ORLANDO, Fla. ā The Knicks have šrecouped the home game they lost by š¶advancing in the In-Season Tournament.
The NBA announced Thursday that the Knicksā schšeduled Feb. 26 game at Detroit will be shifted to Madison Square Garden, to even out their schedule at 41 home games and 41 on the road.
The Knicks had played an extra road game at Boston ā a 133-122 loss ā on Dec. 8 after losing to the Bucks on the road earlier thatš° week in the knockout round of the inaugural NBA Cup.
If the Celtics had defeated the Pacers in the knockout round, the Knicks wouāld have played their extra game against the Pacers at the Garden that week.
While the NBA switching the game makes the schedule more equitable for the Knicks, however, it takes away a home game from the Pistons, who had lost an NBA recordš„ 27 consecutive games entering Thursdayās game at Boston.
Detroit now will be forced to play 42 road games aš„nd 40 at Lāittle Caesars Arena.
Former starting shooting guard Quentin Grimes nailed his only two shot attempts ā both 3-pointers ā but he played only 11 minutes off the bench in Wednesdayās loss to the Thunder, matching his low for the season.
āWell, thatās the challenge,ā Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. āWe have good players. Itās easy to sit there and say, āWell, this guy shouldāve played more.ā And you can certainly make a case š¼for people, because when theyāre playing well, thatās a ą“natural question.
āBut OK, well, who are you taking out? Because you canāt just keep adding without taking out. Anš¦d I know itās not easy but itās also whatās best for the team. So youāre asking everyone to sacrifice and put the team first. And for the most part, I think our guys have handled that well.ā
Grimes was shifted to the second unit on Dec. 8, with Donte DiVincenzo starting the pāast 10 games entering Fridayās road contest against the Magic.
āGrimes has logged just 16.9 minutes šper game since his shift to the bench, averaging 6.9 points. He also played 11 minutes against the Lakers on Dec. 18 and 12 on Monday against the Bucks.
The improved Magic (18-12) have š§ødropped five of their last seven following a 16-7 startš.
They boast two 20-āpointšÆ scorers in Paulo Banchero (21.2 points per game) and Franz Wagner (20.6).