The Houston Rockets obliterated the New York Knicks, 120-96, Thursday night to hand the Eastern Conference cellar-dwellers a franchise-record 14th straight loss.
Trotting out a starting lineup consisting of Jason Smith, Cole Aldrich, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jose Calderon and Pablo Prigioni, the Knicks (5-34) were positively squashed by Houston's high-powered attack. With Carmelo Anthony sidelined due to knee soreness and J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert shipped off to Cleveland, head coach Derek Fisher was forced to motivate a ragtag group that included Langston Galloway (19 points), Travis Wear (21 points), Cleanthony Early (16 points), Quincy Acy (11 points) and Shane Larkin with a pep talk that Disney producers would have been proud of, as TNT's Rachel Nichols transcribed: The Utah Jazz have won five of their last eight games thanks in part to the resurgent play of physical specimen Rudy Gobert.
Starting Utah's last three games in place of the injured Enes Kanter (ankle), Gobert is averaging 11.5 points, nine rebounds and 4.5 blocks since the calendar flipped to 2015.
With his numbers backing up his words, Gobert discussed his desire to start following Utah's 97-77 thrashing of the Chicago Bulls Wednesday night.
"Of course I want more," Gobert said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune's Aaron Falk. "It’s obvious that I want to start, so I just try to get better on the court and help my team."
Gobert may be fighting an uphill battle to start once Kanter returns, but with the Turkish big man set to hit restricted free agency this summer, Utah's beloved Frenchman should be in line for a significant bump in playing time sooner rather than later.
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2324064-knicks-record-losing-streak-may-be-far-from-over-and-other-thursday-takeaways
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