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The New York Knicks went into the Staples Center to face one of the league’s best and defending Champion Lakers Sunday night. The Knicks were riding high on a two game winning streak that saw them beat the Spurs at home and blow out the Suns on the road. But, now the Lakers were staring down with Jack Nicholson sitting courtside along Adam Sandler and the atmosphere was a little bit different.

Coming out of the gates, New York held tough with the defending champs as the game began sloppier than the sloppiest of sloppy joes. Turnover after turnover was the name of the game for the Lakers and that should be a huge advantage for the opposition. New York struggled, however and Amar’e Stoudemire looked like he could use a boost in any way shape or form to help find an offensive rhythm. Landry Fields and Wilson Chandler helped keep the Knicks in it early and the Lakers held on to a 52-47 lead heading into the break.

The Lakers came out and Kobe did was Kobe does and nailed two straight three balls to push the Laker lead and there was not much to be said after that. The Knicks went on dry spell after dry spell from the field and the Lakers size in the post was way too much for the Knicks front line of, well Stoudemire to handle. A double dose of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol helped the Lakers keep an arms length lead and eventually go on to win by 22 points.

If one thing is obvious for the Knicks, they need a true starting center to help Stoudemire in the post. When playing against bigger teams, Stoudemire is most often found on an island defending one on one or playing two on one to try and grab rebounds. With all the talk of Carmelo Anthony possibly heading to the big apple fizzling out due to the New Jersey Nets stating they are very, very close to a deal, maybe the Knicks could look to fill the void in the middle with a solid big man. Just a thought moving forward because bigger teams like the Lakers will end up forcing the Knicks into uncomfortable situations, much like Sunday night.

Peace Up, Threes Down! (FanvsFan)

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By Brian Gray – Kiss The Rim

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