Knicks Cruise Past Pistons in London

Playing in front of a sell out crowd at the O2 Arena, the New York Knicks jumped out to a fast start and never relinquished their lead as they cruised to a 102-87 victory over Detroit on Thursday evening.

Five months after he won an Olympic Gold medal at the same venue, Carmelo Anthony continued where he left off, scoring 18 points in the first half and finishing with 26 points.

“It felt good out there,” said Anthony. “I definitely had some flashbacks out there. Running out there on the court, just being in the O2 Arena.”

The Knicks jumped out to a 16-2 lead, spearheaded by 6 points from ‘Melo, and it appeared the Pistons were going to be in for a long night. However, a big third quarter run from Detroit brought them right back within 5 points, but the talent of New York was just too much as they couldn’t get over the hump.

“It’s been a great experience for us, having the fans like tonight, so appreciative of us playing,” said Amar’e Stoudemire, who finished with 17 points in just 20 minutes. “It’s been great.”

Despite being the ‘home’ team, it was clear there were a lot more Knicks fans in the building.

“We came here to win a game, so it’s very, very disappointing,” Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank said. “This is not a vacation. We’re not tourists. We came here to play a competition … on an international stage, which is a privilege and an honor to be selected, so it’s disappointing that we came up short and didn’t play our best.”

Will Bynum had 22 points to lead Detroit.

Notes

• Perhaps to be expected (?), but it was very, very quiet in the arena. Biggest cheers came for celebrities & footballers on the jumbotron. Sigh.
• On the topic of footballers, a number of the Knicks went to the Chelsea game on Wednesday night.
• Pre-game, both Amar’e and Tayshaun Prince addressed the crowd on the mic, however, the mic cut out during Prince’s speech, to which he just gave up and walked off lol.
• All the Euroleague big bosses were in attendance, as well as Roger Moreland and Bill McInnes from British Basketball.
• During a timeout in the second quarter, both Detroit and New York players were more interested in watching the season highlights video that was playing on the jumbotron than listening to their coaches!
• See what people are/were saying about the game on Twitter.

Did you get to the game? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!