Spurs at Knicks
The New York Knicks have looked like world-beaters on the road, but their one home outing resulted in a double-digit loss. The Knicks will try again to translate their early solid play to Madison Square Garden on Monday when they host the San Antonio Spurs amid a run of extremely tough opponents.
Behind Carmelo Anthony's 37 points, New York improved to 2-0 on the road with a 117-110 win at Washington on Saturday, bouncing back from an 11-point setback at home against Atlanta two nights earlier. "It was just one of them days that, even this morning at shootaround, things were just feeling good," Anthony said after shooting 11-of-18 from the floor. The Spurs are coming off a quality road victory of their own after a 95-87 decision in Boston, riding LaMarcus Aldridge's best game (24 points, 14 rebounds) with his new team to an eighth consecutive win over the Celtics. San Antonio's last visit to New York resulted in a 104-100 overtime loss, as a ragtag group of Knicks - led by Langston Galloway's 22 points - outlasted a Spurs team that played Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard each more than 33 minutes.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE SPURS (2-1): San Antonio is amid a run of five straight Eastern Conference opponents and the Knicks will be their third straight out of the Atlantic Division. If the first two are any indication, New York will have a hard time scoring; Brooklyn and Boston combined to shoot 37.7 percent from the floor against the Spurs while posting four quarters between them of 18 or fewer points. Leonard continued his active start with 19 points while Manu Ginobili had 13 off the bench against the Celtics.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (2-1): New York did not win its third game last season until it improved to 3-8 in mid-November, all part of a 5-36 start, but it already has a leg up on that squad despite the challenging schedule. A visit to Cleveland on Wednesday is looming and there are six more road games later in the month, including visits to Oklahoma City, Houston and Miami. It will help when Arron Afflalo returns from a hamstring injury, and the shooting guard was scheduled to take a small step forward Sunday with the beginning of a running program.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. San Antonio SG Danny Green is 2-for-15 from 3-point range on the season.
2. Anthony has averaged 20.3 points in 30 career games against San Antonio, his lowest mark versus any NBA team.
3. Spurs PF Tim Duncan needs to play one more game to tie Gary Payton (1,335) for the 10th-most in NBA history.