ORLANDO, Fla. – The Knicks earned the loss at home to advance in the in-season tournament.The NBA announced Thursday that the Knicks’ scheduled Feb. 26 game in Detroit will be moved to Madison Square Garden to conform their schedule to 41 home games and 41 away games.
The Knicks had played one more trip to Boston in December, losing 133-122. 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, “Well, this guy should have played more.” And you can certainly support people because if they’re playing well, it’s a logical question.“But okay, who are you taking out?” Because you can’t keep adding without taking anything away. And I know it’s not easy, but it’s also the best thing for the team. So they ask everyone to make sacrifices and put the team first. And overall, I think our guys handled it well.Grimes was moved to the second unit on December 8, with Donte DiVincenzo starting the final 10 games, and started Friday’s road contest against the Magic.Grimes has only played 16.9 minutes per game since coming off the bench, averaging 6.9 points. He also played 11 minutes against the Lakers on December 18 and 12 minutes against the Bucks on Monday. The improved Magic (18-12) have lost five of their last seven games 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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