ORLANDO, Fla. – The Knicks made up for a lost home game by advancing to the season tournament.The NBA announced Thursday that the Knicks’ scheduled Feb. 26 game in Detroit would be moved to Madison Square Garden in order to balance their schedule to 41 home games and 41 away games.
The Knicks had another road game in Boston in December – a 133-122 loss. 8 after losing to the Bucks on the road in the round of 16 of the inaugural NBA Cup earlier this week.If the Celtics had beaten the Pacers in the Round of 16, the Knicks would have played their extra game against the Pacers at the Garden that week.The NBA’s game change will make the Knicks’ schedule fairer, but it will eliminate a home game for the Pistons, who had lost an NBA record 27 straight games before Thursday’s game in Boston.Detroit is now scheduled to play 42 games on the road and 40 at Little Caesars Arena. Senior shooting guard Quentin Grimes made his only two shot attempts — both 3-pointers — but he played just 11 minutes off the bench in Wednesday’s loss to the Thunder, matching his most low level of the season. “Well, that’s the challenge,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “We have good players. It’s easy to sit there and say, “This guy should have played more.” “And you can definitely encourage people because when they play well, it’s a natural question.“But hey, well, who are you dating?” Because you can’t keep adding without removing something. And I know it’s not easy, but it’s also the best thing for the team. So you’re asking everyone to sacrifice and put the team first. And for the most part, I think our guys handled everything well.”Grimes was moved to the second unit on Dec. 8, with Donte DiVincenzo starting the final 10 games in Friday’s road game against the Magic.Grimes has logged just 16.9 minutes per game since taking over, averaging 6.9 points. He also played 11 minutes against the Lakers on Dec. 18 and 12 minutes against the Bucks on Monday. The improved Magic (18-12) have lost five of their last seven after a 16-7 start.They have two 20-point scorers: Paulo Banchero (21.2 points per game) and Franz Wagner (20.6).
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