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Wednesday November 22th,
8:00PM EST
TV:MSG, NBALP
Radio:ESPN 1050
Online Radio: The Game Live
Preview:The New York Knicks are playing much better away from home this season after a dreadful performance on the road in 2005-06.
New York gets a chance to continue that improvement Wednesday night when it faces a Minnesota Timberwolves team it hasn't had much success against in Minneapolis.
The Knicks finished 8-33 on the road last season en route to a 23-59 record, but are 3-3 away from home to start this season. New York (4-8) opened with a triple-overtime win in Memphis and also has victories at Denver and Miami.
The three losses away for home, however, are by a combined 27 points.
``It's never pretty on the road. It's always ugly,'' coach Isiah Thomas said.
Since beating the Heat 100-76 on Friday, the Knicks have dropped two straight at home, including Monday's 97-90 loss to Houston. New York fell to 1-5 at Madison Square Garden despite 25 points from Jamal Crawford and 22 from Channing Frye.
The Knicks starting backcourt of Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis totaled 10 points, six assists and six turnovers, and both were benched by Thomas 65 seconds into the third quarter following New York's two turnovers on the first two possessions of the second half.
``I didn't understand that,'' Marbury said. ``I mean, we were in the game for 2 minutes. He felt like Steve got a turnover, I got a turnover. I guess he felt like Nate (Robinson) and Jamal could pretty much get them back in.''
Marbury and Francis combined to play a little more than 6 minutes in the second half.
``We win as a team and lose as a team,'' Thomas said. ``It's not about one player or two players. I just try to use everything I have on the bench or within the reach for us to try to win the basketball game.''
Minnesota (3-6) has also had trouble winning games lately.
The Timberwolves opened the season with consecutive victories, but have dropped six of their last seven games, including a 99-96 loss to New Orleans at home Saturday.
Minnesota will be trying to get back on track against a Knicks team it has defeated seven of the last nine times at the Target Center, and eight of the past 10 meetings overall.
Saturday's game appeared headed to overtime when Minnesota tied it at 96 on Mike James' 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds to play, but Peja Stojakovic's 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left gave the Hornets the victory.
``We got to learn from it, build from it,'' coach Dwane Casey told the Timberwolves' official website. ``Our guys are working hard and they haven't quit. They're giving everything they have.''
Kevin Garnett had 22 points and a season-high 17 rebounds in Saturday's loss, and is averaging 20.1 points and 12.1 boards in 21 games against the Knicks.
Marbury, who played his first two-plus seasons in the NBA with Minnesota, is averaging 25.7 points and 7.7 assists against the Wolves but his teams have gone just 6-11 in those contests.
