2011 Game Thread: Knicks @ Grizzlies
March 9th, 2011 by Mike Kurylo | @KnickerBlogger | Comments | Permalink |
For your game thoughts.
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).
foist!
argh, people never learn.
I will be shocked if we win either tonight or tomorrow night, especially without Billups. surprise me, boys!
I read that literally, as if you were actually commanding someone to foist something on someone.
I totally forgot that there was a game tonight. Oh well, if you want to check out the latest Unsung Knick history, it’s before the game thread:
http://knickerblogger.net/unsung-knick-history-the-first-notable-knick-15/
You’ve gone done outdid yourself, Mr. Cronin. Great piece, really interesting. It’s refreshing reading a story where Ned Irish wasn’t the Grade-A #$&%*!&#.
Brian,
Thanks for all the great historical Knick stories you present here.
Thanks, guys.
And Jim, I bet Lapchick felt that Irish was being a #$&%*!&# for drafting a player without Lapchick’s input. ;)
Anybody have a link? atdhe doesn’t have anything at the moment.
http://www.firstrowsports.eu/watch/54182/1/watch-memphis-grizzlies-vs-new-york-knicks.html
[10] Thanks!
Interesting match ups tonight
I’m REALLY worried for this game.
Wow.
The shooting is off the hook
Gasol’s feet with inside the circle.
Crap call there and crap call on the out of bounds/
WTF
Both teams are unconscious right now.
Without bad calls and the couple TOs this game would already be in a blow out mode.
…. Did Stat just take that meaningless after-the-whistle Gasol 2-footer and throw it BACK through the rim?
Stat has a thing about that
I’ve seen him swat shots at the rim plenty of times, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen that.
Knicks lack of ball-handling w/o Billups is going to be a big problem tonight vs Memphis and their ball-hawking on D. You can already see how they lead the league in steals.
Too much outside shooting. Too many TOs. Not enough defense. And yet we’re still up 3.
I think Mason has earned himself a permanent spot in the rotation.
Lazy passing
Shawne is now 2 for 30 on the season in jumpers off the dribble lol.
I like Gasol’s game.
It’s like they all have 8 arms.
Dear Clyde:
The crowd was not in a frenzy.
Your friend,
Frank
This really has to make you wonder. He’s glued to the bench all year, and we’ve been told this happens to D’Antoni players when they don’t show enough in practice. But then a rash of injuries makes it necessary he plays, he plays decent, and now he’s suddenly one of the first guys off the bench? If playing decent in a game situation means you get playing time, then that begs the question: why didn’t AR ever get any burn? Or Mason before the injuries? Unless Mason suddenly turned it on in practice, it doesn’t make much sense.
I couldn’t even hear the crowd…is there one tonight? as for shawne williams….I think you are being kind on 2 for 30…I have yet to see him known down a jumper off the dribble this season.
just too much dribbling out there, Memphis is too active to keep dribbling the ball near the paint.
but so far, considering the turnovers and sloppy defense, pretty good 1st quarter.
Probably because I cannot think of a time when AR played decently in game situation….he simply never played within a team concept.
This just in: Melo can pass.
Like the energy Turiaf is bringing on defense and the offensive glass.
Unconscious from three.
But you have to love the Griz’s D
yah it makes me wonder about that ball stopper rep
Its not hard to figure out, Mason and Randolph were beyond pathetic when they played earlier in the season.
Gotta say, with fields mason douglas carter shawne jeffries and ronny, we have a nice balance of defense and 3s bulit around our stars… nice job donnie.
Anthony Carter looks like the middle aged ballplayers in my neighborhood. The can play, but they can’t jump anymore
Fo’ sho. It’s a beautiful thing to see. Now if he would just stop shooting those double-pump hanging jumpers from 20. . .no seriously, I love watching Melo getting others involved.
I’m telling you, it’s the system. I had a feeling he’d get more efficient in this system
Darn the 76ers. Now they’re even leading the Thunder.
Seriously, if I see another Knick leave his feet to pass i’m gonna scream
Knicks definitely missing Billups tonight.
76ers are going to be scary in the playoffs.
If ever there were a game we needed Billups, against a particular team, it would be this one!
Grizz have turned all 8 Knicks turnovers into 16 points.
we’re so damn sloppy that we deserve to lose right now, my god.
Give Memphis some credit, they have even ZBo playing defense.
Clyde is funny – I don’t think he’s a Knicks fan – he never biggs them up ever – sorry Clyde but were forced to listen to u not being excited like we r
The game would be almost over right now if the knicks protected the ball better
Stat just handed the ball the the griz
0 Free throws? Did I hear that right?
“Amare hotter than July!” – Walt “Clyde” Frazier
Having said that I find the homer announcers for other teams to be embarrassing.
Last night I was watching the hawks, or was it the night before…They were down by 10, but judging from the announcers and the clips they showed repeatedly, you would have thought they were walking over the opponent.
I think it’s more professional to call games straight. That’s my personal feeling.
Clyde said they’re shooting jumpers so well, they haven’t needed to drive into the lane to score.
Yup, Memphis is 12 for 12 from ft and the Knicks are 0 for 0.
It’s more classier!
You mean like Tommy Heinsohn?
Seriously, is there a better shooting big man in the NBA right now than STAT? It’s gotten to the point where you expect the ball to go in every time he shoots.
Were it not for the TOs the knicks would be up 20+….easy to say that, however, when the memphis D, for the most part, has caused a large swath of those TOs, in spite of a few unforced ones.
btw, is it just me or has STAT REALLY improved his J….I don’t remember him ever shooting so proficiently from outside as a Sun….remarkable…I really didn’t expect this when he signed last summer.
Here come our first free throws!
Damn, Melo straight up bullied Allen for that And1.
Stat has almost flawless form for a guy his size. Really beautiful to watch.
I swear his release has gotten quicker and quicker as the season goes on.
Melo in Tony Allen’s FACEEEE
Holy shit this is some amazing offense by the Knicks.
Never in a million years did I think Amar’e was this good offensively. Or should I say this versatile in offense in terms of the ways he can score.
Neither did the rest of the “experts” who said he would be a bust without Nash…so pretty much I would say we were just about all wrong about his versatility and overall offensive prowess.
The Grizzles don’t seem to have much of an offense going right now. If we pick up the defensive intensity a notch in the 2nd half and not hand them 16 more points on a silver platter, we should be fine.
What an f’in shill
You have to remember though that part of the reason we’re scoring so easily is because when we don’t turn it over, defenders are out of position (from going for steals).
Its a good thing for the rest of the NBA that Spoelstra has no clue how to coach offense the way D’Antoni does lol.
Probably, Frank O, but what isn’t so apparent is how much the Grizzlies over-anticipation has given the Knicks open shots. Which we’ve knocked down. So while I think you’re technically right, I’d also say that we’re benefitting from the Grizz defense as much as we’re being hurt by it. The biggest issue is that we haven’t been intimidated, which almost certainly would have happened when we still had our Lost Boys.
yeah, it’s been pretty insane, Melo and Amare are in the zone right now, and TDDWTDD with another pretty nice start.
the great thing about Amare is that he definitely cares… he surely heard all the criticism that he was crazy, that he would be crap without Nash, and he seems hellbent on proving everybody wrong.
Bill Simmons said it a couple of times already and it makes a lot of sense, Amare really does believe he’s the best player alive and his team will be elite, and that’s an awesome incentive for him to prove everybody else wrong.
BTW, have you guys noticed the knicks boards. They are out-rebounding a team with good board people.
They have rebounded quite well since the trade. The difference appears to be everyone hitting the boards.
My fiance is a Celtics fan, so I have to listen to that clown pretty often. Look up “cantankerous” in the dictionary, and it’s a picture of Tommy Heinsohn complaining about what page he’s on.
The following “Melo-myths” have officially been debunked:
1) Ball stopper – he’ll kill the offensive flow
2) Poor passer, never gets other players involved
3) Indifferent on defense
frickin sixers
What are you talking about?? Thats not what the stats say!!!!!
Durant!!!!
Sixers and Knicks > Hawks
I see the Sixers at the 5, Knicks at 6 and Hawks falling to 7th seed. Haven’t looked at Hawks schedule but Sixers is pretty easy. They have the easiest 4 game West Coast trip ever. Similar to ours in November.
It’s nice that Melo is looking for his teammates more. Let’s hope he keeps that up.
And yeah I didn’t realize Stat had such a nice jumper either… he’s so money from mid-range now. I think that’s a big difference between him and Bosh – Bosh’s mid-range game is not nearly as consistent, which I think is a large reason why he’s struggling in Miami.
JEFFRIES!
Jeffries makes a FG!!!!!!!
Jeffries hitting jumpers now?
JJ finally hits a FG!!!
Do my eyes deceive me?
This is incredible. Where are those people complaining that after the trade the Knicks werent going to be fun to watch anymore offensively????
OKC and PHI going to OT!
Wow Knicks up by 15… did not expect that. They’re unconscious with their jumper right now.
The first couple games Melo was massaging the ball. The past several he has really been moving it. I really didn’t know he was as good a passer. No excessive creativity. Just “meat and potatoes” as Hubie would say.
Could be a wonderful night, Clippers kicking the Celtics butts in Beantown.
Jetties makes a shot holy moly jj did u ck with the coach and tu take an example from jj tu u got a shot even 3s – jj ask Clyde for a gMe of horse :-)
We’ve probably drawn more charges in the games since the trade than damn near the whole season up to that point.
That wasn’t a good shot by anthony
go okc
Jeffries is looking like a pretty smart pick up
D’Antoni is a defensive genius now!!!!
Wow.
Seriously, y’all.
This is impressive on both ends.
If they protected the ball better in the 1st half, this would be a 30 point bulge easily.
Grizz don’t have the 3 shooters to get themselves in this game. They would need to steal their way back.
Pour it on baby
That was a nice alley-oop pass to Fields.
Btw, looks like jeffries has been in the weight room a bit. He’s a little meatier than in past years.
the zone has been such an awesome addition, we really have the personnel to do it now and it can throw teams without 3pt shooters like Memphis out of their rhythm.
Knicks seem to have forgotten Amare
i never get it when people say this. amar’e was probably the best player in the western conference the last half of last season. from jan 1, 2010 thru the end of the season he averaged 26.3 per game and carried phx to the conference finals. the guy’s a great offensive player.
Perfect setup for a letdown
nyk 1/1 ft griz.. 17/17
the referees are killing us
the referees are helping the griz to keep themself in the game
Is Landry Fields the best draft pick the Knicks have ever made? Is it too soon to ask?
They’re allowing lots of contact on our shots too.
@107, you’re nuts.
Amar’e is amazing.
cough. Patrick Ewing. cough.
I believe the Knicks also drafted Reed, Clyde and Ewing :-)
Philly lost in OT.
yeah and we cant even touch their finger because is foul
Yeah, but Stern set that up…:)
6 assists for anthony
Nice pass by Melo for an Extra E 3pter.
MASON!
Jeez. Stat is just a beast right now. It’s amazing what’s happening when the D can’t key on him. Wow.
I didn’t ask if he was the best player the Knicks have drafted. He’s clearly not.
Wow
Mason
Have you ever seen a more surprising 14 pt lead.
It’s not effortless. That’s the wrong word, but no matter what the griz do, the Knicks seem to pull ahead.
This half the refs are keeping the Griz in it
That was a sick dunk by Allen
Mason and epiphany
Roger, Roger!
This is a good defense they are pounding
I was teasing you, I know what you meant.
We should probably look up Knicks draft picks that werent 1st rounders. I believe Gerald Wilkins was a 2nd rounder. Dunno about any older Knick players.
Big shot by melo there after Battier’s big three
Sixers loose.
Seriously, melo is getting assists, his shooting is way more efficient and his shots and Amare’s have evened out.
astounding
is it age to say the grizzlies r like a scrappier okc
lose?
Bad thing about Melo, he loves heaving bad 3pt shots at the quarter buzzers just like Felton did lol.
Save some for Dallas boys.
Awesome!!!
This one ain’t over yet.
Not sure. memphis is tough. They keep scraping back into it. Knicks need a run. Memphis is at home. Knicks need to be careful
what a bench, I want to say that we could rival any bench in the nba but I’ll settle for the best bench in the east, a few more minutes for Rautins and we definitely have the best PG rotation
This game would have been more fun if the backups were playing
2 free throws.
yeah, we definitely can’t complain about the shots issue, it was really just an adaptation period for Melo.
Ho Ho
Don’t worry. I rapped on a piece of rich mahogany.
Mason trying to do his Eddie House impersonation.
Carter needs to not take two shots in a row
Knicks need TD and Melo back asap.
I’m sorry, I don’t care how well we’re shooting, a 25-2 free throw disparity is ridiculous.
I didnt need to have Amar’e sit though lol.
This is not going well
too much mason
Grizzlies 29 FT attempts
the Knicks 2
This is starting to get outrageous
Now the shooters are cold
This is getting scary.
yea even when they were up by 17 i wasn’t that comfortable, amazing that the grizz have stuck around
not looking good let’s go!!!
were gonna finish strong im confident about Carter after a rest in the crunch.
yeah that i was thinking since the third quarter the referee are helping memphis stay in the game
That’s poise.
sick spin by melo and slick pass by stat
that was a huge possession. grizz turnover don’t convert. extra e 3.
That might have been Extra E’s biggest shot of the season, esp. because it was the Knicks first points of the 4th quarter.
that’s what closers look like, lebron take some notes….
Did they change Shawne’s 3pter to a 2pter??
Come on STAT. Pay attention on D.
I sure thought it was a 2pter when he shot it.
Fields is having an amazing game too.
What a cut by Stanford.
Nice double-double or TDDWTDD
I’ve never been more excited to see a pair of free throws. I just wet myself with glee.
*for TDDWTDD
I’ve always like Tony Allen.
337 exhale
Now THAT was nice D, STAT. Way to show and force Arthur into a TO.
I think we just won the holding the breath record
Jeffries doing his best Charles Smith impersonation.
Jeffries blocked by the backboard??? really!!!
See Melo telling Jeffries, “use your ass to push them back.”
Jeffries just smiles.
You have to like that Melo is talking like that
LOL!!!!!!
Lol at Melo telling Jeffries how to finish underneath during the timeout. He’s obviously never played with Jeffries before!
Landry
Proactive, buddy. You’re wealthy now. Buy it
Honestly, I think he’s the best pick since Reed. Ewing was a no- brainer. There was nobody else to select with that pick. Clyde wasn’t much of a crap shoot either. Fields being picked 39th, off of most peoples charts altogether, makes him a great, great pick.
TOs and FTs
This hurts
This game’s going to the wire
Dammit Douglas!
bad shot by td
How did Douglas miss by that much
D’Antoni laying into Douglas.
How does TD throw a pass like that????
Pull douglas, please.
Stupid 3 and then a lax underhand pass
TD is killing us now.
Totally falling apart. Horrible play at the end here. We don’t deserve to win this.
please let the veteran carter finish this one
Need to keep TD in I guess. Learning experience.
Sloppy at the end here by both teams
Mike Conley just earned every penny of that $45 million.
Young guards making silly errors.
Now it’s Conley’s turn to F it up.
Need a deuce
MELO!
WHat a steal!
Huge steal.
Ironic that the Knicks might win on a steal
Knicks are bricking everything
At least Melo ate up time off the clock?
12 points in the fourth.
god this is awful
Knicks are being fouled as they have been all game.
In the last 3 minutes the ball completely stopped moving.
Lots of dribbling will lead to bricks.
Shit.
3pt play opportunity by zebo
You have gotta be kidding me.
what bullshit. screw these refs.
exactly what you didn’t want to do
referees helping the memphis
MELO!!!!!!!
MELO!
Wow.
Now that’s clutch!
MELOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MELO
Was that the fat lady I saw????
:)
Put Jeffries on the inbounds, yes?
MELO MELO MELO MELO MELO MELO MELO
+1
Jeffries!
That woman was perfectly cylindrical.
Jeffries
See Cryami? That’s how you do it
Jeffries with the defensive stand =)
Holy crap. That was a tough one. Hard to overcome that much crappy refereeing, but I’ll take the W.
THCJ, Hoolahoop- -comments? hello? …crickets…..
Meh… Gallo or Chandler would have made that exact same shot in that exact same situation.
@226…Cryami! brilliant.
@230 that’s about the silliest thing I’ve ever read on this blog…and the blog is about 50% goofy these days.
+1
Melo was also fouled on that game-winner. Whatevs.
Now now
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he was being facetious.
MELO!
it was definitely tougher than it should have been, but let’s give credit to Memphis, they were pretty awesome defensively and really capitalized on our mistakes, even though the referees helped them so much.
“You gotta pass to the guy that is open…”
Carmelo Anthony
lovin this knick team guys this feels like ’99 again Im looking to see us upset boston this month then it clear to the east finals. One more round then Im all in !
Carmelo Anthony is pretty good, huh? Gotta love it tonight.
Phew…
Way to surprise Jon Abbey, boys!
@236, yeah probably.
I’ve just been conditioned by the frequency of silly posts lately…
And who said D’Antoni couldn’t make him a better player?
I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever seen that big of a free throw disparity. That reffing was honestly a joke. Sorry, I know we need to get over that. TD was definitely sketchy down the stretch, but he really did play a hell of a game.
And Melo….. Man-sized.
Great ugly win.
30 boards
31 assists
7 steals
5 blocks
Credit to Jim Cavan, he coined it in the Atl game recap thread
Mason melo show – I’ll take that anyday
Defensive principles…???
Landry references defensive principles….
What are these principles of which he speaks
Full disclosure: I was one degree of separation from the genesis of that one. But it’s amazing that it really hasn’t been thrown out more.
I left work with a minute or two left in the third-thought we were cruising to a comfortable win. What happened there down the stretch? Still, can’t complain about beating a good team and the referees on the road. Roll on to big D.
Miami Heat? More like Cryami Weep, amirite?
Knicks now 6-1 in the Melo Era against teams not from Ohio.
As Bill Raftery likes to say, “Onions!!!!”.
Very gritty road win vs. a hot, very tough defensive team. Coming down the stretch, this game had disaster written all over it, especially after the 3-pt play by Zach.
Dallas lost a close one to night to NOH. Might be angry tomorrow.
Mavs loses.
going to be a tough one tomorrow
Toney Douglas with 18 points (4-8 from deep) and 10 assists tonight. I’m starting to feel comfortable with him as a back-up PG.
Great game, but I hope Chauncey is back tomorrow. Stat looks tired. Me too.
Oh man. Boozer sprains the ankle.
Gotta give some credit to the monopoly man as well. Right after the ‘Melo trade we clearly had no idea what pieces were going to fit together, but now it looks like D’Antonio has it figured out pretty well (so long as we’re not playing the Cavs)
Melo lead the Knicks with a + 11 tonight.
That was a nasty clothesline from Kwame Brown.
Late to the party. DVR. MELO!!!!!!!
I would send 100 if I get a jersey and sneakers signed by everyone
especially with stoudemire playing 41 minutes and Anthony playing 40. Without Billups, it’s going to be tough for D’Antoni to limit their minutes. His rotations were screwy all game. Why not let stoudemire come out as usual at the 5 minute mark in the first quarter? It’s not like we were getting blown out.
Any truth to the rumor that the Mavs will be replacing the “M” on their jersey with a “C” tomorrow night?
If it’s any consolation Dirk and Kidd both played a heavy 35 minutes tonight in what looked like a pretty gritty game. And they’re older. Maybe the back-to-back will affect them more. Even if we lose, I’m happy to take a split back home.
for some lighthearted late-night comic relief….I love watching this once again knowing what we know now…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9BqUBYaHlM&feature=related
Pretty clutch win. Yes, we collapsed down the stretch. But the Grizz was hot. Won 17 of their last 23. Their D is something fierce. We were without our starting PG and controlled most of the game. And of course Melo’s shot at the end. It’s an good win, however you want to slice it.
What’s funny is that with Billups you almost certainly don’t get that collapse down the stretch. OTOH, with Billups starting instead of TD, I don’t think you get quite the same offensive pop that you had for 3 quarters, and you don’t get the defensive tenacity on Conley ( looking at the box score, Conley seems to have played better than I realized. But I loved TDs energy going around screens. It helped the whole defense stay honest). Which is to say, had Billups been in the game, we probably still would have won, but I think the game would have been a lot closer throughout. On the bright side: we have depth at the PG!!
let me be the first to say:
MELO CULPA
may I be the first of many many in the future to say that…
Tony Allen looked superhuman tonight, I can’t believe he was somehow a -10.
it’s amazing enough that we’re doing this (now 5-1 against over .500 teams since the deal), but doing it without Billups is hard to believe.
A little too early to say things are gelling, they shot abnormally lights out and they won’t usually shoot like that. It’s more troubling how the offense was stagnant in the 4th quarter, we almost choked this. Thank god.
True, but surely you should be happy with all those assists we had, six of which were Melo’s. We were hot, we had a few lucky shots, but a lot of our looks were the result of crisp efficient ball movement.
Our hot shooting, in a way, is balanced out by our non-existent free throw attempts. If we take 20 more free throws, this game is likely a blowout and we’re in garbage time again. Still, its good to see the Knicks win a close one down the stretch on the road.
Missed the game – sounds like it was a good’n
Who would’ve thunk it?
Grizz have a better record n we won – nuf said
TD was very impressive for 3.5 quarters- if he can just run the offense a little bit (like he did for most of the night tonight) he could really be a great 6th man. His numbers while starting 16.6 ppg at a terrific TS of 70% and maybe even more impressive 6.6 apg with a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio.
Also a little love for Melo- over the last 5 games his TS is 60%. I don’t think he’ll keep shooting threes like he has over the last few games but as he gets used to the system and Billups gets back you can see that it’s not crazy to expect a real boost in his TS- not a sure thing but certainly not out of the question.
Also- Memphis is going to have an interesting decision on their hands in the summer as they really can’t sign both Gasol and Randolph. While I’d still guess they’d lean towards Gasol, I think Randolph (especially if he stays as active on defense as he was last night) is probably the better player- Gasol is too soft on the boards and not a great defender- do you really want to be the team who gives him 55-60m over the next five years? I wouldn’t want to give Z-Bo that deal either so it’s going to be a tough call.
5-3 Post Trade and two of the losses with the Cavs?
That’s probably a candidate for the “Joke of the Year 2011″ Award…
:-D
TD is playing well, Roger Mason’s playing well, I don’t understand why Mike didn’t use S.Williams for 5 minutes to give STAT a break.
Interesting thoughts on the Z-Bo/Gasol Jr. situation, if he stays healty I’d rather go with Tyson Chandler but Cuban’ll shower him with dollars… maybe (new CBA is looming).
By the way, another tough one coming in Dallas, let’s play!
6-3 post trade, no?
Melo is shooting 35% from 3 this year, and well over 40% in his last 18 games (half with knicks, half with Denver.) Considering the pressure he has been under for that stretch, the talk that he should stop taking 3′s seems overblown.
Once Billups comes back things could really starts picking up even more. This game stagnated becuase Carter seems to have about a five minute run of effectiveness and then he starts to pfft and make some dubious decisions instead of bring the ball up and get a ton of deflections. TD just is braindead late in close games (see Cleveland for one). How many times is he going to do that one on four in the lane get whistled for the charge play. Of course stastically none of that holds water…guys outliving their usefulness in more than few minutes of play or final minutes being different than fiirst 40+.
“Once Billups comes back things could really starts picking up even more.”
I’m actually worried he’ll hurt our improving D, maybe he can sit the first three quarters and play the whole fourth. :)
Thank you for posting this – it went great with my morning coffee!
Jon, I guess you can’t have everything, can you?
I think this is a valid concern that could be addressed simply by putting Billups on the 2 and letting TD or Landry take the PG.
Billups is big enough and strong enough to guard a 2.
Several posters questioned the minutes asked of Stat and Melo. I think this was a case of D’Antoni leaving the big guys in early to try and deliver a knock out punch. If the Knicks had been able to protect the ball better and get to the line, their early lead easily could have reach 25, and effectively that game was done.
But the Knicks never could get to the line and their passing game, they pass a lot comparatively, increases opportunities for opportunistic teams to come up with more steals.
Memphis is really excellent in defending with their heads up and filling passing lanes and playing angles. It truly was a study in defense we haven’t seen this year.
Given the Knicks were in a dog fight, the ops faded to get Melo and Stat rest. After all, going into a back to back, you absolutely must deliver a win on the front end. Without it, you’re not only tired for the second game, you’re now under intense pressure to win.
At least now, they have the win. A game with Dallas, one of the very best in basketball, won’t be a do or die situation.
As jon abbey noted last night, it is expecting a lot to beat both these teams. That the knicks beat a very game Memphis squad at home is something we all should feel very hopeful about.
Last point: the Knicks away record (18-13) bodes rather well for them come playoff time. They are beating the better teams in the league without their best players.
To me it’s very clear that TD needs at least 20 minutes a night, even once Billups returns. TD’s still young, he freezes up down the stretch, so put him on the bench then, but I’d have him playing most of the second and third quarters. He’s the only Knick right now other than Melo who can score off the dribble. His 3pt shot is sick. And his defense–to my mind–is quite a bit better than Chaunce’s. What do you guys think?
I think Billups’s injury has been a blessing in disguise. Not only has he had time for the rest of his body to heal up, this whole period has been a huge confidence booster for TD and for Anthony Carter. Having 4-5 solid guards that can play (Billups, TD, Carter, Landry) is huge going down the stretch. I’d like to see Billups limited to 30 min/game or so — perhaps 8 min in the 1st, 6 min in 2nd, 8 min to start off 3rd, and the last 6-8 min of the game. TD’s ability to run the offense well will make that possible. There are 96 minutes to go around in the PG/SG rotation, so Billups, TD, and Landry each get 28-32 min and AC picks up the rest. Should keep them well rested throughout. Especially Landry – he’s a rook and probably has hit multiple rookie walls this year.
Re: Melo – he certainly has his weaknesses but we have not had a player like this since maybe Sprewell, and Sprewell is not nearly as good as Melo. A guy who when all else breaks down (and this happens a lot against good teams and in the playoffs), can put the team on his back and make a play at the end of the game. As much as I love STAT, he is miscast in an iso setting at the end of games. Too many turnovers, not good enough as a ballhandler etc. Obviously we would all love it if we ran great offense at the end of games and got a wide open layup or other such good shot, but good defenses (like Memphis) sometimes take those away. It IS important to have someone who has taken and made lots of high-pressure shots.
Meanwhile, I saw nothing out of Marc Gasol last night that makes me want to pay him $10M+ ever. He’s way too slow and clumsy to play in this system. Good passer but I didn’t see a whole lot otherwise.
I would love to see a statistic on Stats % on the curl play in which he drains the jumper at the foul line extended… We should be running that play 10 times a game!
Funny I was just saying the same thing about Billups’ injury. Definite blessing in disguise now that we won a bunch of games without him for all the reasons Frank said.
Also agree that Gasol is not the right guy for us at all. He should have dominated our small interior and instead he got destroyed by Stat. We need more of a defense/rebounding bodyguard type. Chandler would be perfect but not gonna happen. I was secretly hoping for Kendrick Perkins. Think he would have been perfect for us. On a Kendrick tangent I think the Celtics trade may have just cost them the title. Lakers interior looks monstrous and the Celtics got a lot thinner without Perk. Shaq’s hurt and is only good for 20 mins a night anyway. If I was a Celts fan I would be pissed about that. Anyone for a flier on Oden?
Perfectly articulated. This was always the big upgrade getting Melo –an iso player who could bring you home when all else went to shit. Felt, Wil, and Gallo–much as I loved them–did not have this capacity. Felt could get too out of control. Wil’s off the dribble game was uncomfortably improvisational, he would kind of stumble into moments of brilliance. And down the stretch Gallo turned into a spot-up jump shooter. With Melo, it’s that pure machine-like efficiency. One dribble, boom.