Knicks Morning News (Sunday, Mar 04 2012)
March 4th, 2012 by Mike Kurylo | @KnickerBlogger | Comments | Permalink |
Seventeen miles west of Madison Square Garden, where Knicks guard J.R. Smith infuses coach Mike D’Antoni’s free-flowing offense with electric displays of athleticism, stands a black granite headstone in Row 2 of the Rosedale Cemetery’s Myrtle Section.
Starting Sunday in Boston on national TV, one o’clock, Carmelo Anthony needs to show he can elevate his own game and his team, because it isn’t just the new point guard’s job to do that.
Since Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen led the Celtics to the NBA title in June of 2008, Boston has served as a benchmark for the Knicks as they have continued to tinker with their roster in recent seasons.
Lenny Cooke has yet to discover what or who he is supposed to be since it became obvious years ago that he would not fulfill his once presumed destiny and become an N.B.A. star.
On Feb. 3, Jeremy Lin looked like an overmatched, easily rattled, mistake-prone reserve. On Feb. 4, he looked like a polished N.B.A. star, as Linsanity began.
Dirk Nowitzki had a season high in points for Dallas, which snapped a four-game losing streak on a night Lamar Odom returned to action.
A Knicks fan since he was a child growing up in the Bronx, the comedian Robert Klein found himself in the middle of the Jeremy Lin craze only as a matter of luck.
North Carolina made a statement by blowing out Duke and capturing the A.C.C. regular-season championship and No. 1 seed for the conference tournament this week.
While there was certainly some pride at play in the way Kevin Love attacked the team he grew up watching, more than anything he just wanted the Timberwolves to win one against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 40 points and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz 102-96 on Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
O.J. Mayo scored 17 points and sparked a fourth-quarter rally with his 3-point shooting, and the Memphis Grizzlies won their fourth straight with a 100-83 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night.
Danny Granger scored 20 points and the Indiana Pacers beat the New Orleans Hornets 102-84 on Saturday night for their first six-game winning streak in seven years.
Josh Smith scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, Jeff Teague added 16 points and the Atlanta Hawks snapped Oklahoma City’s seven-game winning streak with a 97-90 victory over the Thunder on Saturday night.
Jordan Crawford had a burst of offense midway through the fourth quarter that spurred the Washington Wizards to a 10-point lead.
Dwight Howard had 28 points and 14 rebounds to lead six Magic players in double figures, and Orlando beat the Milwaukee Bucks 114-98 on Saturday night.
Lamar Odom had nine points in Dallas’ 102-96 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night after he returned to the Mavericks without playing a planned game in the NBA Development League.
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).
Let’s get motivated for today’s game in Boston. Here’s a nice statistical analysis that compares Jeremy Lin to Steve Nash and John Stockton at the same points in their careers:
http://hoopstats101.blogspot.com/2012/03/jeremy-lin-advanced-statistics-is-lin.html
Read it and enjoy today’s game!
Boston is going to come with their best game today, they don’t want to cede the division to Philly and NY yet, they’ve heard all the hype and talk about this NY team, and the game is on national TV. I watched some of their dismantling of the Nets on Friday and they looked good, hopefully our boys are ready.
Worried we’re gonna start soft since we’ve been off since Wednesday, but hopefully that practice time served us well! Apparently there’s a real rivalry between the starters and the bench and people have been pushing each other hard in practice.
I think those who were discussing why Davis and Lin might be on the court together were over analyzing. If they are never on the court together they can’t average more than 24 mpg each. If you think of them as your two best guards then you might want more than that. Then you will have to have them on the court together sometimes, so you should practice it and see how it works..
Baron can’t play more than maybe 18-20 minutes for a while, and Smith and Shumpert also need 48 minutes combined (and that’s not even counting Fields, who should only be at backup SF now, but isn’t yet).
I’m sticking with my thesis that it’s to try to get Melo and Amare going, if D’Antoni actually uses it.
The one thing I think will make the difference between Lin being just an OK to solid PG and a real good one is his shooting numbers. So far his shot has looked pretty good, but his 3-pt % is not great and his FT% is just OK. Both Duhon and Felton started out with pretty good offensive numbers in D’Antoni’s system and then tailed off. Lin has better players around him and it seems for now a solid backup PG but that is the stat I will be keeping my eye on.
I watched some of the NBAtv replays of the Dallas and Laker games, and Lin’s shooting was just spectacular. Just don’t know how that will play out.
This is not a “must win” but it is a very important “measuring stick” game. Boston will definitely be ready for us, and this is our first “big game” as a full team at reasonably full health with some practice time under our belt. Would love to see a dejected Celtics bench in the 4th with the crowd silently filing out. On the other hand, a nailbiter win might be better for the team.
I wonder how many fans from Harvard will be there to root Lin on!
I think the Knicks win by five to 10.
They’ve been strong with no practices; now they’ve had six practices or so.
I think Amare and Melo will be energized. Our two-headed point will put immense pressure on the Celts D. I think Shump may become Allen’s glove today. If he controls Allen for sections of the game, and Melo stays on Pierce and cancels his damage, and Chandler plays his normal game, we win this running away. This year we have better depth.
5 to 10. Maybe I’m too hopeful, but that’s my call.
And Smith’s D will be important tonight, too.
We’re going to wear themdown
No question, this is a pivotal game for the knicks.
Boston, as always, is going to be tough at home.
I predict the knicks will eek out a win, setting the new order.
See, I think it’s similarly amazing that some people will construct straw man arguments to prove their point.
Ryan Anderson
You’re saying that he “improved to a superstar level” after being a “forgettable bench player” with a WS48.
He was a rookie. Rookies are usually not very good. See: LeBron James’ rookie year. (Oh, and Carmelo Anthony, the forgettable rookie starter, with a WS48 of .9 in his first season.)
The following years? .161, .217, and now, .260. That’s the kind of growth Carmelo never attained. Do you see how it’s fallacious to call a rookie a “forgettable bench player?” It’s an unlike comparison to say that because Ryan Anderson vastly improved over his first, second, third, and now fourth seasons, Carmelo can make the same improvement in his eleventh.
Tyson Chandler
Chandler played 45 games in 2008-09 and 36 in 2009-10. A major toe injury voided a NOH trade with OKC, and a year later, a stress facture in Charlotte kept him out for a month. Do you injuries just might have had something to do with his performance, there? Or should we disregard that information?
What’s the preferred game—offense and D?
Sorry, “game plan”.
I think Rondo, as always, will be the problem… if he dominates like he usually does like us he can neutralize Lin and create easy shots for everyone on offense.
I’d like to see Shumpert on him and J.R Smith on Allen for some stretches, we really need to take his penetration out of the game, our inside D when Chandler isn’t on the court is pretty porous, specially when Lin plays the point (and Baron is still recovering, so there’s no way he’ll be able to stay in front of Rondo)
Yeah, I am really worried about Lin being able to protect his dribble against Rondo and Bradley. I love what Lin has done (obviously) and hate to be the nervous nellie but I am not quite convinced that Lin can handle a premium ballhawk like Rondo….
I think Lin will play Rondo and go under screens until Rajon shows he can make a couple. Landry better not lose Ray Allen on threes. Celts might lead in the first quarter. What else is new. I’m excited for Shumpx2 to check Ray. Likewise JR. Steven A Smith is an AH for promoting Melo for every shot in the 4th q. That’s so 2010, Dude.
Get over the Stat is dead fixation. All he’s got to do is blend in now, anyway. Likewise Melo. Yes, they make too much.
This could be the passing of the torch.
Or not. Celtics have a lot of pride and even with these teams going in different directions I’ll never be comfortable. I have NYKPTSD, anyway.
I’m watchin’ it on the DVR, as per usual. Catch up to y’all after the game.
We shall see. When he got time pre-Linsanity against Boston Bradley picked his pocket at least once bringing the ball upcourt resulting on Melo bringing it up. But Lin seems to have a knack for disproving or minimizing the “he can’ts”. This will be another test or step in his development.
yeah, it will be a pretty big game for Lin, Rondo and Bradley are quite surely the best defensive PG tandem in the league.
but Boston is not a great transition team like Miami and we have other ways to hurt Boston on offense, so that doesn’t bother me much (unless Lin turns it over like, 8 or 9 times)… the problem is who’s going to keep Rondo out of the paint.
the only player capable of doing that is Shumpert and maybe J.R, and to do that we’ll have to hope Lin and Baron can keep up with the endless screening for Ray Allen (Fields will have this assignment too, but he won’t be able to keep up with Ray, so it’s a moot point)
Eleventh THCJ? Jesus, how about ninth?
And yes, Melo is going to have big jumps in TS and therefore WS/48 if he continues in the situation he’s in, which I don’t see changing.
It won’t mean he’s a better or more important player, however.
We need some huge screens today from Chandler and Amar’e. given the Celtics size issues I’m also guessing we see mutliple ballhandlers on the floor much of the night.
What do you mean if he “continues in the situation he’s in?” His WS48 is way down from his peak.
Melo is going to outplay Pierce today, as will many of the Knicks. This is a passing of the torch game as danvt mentioned, it’s a statement game and I think the Knicks will contol a double-digit lead by the fourth quarter, if not much earlier. Everything is lined up for that.
I’m guessing 110-95 or 100, in that range
The pre-Lin situation is 180 degrees different than the one he’s in now. Injuries played a part earlier, but so did the floor spacing, shooting woes and ballhandling.
The kind of shots Melo will get in this iteration of the offense he’s never consistently had previously.
The kind of elements this offense offers, in terms of a strong pick and roll point guard who probes the lane, Melo’s never played off before.
This! Situation makes a difference, this is too often ignored by our stat mongers
Are you purposely disregarding my explanation of risk from the previous thread?
Again, the argument that Melo will reach new levels of productivity because he’s now playing in a system that we have never seen him play in before is one predicated on risk. Risk, risk, risk. Not “this has happened before, and Melo was awesome in it,” but “we think that this situation is better for the skillset we perceive Melo to have.” And that’s the way a sports franchise should be run?
We’ve already seen glimpses of it. In the Cleveland game we saw 4-5 of Melo’s baskets came when he received the ball on the weakside after the middle of the defense had collapsed and the bigs were trying to recover back to the paint, allowing Melo to make a lighting quick drive decision beating the recovering defense to the rim.
That’s only the surface of the kind of looks this system and these pgs will get Melo and others.
It’s logic, Melo takes bad shots so shoots poor percentage. He has been taking fewer bad shots on the Lin run team. Therefore he will shoot well.
It’s logic, Melo takes bad shots so shoots poor percentage. He has been taking fewer bad shots on the Lin run team. Therefore he will shoot well. Why is this hard to speculate about? We have statistics on Synergy that says he is very good at scoring in places and situations x,y, and z. When he only takes shots from xyz then he will shoot well.
I read that and I think you make an interesting point.
Though, I’m not sure the organization made the trade banking on the idea that Melo would improve his TS% and Ws/48 because of the system.
Somehow, as Juany’s wont to mention, guys like Morey wanted to sign or trade for Melo despite lack of elite TS and WS48 numbers.
They understand the value of a guy that versatile who’s played the vast majority of his career where much less efficient wing-isos were the primary way he scored. Because of his ability in isolation, however, he was the fulcrum of sorts for the offense, attracting all the weight and eyes to one side and freeing up the other.
So in that sense, his value goes way beyond the metrics that failed to capture that aspect of his impact. I’m sure Morey understood that.
I was saying that I preferred to do a teaser with NY, Miami, and Chicago because I think adding 8pts to each makes them close to a lock. Doesn’t pay super well but it’s easy money.
Yeah, I’m thinking about that teaser. I guess I was just asking for your thoughts on the other games.
As an aside, hopefully some of you read the JR story.
Ain’t no such thing. If teasers were easy money, bookies would have stopped offering them a long time ago. I hope you win your teaser, but there is risk involved.
That assumes that most people are intelligent, and statistics generally disagree with this.
Not an auspicious start
what a pathetic start
Game thread is up. Sorry for the delay.