2012-2013 Game preview and thread: Knicks v. Blazers
January 1st, 2013 by Thomas B. | Comments | Permalink |
Happy New Year everyone.
The Knicks host Blazers in what should be Amar’e Stoudemire‘s season debut, and Carmelo Anthony’s return from a knee sprain. What a way to start the new year. Just about everyone here has been wondering, speculating, and predicting what Stoudemire’s return could mean, and now we get to see it.
The Blazers aren’t a strong road team (4-10), or a strong defensive team (22nd in Drtg at 107.6). They do however feature a young, athletic front court led by Aldridge and Hickson. I am interested in how Stoudemire will perform against that front court duo. Will he force the issue, or will he pick his spots?
A good amount has already been said about the expected negative impact Stoudemire will have on the Knicks’s defense, but really could it get much worse of late, especially in the back court? If the Knicks don’t do a better job defending the three, and cutting down dribble penetration, Stoudemire’s defense will be the least of our concerns. The good news is that the Blazer back court isn’t very strong. Rookie Damian Lillard has struggled in recent road games, and the Blazers are one of the NBA least effective teams from deep. According to ESPN’s stat department, the Blazers shot a league worst 30.4% from deep in December.
@Don't bother; I don't tweet
STAT STAT
Kidd-Brewer-Melo-Kurt-Chandler starting.
Portland’s main horses– Aldridge, Hickson, Batum, Matthews and Lillard– are all good players, and Meyers Leonard is giving them some good minutes, but their depth is crap. Once you get past that top 6, their roster is dreck.
I would think that Amare will be a little nervous when he comes in (and should get a rousing reception) but should settle down after his first made shot or dunk. Can’t wait to see him on the court again.
And it’s pretty clear Woodson is eventually going to start Amar’e. I’d give it 6 or 7 games. knock on wood.
I’m just looking forward to the next couple of months where Knicks fans shake off their collective amnesia and remember/realize how good this guy is….
Batum on Melo will be interesting. Melo’s had some explosive games on him, Batum has turned him around a few times as well,
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=anthoca01&p2=batumni01
my thoughts exactly…
They’ve been playing well lately. They’re 7-3 in their last 10 games and Kidd cannot guard Lillard – I expect to see JR on him some to slow him down. Chandler should guard Aldridge.
I would love for ‘Melo and STAT to demonstrate that they can thrive together on the court by each going for 20+ points. And by “thrive together”, I am counting time that each is alone on the court as the primary offensive option.
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/knicks/post/_/id/32277/doc-sheds-light-on-stats-recovery-process
What was interesting was that it would be rare that both would have good games at the same time. I think besides the technical aspects of the game, there may have been some some psychological issue for both of them regarding who is the real alpha male on the team. Now that Melo is an MVP candidate and established as the best player on the Knicks, I think it should make things easier for Melo and Amare regarding shot distribution, who should take over when, etc. We’ll see…
Agreed, and that part of the struggle led to bad shots, imo.
I don’t really think either of them was all that conscious of it.
funny thing is, these guys wanted to play with each other for ahwile, but they have a history of going at each other dating back to a McDonalds high school dunk contest that Amar’e won over Melo (that included Raymond Felton and Chris Bosh), where Walt Frazier was one of the judges (when Amar’e was a senior, Melo a junior at Oak Hill).
Melo won the dunk contest the next year.
Sorry to use the phrase swag, but no 18-yo has had more than Amare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUlGR6YcfjY
Chris Marlowe did the broadcast. He later become the Nuggets play-by-play guy. Pretty wild.
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0121fzJdBI
Here comes the moment of truth :)
I bet you Amar’e is going to make at least hair-rising play. Everything I’ve heard, his bounce is much closer to 2009-2011, than the first half of 2012.
Use the word…”sway” — shump style. Awesome video.
Just watched some of the video and Ray Felton was the first contestant. He was listed at the time at 190 lbs. Now he is listed at 205 lbs. If Ray has only gained 15 lbs since high school (when he was defined if not cut), I will sit between THCJ and Ruru in coach on a transcontinental flight while they discuss WOW.
Tony Gwynn was still officially listed at, like, 250 pounds at the end of his career.
Good defense by Chandler, but Aldridge can make the fadeaway 13′ elbow rainbow jumper.
Ronnie Brewer should not be playing.
Those GIANT wraps on Amar’e's knees don’t inspire a lot of confidence.
dammit brew. smdh
My thoughts exactly. Already making a hash of things.
apparently gramps Thomas stayed up til midnight last night
Keep ‘em warm.
Why would you double Aldridge when Chandler is covering him?? Especially if it leads Batum wide open??
Also hey look at that, awful Knicks defense to start!! Shocking!!
I’m watching the Portland feed here in Seattle. Their announcers are not as terrible as many (Houston comes to mind). In fact, they keep saying that Mathews is getting away with a foul just about every possession.
@27- was just about to post the same thing. That is awful.
Getting a little tired of these slow starts along with poor defense
3 pointer notwithstanding, Brewer is giving us nothing. I’d rather have Cope and is no D out there.
@27 +2 exactly what I said. WTF!
Do we give up 40 this quarter?
Portland has a .731 eFG%. This does happen pretty much every game.
we habe been saying the same thing every game. it is mind boggling
One touch, one turnover.
Weird substitutions
not exactly a “defensive minded” lineup out there right now
Knicks surrendered 8 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 6 times.
Other than those minor issues, they played great basketball!
Amare is pressing out there for sure, Clyde is right. And the Knicks are (understandably) forcing the issue to him. Rebounding is a big issue, per usual. It didn’t seem like they were scoring a lot in the paint, so that’s a good sign
Patience is not one of Knicks fans virtues. this will turn.
Amare mid-range brickathon… lol
Amar’e looks as bad as Ewing did in his return during the 1999-2000 seaosn after missing the first 20 games.
im trying to be patient, but i hate the layup line is sheed out?
Do the refs not know how to call travels and double dribbles?
We tend to be more patient with brickathons than with lackadaisical defense…unfortunately (outside of Melo), we’re getting both tonight
Yes but Camby is available. No need for both Cope and Novak to play but to me there is certainly a need for Camby.
Unfortunately Im now expecting lackadaisical defense in the 1st half of every game.
This one’s starting to get out of hand. No offense, no defense.
I’ll say it again…Kidd absolutely cannot guard Lillard…too quick
My wife wanted to watch tonight’s game because of Amare’s return (okay, I should say “was more willing to watch tonight’s game because of Amare’s return”) and she is totally (rightfully) confused by the non-calls on the travels and the double dribbles.
Really glad the Knicks took advantage of the practice time they apparently so desperately need the last couple of days.
Maybe don’t want Novak taking shots off the dribble. And Chandler shouldn’t be letting people score by driving right at him.
POR: layup
NYK: brick
That’s pretty much the whole game.
I think the Knicks should petition to the league to just start their games with the 3rd quarter.
Is it obvious that Im getting a bit annoyed by Woodson’s coaching lately?? lol
We need someone else to be able to score besides Melo..
That’s it….tkae out Novak I have no patience with his horrible D, if he’s making nothing. Put Copeland or Amare in NOW
Another layup.
This team’s defense is just straight up bullshit.
Wow, what a reverse by Lillard. I hate that he’s doing this against the Knicks, but I do like him a lot.
Melo at least is drawing a ton of fouls. That should help with the comeback.
why dont we just funnell the offense to jeffries like other teams did to us for years??? it always seemed like an effective strategy
for how much his D is lauded tyson doesn’t challenge penetration at all these days. i know its tough to cover for everyone else but damn at least jump or try to take a charge
Well I’m going to change my opinion on one thing about the Knicks. I thought Felton was the Knicks 4th most important player. Turns out he’s easily the third most important player, Kidd and Prigs can’t run the Knicks offense whatsoever. Let’s all get ready for the ISO Melo and JR offense, Felton had the highest offensive +/- on the team, you don’t just make up for that magically…
I said a week ago that we would miss Felton on D more than on O. No one on this board said shit. We miss his penetration too.
does amare know how to set a pick??? the pick and roll cant even get started with him setting them
Felton’s defense isn’t much better than Kidd’s. The Knicks have had massive problems with penetrating guards all year long.
Not everyone lol
Agreed, but Kidd looked good in Phoenix and in SAC — both he and Chandler have taken a combined 4 shots and need to be more aggressive offensively. Amare needs to settle down and not aggressively call for the ball every offensive possession. How about just set a solid screen for someone else once, instead of slipping every single time, since you’re rusty?
Lillard would have eaten up Felton, as well.
how is that a foul on chandler???
That’s more like it!
Amar’e, dude, come on now.
what a horrid box out
JJ Hickson looks like freakin’ Bill Russell out there.
c’mon amare. that is exactly what we have been talking about. getting manhandled by hickson like you are novak
Man the articles after tonight’s game assuming the Knicks lose arent gonna be fun to read lol.
By the way, it is completely absurd that Sacramento cut Hickson.
look who us covering him
No one argued that Felton couldn’t penetrate or play D… most of us were saying he’s shooting too much — especially with bad hands.
Not looking forward to seeing what the Spurs will do to this Knicks defense on Thursday assuming they play everyone.
We need to get this to 12 somehow
I don’t care about the slow rotations or the rusty offense. If Amar’e isn’t going to pass then he is not helping this team much at all on either end of the floor. That was my worry the whole time, that Amar’e would be out to prove that he’s an awesome player rather than helping the team win.
Sure, people complained about Felton’s defense. He’s just better than Kidd.
The offense needs to be get the ball to Melo…and get the f out of the way.. getting real tired of hearing “blows past…” this half, “blows past Kidd”, “blows past Amare”…. grrr
kidd looked like he was standing in cement there…ugh
This.
We get this to 12 or 11, not bad given the general awfulness
A three would be yooge here.
Amazing!
How about 11 (;
HAHAHA…. THREEE!!!!!!!!M3LO!!!!!!!!! just feed that man!
By the way it is a joke that there is any discussion as to who’s the Knicks best player is. When Chandler plays like a DPOY candidate for more than a quarter a game it becomes a realistic argument again.
This is the first team that the Knicks have faced without Felton which isn’t trash by the way.
A victory would be yooge here. ;)
oh melo melo melo.
Melo deserves a raise.
well, that was a pretty play to end the half. well drawn up by woody
Amare get it together
The only people that really make that argument think that the % of time in which you do something is inarguably more important than the frequency with which you do it.
Gimme a break. A LOT better. Felton does not let guys blow by him at all.
Portland most likely wont make the playoffs yet their starting lineup is clearly better than most of the teams in the East. Thank God the Knicks arent in the West lol.
Yes he does. Check his synergy defense stats. They’re not pretty.
Felton is a roughly average defender, and a slightly above average offensive player. He just happens to have skills that no one else no the Knicks has, which makes him very important to this particular team. Kidd simply can’t go all out for the whole season, it’s just not realistic, and it seems like Chandler is having the same issue.
Woodson needs to leave Amare on the bench in the 2nd half, or maybe give him 5 minutes max. He’s not gonna help in this game at either end of the floor.
Kidd’s an excellent team defender, with his smart and really quick rotations, his ability to help down and bother big players and even on switches against bigger players. Felton is significantly better on ball defender against point guards. Not even close.
Kidd at pg magnifying all of his weaknesses, both on offense and defense.
Chandler’s efficiency and usage will go down without Felton.
I’m not disagreeing that they miss Felton, I just disagree that he makes a big difference on defense. As you noted, your concern was offense with regards to Felton.
No way. That would be a horrible move
BTW I dont buy the whole Chandler is saving himself half the time argument. Doesn’t seem like the guy has many other gears besides 5th. Sometimes he just hasn’t played as good D. Specifically position D where he can cut off the driving guard and stop the roll pass. That’s not half assing it. It’s being in the wrong spot. The Felton haters have some splaining to do.
Yeah, you can’t bench Amar’e.
agreed, Felton allows Kidd to stay fresh more than he does anything special on defense. He fights through screens pretty well and doesn’t get continuously blown by, but any point guard with a jumper and good penetration skills can light up the Knicks defense (as well as most defenses to be perfectly fair)
Yes, Kidd forces passes that cause TOs at PG, that he doesn’t at SG. For all his bull-headed faults (and he really needs to tone down the shooting), Felton’s assist to TO ratio has been amazing this season esp. for a player with such a high usage rate.
Part of the way Felton helps on defense is he allows Kidd to play shooting guards, where he is much more effective.
Shump is as critical to this defense as Chandler, imo .
Yeah, exactly. Lillard is going to light up most teams with his penetration. He’s really good.
Too early to be bustin’ on Amare, unless your name is Mike Woodson. This is his preseason. Give him a few games, please!
Not saying bench him per se, but just really limited minutes. Unless you’re willing to sacrifice a possible W to get him game experience.
Yep, Kidd at pg is forced to initiate plays, he can really only do that on limited basis effectively.
Disagree here actually, there are some moments where Chandler is just standing there on defense. That’s one of the biggest differences defensively between the Knicks in the first and second halves, just watch and see if the Blazers get a layup line late in the game
All it takes is that first basket.
Chandler is clearly saving himself, either for a long season or to make sure he avoids foul trouble. Nowhere near the level he’s capable of.
BTW, I’m a huge Amare fan, I just think tonight the matchups are really bad for him
I think it is fair to sacrifice a possible win to get him game experience. The Knicks are six games up on the second place team in the Atlantic, they can afford to work him into the picture since he is so important to their playoff chances.
Gotta see the forest, instead of the trees. In the long-run, Woody and Amare need to build up a mutual trust and by ripping into Amare as he did to end the half, that’s part of it. Amare just needs to tone down the EGO. The team needs his help most immediately, getting some blocked shots on help D and rebounding, not in jacking up shots. He’s instead come out on a mission to show he’s his old offensive dominant self -that’s what I hate most as Juany8 put it, he needs to pass and set screens to help others, not just get himself open.
I have no problem with woodson setting him straight, but most of those shots were open jumpers that he hit regularly two years ago. Not sure I’ll chalk those up to ego just yet
Chandler’s USG% the last 3 years: 14.2, 13.0, 14.8.
Chandler’s TS% the last 3 years: .697, .708, .708
It makes sense that without our main PnR point guard Chandler’s numbers will go down, but he’s been very steady the last few years.
I agree with the first part, but if you put Amar’e on a basketball court he’s going to do things he knows how to do.
Part of everything he is and isn’t doing is off-rhythm — that’s reading the defense, rotations, screens, angles, passing and of course shooting, dribbling and footwork.
The habits the Knicks will focus on changing come on the defensive end — outside of a few glaring mistakes, he made some very solid plays, including two good weakside blocks.
Habits are a depletable resource in that you can only change so much in a long time frame.
According to the Blazers broadcast tonight was first time this season Blazers scored 30 or more pts in the 1st quarter on the road.
Yeah, that’s definitely not a good stat.
I, of course, still think that the Knicks pull this one out. They’re just a better team than Portland. And Amar’e can’t miss every shot, right? Right?
That said, I also was absolutely positive that they were going to beat Sacramento, so I could be wrong with my gut feeling. :)
i dont have the Knicks feed. did woddy rip into amare before the half??
sure, there aren’t huge shifts, but even losing .50-75% on his ts% and 1-2 point on his usage makes a difference with his numbers.
It’s just common sense that lacking a penetrating guard will cause his numbers to go down. We’ve already seen it in the first 3 games post- Felton.
Camby starting 2nd half for Kurt. With this lineup Melo might have to shoot every time for the Knicks to score.
Knicks running out the D lineup here. Hmmm.
I take that back!! lol
this is a relly strange lineup. its like without a penetrating guard, woody has just said screw it with our offensive strategy and has just decided to go really big
He needs to play within his limitations. It’s the same bull-headed issue I have with Felton. If he’s just coming back from injury, slowly get yourself back in rhythm offensively and work your tail off on the boards and defensively. He needs to get in the flow, but coming off the injury he is being too aggressive. He needs to look to make a pass and set selfless screens. We’ll see how he comes out in the 2nd half, I’ll give him a pass for the 1st half.
Thats a good double, where the rotation is easy enough that the open player is cross court at an angle that a pass to him is impossible for Aldridge to make. That double earlier in the game which lead to Batum’s open 3 was awful.
funny thing is they are playing a zone.
Camby is still a very good basketball player, so long as he doesn’t try to do too much on offense and doesn’t get caught having to guard anyone outside of the paint.
Not many centers make the pass he just made to Chandler.
Camby’s getting some burn as a point center, heh.
Also, that Kidd pass to Melo is part of why I was so confident Melo would have such a ridiculously good year. Melo’s never had that before.
all good points, especially about the lazy screening
I used to love it when Ewing and Camby played together. Ditto Chandler and Camby.
Camby being back is such a huge boost for this team. Still a very nice player
This lineup, I like. Kidd-Smith-Melo-Camby-Chandler.
tyson got away with a travel there
Amar’e slips screens, rarely sets them. Always been the case.
think he got fouled first…in other news, kinda like camby and chandler together… they complement each other defensively
Is JR the second best “ridiculous” shot maker in the league? Kobe is number 1 easily, but who the hell else can consistently make those fadeaways?
Four fouls on Hickson.
that tip pass by melo…unreal
I love twin towers lineups.
Going with the big lineup worked out well. It’s 15-7 in this quarter and the layup line has gone away.
Tip to JR with the right, slap to Matthews’ face with the left.. impressive
That works when you have Steve Nash or even Felton, not so much with Prigs and Kidd. An underrated factor in Harden’s offensive dominance has been Asik’s ability to give him a gulf of space every time he sets a screen.
One twin tower lineup I hated was that stretch where Isiah started both Jerome James and Eddy Curry lol.
Makes you wonder why Camby didn’t get first half burn.
Batum has hit a couple of big 3pters this quarter.
Make that 3 big 3pters by Batum.
This.
amare follows up his 3 point gift to the blazers with his first points of the season. hoooray
FinallY!
That was more like twin warehouses.
Melo with some nice assists tonight.
I love Melo’s game, he Dirk and Kobe are just so awesome to watch with the ball in their hands. They can do anything you can possibly do with a basketball, I love it
Woodson went to Amare right after Hickson came out
The Twinkie Towers
what is stat doing on defense??? how does that even happen. its stuff that you learn in youth rec league. stay in front of your man. take away his strong hand, etc
Melo doing his best Stockton out there now
YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHOOT EVERY TIME YOU HAVE THE BALL AMAR’E!
I have a feeling Amare is going to be that pupil that keeps getting reprimanded for a good stretch of games this season (as it should be)
Anytime the Knicks seem to have momentum their defense lets them down.
Imagine if Melo got touch calls like that every once in awhile.
What amazing hustle by JR.
There’s some nasty from STAT.
Earlier today I tried to make the argument that Amar’e returning could help the Knicks’ defense.
I rescind that.
No communication by our bigs right now on D
I thought it couldn’t hurt… temporarily rescinding that.
I no longer expect every Novak 3pter to go in lol.
This also applies to Novak. He never fucking passes the ball once he gets it, biggest black hole in the league
What?
Easy there. I’m joking. Kind of.
Pass it like a hot potato? He’s on the floor to shoot it, even with the tiniest of windows. His passing doesn’t help matters much, because it’s always going to be a lateral or backwards pass against set defenders.
Not true at all. Usually if someone is anywhere near Novak he immediately gives it up. Only forces shots if its a play specifically for him when he comes off a screen. If spotting up he usually never forces a 3pter.
Dagger.
Agreed. Issue with him is that if he is not shooting at elite level from three, then he’s useless out there. Spacing only gets you so far.
Prigs to Amar’e!!
Fuck. I feel like that shot happens all the time to us.
yep
Cant stop Ronnie Price but then again who can.
I just don’t get how an athletic 6 foot 10 player can’t intimidate better
Just cant get a freaking stop on D.
Is it just me or does wesley matthews every time he drives in.
I know that’s why he’s the Knicks worst player by far. If you need to grind the offense to a halt every time someone is close to you, you are not a plus offensive player. If you’re also the worst defensive player in the league….
We are not winning this one folks. Just don’t feel it.
Melo is the only one that is competent on offense.
Defense is atrocious. Amare doesn’t have a clue (understandable, and hopefully temporary)..
Spurs might put up 120 on Thursday. Thats with their Big 3 sitting out lol.
…unless Melo or JR goes OFF and I mean OFF that is
Glad to Prigs is taking the wide-open 3s. Wish he would make them.
These refs are bullshit
As you can tell from my previous comment Im dreading Thursday lol.
Terrible call
Bullshit foul on Prigs.
I think we win relatively comfortably actually. Knicks usually start blowing away their opponents around this time, and Prigs is actually looking fairly nice overall today. I bet the layup line stops right now too for that matter
new rule: only Melo or JR gets to shoot.
Being down 10 with 7 mins left and you think the Knicks are gonna win this game comfortably?? I wanna have whatever you are drinking tonight :-)
LOL. Did you also just play the lottery?
I take back that rule.
My god…. what the fuck happened to the Knicks shooting? They’re getting good looks and totally blowing them
relatively comfortably being the operative word. I was thinking 4+ victory, which would have meant a +12 differential over the last 7 minutes. Did not expect everyone to forget how to shoot
you can tell JR, for all his faults, really works on his game. i believe he added that eurostep this offseason, because i dont remembr seeing it last year
Haha, you sound like you just woke up and started watching the game. The only person that’s made any shots tonight has been Melo.
Haven’t check last night’s twitter feed, but I fear that JR Smith was in charge of the Knicks’ NYE Social Calendar.
Chandler cannot block anyone out.
Yeah… in the past 3 games. I agree it’s common sense, but the past 3 years with a range of point guards Chandler’s efficiency and (for the most part) usage has been fairly constant.
They can definitely still win this, but they need to start making some stops and score (they seem to only be able to do one of the two).
Wow, the defense on that lost cut was soooo bad.
Maybe Woodson should hire a defensive coordinator.
The only person with confidence on offense is Melo right now…(and JR and Novak bricking)
Lol Novak doesn’t deserve a single minute of time unless there aren;t 10 other healthy players on the Knicks. Just a bad player, why the fuck is he playing?
If the Knicks hit even 1/3 of the wide the fuck open 3s they’re getting off of doubles on Melo, this is a totally different game.
The only way we win this is to start draining 3s, and getting turnovers, I don’t see either happening.
I’m surprised Portland hasn’t gone back to their starting five yet.
agreed.. copeland should get his minutes (or even Brew)
Exactly, it’s mind blowing to see how many easy shots the Knicks are missing right now. I miss Sheed….
Apparently, Clyde and Breen are seeing them… I’m not.
It’d also be nice if New Orleans could help the Knicks out. The Knicks would be tied in the loss column with Atlanta is the Knicks lose and Atlanta wins.
So after 3 days off was Chandler not playing hard tonight or did he jus suck?
You miss his 39% FG%??
I miss a player who has some offensive value and is a plus defender. Are we really still talking about a player’s efficiency as anywhere near a remote approximation of a player’s value?
The Clippers/Nuggets game looks like it’ll be a good’un.
To be fair you brought up Sheed, in the context of missing three point shots, Sheed is no Ray Allen this season.
Damnit Melo!
If there was ever a time to flop, that was it
This game isn’t over yet!
Haha true, I should have specified that I saw him taking Amar’es minutes this game, which would have helped IMO
Sheed cant shoot that good anymore. Hasnt been a good shooter since his Pistons days. I miss him cause he is fun to watch and he is useful on both ends of the floor but complaining about bad shooting then making it seem like Sheed would help fix that is a bit much.
odds chandler makes both of these? slim to none
GRRR…………
Like this old school mugging Knicks D!!
JR MOTHERFUCKING SMITH!!!!!
what a freakin unbelievable put back by jr there!!
I’m trying not to get my hopes up…
OOHHHHHHHHHHH, J. R. SMITH!!!!!!!!!
Another opponent collapsing at the end! I love it. There is something special about this year’s team!
Hear ya…Didn’t watch that Kings game in real time, but even on DVR and knowing the result, was still painful to watch.
I’ll admit, Sheed wouldn;t have helped the shooting. It was just a bad post on my part, I just miss Sheed in general more than his ability to shoot
Why would you ever leave Melo open? Hilarious!
Down the stretch, cant get a fucking stop on D.
Sigh. You just knew that was going in.
Lillard… fuck you!
Man, Damien Lillard. There are so many good, young PGs in the NBA right now. Why can’t we have any of them :(
Not gonna lie, the only thing I can think about right now is Woodson putting in Novak for 4 possessions for no reason and the Knicks suddenly giving up 5 points. That little substitution fucked over the Knicks chances of winning this
You can’t defend him in pnr, well anywhere really. If the big steps up he goes right by him.
How hilariously stupid was that?! Awesome!
Wow… they fouled.
Felton or, especially, Shump make a huge difference in this game… weak backcourt defense tonight.
He needs to make the FT…and then we need to not foul…5 second difference
god damnit Melo
There is a reason why two teams gave up on JJ Hickson. Basketball IQ is not his strong suit. Neither is coachability.
Was that for that TO Melo burned, or is that a good god dmannit melo?
Brewer comes in for defense… is Camby dead or something?
We need a PRIGs inbound steal
This game is crazy! 45 for Melo! Let’s get another stop!
Injury, re-aggravated the knee. This is what always seems to happen with him.
I’d guess it was the limp…
This game makes me wonder why they’ve run the pick and roll with Melo so little this reason. It’s freaking unstoppable, he can get anywhere he wants
Great ball denial on Lillard. Really amazing job by JR.
I like JR on Lillard, we should have done that much earlier in the game
this game means little in comparison to Melo missing a bunch of games.
Knicks are out of timeouts correct?? Might be smarter to foul and extend the game then instead of playing it out and having to rush up court to shoot a 3pter in a few seconds.
RighT?
Lillard had to pass the ball there.
Chandler was looking around..had no idea the ball was next to him
Nothing wrong with that shot.
Novak ran out of the corner the ball went to… awesome (like he grabs boards anyway)
Well on the plus side, I did have a feeling that Stat & Melo would combine for 50+ points tonight and I was totally right!
That’s where he hit the two against the Bulls.
pretty pathetic showing tonight. i think all can now admit that we miss felton.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. You have to be happy with that shot.
painful loss… you’d think we’d learn our lesson. Our defense SUCKS right now. Getting Amare back in the swing of things did not help. We cant rely on Melo scoring 40 for us to be in games. We haven’t played well in a while….in fact have we had a good quality win since the Miami blowout?
So Melo might have just had the best game in the NBA this season and the Knicks lost and JR might have had his best game of the season and the Knicks still lost? Maybe Novak shouldn’t get 20 minutes to demonstrate how crappy he is anymore….
3-5 in their last 8 games with the Spurs up next visiting on Thursday. Sweet.
This is more than just losing Felton, we haven’t really played well in a while now, even with the buzzer beaters and 4th quarter comebacks… they’re coming back to bite us in the ass now.
Sigh knicks need to start and end strong every game seems like there just fooling around in the first half then try to comeback in the second i guess we should give amar a couple of games to shake of the rust
Knicks still 18-6 with all of Felton-Melo-Chandler in the lineup right now. Felton being out crushes any chance the Knicks had of a top seed, but as long as they’re healthy they only really need the third seed anyways, which is still near a given at this point.
I really hope Woodson tinkers with the starting line-up- the Knicks are continually falling behind early. You can’t start both Brewer and KT.
In December our three best wins were against Minnesota, Brooklyn and the Nuggets (all teams that are exactly one game over .500). We’ve been playing like crap and getting away with it… we need to get back to the drawing board
Yup. Knicks are 2-5 in their last 7 games and really could be 0-7 since those wins took 4th quarter comebacks vs the Wolves and Suns. 3 of the losses were at home in games Knicks never sniffed the lead in the 4th quarter.
Not saying its doomsday or anything since no teams besides the Heat and Hawks are playing well in the East right now but it certainly is a concerning trend, granted injuries are a huge part of it but that was always a fear going into this season that injuries would be a factor. At least the schedule lightens up considerably this month which helps on the injury front.
with these poor starts, its obvious that the starting lineup needs to be changed. Kurt Thomas has absolutely no business starting on this team.
Here’s a preview of tonight’s grades: Melo-A ,Smith-A everyone else on the team F.
3 of those losses have come without Melo and one of them was against a much improved Lakers team. It is more than just losing Felton, it’s losing Melo Sheed and Camby for parts of that stretch too
Guys no team deals with this many injuries and still dominates. Miami’s been playing like crap recently too you know…
Check that the Rockets loss was 8 games ago. Point still stands though lol.
With Amare back, he may also want to consider starting JR. We fall behind then JR gets in the game, I’m really tired of watching that happen. JR can also bring the ball up and help out Kidd.
Kidd, JR, Brewer, Melo, Chandler should be the starting lineup until Ray and Shump come back. You still have Novak (sorta), Copeland and Amare coming off the bench for offensive firepower. Sheed would be a welcome addition as well.
Big difference, they have earned and deserve the benefit of the doubt since they are not only defending champs but 2X defending East champs. This Knicks team doesnt really deserve the benefit of the doubt where we dont really have to worry about them. Thats what a decade+ of mostly horrible basketball does to a fan base lol.
But your earlier point still stands, all the Knicks really need is a 2/3 seed and health come playoff time.
Chandler finished with an incomprehensible 1 defensive rebound in 34 minutes.
Aldridge had 7 offensive rebounds.
If you want to look at why the Knicks defense has slipped, talk about inability to guard pnr or quick pgs, but Chandler’s been absolutely atrocious at times.
Naturally, no one in the media and few on this board will talk about Chandler poor defense and rebounding, he is of course a better player than Patrick Ewing in his prime.
That offensive rebound and putback he allowed Aldrdge to get right over him was a huge play which preceded Lillard’s 3pter which seemed to have put the game away at the time.
These two things are similar. If Miami gets the benefit of the doubt for being the champs, doesn’t Chandler get the benefit of the doubt for his shitty defense? Does anyone seriously think he’ll play this bad in the playoffs?
This team is like Voltron except one of the lions is always out with a knee injury.
I’d place this one on the starting backcourt and the reserves not named Smith. I love kidd, but 0-5 with no trips to the line just aint enough. Prigs was just awful a minus 10 in 22 . Brewer is useless and I see no reason to let him play much less start when Shumpert gets back. Say whatever you want about Felton, he is light years better than Prigs. Copeland seemed to forget that he can drive, though I blame much of that on Prigs for not getting him the ball in position to score. Oh and does anyone know when Novak will be back? Whatever is keeping him out of the lineup has to heal soon right?
Knicks GM really should look at signing another PG who shown some ability run PNR. Of course one that can play some defense also.
I agree JR should start and Amare works his way to be the 6th man.
He was giving them up all night. Hickson, too. I mean, we’re not talking about Shaq here or anomalous long rebounds. Guys are moving him right underneath the basket on a pretty consistent basis.
Bite your tongue, sir.
I believe Chandler will play big again, but let’s remember how awful he was in last year’s playoffs, sick or not, and how he received almost none of the blame for the Knicks loss.
I’m a big Chandler fan, but he’s been pretty bad all year defensively, and this team simply cannot be elite if he plays like this.
Watching the Clippers-Nuggets game, you would not think the Clippers had just won a ton of games in a row. Still not remotely sold on them as a team, something about them just screams unsustainable to me, even though I can’t quite say what it is.
I always hated the kid with the glasses who rode one of the lions (green one I think??).
they’re playing on a b2b in Denver, This is what’s happened there for decades.
They are clearly the best team in the league to me, especially with all of their guys.
I’m not that upset with this one, working a guy back in is always awkward.
I agree that he receives almost no blame for his shitty play, but fan blame has very little to do with reality. As long as he plays like he should in the playoffs, this team can have an elite defense. Shump will help a ton too.
Yeah me too. Pidge I think his name was. Guess which Knick he would be.
Also might have been nice to get Camby more than 9 minutes given how much the Knicks were struggling on the boards.
Are Barnes and Crawford really going to play this good in the playoffs though? Does their depth help them much when teams like the Lakers are playing their main guys huge minutes? Dunno I suppose we’ll see, I wasn’t remotely sold on the Spurs either, 20+ win streak or not, and that worked out alright for me lol
I agree, I was just pointing out that chandler is one of those all of the credit none of the blame kind of dudes.
Kinda like the Knicks in November?? :-)
they have everything a team could have plus the best last 6 minute player in the NBA.
that Chauncey Billups guy is pretty good, too, and should reduce Butler and Green’s minutes some, the two worst rotation players.
their top 4 isn’t as good as the Lakers or thunder top 4, but their top 9 is much better.
Has Grant Hill even returned yet??
18-6 with Melo Felton and Chandler. Going to keep saying it as long as it remains true. Let’s see how the Clippers handle Chris Paul missing a bunch of games….
Speaking of which, the last time a team with a top 3 point differential won the title was the 09 Lakers team. In that same span, only 1 team with the top differential in the league has made the Finals. This Clippers streak doesn’t mean shit.
The defense will get better. I’m not concerned at all. The Knicks should start doing some real damage the next month or so.
whoa, 300+ posts, I will try to read that later.
Kidd has turned back into early-career ason, Novak is worthless when he can’t get space (if you’re going to put him in, run the occasional play for him to get an open look), Chandler got abused over and over for big loose balls and rebounds (he had 1 defensive rebound! 1! let’s see how his grade inflation looks later), Amar’e is still horrendous as a defensive 5, amazing we even got a look to tie. San Antonio is going to be ugly, hurry back Shump and Felton.
Interestingly, the Mavericks only had a 4.2 point differential for the season the year they won the ring. That team also had a fascinating ability to make up big leads late in games, even late in the playoffs. After they lost Tyson Chandler, they actually improved in defensive efficiency the next year. If these Knicks are the next coming of that Mavs team (signs are all there) then they are right on schedule, right down to the Mavs horrible record with Dirk out of the lineup.
I think a healthy Knicks team has a good chance of beating any team in the playoffs.
heh, just for the record, I posted before seeing this. just for starters, there were two plays in the first four minutes, both times Chandler got beaten to what should have been an easy defensive board, Portland got a second chance, three pointers both times, six points to take it from 6-2 to 12-4.
I’m not exactly criticizing, I kind of like that Chandler is pacing himself a bit but so far this season, he is very far from the top 10 player in the league that people claimed recently.
I was going to bring up the comeback thing at some point. That Mavs team was incredible. Pretty uncanny so far, how many huge deficits have the Knicks made up this year?
I’ve gotten over the grade inflation and blame game, arguing against WP was fun for a while but it’s getting way too repetitive and easy to do. Not looking forward to these next couple of weeks without Felton.
Incredibly, the Knicks have only lost by more than 10 points 2 times this season, both against the rockets. If tonight’s Clippers-Nuggets score sticks, the Clippers will have the same amount. Miami’s gotten blown out by 15+ twice by the Knicks alone. Pretty good sign that the Knicks are in almost every game, they’ve been doing terrible on holidays though lol (lost on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years so far, did win on Halloween though)
Never mind the Knicks didn’t play on Halloween lol, they just need to avoid playing holidays… (I am joking, but doesn’t this particular Knicks team seem like they’d party a little too hard on big events?)
Yeah, Chandler sucked on the defensive glass. Then again he did have 6 offensive rebounds. Stat had 1 rebound in 17 minutes. Which one is better?
And again, stop talking about big Pat. Knicks fans do that. What the fuck do you know about Ewing? You were a Nuggets fan until we traded for your binky. Pat was awesome, a true warrior, but he had his flaws too, which you’d know about if you were actually a Knicks fan.