Comments on: Knicks Morning News (Monday, Jun 18 2012)

By: ruruland

ruruland — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:02:30 +0000

Frank O.:
Beck had a good off the dribble this morning quoting Phil Jackson in “Real Sports” on HBO.
Jackson said he wouldn’t want to coach the Knicks, which kind of provides support the the Knicks, who didn’t seek to sign him.
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on OKC, I think Westbrook has forgotten, again, who the best player on that team is. Going 8-18 and Harden 2-10 is terrible. Can’t win that way.

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By: johnlocke

johnlocke — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:24:19 +0000

Game lost in the 3rd quarter, when Thunder looked like they were about to blow out the Heat, then Westbrook had 5 or 6 horrible offensive possessions in a row, which all led to transition buckets for Miami. Something like brick, brick, turnover, brick, brick…. with very few passes in btw. Harden’s stock has also been declining in this series — he is an excellent player, but not so sure he’s a MAX contract 2 guard just yet. His defense needs to get better and he needs to work on his in between game a bit more…it’s either shoot a 3 or try to get all the way to the basket and get fouled — now that his shot is off, the Heat can just sag off him into the paint daring him to take the midrange. Still think OKC will win the series, but my OKC in 6 prediction not looking so hot right now.

By: Frank O.

Frank O. — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:26:33 +0000

Beck had a good off the dribble this morning quoting Phil Jackson in “Real Sports” on HBO.
Jackson said he wouldn’t want to coach the Knicks, which kind of provides support the the Knicks, who didn’t seek to sign him. He also said that Amare needs a certain system to succeed and that he and Melo are not a good match. He also said Melo needs to be a better player, a better passer, and the ball can’t stop every time it touches his hands.
All of this confirms what most people can see with their own eyes, except for a few of the Melo lovers here. I thought Melo could be that guy, but as time has worn on I’ve become less sanguine, to say the least.
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on OKC, I think Westbrook has forgotten, again, who the best player on that team is. Going 8-18 and Harden 2-10 is terrible. Can’t win that way.

By: thenamestsam

thenamestsam — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 14:17:07 +0000

Last night was the worst game of the series so far, and also the first one that fundamentally altered my perception of the series. I picked OKC in 6 before the series because I didn’t think Miami would be able to slow them enough to win any games where they weren’t shooting well, and they’re not a good enough shooting team to win a series that way. Winning a game in which they shot absolutely horribly on jumpers was a major victory for Miami last night, and while I still like OKC’s chances game 4 is now a very important game for them.

Whether it was age, or experience, or lack of a true PG, or bad coaching, OKC played with a critical lack of poise down the stretch of that game. They were threatening to pull away in the 3rd quarter, then Durant picked up a silly foul biting on a DWade pump fake (very soft, but once you get up in the air on the pump fake NBA refs get you every time). Westbrook forced a few plays and Brooks compounded the issue by benching Westbrook, they fouled on those 2 3s consecutively, and Miami was able to reclaim the lead going to the 4th. That was a huge swing in the game, and OKC was never able to reclaim the upper hand.

I think Brooks has been pretty great in this playoffs, but he’s having a rough series. He needs to get Durant off Lebron and find a way to keep him out of trouble. But on top of that his rotations are just weird right now and looking at the minutes distribution highlights that. 34 minutes for Perk vs. only 22 for Ibaka and 13 for Collison. The Ibaka number in particular is shocking to me. The Heat are killing their pick and rolls by trapping, and Ibaka is their only big capable of hitting jumpers and going to the hoop, plus his shot blocking was sorely missed in a game where the Heat could only score in the paint. And 27 minutes for Fisher vs. only 28 for Thabo and only 34 for Harden. Fish has done some good things in this series, but Thabo and Harden have to play more.