2011 Game Thread: Knicks @ Thunder
January 22nd, 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).
I’d like to see Gallo finish some drives tonight. He’s certainly gotten to the line well, but he needs to start making a serious attempt to put the ball in the basket. He won’t continue to get calls if his layups don’t have a chance to go down.
Agreed, Kevin, it’s frustrating to see him be so good at getting there and then botching the shot.
I wanna see WC start over Gallo tonight. He’s been a better all around player this season.
I hold no ill will towards Chandler, but I think that Gallinari deserves the nod to go along with a few more shot attempts. We really need to get him more involved and take a few forced shots away from Felton and Stoudemire.
I’m going to pick the knicks tonight. Final score: 135-118
I’m lookin’ for a huge game from Chandler tonight. Just fired his agent. http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/21/knicks-wilson-chandler-fires-agent-looks-to-cash-in-next-summer/
7 games in a row NYK had been outrebounded. OKC is a team that NYK should outrebound. No excuse whatever
113-105 OKC win
interesting update on Ricky Rubio: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/sports/basketball/23rubio.html
Might now be the optimal time to take a risk on him?
Chandler back in starting lineup, Turiaf to the bench. Makes sense since Jeff Green is their starting PF and they have no real big C who should be able to get Amar’e in foul trouble.
Onceies
I’d offer AR and a draft pick.
Atl v. Cha Who do you root for?
Cha… coz Oakley is the assistant couch
I think Gallinari has been a disappointment so far this season. He’s shooting threes at a very pedestrian rate, is rebounding worse than ever and his usage is down. He’s the one guy who I think could break out in the second half of the season… I think he’s a better player than he’s been showing.
Hahaha you must have the same keyboard system as I do where it puts in odd words if you aren’t careful.
I believe ATDHE is presenting me the unique opportunity to watch the Knicks on Al-Jazeera
Seriously
Hope you’re right. They really need him to step it up.
Chandler off to a great start.
Chandler looks really out of sorts. Is it all the trade chatter?
Oh, and the Al-Jazeera in-game commentary (or whatever Middle Eastern country’s broadcasting I’m getting) is STILL better than the Rockets’ guys. By far.
Felton has had some nice passes FWIW.
Right after Felton looked great looking for Gallo, Felton takes an ugly shot. So lame.
Gallo drank his lightning juice tonight
Walker ahead of Extra E on the depth chart now?
It’s a shot he was making early on, and it’s not a terrible shot, but there are better shots to be had in the halfcourt. It seems like Felton sorta saw his stats halfway through the season and decided he was a really good player, and decided that meant he should shoot more (making him a not that good player). Regardless, really good energy here. Fun game to watch.
Knicks looking real good early on, hopefully they can maintain this energy for the entire game. Besides it being a back-to-back its their 3rd game in 4 days.
We’re playing as a team. It’s amazingly refreshing after the past four games.
That was a tooooooooough call on WC.
Jesus Christ what an awful start for Chandler.
I dont think TD has hit a 3pter off the dribble all season. Knicks making Harden look like he is back at ASU.
No Chandler till the 2nd half. Could we maybe give AR a chance at guarding Durant?
Rick Pitino rolls over in his grave every time these Knicks attempt a full-court press. lol
Good 1st quarter, although a bummer Knicks dont have the lead because they played pretty well.
May be stating the obvious, but this is a good game. Fun to watch
Collison earning every penny of that $13 million he’s getting this year?
Collison’s getting 13 million for 4 years. It was a good signing by Presti. Collison’s a more sedate, better rebounding/worse shot-blocking (and paler, though that goes w/o saying) Ronny Turiaf
Gallo back in and knocks down a 3!
Hey, is Landry going to be Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for January, too? Who is his competition?
Great start for Gallo.
I think Wall has played most of this month though no??
Gallo is leading the team in both FG and FT attempts. That’s more like it!
The extension wasn’t a bad one, but collison is making $13 million this year — $6.5 million as a signing bonus (which, because they had that much cap space, doesn’t affect their cap).
It’s weird. When you give Gallo more looks, it is a…good thing? So odd.
Make-up call for the BS touch foul on Gallo?
A ball-handler, Amar’e is not.
I’m gonna keep track of stoudemire isos this game. So far — one iso, one turnover
That Scott Brooks clip was awesome.
God, why is it so easy to strip Amare….
Admittedly true, but My God anytime he just looks to make a move the entire team comes collapsing on him.
This has to be Gallo’s best game since he returned from injury. He looks just effing great
Oh, true, Al.
He scored on an Iso earlier in the game.
Gallo might want to tone it down a bit, he doesn’t want Denver to fall for him. ;)
Right. My bad.
NY looks like the pre-losing streak Knicks tonight, good ball movement, good energy, STAT and Felton looking sharp. Weird that it’s coming on the 2nd night of a back to back. LONG way to go, though.
Gallo getting frisky now!!
+1
Love the lineups we’ve been using.
Great, Gallo’s flopping just cost him his 3rd foul. Both Gallo and Chandler with 3 fouls, Knicks now have to play final 5 mins of 1st half w/o both.
It is nuts how bad the Knicks are at rebounding.
Even when Turiaf makes a rare good rebound, he loses it.
That was such a graceful alley oop from Felton to Turiaf. It’s like the ball just floated for a second or two and glided into the hoop. Weird.
Turiaf with the hammer on Westbrook! Take that son.
What a nice alley oop to Ronny from Felton.
If the Knicks could rebound, they would be up double-digits easily.
Don’t worry. When they trade for Melo, that won’t be…wait, nevermind.
True, once he lost the ball, I did like that he just leveled Westbrook to make sure he didn’t get the bucket.
I mean, it’s true that they are playing a short lineup, but even with their lack of height, they don’t seem to box out or get good angles (Fields is an exception).
Melo is one of the best rebounding SF’s though :-)
Yes, but he’ll probably be playing PF for MD’A and we’ll have dealt the best rebounding SG in the the NBA!
true but he’ll be a PF if he comes here. :-(
felton really sucks today
Westbrook can travel whenever he wants b/c he’s such a nice boy. And TD is certainly D’ing WTTD
TD some good energy!
Crap, now Douglas will never try to make a pass again (he should not have made the pass).
Really? You think? Not forcing his shot, made some great passes.
How the hell is that a foul?!!?
Great 1st half by TD. Im assuming/hoping if they do get Melo eventually he will play SF after they get a legitimate C.
Refs doing a great job keeping OKC in the game.
The Knicks should call a 20 second timeout and take the ball out from midcourt. They won’t, though.
And they didn’t. It’s like 2 points here don’t count as much as 2 points later on.
I know you meant Melo would play SF, but the above sentence looks like you wrote that TD would play SF (which given MD’A's tendencies is w/in the realm of possibility!)
And Shawne Williams will play the 1. ;)
LOL my bad.
After getting abused on D the last few games, Fields has played Durant well.
Hey, in Phoenix in 2006 he went a w/6’8″ Boris Diaw as his starting 5 and won 54 games.
FWIW – I highly recommend watching the Knicks on Arabic TV. They get VERY excited when DWTDD scores. Not sure what they’re saying about him, but it seems to please them greatly (or at least loudly)
Not bad. Up 7 at the half. Gallo and TD playing well. Felton, late TOs notwithstanding doing a good job, with some good passes and not forcing the shot since it ain’t falling.
I think Felton has played very well overall. Those two turnovers were fuuuugly, though.
I know, and you can’t hoard TO’s for the 2nd half, so it’s an utter waste of a scoring opportunity. The Walker/Westbrook loose ball foul was seriously bogus, though. Even the Arabic TV guys were questioning it. At least that’s what I’m assuming they said.
Good one.
re: felton
he’s played better in that he hasn’t forced as many shots. He’s rewarded movement which has caused more movement. That said, he’s still taken some bad shots, just not as many.
The only thing I could think was that maybe they already used the 20? I don’t think they did, but maybe they did. Even if they had it available, though, teams never use the 20 there, even though it makes all the sense in the world. You can move the ball up to midcourt if you call a 20, right?
As for the loose ball foul, totally agreed – it was a free-for-all and they called the foul like Westbrook clearly had possession – he didn’t.
Also, Felton has thrown more than his normal share of passes to Gallo, so that is nice.
By the by, with Gallo and WC having foul trouble, they should be well-rested for the second half!
Washington up three on the Celtics with 57 seconds to go. It’d be great to see Washington get a big win so they are not trying as hard on Monday. ;)
Robert Silverman – the game is on nba league pass FREE PREVIEW in case you didn’t know that and wanted to switch over from al-jazeera…
Also Nets looking to go 3-0 since they ended the Melo talks, up 2 late vs Mavs. I guess Proko was right, the reason they were losing was due to the trade talks. lol
Why couldnt Pierce miss like that against the Knicks?!?!
Great defensive play by Fields.
Was that 3 Knicks fighting for a rebound and losing it to OKC? REally?
Chandler’s being guarded by Westbrook, so he takes an outside shot?!?! So dumb.
Chandler, you suck.
Get a rebound!!!!
I think maybe Chandler and Gallo believe you get extra points if you take extra-long threes.
lol knicks making krstic looking like dennis rodman
I know Amar’e isnt a good rebounder, but its tough when he is trying to grab a board with 3 Thunder players all over him and no other Knickin sight.
No, he doesn’t suck. Just not playing well these days. He needs to take a Champ Kind tonight, that’s for sure.
What I found really hilarious a couple of possessions ago was that Chandler had three straight awful possessions, so then the next possession they…give him the ball on the perimeter to dictate the offense?!? So dumb.
I was misquoted, I meant to say “Chandler, you suck tonight and for the past 5 games.”
That last play was just Amar’e and Krstic and he just got beat.
Was about to say, they might want to run a play for that Amar’e guy
BTW I actually like Chandler alot so dont get me wrong. Just think its stupid that he is playing awful because apparently the trade talks are getting to him.
I hear you.
hah GALLO
Gallo’s ugly attempts at getting fouls are often silly, but at the same time, the refs are so inconsistent with him.
Gallo’s flops are always entertaining. I think he’s watched too many football (soccer) matches
Gallo passing up the wide open 3 to drive and draw a foul. Dont know exactly if I liked that play or not.
Seriously, can someone explain to me why Breen calls him “Billy”?
Somebody should think about trying to put a body on Westbrook to keep him off the offensive glass.
The Arabic TV guys call him “Bill-ach.” (Hope that wasn’t offensive. Just reporting what I hear)
Somebody should think about keeping anyone off of the offensive glass. It’s like a free-for-all.
BTW, Knicks with 28 rebs so far. Amar’e has 11 of them, 10 defensive.
The Knicks all suffer from a severe case of Hyalophobia. Dolan’s hiring a shrink ASAP
It was nice to hear from Michael Ray Richardson, but I don’t want to ever miss out on action to see close-ups of him.
TD and Felton with back-to-back HORRIBLE 3pt shots.
douglas seems afraid to drive towards the hoops, prob his shoulder?
felton just never shoot again
Uh oh, it’s the unit. You know the one.
G-Unit????
WALKER
What does D’Antoni see in this unit!?!?!?
hah knicks are only up by 4?
What the fuck, Douglas? How do you not get that off in time?!
He got it off in time
He puts in the unit with a 6-point lead and now it is 2-point lead. When will D’Antoni learn that this unit sucks (and I almost never use that term)?
Starting lineup needs to play almost entire 4th quarter for Knicks to somehow hold on and win this game.
I guess we can get WC for cheap this summer? Hah, he wants a Joe Johnson type contract.
Shite, they negated it????
Please, D’Antoni, stop being stupid.
Well that quarter ended ugly. What the hell kinda lineup wad that the 4 subs and Chandler?
I am freaking out here, this unit is so bad.
It was clearly late.
Weird units out there for both teams. Whose the best player on the floor right now? Landry?
Chandler doesnt even look like he wants the ball on offense now.
Just having Landry in there made everyone else seem better. ;)
There you go WC, And1.
Ooo. That was a dicey call. Thanks refs
hah nice got continuation there
wow some offensive rebounds!
Big play Silent E.
What I like about Douglas is his defense and his ability to hit open set shots.
What I don’t like about Douglas is when he thinks the best shot is him taking long 2′s off of the dribble.
Well now they have a little breathing room. I’d still like to see the starters come back in.
21 offensive rebounds?!
mvp amare! no boxing out and can’t make a shot
Yikes
Just got the OKC TV feed. They’re kvetching about the refs
bi gplay by Amare, run an isolation and get blocked
kinda negates the 30 something shooting percentage.
Good to see Gallo hit a big three and then gets the ball in one of the next three possessions…oh wait, that’s the exact opposite of what actually happened.
Amar’e and Felton so far doing the same things they have been doing the last few games in the fourth. Let’s hope they cut it out the rest of this game.
Amar’e, you moron.
Is it that hard to not get a T called on you?
what’s this lineup?
Such a big possession for them to not get close to a good shot. Up six with the ball and they can’t get a good shot off. Terrible.
Hey, did you guys see that Vitaly Potapenko is an assistant coach for the Pacers? I never would have guessed he would be an assistant coach in the NBA.
Now we know how the Bulls felt with the Hubert Davis foul.
That’s an and-one??????? What!?
Refs really want the knicks to win this game, knicks may find a way to still blow it
Where’s Hue Hollins when you need him
It’s a bad call, Robert, but I’ve seen a lot worse.
Refs i think felt bad that they didn’t call offensive goal tending, so give Westbrook the And 1
Serge Ibaka? How do you mention Serge Ibaka in that commercial?
I think you meant to write this the other way around, esp. after that last call.
What game are you watching?? Do me a favor and go troll a different Knicks site.
Me too. But griping about the officials is sort of my thing. That’s when it’s Robert’s time to shine.
I hope they go for an Amar’e iso. That would be awesome.
And they did! Awesomely hilarious/sad!
Um. There was a foul there. Thunder TV guys are really amped. Kinda bush, actually.
seriously. 4 guys surrounding amare, can’t he roll the ball out for a three? isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?
The OKC mascot is littering the court. lol
Wrote that after the offensive goal tending by Amare, just saying Knicks did get some favorable calls. Gallo’s offensive foul, WC’s continuation.
Oklahoma City couldn’t wait 1:46 to start celebrating the victory.
And it’s the Thunder’s mascot’s “Birthday.” Hence the TO. Yep, really major-league there, Oklahoma.
jeez, that was a nononononoyes!
We hate to rebound.
heh fitting, ibaka with an offensive rebound
Offensive rebound for OKC? Surprising.
Another offensive rebound. Sigh.
Stephon Felton
I’m glad Felton feels he has to shoot every big shot.
big play by ronny to keep the play alive, negate!
That’s twice Beardy bailed out Amar’e and Felton’s typical end of the game stupidity.
Is that preferable to the Chray Felthon comparisons? Both make me vaguely nauseated.
Let’s see what play coach D drew up
SH*T our starters have 2 offensive rebounds!
Can they double Durant after this?
Please draw up a play that doesn’t result in a dumb ass shot.
Brilliant decision, Shawne. I can’t believe the Knicks are going to lose this play on such stupidity.
Unbelievable.
TRRRBL
Heh nice foul!
nice job ray!
WTFELTON?
WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY
Who needs Carmelo? We have Ray Felton.
Why is Felton so stupid? Why?! Why?!
I’ve been a huge Felton guy from the get go, but that was just awful
Actually, forget that. This is not on Felton. It is on D’Antoni. He is obviously fine with Felton being “Brick Shot Ray” at the end of games.
What ever happened to working the ball around for an open shot?
I don’t mind the shot selection, westbrook overplayed, he was open, he just can’t shoot, can’t blame him.
WE got lucky that Westbrook missed the FT, I guess Durant for a buzzer beater?
why is felton taking all the shots down the stretch????
Where is gallo
hope Shawne Williams immediately fouls
Would have been nice to run something for Gallo in the last 9 minutes. Nah, he’s only got 23 points on 12 shots. Silly me.
If we lose this game, I dont want to hear one damn person talking about we dont need Melo cause he is inefficient. lol
I mean felton was off balance on that last shot and frankly he’s not even looking to pass.
And Gallo has been lights out tonight
That was what a lot of Melo’s shots look like, except I guess they go in more often
Good call X
Well, that’s too bad.
FML
Well done Xman.
why no hand in his face at all? hah, good game knicks
we need one of those…
Same old Knicks.
Well, they defended well. Can’t ask for more
Cant wait to hear/read Felton’s postgame quotes.
of fucking course it goes in. Season heading in the toilet
Just disgusted with Ray and Amare. Trust your teammates. You two are SO not Michael Jordan.
Obviously, Durant was going to take the shot, the Knicks did all they could, you can’t risk fouling the guy, you just have to make him take a tough shot. They did and he just nailed it.
nice shot kd… well, final tally on Amare’s 1/5 FGs 1/2 FTs 1 turnover (counting the one make BBA pointed out i missed early on).
We slowed down the offense too early imo. Three minutes left, up three, and we started walking the ball up the floor.
NYK absolutely need Melo
I think we were lucky to even be that close or ahead, Durant had an off night, he usually makes most of those open jumpers he missed. Oh well, we just need a W…asap
Thunder scored their last 6 possessions.
you called it. That just sucked. How does a coach call timeouts and they just run brainless possessions. Horrible loss.
Those stats are on his isos — at least the ones i saw. I missed the first couple minutes of the fourth, but i think amare was resting then.
I believe he meant on the final shot. They defended the last possession well, Durant just made a tough shot. He does that. He’s super awesome.
End of games in crunch-time, there is no 7sol. Also the PnR is being completely taken away. End of all NBA games its Iso play and the better one-on-one players win the games. Ive officially joined the get Melo no matter what camp. God save me. lol
The problem with point guards is that they have the ball and no one can make them not shoot it.
Gallo needs to go back to school and become a point guard.
The Suns used to do 7SOL in crunch-time, but they have, you know, Steve Nash and not Stephon Felton.
I don’t want to speak for everybody. But as fans, we can accept this loss, albeit reluctantly. The 2 home losses to Kings and Suns really hurt. We should still be a respectable 24-19 after these 3 road losses, as opposed to 22-21.
I meant specifically on the Durant shot – I’ll take a fadeaway, contested three even if it is Durant. Felton’s decision making down the stretch cost them (and you’ll notice I use “We” when the Knicks win and “They” when they lose) this game Well, that & MD’A refusing to run ANYTHING but the PnR. If they’re collapsing on Stat and Felt can’t buy one, you HAVE to do something else. The old line about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result being the definition of insanity comes to mind.
Tough loss.
It’s nuts that this is yet another game that you don’t expect the Knicks to win, but the loss kills because of how they lost.
Felton…. felton……. pass the ball felton…………… how many games can you shoot us out of?
Felton is killing his trade value.
Gallo went from 20 pts in the first half to 23 end of game. Ray went from 9 shots at the end of 3 to 16 end of game. Bad bad BAD game planning. F U Felton. Don’t take the ball out of Gallo’s hands, or even friggin Walker who was 4-9 from three. Just stupid. Selfish and stupid. Good night.
One other point about Felton’s management of the game down the stretch…well, maybe a few…
he wasted three possessions by being out of control on his drives.
and with that final shot, why did he leave 6 seconds? What was the rush with his shot? Why is he taking a friggin off balance shot with 3-4 seconds left on the shot clock?
I know D’Antoni thought he got fouled on the drive, but it’s the end of the game, on their court, and felton hasn’t been able to put in the ocean lately. He’s not going to get that call.
And Gallo was shooting so f-ing well. I mean let him attack the basket. He can draw fouls and hit his foul shots.
Why waste the hot hand? I mean, when williams and walker, who aren’t as good, have a hot hand the ball gets to them. With Gallo, nothing.
WTF
23 on 12 shots. I mean, damn it. This is frustrating.
5 for 16, 7 for 18, 7 for 12.
One of these things is not like the others, one of these things is not the same.
Agreed, but that’s gotta be on D’Antoni, not Felton, right?
It’s pretty easy to tell your point guard what to do, especially out of time outs, right?
And I’m sorry, this isn’t a melo issue. The Knicks have a hot hand tonight in Gallo.
This is decision making. This is the point guard making poor decisions. I can’t say what D’Antonoi is saying, but it’s clear Felton is making poor decisions.
I mean, Amare was icy tonight, and yet the Knicks were leading the entire second half until the end.
Poor decisions, poor execution by the point guard.
These last five losses are almost all on Felton’s play
The Knicks are back to their old ways and I think this time its here to stay…. Even though they were leading the whole game they looked terrible and clueless at times. Amare now looks like he doesn’t know how to play basketball and Ray can’t hit his shot with any consistancy…. How long has it been seen we scored 100??? I mean if you can’t play defense and can’t score either your in trouble. Melo is not the answer, but right now it’s the only answer. If not Melo… what????
Nobody in NY would be upset right now if Gallinari had missed that shot instead of Felton. even if Gallo had a hand in his face. HE’S the guy you want to take it. (Gallo needs to study film of Durant. He needs to be Il Duranti).
Monday’s home game against WSH is not a given. Nick Young had a lousy shooting night tonight and will have a bounce-back game Monday. Lewis could be a thorn on the side. The jumping-jack McGee can bother Amar’e
He can’t be, though, because his coach won’t tell his players to get the ball to Gallo, the way the Thunder know they have to get the ball to Gallo, or any other team knows they have to look to their good outside shooter (like the Pacers with Reggie).
D’Antoni is obviously cool with Felton taking the last shot, win or lose. I think that’s dumb, but for whatever reason, that’s D’Antoni’s prerogative.
I LOVE Gallo but the problem is he isnt someone you just give the ball to and say score. All his drives come off of passing and he makes a quick move off the catch, usually because his defender is a step late rotating back to him.
Also we have seen him already this and last season take 3pters at the buzzer and miss because he just catch and shot them since he wasnt open. I have always preferred to keep him instead of Chandler and/or Fields in any trade but asking him to make plays at the end of games is not something he can do. He aint going to get those foul calls late in games so most likely it will be an ugly off-balance drive or a rushed 3pter with a defender in his face.
Now why he wasnt seeing the ball for the previous few minutes is another story because they werent looking to milk the clock in those possessions. But at the end of games when you are looking to milk the clock and look to score that is not a time to go to Gallo.
Felton is going from…. The next Steve Nash (I never thought that was possible) to the next Stephon Marbury (Just not as good)….
I don’t have cable – any post-game words of wisdom? Is Felton flaying himself with a wet noodle? Is Stat glaring and vowing vengeance?
I’m on the phone with my sponsor. It’s games like these that make me want to fall off the wagon
I think I’m finally resolved in that I don’t want melo unless he helps us get CP3 or Williams. He won’t help with our problems. Our problem is that we are not making teams pay for gangbanging Amare on every PnR. The interior defense is not that bad. The rebounding has been problematic, but it is not our central problem. We need a guy who will not force those plays (as Felton… or maybe MDA has). There was certainly less forcing it in this game, but the last 4-5 mins it was all Felton/Amare, and all Thunder comeback.
We have players who are better than melo at hitting threes, and making a three is the best way of punishing collapsing defenses, and you really have to punish a defense in order for them to risk Amare getting a dunk.
The one major benefit I could see ‘Melo providing is psychological. Because he is a “star” Felton/Amare won’t feel as much of the ego hit as passing out to Chandler or Gallinari. Ray and Amare will think, “he is one of us” (and I do think RF he’s one of them — a star). A true point guard (Paul, Williams, Kidd, Nash) doesn’t think that way. A true point guard takes pride in making all his teammates better, no matter who they are. Gallinari could have gone for 30+ tonight, but even on a night when he was clearly playing the best bball of any knick, he ends the game with 12 FGAs and as far as I saw, no attempts after that big three with about 7 minutes left.
A. We have seen Gallo hit big contested threes at the end of games (he’s missed them, as well).
B. How would we know? He is never even a consideration at the end of games, so how can we ever know?
Really bad loss and plenty of failings to point out on the Knicks part but….wow what a shot that was. Don’t think Gallo could have done much better on him there; just an awesome shot-maker making an awesome shot.
But obviously the issue is whether it ever should have gotten to that point.
For a while there, I was glad Felton was taking the responsibility of being the second scoring option to Amare. But then I realized he wasn’t thinking that at all — he saw himself as the only scoring option. I dont get it!
Obviously if it goes in, Felton’s a hero, but he can’t shoot the ball! So how about a pass?
I love Felton, but if this guy is injured or something, don’t play!
NYK on track for a lousy, mediocre season. Melo so so needed
http://knickerblogger.net/2011-game-thread-knicks-spurs/#comment-311490
Who’s your favorite team?
Whether or not I think a Melo trade (depending on who leaves) is a good thing, does anyone else feel like there’s an air of inevitability about it?
Oh, totally.
Durant is super amazingly great. One of my favorite non-Knick players – his shot is so beautiful.
Don’t mind the ball being in Felton’s hands but with that much time he should be working harder to get it to Amare or draw a defender away from one of the perimeter shooters. Him going iso and looking shot all the way is the problem; not the idea of the play running through him in itself.
Definitely.
For sure, Felton should have the ball in his hands, no doubt about it.
He just shouldn’t be looking for the shot as his first, second, third and fourth option (fifth option is throwing the ball out of bounds).
Could someone get the totally topical quote by Felton that someone posted last night? The one where he basically says, “I am going to shoot the last shot of the game no matter what” or something like that.
I just think it’s a matter of when not if… and right now I would give up anybody except Amare, well maybe not Fields but I’m not sure. Seriously I would give up: Chandler, Fields, Eddys almost decade old contract and Randolph for a 1st round pick… Hope that’s enough!!!
And I’m sure d’antoni told Felton to run the pick and roll with amare, and I absolutely agree with that decision. What I doubt he said was “give it to stoudemire even if the defense is completely overplaying him, and if you absolutely can’t force that pass in there, you take a shot with lots of dudes covering you. Ignore the fact that you have open teammates. They are actually just cardboard cutouts.”
The pick and roll exposes defenses, but those defenses choose in what way to expose themselves.
It’s on the felton to read how the defense is responding to the PnR and to make that defense pay. In turn, the defense will usually adjust, and eventually if felton makes wise choices, he and amare will get their dunks and layups and open 18 footers.
I am a true-blue Knick fan. I root for the NYK. Their success in Dec raised my hope for a 46-48 win season that fans can be proud of. Now my hope is dashed. For the remaining 4 games in Jan, they will lose the middle two and manage to win one out of the 2 games against WSH and Pistons
Denver apparently has already turned that down.
I don’t think he was looking for his shot 1st-5th. They doubled Stat and he rolled away. It was an open shot but instead of floating, he needed to penetrate and kick to the corner for Gallo/Shawne/whomever.
That’s been semi-debunked. Hahn’s saying that was the offer last October. What’s on the table now and has or has not been turned down is unknown.
I think that’s exactly how Felton sees them “I think Gallo’s behind the arc…then some other guy, I can’t remember all their names, especially when I’m the star here.”
Way too much doom and gloom on this board; this was the 2nd game of a back-to-back w/ both on the road and last night was the Spurs. This is a streaky team whose streaks are largely governed by outside shooting and they seem distracted by the Carmelo thing. As soon as they lost the Houston game, I looked at the schedule and thought “wow this streak really has a chance to snowball.” It’s a tough stretch. They’re not remotely good enough to break into the top 5 and not remotely bad enough to miss the playoffs in the East so I don’t really see what all the panic is about. We’re winning 41-45 games and losing in the first round. When did we not think that?
They’ve lost six straight games. That’s not exactly a fun time. But yeah, obviously so long as they win on Monday we can’t get too down on them.
Yes. It is more and more apparent the Knicks don’t have anyone with an ISO game.
Now I’m watching Blake G. literally abuse David “Wilson Chandler’s tooth” Lee. Not a fun night.
And hey, Aside from the two 6-game losing streaks, the Nix are 22 – 9! Woo!
Sincerely,
Robert “Pollyanna” Silverman
Brian,
Not saying I’m enjoying it; just don’t ultimately think it’s that surprising, destiny-altering, or indicative of anything we didn’t already know about them.
The thing is Melo draws as much attention from opposing defenses as Amar’e does. Right now teams have decided that in no possible way is Amar’e going to beat them either with Iso’s or PnR’s.
Of course if Chandler and Felton were playing like they did when they were winning its not a problem but unfortunately it looks like that was a hot stretch for them and now they have crashed down back to Earth and real badly too.
I totally understand the argument about not trading for Melo because it guts the team and makes them less deep talent wise than they are now. But Im kinda tired of people trying to argue that Melo is no better than Chandler/Gallo/Fields and acting as if his reputation and attention he draws from defenses its a myth. This team right now is Amar’e and a supporting cast that runs hot and cold and right now is getting no respect and attention from opposing defenses.
With all that said I still believe with no trades made they still will finish 6th in the East and with around 43 wins. Plus sure guys like Chandler/Gallo/Fields are young enough for them to continue to improve and surrounding by a legitimate/decent C and either a better PG than Felton or at least Felton playing better than he is now with a legitimate backup PG they should certainly be a much better team next season.
The current team is stuck in mediocrity. Their record today is still inflated in my opinion. Their record reflects their talent base. In the NBA talent win games. They are becoming less and less fun to watch. For the sake of game watching enjoyment for the remaining games this season, go get Melo. As long as we have Stat, Melo, Felton, the rest of the team don’t matter.
Bobby,
But aside from their 22 wins they’re 0-21. Really need to improve their performance in the “games where they get outscored” department.
There is, and it’s entirely political. I guarantee DW is getting it from all ends — pressure from Amare, fans, media, Dolan to get Carmelo. I don’t think getting carmelo is a disaster, as it means CP3 has it in his hands to make his wedding toast come true. Nonetheless, I think Walsh would be completely content if our offer to denver gets rejected. The offer that was rumored — Fields, Chandler and a pick — is a completely fair offer, and I don’t think anyone will criticize Walsh if he walks away or sets a deadline for the Nuggets to accept it (the rumor claims Denver already rejected it). Who knows. I imagine Denver will waddle around another few weeks hoping some other team will make a better offer (doubtful) or that Carmelo will agree to extend with other teams, and if neither of those alternatives pay out, they’ll call Walsh and agree to the deal.
Hey Kev – no fair confusing me with logic.
haha good one…
Gallo + Fields + Chandler = Durant (http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?id=310119007)
This seems like an odd comment. Since those three guys’ games are all based on high-volume, average-efficiency offense, it seems like the rest of the team would be especially important if those three were your core (and gave you very little in the defense/rebounding/passing [aside from Felton] department).
Robert, just whatever you do dont jump off the wagon and get your sponsor mad at you. :-)
Gallo + Fields + Chandler is less than Melo
Melo is better than Durant (http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?id=310119007)
Hahn (who I trust as a source more than any other beat guy) seems to think the rumor about the rejected offer (and what that offer was) isn’t accurate
http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;JSESSIONID=B6F6D0E3679AF836A817.3027?site=newsday&view=sports_blogs_item&feed:a=newsday_5min&feed:c=sports_blogs&feed:i=1.2628636&nopaging=1
Just hung close two nights in a row on the road against very good teams. It’s a 6 game losing streak but it’s a stretch where I would have been happy with 2-4 going in. If they can’t beat Washington and Detroit at home next week I will start to worry.
You analyse too much. 2 all stars and Felton, a decent point guard get you at least 48 wins in the weak East. Play Turiaf center backed up by Mosgov.
Moses in 1981 said get me any 4 guys off the street and I can beat the Celtics. He almost did!
In a cruel twist of fate, my sponsor’s a Celtics fan. To paraphrase, he’s saying. “The Knicks blow. You’re going to throw away your life on a crappy team like the Suckerbockers?” He’s a hardass/lifer, to say the least.
I think it’s payback for all the Jets-Pats trash talk I’ve been throwing his way all week.
Oh, poor Kevin, you don’t know who you have begun talking to.
That is exactly what it is going to happen: going 1-3 in the next 4 games. And you will be worried about what? Losing the 6th seed? Or in danger of missing the playoff?
Oh God, he must be a Red Sox fan too then huh. I truly feel sorry for you now.
I read a really good book awhile back that detailed how Pollyanna played a big part in the commercialism boom in the United States in the early 20th Century. Fascinating stuff.
Is maurice lucas a troll? I’ve never fully understood that interweb concept/term
I’m with you. Carmelo is a good player. He would make us a better team. I just don’t think he fixes the fundamental problem — that we are not running our offense properly (as we were during those winning times… sigh). Other than a layup, there’s no better shot in the game than an open three from a good three point shooter. We have several excellent 3pt shooters. If Felton would only open his eyes, we could have that open three instead of most of these terrible interior forces. I want a real point guard. This system needs a real pg. Felton seemed for a while like he was that player, and now for the last few weeks he hasn’t. I think we’d be 3-3 in our last six if we had Earl Watson, an excellent passer who sucks at every other element of offense, instead of Felton. That doesn’t mean Watson is a better player than Felton. It just means he addresses our most pressing need. I feel the same way about acquiring Carmelo.
Basketball doc wannabe. So much analysis. must have a phd in NBA
What’s the opposite of a backhanded compliment? A front-handed insult? I will gladly accept this “criticism.”
I get your point Luke but if we make the Melo trade we are done (no more moveable assets or cap space). So the ability to fill the roster with role players around those guys is particularly important if we’re going to rise above that 48-win level in the next half decade.
Yes, don’t feed the trolls
maurice lucas:other commenters::Maurice Lucas:people who f***ed with Bill Walton?
Sawx/Pats/Celts. A bastid in the best sense of the word. He has a tattoo down the left arm in Gothic Bold font/all-caps that says, “DON’T ASK WHY IF YOU DON’T WANT TO DIE, and on the right that says, “DO AS YOU’RE TOLD IF YOU WANT TO GET OLD.”
I wish I had the power to somehow send him to go talk to Felton and have him scare/set our wayward PG straight.
Ive learned my lesson from feeding trolls like greatscott and a couple of others.
Can’t we use MLE on a useful role player http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=FreeAgents-11-12?
Posting this per point #4
http://knickerblogger.net/2011-game-thread-knicks-vs-suns/#comment-310719
Didn’t see the game the same way most of you guy’s did at all. I thought the Knicks played pretty well tonight. I was not disappointed in their performance in general. I did not see the same patterns repeated. I enjoyed the game, which means a lot to me. Raymond had space on his last shot and missed it. That’s the way it goes, although it was taken too soon even if it went in. Tip your hat to a subsequent great shot by a great player. Did you folks really think this team would go from totally freak’in abysmal to awesome? Come on. Get real and get some perspective—or just over-react and be mired in the miserable.
I just don’t like how in the last 5 minutes or so, the game degrades to Felton dribbling it out until 8 seconds left in the shot clock. Why can’t we execute a play earlier? It forces them to make a stupid shot if the initial play doesn’t work.
Well, I was very upset when the Knicks went away from Gallo during the last 2 minutes of the game. I don’t understand why D’Antoni goes to the 2 man game so much down the stretch. We need to feature him in the offense more often, especially at the end of the game.
1:37 Raymond Felton misses 25-foot three point jumper
1:19 Raymond Felton makes 18-foot jumper (Ronny Turiaf assists
0:47 Raymond Felton misses 7-foot two point shot
0:31 Raymond Felton misses layup
0:07 Raymond Felton misses 17-foot jumper
John, you can go back much further than that. Gallinari made a 3 with 6:27 remaining. From that point on:
Stoudemire J miss
Felton layup miss (blocked)
Fields makes a 3
Stoudemire draws foul, 2/2 fts
Felton makes layup
Stoudemire miss (blocked)
Felton misses J
Stoudemire offensive rebound and dunk
Stoudemire miss
Stoudemire miss (blocked)
Felton makes J
Felton misses J
Felton misses layup
Felton misses J
Shooting #s for last 6:27:
Felton 2/7, BA: 1
Stoudemire, 1/5 (the one make being on an offensive rebound after a force by felton) 2/2 FTs
Fields: 1/1 (1/1 3PA, also notable because it was Felton’s only assist of the 2nd half)
Gallinari, Douglas, Turiaf: 0/0, 0/0 FTs
The bottom line is the knicks reverted to the strategy that has caused them to lose. Felton got tunnel vision. He was playing well before that, although still forcing it to amare too often — Amare and RF’s combined FG% for the game: 35%. Rest of knicks: 48%. The differential would be even higher if I calculated TS%, as they were 4/6 from the line and didn’t make a three between them. It is cancerous to a team when players decide to play like this. I hope that we just needed to get it out of our system, because for 41.5 minutes we played good basketball. Next game hopefully we do it for the full 48.
Here’s the last 6.5 mins of Suns v. Bucks on 1/26/07
Diaw 1/2 FTs
Barbosa misses J
Barbosa misses layup
Stoudemire makes dunk (assist nash)
Bell misses J
Nash misses J
Barbosa misses layup
Bell misses J
Nash misses J
Marion misses layup
Nash misses J
Nash makes J
Bell misses J
Bell makes 3
Nash 2/2 FTs
Yes, Stoudemire was in that whole time. He only has one other offensive mention — an offensive foul. I’m guessing the Bucks opted to tried to take away the Suns’ best weapon. Seeing that the defense was overplaying STAT, Nash gave the ball to his teammates. Yeah, he took 4 shots, but that’s out of 14, not a disproportionate percentage. Yeah, the Suns missed a bunch of shots, but to me that’s all the more proof that RF needs to distribute more. Even when they were missing, Nash refused to try to take over the game. The Suns won 61 games, so clearly they were doing something right.
Below’s another game the suns played that season vs. the Blazers. I’m not cherry picking. I’m just scrolling through in search of close games where both Nash and STAT were healthy.
Bell misses J
Stoudemire makes layup (assist Nash)
Barbosa makes layup (assist Bell)
Barbosa misses J
Diaw makes J
Stoudemire makes layup
Barbosa misses J
Marion misses J
Nash makes J
Barbosa makes J
Nash 2/2 FTs
Bell 2/2 FTs
Again, six different players attempted shots in those last 6.5 minutes. STAT and Nash were 3/3, taking less than their share of the ten attempts.
I’m sure you could find a game where STAT and Nash dominated the ball, and that’s normal. Sometimes the defense gives you those shots. What I think you’d have a hard time finding is a close end of the game situation where RF and STAT aren’t dominating the ball. For a period, that was the most effective solution. These last six games it has not been. Felton has to trust his teammates all game, not just the first 40 mins.
I was really hoping we’d win. Not to stop the skid so much, but more just tobshit maurice lucas up.
Z is a basketball nitwit
What a basketball numskull is Silverman
Eat this
http://knickerblogger.net/2011-game-thread-knicks-thunder/#comment-311506
So your post game analysis took us back to 2007. So analytical and is much expertise. And you predicted NKY to score 130+ points on the 2nd night of this back-to-back. Their legs are as tiring as your DEEP boring analysis
Damn.
I was hoping last night was a dream.
latke
great point, felton is just a mediocre sg
btw
why dantoni took out fields after his three?
Here’s my proposal to compete for a championship over the next two years:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=4a4p3v3
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=4gw5o2t
And if it doesn’t work, sign some free agents in 2012.
Intriguing offer, ess-dog, but the Suns already have tons of 3′s, right?
I reviewed my comments at #304 and the comments thereafter. My comments were a bit harsh and that was unintentional. I hope no one took umbrage. While I’m trying to stay positive, the issues raised by John Kenny, Latke and the rest are quite valid. Trust and ball movement are certainly integral to this Team’s success.
So the last 3 games, STAT has been guarded by Chuck Hayes, DeJuan Blair and (mostly) Serge Ibaka. All are PF’s and shorter than Amare, and all have played him very physically and his final stats were less than stellar, to say the least. I don’t think we’ll see any more centers guard Amare the rest of the season, and it’s on D’Antoni to make some kind of adjustments on offense.
A note to the doom and gloomers: we split our games against OKC and SA, I think we would have signed for that in a heartbeat at the beginning of the season.
Also, hard to believe that was Durant’s first game winner since his rookie season. Of course, he had to save it for us!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/582140-no-wil-power-trade-rumors-the-cause-for-knicks-wilson-chandlers-slump
Pretty good article about how trade rumors have really taken a psychological toll on Chandler. Not exactly shocking. Still, it’s one thing to know that management is actively shopping you around. But it’s a horse of an entirely different color when teammates — i.e. Stat — are actively campaigning to bring in a player who plays your position, and whose acquisition would almost necessarily mean shipping your ass out.
I think Donnie is doing the best he can to keep everything on the DL, refusing to answer questions re: Melo, etc. As well he should. But I’m worried that, even if the trade deadline passes and Melo is still wearing the sky blue and yellow, the internal damage — particularly to Will — might have already been done.
D’Antoni and Walsh can talk all they want about their “business” being on the court, and acting as if none of this has an effect on the players. But they’re wrong.
One of the tenets of ssol is that a good shot is a good shot. There is no preference who takes that shot. That is why you want all five players to be offensive threats so no one is safe to leave open. You move the ball and do various pnrs and cuts till someone is open and then they take a good shot. If ran right it does not matter if your all-star center or your rookie 2 guard takes the shot as long as it’s a good shot. When ran well it is almost unstoppable and a pleasure to watch.
We are not running it properly. I don’t care if Amare and Felton take 5 shots all game if everyone else is getting good looks.
As for needing Melo, if we keep playing stupid iso basketball in which we look off open players to get it to our “stars” then yes we very much need Melo, but if we play smart unselfish basketball in which we take the shots the defenses give us then we most certainly do not need Melo.
Overall a good game but frustrating to see us force things during crunch time. It seems we force things when the pressure is turned up. After we lost the Sacremento game, which was just an off, flat game we have been pressing since then desperate to break our losing streak. We played better for most of this game but then when the chips were on the table Felton and Amare stoped trusting and started forcing things.
We are a young and newly formed team, as we get more experieicne playing together our composure should improve. Once that happens we should see less forcing by Amare and Felton.
@daJudge, I agree we shouldn’t get too up or down over a win streak or losing streak. At the same time, I think the playbyplay does reveal that Felton has this alpha dog mentality when we’re in a close game. He starts thinking score instead of pass, and it really hurts us.
It’s funny to read about the game via Hahn and see Felton and Amare just bashing the officiating as the reason for the loss. Not getting Gallo the ball is mentioned as well, but “dumb” “bad” shots are not mentioned.
Look, you can’t blame everything on Ray and Amare. Wilson and even Fields are out of there games a bit, but it starts with Ray, Amare and D’Antoni. They need to move the ball the right way and not whine about the refs.
Yeah, blaming the refs is weird – the contact really wasn’t that egregious.
Guys, the system is great and stuff but complaining about Iso ball is funny considering basically every other team, including the best ones, thats what they go to late in games when they need a basket.
Hell even Phil Jackson says in the 4th quarter with the game on the line its no longer a triangle offense its just Kobe Iso from straight away. Its all the Heat do, its all the Hawks do. The Celtics have Rondo playing a Nash role but at the end its just Pierce on an Iso. Even Orlando who plays very similar to us at the end of games its usually Nelson or Hedo going Iso or in a PnR. The Bulls just Iso Rose every play of the game let alone in crunch time. Ditto Iso Dirk for the Mavs. Hell thats all we saw the Thunder do for the last 6 minutes of the game, Iso Westbrook or Durant.
My point is I find it funny when people complain about the offense late in games because thats the entire NBA. To be honest I dont know how many other coaches besides D’Antoni would have this team playing as well offensively as they have played. Of course most other coaches would probably improve the team defense but no way in hell with this roster would they have this team as highly rated on offense as D’Antoni has it. The Knicks lost last night not because of the system or the coaching, they lost because the Thunder had the 2 best perimeter players on the floor by a country mile in Westbrook and of course Durant.
Of course it doesnt explain the losses to the Kings and Cavs. lol
7SOL specifically does not go to isos late in game, except when your 7SOL point guard is Raymond Felton (who at least can hit shots on occasion, unlike Chris Duhon).
I know no one cares, but I called this losing streak in December. Pay attention to pythagorean win totals and you won’t be disappointed when a team with a +1.2 margin of victory regresses to being a .530 win percentage team.
By the way, unless by “iso” you just mean your best playmaker gets the ball at the end of the game, in which case, yeah, obviously, everyone does that, including 7SOL. But said playmaker should be looking for the best shot possible not “I take the big shot no matter what.”
But 7SOL is never going to happen late in games because the clock is going to get milked. Its alot easier for defenses to setup when the other team is holding the ball and waiting for 7 secs left to score rather than attacking and trying to score in 7 secs with the defense not set. I mean people here complained that Felton took the final shot too early. You cant have it both ways, milk the clock to 1 sec left yet expect it to be a great, wide-open look?? Cmon now.
I guess my complaint is with people who want to blame D’Antoni for the bad offense late in games. Im not sure how much people realize what a pleasure it is for the most part to watch this team run his offense because as I mentioned above watching the majority of teams play offense for an entire game really will open your eyes.
Even many of the real good offenses score at will because of the individual talents of the players not because of any system they run (except for the Suns which of course do the same thing we do). The triangle btw is not a system its bullshit lol.
My point is I think this team has by far the worst talent (aside from the Suns) of any of the Top 10-15 teams on offense. I mean the Jazz with Deron Willams, 2 very good big men and a coach in Jerry Sloan who has always been praised for his offensive system is 11th in offensive efficiency while the Knicks are 7th. I still watch many old 90′s Knicks games and I cringe almost all the time at the offense because it was entirely postups and Iso’s. Mostly to be honest ugly basketball yet I absolutely loved those teams and still do.
We are pretty fortunate to be able to watch a team play some great team…
Sorry, Im bored right now (could care less about the NFL playoff games) and just ranting for no apparent reason it seems lol.
For all our sanity lets just hope the Knicks come out and take care of business tomorrow vs the Wizards and hope the couple of days off will help rejuvenate them a bit for the games vs the Heat on Thusday.
A lot of teams do go to iso late in games, true. But if our iso success depends on ray felton with blinders on….. we aren’t going to win a lot of those games. Look, I know he hit the crazy 3 against the Raps earlier in the season..there are times where it’s acceptable for him to shoot late in games. But the thought has to be “what’s the best shot available” and it looks like he isn’t thinking that anymore.
Not to troll-feed, but I’m getting that tattoed on my tuchus.
Food for thought…
Jazz has one win against a team over .500 since Dec. 10
Cleveland has dropped 26 of 27; Knicks was the sole victim
WSH is 0-20 on the road this season (and a home win against Celtics last night)
You’re right. SSOL fits our roster. It makes the parts greater than the whole. If you tried to make this team play Scott Skiles basketball, we’d be a lot worse, but that can be said for a lot of teams. If the Hornets tried to play SSOL, sure, CP3 would have insane #s, but you’d also have silly lineups like Paul, Jack, Bellineli, Ariza, West. In other words, they’d be losing games like 115-135. Our players fit our system. That’s a good thing.
arghh — “the whole greater than the parts”
If I remember correctly, the Knicks gained possession of the ball with 29 seconds to go. So I don’t understand all the Felton took the shot too early thing.
Just for shins and giggles, here’s the Nix-Nugs Mega-trade of all time.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=4nkpqug
Nix Lineup
PG Billups
SG Um…Forbes?
SF Melo
PF Stat
C Nene
Bench
Anthony Carter
Extra E
Birdman
Bully Walker
Thoughts?
It was only a couple seconds early, but it was a horrible shot.
Yeah, it was only a few seconds early, but a few seconds is a big deal at the end of the game. To wit, no way does Durant get that look if the Thunder had 3 seconds as opposed to 6 seconds.
But yes, the shot taken was the worst part about it, not the time issue.
Caleb Hanie at QB trying to win the game for the Bears in the end is equivalent to Andy Rautins with the ball in his hands at the end of the game for the Knicks no?? lol
What I dont get about that trade Robert is how the Knicks only add 3 wins to their record yet Denver adds 12 losses. Confusing analysis. lol
Pretty much, Al!
Either him or Mason, Jr.!
Or maybe asking AR to play point!
You made some; you missed some. Felton took and made a few big shots in Dec. Now he is not making them. FYI his FG% is just about what his career FG% is. If he made the shot last night, he would be hailed as a gutsy scorer playing with a NewYorker mindset. SO he missed, and we asked him and MDM why why why.
NYK lost the game night because they were brutally outrebounded, and outrebounded for an 8 consecutive game. DEN is 16th in rebounding at 41.2. NYK is 17 also at 41.2. DEN does not have a dominant rebounder, so what was the excuse?
http://knickerblogger.net/2011-game-thread-knicks-thunder/#comment-311511
OKC is 13th in rebounding at 42.1. NYK is 17 also at 41.2. OKC does not have a dominant rebounder…
I stand corrected. Sorry
The first 6 game losing streak led to the almost permanent benching of AR could this one lead to him seeing the court again? Despite the one dumb shot/turnover he seemed to have every game he played in so far this season does his talent not fit this system almost perfectly?
I said in December the Knicks could go 5-10 in January. So the Knicks are where I thought they would be this month. We all said this at the start of the year, January would be the most difficult month. February is much better with 6/10 at home and 6/10 teams under .500. March runs about even 18 games 10 teams under .500 and 10 at home. If they can go better than 16-12 over the February and March, they should be 5 games over .500 going into the last 8 games of the season, which are also pretty easy games. Don’t lose faith.
My prediction http://knickerblogger.net/2011-game-thread-knicks-spurs/#comment-311490
Going 7-11 in March as there are 6 sets of back-to-backs
Just checking in, finished my over 50 league and chill’in with some football. I was quite pleased today since I got at least 6 inches off the floor on my J. E Gads. Time to put on my slippers (existential moment).
I guess the basic idea in this Knick’s scheme is to shoot the open shot, or, for god’s sake, kick it out. This applies to Amare and certainly Raymond. Raymond’s job is to be the quarterback, NFL, not be like a college option QB. They haven’t been kicking out. Having said that, Raymond’s passing isn’t the best anyway. Maybe he’s not the right thing. I still believe the Knicks are so much better than last year, etc….Thomas B, I’m not losing faith. I’m also starting to warm to Melo for many reasons that I dwell upon endlessly but will not bore you with.
And in watching the replay, to make matters worse, Felton had time to kick it to Gallo who was WIDE open for three on the other side of the court, at the left elbow extended. Take a look:
http://nbaplaybook.com/2011/01/23/did-raymond-felton-shoot-too-early/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NBAPlaybook+%28NBA+Playbook%29
Seriously, when you watch that, we might as well have Melo doing it instead. The right move would’ve been the kick out to Gallo, but if I have to choose between a clear out for Felton and a clear out for Melo, I’ll take the Melo clear out. Hell, even an Amare iso would probably be better there than what Ray was doing.
Looks more to me like Shawne Williams is the open one — and that’s a corner three, a shot that he seems to make about 75% of the time: http://i.min.us/ieaEO8.jpg
Great pic Latke. Definitely shows that no way in hell was the Thunder going to let Amar’e roll to the basket for a shot. Silent E definitely was open for a corner 3. In fairness Felton did get a pretty good look and had made a much harder jumper a minute earlier.
Yep, it was Williams who was open, not Gallo. Still – Felt shoulda passed
The fact that there was still 5 secs left in the shot clock meant yes he definitely shouldve passed to Silent E.
definitely should have passed, and at least if it was gallo you could argue that it was a tough angle on the pass or that Collison might have got a hand on it. Not only was Williams wide open, but Felton had a clear line of sight at him.
BTW the Pacers trail at Denver by 15 after 3 quarters. Assuming they lose the Knicks despite the 6 game losing streak will still have 4 less losses than the 4 teams trailing them and they have played more games than 3 of them. Plus they already have the head-to-head tie-breaker clinched against one of those teams (Bobcats) and have a much better Conference record than all 4 of them by a mile.
Knicks could lose every game for the rest of the season and still finish 6th in the East. lol
Ok boys, we now get a lot of the NY sports spotlight back now that the J-E-T-S are D-O-N-E. Time to start grabbing some wins at home and getting our mojo back.
BTW, Melo with 36 pts. ,14-27, 8 reb. +10 in the 4th quarter vs. Indy. I think I can live with that kind of production from my SF.
I’m officially declaring a moratorium on use of the “J-word.” I’m still way too enraged. Those calls at the goal-line in the 4th were Felton-eque.
A minute ago the Knicks were the number 3 trend on Yahoo!. I figured somethin’ must be a brewin’, but no. Must just be a whole lotta folks checking to see what the losing streak is up to now…
They couldnt trend higher than Kourtney Kardashian though. lol
Looking back at that last possession Williams had a really good look. A pass to him would have gotten a better shot, taken more time off the clock, and corner three’s tend to bounce weird so the chance of an offensive rebound or a rebound that was contested and therefore takes more time is much higher. The thing is Felton wasn’t looking for anyone. The shot he took was okay but he was taking that shot even if Westbrook was draped over him and Gallo was open under the hoop.
As for ISOs I know they are common in the NBA but I really hate them. It’s ugly basketball. I hate watching Kobe and Melo play. All I think the whole time is how stupid so many of their shots are. Both of them pass up open jumpers just to dribble into traffic and put up contested shots. It’s a nightmare.
Maurice Lucas is Marc Berman. That’s my guess.
Yes I stand by my prediction made 5 days ago – http://knickerblogger.net/2011-game-thread-knicks-thunder/#comment-311771