Knicks Morning News (Saturday, Jan 14 2012)
January 14th, 2012 by Mike Kurylo | @KnickerBlogger | Comments | Permalink |
The Nets have been only sporadically competitive under Mikhail D. Prokhorov, who said his candidacy for president of Russia did not diminish his interest in the team.
The Knicks’ offense has sputtered through 11 games, even with a healthy Carmelo Anthony, because of too many new faces, too little practice time and the absence of a true point guard.
Derrick Rose returned from a one-game absence to score 25 points and help the Chicago Bulls hold off a second-half charge and beat the Celtics, 88-79, in Boston on Friday night.
Ty Lawson returned from a sprained right foot to score 24 points, and the Denver Nuggets sent the Miami Heat to their third straight loss with a 117-104 victory on Friday night.
Kobe Bryant scored 42 points in his third straight 40-point performance, and the Los Angeles Lakers blew a big early lead before hanging on for their fifth straight victory, 97-92 over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.
Derrick Rose, who took last season’s Most Valuable Player award, returned to the Chicago line-up on Friday and paced the league leading Bulls to an 88-79 victory over the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden.
Deron Williams had 35 points, his most since coming to New Jersey at last season’s trade deadline, as well as 14 assists and the Nets held off the short-handed Phoenix Suns 110-103 Friday night for just their third victory in 12 games this season.
Tony Parker scored 20 points to help the San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers 99-83 on Friday night and stay unbeaten at home.
Derrick Rose returned from a one-game absence to score 25 points and help the Chicago Bulls hold off a second-half charge to beat the Boston Celtics 88-79 on Friday night.
Dirk Nowitzki went over 23,000 career points, Vince Carter had his highest-scoring game in Dallas and the Mavericks stretched their winning streak to four games with a 102-76 victory over Milwaukee on Friday night.
Kevin Love scored 34 points, Ricky Rubio hit the tiebreaking free throws in his first career start, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the New Orleans Hornets 87-80 on Friday night.
Kyle Lowry’s 25 points led five double-digit scorers and the Houston Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings 103-89 on Friday night.
Tyler Hansbrough made two key free throws with less than 15 seconds to play and the Indiana Pacers overcame the ejection of leading scorer Danny Granger to beat the Toronto Raptors 95-90 on Friday night.
Jonas Jerebko tied a career high with 22 points and the Detroit Pistons won the race to three victories Friday night against the Charlotte Bobcats, 98-81.
Fouling Dwight Howard did not work out for the Warriors on Thursday night, but Monta Ellis and Nate Robinson offer an impressively balanced attack on offense.
In a season with just one triple-double so far, Jason Kidd’s absence from the court is conspicuous. The star guard talks about the accomplishment he has helped to define.
OKLAHOMA CITY â?? Mike D’Antoni said he could not care less about Charles Barkley’s TNT rant against him. The rotund broadcaster blamed D’Antoni’s easy coaching style for rookie point guard Iman Shumpert’s out-of-control game Thursday in Memphis.
Shumpert shot 3 of 15 in the first half…
OKLAHOMA CITY â?? With injured Carmelo Anthony expected to miss tonight’s game against Oklahoma City and possibly Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee, the Knicks have a chance to return to the tenets of coach Mike D’Antoni’s ball-moving, up tempo offense.
And Amar’e Stoudemire, who…
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).
Every time I see Ty Lawson play, I think about the 2009 draft and I get sick to my core.
A lot of teams missed out on Lawson. Imagine him on the Sixers squad. Jrue Holiday is no slouch, but Lawson would have made that team. On our end, there were no less than 10 guys (maybe more) that the Knicks should have grabbed before Hill.
In other news, another ex-Knick is going to be playing for the Warriors. Alex Kennedy tweeted that Earl Barron is going to be signed. Seeing that Kwame is out for 3 months, they are thin up front.
The Jersey/Brooklyn thing is kind of sad. I by no means love Brook Lopez, but Favors was a great compliment. Now it looks like D12 will either go to the Lakers or stay put which is bad news for the Nets. I’m guessing they won’t trade Deron at the deadline. I hope they have a backup plan to Dwight…..
[New York Times] N.B.A. Roundup: Bulls Hold Off the Celtics (Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:10:12 GMT)
Derrick Rose returned from a one-game absence to score 25 points and help the Chicago Bulls hold off a second-half charge and beat the Celtics, 88-79, in Boston on Friday night.
… one game absences might be a good thing for veterans like stat, melo, bd, etc … i would play the rooks on regular nights (to make them better in the long run) and the veteran stars against the top teams like the celts
deron williams was probably a better trade (or sign/whatever it was) – to play with stat – than melo. since stat doesnt play d or box out he needs to sub with melo or play as the two/three and harrelson/jordan/balkman as the four
Incredible number of quality PG’s in that draft taken after Hill – Jennings (although not a big fan) Holliday, Lawson, Teague (who’s having a breakout season). The only thing you have to keep in mind is that we probably would have had to include any of them in the cap clearing deal with Houston. Might have been more painful to watch them succeed if they had actually been on our roster for a while!
That damn ballstopper Kobe took almost half his team’s shots and had 6 turnovers. Man does he suck. (Oh, and the Lakers won)
“They wanted me in crutches but it was messing my swag up,’’ said Anthony.
Good to know that his priorities off the court are similarly in order.
i think the knicks will do fairly well tonight without anthony. not sure what that says about anthony either
The Nets must have started running the flex offense last night, Williams killed it.
flex offense: seems simple enough, y the knicks don’t run it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqsDeZTFVjE
My unsubstantiated guess? Hubris. Coaches are even worse than fans (cough cough jon abbey) when it comes to the “Well, maybe he’ll be awesome in this system/under this coaching staff/with these players” mindset.
What about Zbo (and Crawford)? Really, I’m asking. Didn’t they look good in a good system finally or were they essentially the same player different, better, place?
Dalembert has a reputation as a terrible locker room guy. That could be why it took so long for him to sign somewhere. But honestly the guy is one of the better active centers, which says something about the state of centers in the NBA, but also means their really should have been more of a demand for his services even if he is a jerk.
Really? He seems like a really nice guy. He even won the citizenship award. Can’t see how a league that rewards sociopathic behavior with $100 contracts would suddenly turn on the philanthropic-driven Sam Dalembert…
He’s never in a 10 year career had a TS% within 60 points of what he has now. His eFG and WS48 are also much higher than they ever have been. He’s also cut down on turnovers. Maybe it’s helping that his usage is down?
No Melo tonight. YES!!! Now the knicks get move the ball around like everyone wants and end up losing by 20. Heh so who has got the under on that??
No one here is denying Melo’s ability to score or claiming that replacing him in the lineup with Bill Walker is a good thing. It’s that the posters who are critical of him think he could be so much better when he’s moving the ball and scoring w/in a motion offense as opposed to ISO sets (and he has, in flashes, shown the ability to do just that this season).
Of course there will be times when Melo going ISO is the only option the Knicks have — the fact that he is so effective in ISO is a great weapon — but it should be a weapon of last resort.
The Thunder are 10-2 but they havent exactly been blowing teams out. Knicks will lose but it will be by single digits. Hoping for a good game tonight by the Knicks even in a loss.
Also I really hope tonight doesnt turn into a Melo debate. I am and always have been a big Melo supporter/defender here but I hope the Knicks win tonight and if it means they score over 100 points than all the better. Tonight is not about who is right or wrong about Melo and the offense, its about hopefully the Knicks putting up a good fight in OKC and best case scenario somehow stealing a win.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/randoza01.html
Check Randolph’s numbers. He’s been up and down since he came into the league. Probably has to do more with conditioning and dedication than anything. Last year was a contract year, no?
And Crawford? Really? He’s had one decent season since he came into the league. You’re ready to anoint him after one season?
Here we go :o) With Melo we are end up losing by ???? Now it’s time to make this team to play bball mr Coach. Go Knicks!
Guys whether you like Melo or not he’s by far the most important player on this team for the simple reason that he’s the closest thing this team has to a point guard, as horrifying as that sounds. Ball movement doesn’t work when your wings players are incapable of making quick passes or taking open shots. It simply doesn’t and it never will for any team in the league no matter who the best player is. The Knick’s best wing player other than Melo is Shumpert, a 17th pick known a lot more for his defense than offense. If the Thunder simply start pressuring shooters and the ball handler, we’re going to see an exact repeat of the 4th quarter vs the sixers and the entire Grizzlies game. This team is totally incapable of scoring without Melo
So, Zbo in the Western Conference finals constitutes a yes on my question? That is, leopards do change their spots if they’re coached by good coaches and surrounded with good players (sorry the metaphor kind of fell apart there.)
Was last season the good Crawford season you mention? Those Hawks teams were probably the best teams he has been on.
Well, Randolph got a 4 year $71 million deal. That’s a huge contract, much bigger than Kwame’s. My guess regarding Kwame over Dalembert is that Dalembert wanted more money than he got. That’s why he didn’t sign a deal until 12/26 while Kwame signed right at the beginning of free agency.
I’m really surprised no one offered Dalembert multiple years. The rockets really got a sweet deal with him. The 2nd year is for less money and is a team option. GS wanted to preserve cap flexibility (with a few moves they could have room for a max offer) for this summer.
So according to WP Fields is having another good season.
WP .122
Am I missing something here?
I meant more in the sense of wanting to be a featured offensive player when his skills didn’t merit it, pouting when he didn’t play well, showing motivational issues, etc. He was not well liked in Philly/Sacto or the Canadian National team. You can be philanthropist and still an unpleasant individual (indeed many of the great philanthropists throughout history were also big jerks!).
I just want to say that if the knicks lose it’s obviously Melo’s fault – for missing the game.
It really doesn’t matter if the knicks got him in the draft. Denver would have demanded him in the Melo trade and Dolan’s reply would have been “Sure, whatever you want”.
Touche. lol