2008 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Hawks
February 29th, 2008 by Mike Kurylo | @KnickerBlogger | Comments | Permalink |
http://www.nba.com/hawks/feature/Preview_022908.html
Hawks.com emailed Mike, one of the authors of Knickerblogger.net, one of the best basketball blogs on the Internet, to get his thoughts about New York’s season so far. His responses are below…
Mike Kurylo is the founder and editor of KnickerBlogger.net. His book on the 2012 Knicks, "We’ll Always Have Linsanity," is on sale now. Follow him on twitter (@KnickerBlogger).
Wow. The game has not started and Eddy Curry already has two fouls.
not sure where to put this, but today’s news from the NY Post:
Vecsey reports that it seems as if Dolan is in no rush to fire Isiah:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02292008/sports/knicks/isiahs_big_con_job_99751.htm
Marbury has been told not to attend home games and cheer even though he wants to:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02292008/sports/knicks/keep_out__marbury__99750.htm
supposedly no truth (thankfully) to Vandeweghe meeting with the Knicks:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02292008/sports/knicks/kiki_denies_knick_job_chat_99752.htm
Well phrased Mike K. And with barely a hint of acrimony towards our faithful leader. The new Marbury story is shocking. What Isiah won’t do never fails to amaze me. How do you treat a former b.f.f. that way?
I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel for poor Curry. He’s not going to get regular playing time for the rest of the season, that much is for sure, thereby shriveling his trade value to maybe a bad long term contract at best. I could even see us relasing him next year.
I have been saying very frequently lately that I believe that Isiah will continue to be the President of the Knicks into next year. Vecsey and others are saying the same. Dolan is not loyal to Isiah and probably does not even care so much about the money. Isiah does not have any “dirt” on Dolan. That is ridiculous. Whenever one gets fired from a job one has to sign a non-disclosure agreement that would prohibit Thomas from saying anything about Dolan or the company. No. These are not the reasons. I believe the real reason is that Dolan despises Knicks fans. He despises the media. And he is personally amused by the situation rather than humiliated.
I bet the team took a vote and decided to allow Marbury to sit on the bench. Thomas, always mindful of his players, ignored the vote and told Marbury to go away.
Thomas B, your two cents are duly noted.
Ted you make a persuasive argument, my personal beliefs on the matter fall somewhere in the middle. The other side has a compelling story of its own to tell however, which was the genesis of my initial point.
After the invasion of Afghanistan and defeat of the Taliban following 9/11, which eliminated one of the largest training and harboring areas for terrorists in the world at that time, the only apparent threat to our national security left to be neutralized in the middle east was Iraq, due to their alleged weapons of mass destruction program. Indeed the measured credibility of this threat has led many to scream bloody murder and brand Bush a war criminal, liar etc. There is a strong argument which can be made here rendering people who believe that to be guilty of monday morning quarterbacking on the highest possible level. First off, it is incredible how many people are either completely ignorant or have simply forgotten that our intelligence regarding Iraq’s possession of WMD’s was corroborated by both MI6 and the Kremlin. Secondly, Saddam himself, after having already been sentenced to death, remarked in interviews that during his presidency he had been actively trying to deceive the world (not allowing UN inspectors to do their job for years) as to Iraq’s possession of WMD’s to bluff and deter Iran. Im not prepared to call Bush a liar or a war criminal based on that information.
The primary purpose of our military presence in Iraq was to eliminate the WMD threat, not to magically convert the rest of the middle east to democracy?
Saddam had all the patients in the world for terrorists as long as they were Sunni and had parallel interests with him, IE powerful Shiite Cleric and part-time terrorist Muqtada Al-Sadr was on house arrest indefinitely in the years before Saddam’s demise, while Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi a foreign Sunni terrorist who entered the country in 2002, was allowed to roam freely. If you remember, Al-Zarqawi, who pledged allegiance to Bin-Laden, was the leader of Al-Quaeda in Iraq until we killed him in a precession air-strike. And Yes, he was already in the country before we even invaded.
You mention that all the war in Iraq has done is provoke a rallying call for Islamic fundamentalism, really? The people of Iraq themselves have turned their back on Al-Quaeda, otherwise the success of our surge would never have happened (even democrats in congress are now begrudgingly admitting the surge has worked). And again, we have not been subjected to any further terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, say what you want about the war on terror, you cannot refute that.
Regarding the VT massacre and Northern Illinois, like you said obviously this has absolutely nothing to do with a terrorist attack in the context we are discussing.
Terrorist attacks before 9/11?? Did you forget about the 1042 people injured when they detonated a 1500lb nitrate bomb under the World Trade Center in ’93?
Kenny Smith drives me crazy. Talking about how the Nuggets are a bad defensive team….
5th best defensive team in the NBA Kenny….
As much as I dislike him, that last basket by Zach was nice. He worked hard for it and Nate found him.
David Lee is getting Wes Unseld/Kevin Love-esque w/his outlet passes.
Good grief…whats got in to Zach? I could like him if he always played like this!
Yeah, Zebo is playing great. Love Lee’s outlet passes, but not his best performance so far….
Four minutes to go in the half and only 3 turnovers? We’ll never get the top pick in the draft with such efficient ball handling.
Kenny Smith: “Eddy Curry has a very high basketball IQ.”
I don’t know who the other commentator is, but I like his point about the fact that Curry has only had two double digit rebounding games…. :-)
“Eddy Curry has a very high basketball IQ” Really Kenny? Really?
I’m pining for the homoerotic prose poetry of Johnny Hoops
Skill vs. Conditioning, tell us Kenny….
Before Skill is Conditioning….
So you can’t reach your potential as a basketball player if you aren’t in good shape?
Genius….
The other guy sounds like Neil Cavuto.
How is it possible for Eddy Curry to be “out of shape?” Isn’t this guy in the NBA? Isn’t this the middle of the season?
Nice block Zach…God I hate myself.
That’s the best half Randolph has shown us as a Knick. Great playing, great block even there at the end of the half….
As much as people say its Randolph who should go, Eddy Curry has barely had a 12 rebound game, let alone half, in his career. Slight exaggeration, but Randolph is going to blow through Muffins career high 3 minutes into the third quarter.
Feeling somewhat bitter tonight, lol….
Wiggie…”The Hawks have no idea how to defend Jamal Crawford”..sheesh, he’s 4 of 10…..whats Al smokin’??
Following Kenny’s cue on that one I think….
I stand corrected…he’s got the 3′s and assists….just my natural inclination to dismiss Wiggie as a Dolan suck-up.
My fear….Zach is so impressed with his first half that he now believes that he is ‘the man’, and th eoffense grinds to a halt.
Hmm, this discussion about chemistry between Spike and Kenny, please make it stop…
Ooh, great pass by Lee to Q, then DLee takes a charge…
Then he throws it away, arg…
Just got back..took my son to b-ball practice. Nice pass ….Lee took a charge. Spke is such a freekin attention getter….talking it up with Lebron….give me a break.
Where was the effing charge on that last play?
And if I have to watch the neat-freak/OCD mom scare the bejeezus out of her kid, haranguing him about hand washing one more time, I’m shooting my TV Scarface-style
Do it Animal! Just make they’re showing IT when you squeeze the trigger!
Kenny Smith is doing all this talking about how much better the Hawks are on offense then defense, how much more athletic, etc….
Kenny, they are 22 in offensive eff, 14th on defense…
Hell of an effing block by Josh Smith….
Terrible transition play by Nate….
Alright, out of here, hope they win, lot of effort out there tonight…
Maybe Brendan Suhr is Curry’s conditioning coach. What did Tony Soprano say to Bobby Baqccala(sic)? ” Yo Bobby…start eatin’ some salads, huh?”
Nice D Jeffries….
That Kiss-Cam thing was hilarious. Too good.
Nice block Jared…but no help on that last [play was miserable.
Yea…he was truly in luv
Kenny’s got to stop saying “I always say……”.
Also, about showing character at this time of year when you’re on a loosing team…come on…this team has shown its character all year. We’re going to start seeing some consistent fight now after all the miserable play this season? He’s just looking for something to say.
Zach’s resorting to his old self. Post up and hold it for his shot.
You’re a moron Artie….look at that nice baseline move he just had.
Hey pal, screw you….Zachs a ball hog and that’ll never change!
Both of you are wrong.
As Artie has aptly demonstrated, being a Knicks fan can make one Schizophrenic.
we’re crumbling.
Zach took the right shot….what happened..he always hits those!
Jamal Crawford is very likable, but he’s just not a good basketball player at all. He’s probably the worst Knick guard at defense that I’ve ever seen. Most nights he is terrible on the other end too. There is no way we even approach credibility as a team if he’s taking 20 shots a night.
yikes, I only watched the last quarter of that, but there was some seriously ugly hoops being played out there.
OJ Mayo shut down Bayless yesterday…PG of the future.
Man, that was a sucky 4th quarter. I guess I’m actually surprised that the Hawks aren’t better than they are. Josh Smith is a punisher and now with Bibby getting him and Marvin the ball, they could go somewhere eventually. I question how much gas Joe Johnson has left, but he’s at least as good as Allan Houston in his prime if not better.
I liked how Lee out-hustled Horford (who could be rookie of the year) on the boards. But it’s so silly how we play Lee and Randolph together all the time now instead of having a real center. It’s like a guy with a comb-over: some guy thinks he figured out a great way to make it look like he’s got hair, but really it’s just awkward and embarrassing.
For all the negativity about Zach, he has shown potential to get better. He may never be a bargain for what he’s being paid, but he is passing more (5 assists last night), taking fewer terrible shots and playing better (but still atrocious) D. If he is serious about being a front-line PF, he could probably accomplish much in the off-season. I think he is still in lousy shape and would benefit from an intensive weigh training regimen and work on lateral quickness and quick jumping. And a real take charge PG (Bibby looked good, didn’t he?)
I think Zach and Lee can play together effectively vs. most teams. Wish they could step in and block some shots though. We are getting killed at the PG, SG and SF spots with no shot-blockers behind them.
That was an ugly mix-up between Jamal and Fred on D vs. Bibby screen, wasn’t it?
Lee had a solid game, but that cross-court outlet was a momentum killer.
I expected Nate to be a more consistent shooter than he has been lately. Seems like he’s hit some kind of wall developmentally. Glad he’s starting, though.
Nate still needs to learn when to find his shot. Don’t get me wrong- he’s much more intelligent at that than Crawford already, but he needs work. And his passing has come a long way. He could still execute the pick and roll better and try to get to the rim more… I mean, he’s a friggin’ cornerback! He should hit that lane whenever he can.
Nate seems to be looking to find space for a long jumper as opposed to driving his man toward the basket. In other words, he’s not being as aggressive as he used to be. When he penetrates, it opens things up for the bigs down low and creates easy putbacks for Lee. Re: Zach, it’s amazing that a guy can go for 29 and 17 and no one is a believer, including me. I guess he has always had a reputation as a stat machine who does nothing to make anyone else better.
“Re: Zach, it’s amazing that a guy can go for 29 and 17 and no one is a believer”
Well, if he played games like that all the time, you wouldn’t be hearing any complaints. He was terrific last night. Played 45 minutes and was a +1.
That bad outlet was a killer, Lee’s 4 turnovers really hurt. But that was a bad game from him and he was still very productive.
I can’t believe Jamal played 44 minutes without a rebound….
“Re: Zach, it’s amazing that a guy can go for 29 and 17 and no one is a believer”
i believe…that he is a loser
Despite the gaudy stats, Zach still had major issues on D and made some poor decisions on O down the stretch. I think an on-court leader at PG could help him, i.e. he could be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, IF he gets into better shape and has a quarterback on the floor to reign him in. That is worrisome if we go the draft route for a PG, are any ready poise-wise to boss the veterans around? Rose? Mayo? Or are we ging to have to wait 2-3 years for one of these guys to develop? Would Bibby have been a good guy to go after or is he to much on the way down? He looked good last night!
Atlanta is horrendous defensively and provided a good opportunity for Zach to exploit, but with that said he clearly played like an all-star last night on offense and the boards.
This is pricless…
“Until fans stop filling the Garden, Dolan could be stubborn. Thomas has often talked about his success in terms of the bottom line. (Forbes ranked the Knicks as the league’s most valuable franchise). Thomas disagreed the fan base is disgruntled, touting the Garden’s decent attendance. The Knicks average 18,974 (96-percent capacity), ranking 11th.
“Our fans have been tremendously supportive,” Thomas said.
yeah, that’s what I was talking about a few weeks ago. if you’re still paying for tickets, you’re part of the problem. this might not have been crystal clear coming into this season, but it certainly is now, so you have no excuses going forward.
“Eddy Curry blamed this season’s mess on the media. “The season could’ve gone very easily the other way if we stayed together and not let the media tear us apart,” Curry said”
Is he serious???????
Let me get this straight. The Randoluphagus is out v. Orlando and Isiah starts Jeffries instead of say, their best player.
Wow.
Maybe Isiah really don’t trust whitey.
(That’s meant to be a joke, just to be clear)
I’ll put up a 2nd half open thread for the Orlando game.