With the recent news that forward Amar’e Stoudemire is expected to miss the first few weeks of the regular season, the New York Knicks have made a lineup shift and Jason Kidd is at the center of it.


Jason Kidd, Raymond Felton and Carmelo Anthony led a third quarter surge, but the Knicks came up short in Syracuse (AP image).

J-Kidd got the start at shooting guard on Monday night and played 24 minutes as the Knicks fell to the Sixers 98-90 in exhibition play at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY.

Though he played just half the game, Jason was the most effective of the Knicks’ players and the team was +3 points with No. 5 on the floor. He grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists, grabbed one steal and sank one of the two shots that he took, a trey that pulled New York within nine in the third quarter.

Jason did all his best work in the third as he helped the Knicks mount a rally from an 18-point halftime deficit. That deficit went as high as 24 early in the third, but Jason took over the game and started finding his shooters to get the Knicks in rhythm. The result was a 21-6 Knicks run that pulled New York back into the game.

"That third quarter, that’s Knicks basketball, that’s how we have to play," New York coach Mike Woodson said.

The run lasted more than four minutes and included all four of Jason’ assists. Early in the run, he found Raymond Felton and Carmelo Anthony each for layups to draw the Knicks closer. The two players factored heavily into the run, scoring 18 of the 21 points for New York.

With J-Kidd, Felton and Anthony controlling the pace, the Knicks began to move the ball more efficiently and overwhelm the Sixers. Jason found Felton for a trey with 7:20 to go in the quarter to make it a 16-point game and did the same for Melo just 30 seconds later, knocking the NYK deficit down to 13. 

Philly finally broke the run with a bucket from Thaddeus Young, but the Knicks answered with back-to-back treys from Felton and J-Kidd to pull within nine. Though New York had its biggest gain on offense in the third, Woodson said the run was a result of the solid defense the team played to create transition scoring opportunities.

"With Kidd and Felton in the backcourt together in that third quarter, they really initiated the defense," Woodson said. "We got up, started overplaying

[on defense], got a few deflections, got up the floor, made some shots and got back in the game."

By the end of the quarter, New York trailed by just four points. They came as close as two several times in the fourth, but couldn’t get over the hump and the Philly reserves closed out the game with a late run to secure the victory.

Still, the game gave the Knicks and their fans a dose of what they can expect out of a Felton/Kidd backcourt and as Will Leitch of New York Magazine writes, Knicks fans are going to learn to love J-Kidd:

"He’s still a terrific player because he’s Jason Kidd and he understands what’s going on on a basketball court at an almost cosmic level."

To read more from Leitch about why J-Kidd is the No. 7 reason to Love the Knicks, click here.

NEXT UP
The Knicks wrap up their preseason slate on Wednesday night against the same team they’ll be opening the regular season against next Thursday, the Brooklyn Nets.

With just eight days remaining before the opener, Wednesday promises to be a good dress rehearsal for the real thing. Tip-off from Nassau Coliseum on Long Island is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game can be seen on MSG.

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