2012 Game Thread: Knicks v. Bobcats
April 26th, 2012 by Robert Silverman | @BobSaietta | Comments | Permalink |
Have at it!
Hey, did you know that in addition to banging the keys here and occasionally for the NY Times, Robert is a playwright, an actor and a wand'ring mendicant/gadfly? He also once wrestled a bear...and lost.
Why is Shumpert playing? doesn’t he keep messing up his ankle? GRRRRR
Philly may have a hard time losing to Detroit…this should get interesting =)
Man, can’t believe this is on TNT….
I can’t believe we have 2 MSG stations and neither has the game on. I don’t like missing Clyde.
Stat looking beastly today, even passing well.
man…philly is 5-17 from the field against the all world defense of the Pistons..down 9 in the 1st quarter….#tankhard
6ers definitely tanking, so we might as well win.
One thing our fellow box score watchers will miss tonight is Amar’e working almost exclusively from the left side. Can someone tell me why that’s important?
I think channel 9 (My 9) has the MSG feed.
Didn’t notice, and don’t know why. Do you?
Amare getting a good scrimmage session in so far.
Ruru – is that because Melo will be working from the right side?
Hi Jerome! :)
Doug Collins, end of 1st quarter: “good job guys, just like that, keep it up!” Evan “I would rather lose to the Bulls than the Heat” Turner has yet to score a point.
In other news….Amare getting his legs out there. If he can be competent on that mid range jumper he’s dangerous, if he’s just a PnR finisher that won’t cut it against MIA
Tell us more Mr. Science!
Ahh, thanks. Never thought of that channel. What is this, 1983?
JR injured. This is why you don’t play anybody.
Um….sixers down 25. The bulls are going to kill the sixers for that insult. The world will get NYK vs MIA in South Beach on Sat.
I don’t think we can feel any pressure in that series, we win that first game and MIA may just crumble.
And here we go. JR with a twisted ankle on the drive. Why we should be playing Bibby/Douglas/Jordon/Jorts.
Smith limping. There you have why I was so adamant about playing all the scrubs. Meaningless goddamn game. Shump should also not have started.
JR’s back. boom.
JR’s ankle lookin’ real tender out there..
With the skyhook!
He’s fine…does that guy ever get injured. His body is built to last
Smith = Gamer
I like how JR dunked in Fields’ face on that 2 on none :)
Jerome Jordan — Tyson Chandler with a jump shot?
I don’t care how bad the bobcats are. How is Jerome Jordan not our backup center?
Here is your random tanking fact of the day, pointed out by B-Pro….
Minnesota, which I thought was tanking like the rest, doesn’t have it’s first round pick.
The LA Clippers have it, which is pretty nice for them….
Yeah, Jordan looking solid. Although, a catch and finish on that feed would have been nice. Seemed like a pretty simple play….
Didn’t the clippers trade it to the hornets in the Paul deal?
You imagine if this is another one of these Lin scenarios?
Hey looks legit to me.
Orlando down 20 to the Grizzlesticks….DAMN YOU ROBERT RANDOLPH! We may live to regret that cleveland game. We gave away a possible real path to the finals. I’m NOT happy right now
I think we’ll see Chandler before Gadzuric in the playoffs…that’s for sure
meant Jerome Jordan clearly!
you’re kind of an eternal pessimist aren’t you? You thought someone else was going to beat the Heat for us on the way to the finals?
Did they ship the pick off to the Hornets? Either way, the Wolves aren’t tanking….
“you’re kind of an eternal pessimist aren’t you?”
I believe that honor belongs to me….
touche
LMAO…Charles can’t spell Truuf…as in Paul Pierce
J Jordan’s skills have obviously developed a lot. 7’6” wingspan and good athlete— always very good to almost elite physical tools for center.
DIdn’t play basketball until he was 17.
Biggest question marks in the past have been motor and passion. And you need a huge sample size to draw any reasonable conclusion.
Read: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jerome-Jordan-5160/
I think amare tends to go to the right most often, so if he is working mostly from the left he’s playing this game like a practice and expanding his repertoire.
How’d I do, Ruru?
Loss to the cavs was huge, fuck. Oh well does it matter if u lose in the 2nd round or 1st round? You have to beat everyone to win the championship.
Or amare is working the left because Melo tends to like to attack from the right…
holy shit if you aren’t watching the rangers game, you ought to be.
Pretty impressive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ox4X1ccc9s&feature=related
Eddy Curry playing! SOMEHOW HAS MADE IT THROUGh 15 MINUTES. Wizards gonna beat the Heat twice!
Yeah and I think a coach finally started recognizing that.
Amar’e's career numbers are pretty even from both sides. I think we’ll start to see offensive sets where they both come off action on each side, Baron quarterbacking.
If it it’s not there with Amar’e you have side pick and roll with Shump/JR/Fields and Amar’e. If it’s not there with Melo you have high low with Chandler out of the middle and Melo posting up.
I can’t wait to see what Woodson draws up.
Kevin Pelton on the Knicks. He basically reverse engineered the Mavericks last year to try to understand how they were so good, than applied that method going forward. Basically a momentum approach, building on recent success, and then factoring in a tighter playoff rotation. Not really what I wanted to hear.
“I figured the Knicks would improve much more by this method than they did, given how massively different their rotation is now than at the start of the season. However, long minutes for Amar’e Stoudemire could work against them. New York would also do well to excise Mike Bibby from the rotation.”
Other interesting tidbits, the Sixers have the second worst deficit between wins and efficiency differential since 1980.
And he thinks Denver might be favorites against the Lakers, although not having Artest around might help the Lakers…
BTW, some one needs to bet Owen on Lakers Nuggets. Nuggets look a lot better on SRS.
It will be interesting to see what the odds are. I think it will be a pretty good bet if the Lakers are heavy favorites….
I’m stunned he hasn’t spontaneously combusted into a mass of butter.
Bibby can’t make a shot, but he plays within himself and doesn’t make boneheaded Baron plays.
co-sign…important against MIA
they’d be heavy favorites for good reason…I don’t even think it will be a close series
I tend to think his shot is in there somewhere. And I agree with you guys big time.. Davis can only play maybe 20 effective minutes if you’re lucky. You need as many ballhandlers on the floor against the HEat as possible.
Very impressive….good feet
It will be a very fun test case to observe. I want to root for the Nuggets, but I want Owen to be wrong very badly. Win/win, lose/lose I don’t know.
I don’t sports bet. What odds will the Nuggets get?
I can see the Lakers are 10-1 to win it all and the Nuggets are 60-1. So, the maybe 3-1 for lakers-Nuggets?
I think they’re the danger team in the playoffs.
No one knows what to expect.
And they have been a dominant teams down the stretch.
Giants….Rangers………………………………….Knicks?
The fluidity of his offensive movement is extremely impressive, especially above the waist in setting up his shot movement. His release is decent, too.
You can’t sniff his shot. I mean, the more I watch and learn, wow, he could be a star actually.
I don’t care how high Amare’s ts% is. His lack of effort on the boards and on defense is making me dislike him.
God, what was I doing watching this game….
Bulls rested Brian Scallabrine tonight.
HARRELSONANITY
Kemba kinda sucks, glad to have Iman much more than Kemba. Kemba’s only strength is scoring and he doesn’t even do that all that well.
I’m pretty agnostic right now because to me, the playoffs can be the most difficult thing to predict.
Obviously the Knicks are a lot better than its record, a future top 4 seed without a doubt. Next year this might be the ECF.
But, it will come down to how players respond to each other and how they react to their strengths being taken away. Momentum is always huge in terms of what you can take advantage of over and over, and how you’re able to adapt when the other team is killing you in a certain area.
The really good playoff teams always expose your weakness and pick away until you’ve lost all confidence and belief — it can absolutely savage, something you see with predators in nature. I don’t think the Heat have that killer instinct, but maybe I’m wrong. They had it with Lin.
He was different in those 6-7 games after MDA. It’s there, bad habits are extremely hard to break.
Oh Shit……I just thought of this. Who is doing the writeup tonight? I suggest we SIT Jim and Robert, just incase someone tweaks a hammy or otherwise comes up lame.
The real question is will we ever see them in the same recap? Can they mesh?
OMG AMARE
Wow, Amar’e. He needed that!!! THat’s a great sign.
I meant path to the conference finals. Not saying that the Pacers would be a daisy…but we have a much better chance of winning that series than Mia. Perhaps Dwade breaks down in the first round, and all of a sudden we have a 100% complete team with Lin starting at point with baron back off the bench. Nothing is guaranteed…but not seizing the chance at 6 was really, really stupid. That has nothing to do with pessimism…I’m the only person that sees this???
lol amare sick. don’t throw out your back now.
Woodson is going to sit him now, right?
They need more reps together in practice first
Just teasing b/c of your name…. but that train has sailed. No point in thinking about that now — we have the Heat.
Paul Silas being interviewed is like the saddest song, played on the ugliest guitar.
I think if they did the same recap together, we’d see one dominate and one play second fiddle. it’s like evolution.
There’s only one black mamba
I’m not sure how Denver can guard Bynum/Gasol, one would seem to have a huge advantage on almost every possession.
Umm…just caught up to that dunk on DVR. I think he’s healthy guys!
before somebody asks me what that means….I have no friggen idea what it means.
Javale MacGee going at it again tonight. He looks like a really,really good player on a solid team.
He, Faried and Lawson fun to watch.
I know, i know…i was hoping the magic would win tonight so i wouldnt be sick about it. And we “may” regret it…anything can happen in the playoffs…i truly believe we’re better than our record and seed. Plus we have the pseudo-homecourt advantage in miami! With the Rangers winning maybe this season becomes a ’94/’99 hybrid!!
I agree. They’re both extremely high usage.
“a future top 4 seed without a doubt.”
Atlanta with Horford will definitely give us a run for the money.
Are the Sixers even trying? Maybe they think they have a better chance against Chicago…
Well, that’s for sure. Faried is awful and MacGee is going to struggle one-on-one against skill.
The biggest question for LA is how disciplined they are with pace and feeding those guys. If Kobe starts doing too much Kobe they’ll lose a couple of games.
Denver cannot win a slow-paced game.
Yeah. That’s four teams though. Unless you see Boston going back to 55+ wins.
Did Clyde just say he never went to class in college?
How much cap room could Boston free up from KG/Ray Allen? Rondo and a declining Pierce is still pretty nice to build from.
the city of NY needs to get together and figure out how to keep JR and Novak both here next year. what if Bloomberg puts them into an ad campaign for NYC tourism as “The Odd Couple”?
(yes, I’m 600 pages into The Power Broker currently)
no doubt. Bradley is legit,too, might be better than Bowen in his prime.
“That train has sailed”? I am definitely gonna use that.
“I’m not sure how Denver can guard Bynum/Gasol, one would seem to have a huge advantage on almost every possession.”
Yeah, but the Lakers may have trouble with Miller and Lawson. Although Sessions could be a crucial upgrade there. Gallo showing signs of life too…..
i think it will be an amazing series…
if Kobe allows them to shoot
haha. Nice. For NYC, 5-6 million would be a drop in the bucket. hard to make that look good though.
Start the campaign abbey.
(yes, I’m 600 pages into The Power Broker currently)
That’s a good book…..
Well, don’t see why Orlando won’t still be in the mix if Howard is fully healthy….
Lawson can beat anyone in the NBA in semi-transition, but the teams that can slow him down protect the rim. Length is what slows him down.
Gallo will make some shots but won’t really be a factor. I’ll be interested to see how much time Miller and Harrington get if the half-court issues start getting exposed.
I’m really starting to like the look of Shump’s J.
Fixed.
Bibby has looked good tonight with his vision, controlled pace and PnR play…granted this is against ZERO defensive pressure….but still nice to see
So sad if we don’t get to watch Shump/JR the next few years.
I don’t trust Orlando’s organization to use their money intelligently around Howard, and they’re just going to go through this same debacle next season as he waffles on whether to stay or go. Plus, as we’ve seen with Amar’e and Davis, you don’t necessarily just come back as strong as before right off the bat from back injuries, let alone surgery.
Where is Shump going?
Besides through the troposphere with that alley-oop slamma-jamma.
Hahn tweeting that we’ll play the Heat Sat., probably 3:30 PM. I would guess a game 2 Monday and game 3 in NY Wed. or Thurs.?
Also, the Heat are anticipating a record 75% of seats will be filled by tipoff.
you mean Novak/JR right? Think we lose them both unfortunately…JR esp hurts
I noticed that right after i replied, lol…i figured i’d leave that layup to one of you guys
Took me a while to figure that out. Anderson’s ts% cratered all the way to 54.7 without Howard.
Which reminds me. With a post All Star break ts% of 54.6, Carmelo just narrowly missed that 60% target you set for him by a whisker….
James Harden clocked in at 67.7% post All-Star break.
It was close though!
Ok, Lakers in 6.
What would you offer me if days of posting at Knickerblogger are the stake?
5-1?
Am I the only one that’s watched Austin Powers?
Just theoretically of course….
How about if you lose, you admit to intellectual dishonesty and extreme bias in your interpretation of statistics, as well consistent contradictions in arguments??
If I lose, what?
I say the Knicks-Heat series goes longer than the Lakers-Nuggets series.
If Denver wins, you tell us the true story about why you’re so pro-melo?
Already happened.
Tough to structure a good bet here….
If the Lakers win I will join Carmelo Anthony’s official fan club and will publicly acknowledge anything I have been wrong about, statistically speaking. (you’ll have to remind me what those things are though)
http://www.thisismelo.com/
And if you lose you have to buy a copy of Dean Oliver’s Basketball on Paper and a year long subscription to Basketball prospectus?
How does that sound?
How about no Melo posts until the all-star break next year?
Haha, deal.
One of my favorite books! Been meaning to start his Lyndon Johnson series, but haven’t had the time to commit to such a monumental undertaking.
Wait Owen, you actually think the Nuggets will beat the Lakers?? Seriously?? I thought you were predicting them to win 2 or 3 games but actually win the series??
I will say this you got some cojones I guess lol
Congrats to the all-knowing THCJ for winning the pre-season W-L pool @ 36-30. Not that he didn’t bail during the early losing streaks :)
This should happen regardless lol
I mean, I feel like I got good value there.
I don’t actually think the Nuggets are a favorite personally. But I do think they have a very strong chance at pulling an upset.
I see this as about a 3-1 proposition for me. Obviously, being an official member of Melo’s fan club will kill me. But I think it’s worth it for the chance that Ruruland might actually have to learn something about advanced statistics.
“Congrats to the all-knowing THCJ for winning the pre-season W-L pool @ 36-30. Not that he didn’t bail during the early losing streaks :)”
Where’s the link for that thread? Want to see if I posted a prediction….
Interesting tweet I just read, Knicks projected starting lineup for Game 1 have started exactly ONCE together this season.
And the irony of Ruruland having to root against his former home team in this series, also sweet….
At least it’s a win-win for him too….
Yeah, jeez, Owen, betting on Denver winning the series? I imagine they’ll do well enough against the Lakers, but betting on them winning seems a bit much.
By the way, I really really really don’t get why Jordan gets absolutely zero burn from either D’Antoni or Woodson.
On a personal note, my Beacon Town Beavers are fantasy basketball champions!!
Next season he becomes part of the rotation??
Congrats, Al!
You’d certainly hope so, right?
Sixers looked horrible. Tryin’ to figure out if they were tanking — can’t tell the last month or so what they are about. I think they are 0 and 4 here real soon. . . . . .
Miami’s bench looked horrible tonight, but that probably doesn’t mean much.
Maybe, but they will both be longer than Bulls/Sixers!
Ugh, I am so dumb. I forgot that the Knicks were 16-9 last season. Okay, this is the last time they’ve finished a season 6 games over .500 since 2001.
Howzabout the discreet charm of making MJ squirm after all the years of being on the wrong end of that S&M show? He earned it himself, of course, but nice that our guys got to deliver the coup de grace.
Nice. I won in 2 of my 3 leagues. The one loser had melo on it.
By the way…did Toney just get a DNP against the Bobcats?? Is he hurt or just too valuable to risk to injury…j/k
For some reason I was very happy that he shot just well enough tonight to get his FG% for the season up to .400. He’s actually looked better shooting from outside than taking it to the rim as of late- he’ll certainly need to hit some jumpers against Miami.
Just 1 team for me, a 12-team league. Best part was my first pick was Dwight Howard who didnt play in my 2 playoff games lol
Man, I picked 39 wins. Darnit.
Even when the Lakers were winning their championships they had a tendency to take first round opponents a bit easily so I wouldn’t be surprised to see LAL-DEN go 6-7 games, but I don’t see how the Nuggets win unless they shoot a ridiculous percentage or Kobe is seriously injured. How on earth are McGee and Faried going to guard Bynum and Gasol?
Yeah, six or seven games i could easily see. But I don’t see them winning it.
Then again, I guess if I could easily see six or seven then it really is not a big leap from that to them winning. They really needed that win tonight as they’d have no shot against OKC.
Believe I read that he was out along with Melo and Chandler. Dunno why.
Kobe’s done a great job guarding them half the season.
I think they can go all the way if they play through them, but that’s up to Kobe.
It’s the kind of moral hazard I signed up for when this all started going rotten in ’10.
http://knickerblogger.net/knicks-106-celtics-104-wait-what/
Owen, another good thread from preseason…
http://knickerblogger.net/knickerblogger-2012-overunder/
Owen said this: “I think the long wait for a decent team is over and it feels really good, even if watching Melo and Amare is part of the package. I don’t think in my entire Knickerblogger career we have ever gone into a season expecting a winning record. That’s the kind of change I can get behind.”
When did this change?
I read the first two a long time ago, but haven’t read the latest two. I’m surprised no one’s ever published an edition of The Power Broker with the 300 pages that the editor cut and that Caro insists is key, 1200 pages for 60 years of NYC/NY State history isn’t really that much.
Probably when the reality of three more years of purgatory sunk in. And seeing Gallo get off to that scintillating start with Lawson was rough.
I think I predicted about a 50 win team though, prorated like 38 maybe. Not sure what i put in the questionnaire but I think that’s right.
The arrival of the worlds biggest Melo fan also sparked a nerve…
Thcj- congrats on the accurate prediction. That was a very funny preview post and generally spot on, although chandler delivered the goods.
Shump overperformed the expectations of most (not as bad of a shooter since ASB); Linsanity and Novakaine were unexpected bonuses. Fields (mild) and TD (huge) were by far the biggest disappointments. JJ exceeded expectations. BD has disappointed but looks servicable going into the playoffs.
The great news is that we have been 18-6 vs. a tougher part of the schedule since we got rid of the albatross coach, and have been playing excellent all-around ball going into the playoffs. Owen, if you put your disdain for Melo and Amare aside, it’s been very promising since the coaching change.
I don’t disdain amare, I just don’t think he is that good.
The Knicks have played great since the coaching change, no question. I t would be nice if they could have played their way into the 6th seed though by winning a few more games along the way…