The second quarter started very similarly to the first with poor shooting by the Knicks and Carl Landry doing whatever he wanted inside. The defensive effort by New York was in a word, lacking.
The Kings got out to a 15 point lead midway through the quarter before the Knicks put on the jets. Toney Douglas came off the bench and provided a nice scoring punch (9 points) as well as some good defense. The Knicks began to pack the paint and it caused trouble for Landry, Evans and Cousins, who weren’t able to get anything going late in the half.
The Knicks would get the lead down to 3 before Omri Casspi hit a three to put the lead back to 6. An Amar’e breakaway later capped off the Knicks 18-7 run to end the half.
The half couldn’t have come at a more perfect time for Sacramento, as all the momentum was going New York’s way. The Kings need to regroup, refocus and play 24 minutes of solid basketball to win this game.