three three-pointers from Novak and another from Raymond Felton, giving New York a 49-31 lead with 2:24 before halftime.
“He’s just getting back into his groove,” Smith said. “Once (Novak) makes one or two, we know it’s going to start hailing from there.”
Smith had a three-pointer, jumper and layup before two free throws by Iman Shumpert extended the margin to 75-45 with 4:15 left in the third quarter.
After dropping the first three games of their trip by a combined five points, the Jazz suffered their worst loss of the season. Utah (32-31) has lost seven of eight overall to fall into a tie with the surging Los Angeles Lakers for the West’s final playoff spot.
“It wasn’t one of our best efforts,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. “We are disappointed in the trip and the loss tonight, but it’s not over for us.”