In the win against the Orlando Magic, Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points in 26 minutes for the New York Knicks

For the second straight game, the New York Knicks took the floor without Amar'e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin. They were able to get a win against Milwaukee Monday night without them as Carmelo Anthony scored 28 points, hitting all 12 of his free-throw attempts while battling a tender groin. But last night, it was the Orlando Magic with their 32-18 record taking the floor at Madison Square Garden.

Magic's guard Jameer Nelson took immediate advantage of the Knicks backcourt, scoring 11 points on 5 of 8 shooting. Orlando took an eight-point lead (24-16) with a little less than 3 minutes to go in the first period. New York finished the period outscoring the Magic 9-5 as Steve Novak scored 5 of those points cutting the deficit to 4 (29-25) as the period came to an end.

With Orlando's Dwight Howard on the bench to begin the second, The Knicks scored the first 6 points to take their first lead of the game (31-29). It started a spark that elevated New York to a shocking 16 point lead before halftime (57-41).

With crisp passing on the offensive end and suffocating defense, the Knicks finished the second period on a 26-12 run. It was capped by a Novak 3-pointer at the buzzer. Both Novak and Anthony finished with 13 points apiece to lead New York while Iman Shumpert, inserted into the starting line-up, contributing 10 points. They shot 54% from the floor while limiting the Magic to 40%. Orlando, who relies heavily on their 3-point shooting, missed 11of their first 13 half attempts (15%). Meanwhile, after a rough start themselves, where the Knicks missed seven of their first nine 3-point attempts, they made four of their last six. The momentum they took in with them carried over to the third period.

If this was a boxing match, the refs would have stopped it so Orlando would not have endured further damage. How good did it get for the Knicks? At one point, the Knicks scored 21 straight points, leading by as many as 39 points (88-49). How bad did it get for Orlando? They missed eight of their first 11 shots as they watched New York pull away.

Magic's head coach Stan Van Gundy was not a happy camper in trying to explain the lopsided loss.

"What's shocking to me is that a team that's playing over .600 basketball could get absolutely rocked by as many teams as we have been." On the 21-point explosion, he said, "we got behind, they hit a lot of shots, they got us down and then we just sort of died."

With the Magic having nothing to lose and Howard and Nelson riding the bench dumfounded by how the game got out of hand, the reserves came out and outscored the Knicks 19-8 to creep within 19 (93-74) to begin the final period. Shumpert scored six of the next eight points, putting Orlando out of its misery.

Carmelo Anthony made the most of his evening finishing with 25 points in 26 minutes, his best game so far this season. He rode the exercise bike to keep his tender groin warm when he wasn't in the game.

Said Anthony afterward, "I just wanted to come out with a focus. My shot was falling today."

The New York Knicks have now won eight of their last nine games and their last six-in-a-row at home. They will be without Stoudemire for at least the next 4 weeks and Lin and his tender knee is on a day to day basis. Interim head coach Mike Woodson has no choice but to go with a smaller line-up.

"We will stay that way for a while," he said afterward. "Teams have to match up with us." He hopes the team continues to not only rebound but to keep the turnovers to a minimum. The Knicks out-rebounded the Magic by 15 (49-34) and had seven fewer turnovers (7-18).

They travel to Atlanta Friday night before returning to the Garden to face Cleveland on Saturday night.

Nets could not stop Pistons drive; Jarrett Allen, a scoring leader for Nets, and; Andre Drummond and Quincy Acy ejected from the game

Let’s just say the Brooklyn Nets didn’t have it last night, as they lost 108-96 to the Detroit Pistons at the Barclays Center. Or, perhaps, it was fatigue since the Nets were coming off of a 110-109 overtime win over the Miami Heat the night before. No matter how the Nets tried, they simply could not slow down Detroit Pistons led by guard Reggie Jackson, who topped all scorers with 29 points.

And, Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson as much as he hated to admit his team lost its mojo had no other choice but to face the fact that slowing down Detroit just wasn’t in the cards.

“We didn’t,” Atkinson told reporters regarding the Nets inability to slow down the Pistons. “I’ll just make it general. I thought we didn’t have it tonight. Whatever that it is, that energy, that juice, it wasn’t there. They were at a higher level than us in terms of their again, call it juice. Reggie Jackson, heck of a player and he played really well, made some tough shots.”

“Disappointed we gave him 13 free throws,” Atkinson continued. “That facilitates a 29-point game and that’s a point of emphasis for us, not putting teams on the free throw line. They won the free throw battle, 32 free throws to 15, that’s too much. That’s a big disparity. “

Atkinson did have love for his bench.

“I thought our bench group did a great job. You know Caris (LeVert), Nik Stauskas, Q (Quincy Acy), as long as he was in there. I thought those guys fought and our starters, like I said, I don’t think they had the necessary juice tonight. We’ve got to get in late, back-to-back, all that stuff. We have to be more resilient to get through a game like that.”

Not sure what Atkinson is referring to regarding his starters vs. the second unit. Four of the five starters scored in double digits, while only two players scored in double digits off the bench. Stauskas only scored three points, and Acy who only played five minutes before being ejected for fighting scored zero.

Meanwhile, Nets rookie center Jarrett Allen, one of the starting five, scored 15 points, six rebounds, and three blocked shots. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson tallied 14 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. D’Angelo Russell put up 13 points, seven assists, four rebounds, and one blocked shot, and DeMarre Carroll recorded 11 points, four rebounds, and three assists. On the other hand, bench scoring leaders Joe Harris added 15 points and five rebounds, and Caris LeVert chipped in 10 points and seven assists.

The fact of the matter is, this was another game where the Nets dug themselves into a 20-point hole and didn’t have whatever it would have taken to dig themselves out of it.

“We never stopped the bleeding,” Russell explained underscoring the team’s powerlessness to overcome a 20-point deficit in the third quarter. “I feel like we didn’t make that shot or get that stop that we needed to stop the bleeding or that 50/50 play however you want to put it.”

“The defense was good,” Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy said describing his team’s effort to keep the Nets from coming back in the fourth quarter. “Both teams were on fumes going down the stretch. We were just walking the ball up the floor. We had no pace, nothing. But we just grinded it out, so it was a good win.”

In addition to Jackson, Pistons' scoring leaders included starting forward Stanley Johnson who scored 17 points and four assists. Ish Smith came off the bench for the Pistons and scored 17 points, while other starters Andre Drummond added 13 points and 14 rebounds before being ejected for starting a fight with Nets’ Quincy Acy and Anthony Tolliver chipped in 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Next up for the Pistons, is a game on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, in Philadelphia against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Nets will take on Philadelphia the night before on Tuesday, April 3, 2018, also in Philadelphia. The next home game for the Brooklyn Nets is also its last home game for the season, which will be held on Monday, April 9, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. at the Barclays Center.

VIDEO: Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy: team needs more defense; speaks highly of Tobias Harris and Dwight Buycks at Brooklyn Nets pregame presser

 The Detroit Pistons pulled into the Barclays Center to play the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday, January 10, 2018, and prior to the game, Pistons head coach, Stan Van Gundy, briefed the media on the current state of his team.

Overall, according to Van Gundy, as of late, the Pistons have been struggling with putting the ball on the floor and attacking the basket. It’s not that the Pistons don’t have this particular skill set, it’s just that the team’s defensive execution has been lacking and therefore, letting games get away early. According to Van Gundy, Brooklyn will be a test to see if they are making progress towards stopping their opponents’ drives and keeping the ball out of the paint.

Van Gundy believes the Pistons could use some help so he and his team will be meeting to evaluate the team including players in the G-League.

In answering one reporter’s question about Dwight Buycks’ progress, Van Gundy responded, “He (Dwight Buycks), has been hurt for most of the year, but he’s playing very, very well. He attacks and plays aggressively.”

Not wanting to get boxed into who is going to play beyond the starting five, Van Gundy responded “Trying to play the guys on any given night that gives us the best chance to win.”

Pressing on to Tobias Harris, who is known to be an aggressive player with a deadly 3-point shot, another reporter wanted Van Gundy’s assessment of how Harris has been able to adapt to the changing style of play in today’s NBA.

“He just shot the three more and better that’s been the big thing,” Van Gundy said. “Tobias is the guy that is always trying to find a way to get better and he put a lot of time in on that this summer.”

Van Gundy added, “I have tremendous confidence in Tobias period.”

Overall, Van Gundy, believes in the Pistons, as the team has had some outstanding defensive efforts against some very good teams. The test for Detroit is to not let teams get away at the beginning of games, apply a good defensive effort by shrinking the floor, and getting into the gaps.

“The Nets are a perfect example. I think they are 3rd in the league in drives, 50 a game, and third in the league in three-point attempts,” Van Gundy remarked. “You have to cover a lot of ground.”

Sports Illustrated capitalizes off of Colin Kaepernick and omits him from iconic cover photo; Stan Van Gundy wants to eliminate NBA Draft

In this episode of What’s The 411Sports, Keisha Wilson and Mike McDonald, co-hosts of What’s The 411Sports are talking about: Kevin Hart, Sports Illustrated, Colin Kaepernick, Stan Van Gundy, Carmelo Anthony, Odell Beckham Jr., Dwyane Wade, and Rick Pitino.

Our Photo of the Week is a photo of Los Angeles Lakers' players standing arm-in-arm in unity.

Stan Van Gundy, the Detroit Pistons head coach, came up with a novel idea to eliminate tanking in the NBA and that is to eliminate the NBA Draft altogether.

Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy dislikes tanking in the NBA so much that he is advocating getting rid of the NBA Draft to eliminate the problem.

Van Gundy doesn’t believe the NBA went far enough with its draft lottery revisions.

Van Gundy indicated that if the league truly wants to eliminate tanking, it should abolish the draft, do away with the rookie salary scale and make all incoming players free agents.

"I'd get rid of it, just get rid of the draft altogether," Van Gundy said. "We'd just deal with the salary cap. Make all [rookies] free agents coming in, and if I want to go give a guy $50 million a year, good, but I got to do it under the cap."

Do you think Stan is on to something or, is this the most ridiculous idea yet?

Hit us up in the comments section under this video on YouTube

Brook Lopez hit the buzzer beater over Pistons' Aron Baynes to lift the Nets to a 98-96 win over the Pistons

It was a night of firsts at the Barclays Center. It was my first basketball game, and it was Brook Lopez's first ever buzzer-beating game winner as the Brooklyn Nets defeated the Detroit Pistons 98-96. The game was competitive all throughout, as the Detroit Pistons are fighting for their playoff lives. Coming into the game the Pistons were tied for the 8th seed with the Miami Heat.

The Pistons played tough through the 1st quarter leading 31-22. Led by Long Island native Tobias Harris with 12 points in the first quarter, the Pistons dominated the points in the paint scoring 18 of their 31 points. Defensively, the Nets toughened up in the 2nd quarter and started hitting their shots, improving their free throw percentage from 29% to 40%. While keeping control of the ball, the Nets only had 3 turnovers and held the Pistons to only 13 points in the second quarter, matching the fewest points the Nets have allowed in any quarter this season. Nets rookie Caris LeVert led the team with 10 points by halftime and the Nets took the lead 50-44.

The third quarter was dominated by the Nets; Lopez scoring 8 points in the quarter, the Nets would take their biggest lead of the night. The fourth quarter, the Pistons started their comeback. Harris led the team in total points with 24 and Andre Drummond had himself a double-double with 13 points and team-high 17 rebounds. Drummond would leave the game in the 4th after suffering a knee injury. They scored 31 points in the 4th quarter. After Harris hit an 8 ft. jumper to tie the game up at 96-96 with 2.4 seconds left, Brook Lopez hit the buzzer beater over Pistons' Aron Baynes with a 10 ft. back-foot jumper to win the game for the Nets for their 14th victory of the season. It was the Nets 2nd buzzer-beating win this season. Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie had a career-high 8 rebounds as a starter tonight. Nets starting guard Jeremy Lin was out due to a sprained right ankle.

After the game, Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said about Lopez's shot, "Brook made a heck of a play. It was more of a catch and shoot but he took a dribble, knew how much time was left and made a heck of a shot. It's more about Brook being a heck of a player."

Brook Lopez said he was very confident in his final shot saying, "It felt good. We executed so well on that last play which is something that we've learned throughout the season to do."

Lopez has now scored 20+ points in each of the last 6 games.

Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said about Lopez's game winner "I thought the defense was pretty good on it... I didn't think Brooklyn got a great, clean look. He's 7'2" and he made a hell of a shot... I don't think there was anything more we could've done on it."
This loss for the Pistons hurt their playoff chances as the Miami Heat won against the Phoenix Suns. They fall a game behind the now 8th and final playoff spot now held by the Heat.

Stan Van Gundy said about the Pistons offense, "our ball movement is sporadic at best. Our offensive energy is not good."

The Pistons look to recapture that offensive spark when they play against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, March 22nd. The Bulls are just one game behind the Pistons who are also looking to make the playoffs.

The Nets are now 5-7 for the month of March, their best month this season.

Atkinson said after the game, "We're trying to improve on our habits. We have set things that we want to do and we've kind of set the groundwork on how we want to play and now it's just reinforcing those habits, doing it for a longer period of time."

The Nets will look to get their first 2nd straight win this season when they go up against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, March 23rd.

Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson forces that kept the Nets in Abeyance

It’s Monday night, the first day of February and the Brooklyn Nets have just lost three consecutive games, including one home game. However, still fresh in the home crowd’s memory at the Barclays Center, is the Nets stunning upset win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the best teams in the NBA.

The crowd at the Barclays Center was hopeful to the end, because overall, the Nets were playing fairly well. However, not well enough to overcome the forces of Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson and the rest of the Detroit Pistons. It was close, but the Pistons still beat the Brooklyn Nets 105-100.

Brook Lopez, aka The Big Guy”, worked his game, scoring 27 points for the Nets in addition to his five rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Andrea Bargnani put up 18 points and four rebounds off the bench, while starting guard Wayne Ellington contributed 11 points.

The Nets led 57-54 at the half and was just three points (78-75) behind the Pistons at the end of the third quarter.

“We moved the ball, played at a high pace, got up and down, got a lot of shots for AB (Andrea Bargnani) in the mid-range, Markel (Brown) and Bogie (Bojan Bogdanovic) on the three,” said Nets backup point guard Shane Larkin on what the team did to get back into the game in the third and fourth quarter.

But the guys in Black and White couldn’t grab the momentum in the fourth stanza. Could it be that Nets interim head coach Tony Brown changed the game’s momentum when he pulled Larkin out of the game at 6:40 in the fourth with the Nets down by one (90-89)and put in Donald Sloan?

Larkin was making his presence felt; dishing out a career-high 14 assists (previous high: eight assists done five times). He also chipped in eight points and a team-high six rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.

Larkin is in good company. The last five NBA players prior to Larkin to dish out 14-plus assists in a game in 23 or fewer minutes were: Russell Westbrook (3/4/14 vs. Philadelphia); Manu Ginobili (3/1/13 vs. Sacramento); Rod Strickland (4/23/95 for Portland vs. Golden State); Larry Drew (1/6/91 Los Angeles Lakers v. Golden State); and Muggsy Bogues (4/12/89 for Charlotte at New York). The dates indicate that 14-plus assists in 23 or fewer minutes by a player coming off the bench is no easy feat.

Drummond led the Pistons with 21 points and 18 rebounds and dropped the tie-breaking basket on a dunk with 1:30 remaining.

"I didn't do a great job with Drummond. He got some easy ones," Lopez said. "I tried to wrap him up at the end of the game, making him earn it at the line. But it was something that was a focus tonight."

Jackson, who almost got pulled from the game because of leg cramps by Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy, scored 19 points. As a matter of fact, all Pistons starters scored in double digits: Ersan Ilyasova (16); Kentavious Caldwell (16) and Marcus Morris (12).

Although the Pistons won, Coach Van Gundy was not happy with his team’s performance. Van Gundy can be heard in his own words here.