Its a win to start the year, they lost to the worst team in the NBA prior to this game (Nets) and was down on the 2nd and 3rd quarter on this one, so i thought they were a goner already. Yet, they made it to overtime and won!

At least were not rooting for the bullets er wizards where players have expensive and long term contracts who draws guns to settle arguments over debts from gambling. Heck, our team is not even close to the talent that this team “supposedly” has (Jamison, Butler, Haywood, Arenas, Miller and so on). We’re not even the wolves who traded Garnett for scrubs and drafted 2 PGs on the 1st round and yet is only playing one for this year!

I’d take any win the Knicks has for the year/s to come where they could finally unload all the bad contracts that they carry (Jeffries and Curry) and hopefully land a real superstar FA this time. Oh, and i’d pick Gallo over Lopez anytime. On a Knick team that values 3 point shooting, i don’t think Lopez would be as effective anyway.

You are right that benching Nate didn’t kill the Knicks or un-motivate him, but a lot of your criticism has either been proven wrong or questionable. I believe you have posted several times during the benching that Nate is acting immaturely and compared him to Marbury, and every bit of evidence (his play, his even getting back out there, and quotes from D’Antoni, Chandler, and Lee) says that is wrong. Nate showed that he is a hard worker (as if that was a question to most of us) and a valuable basketball player (again never a question to me). I would have liked to see you tip your hat to Nate a little more instead of crediting D’Antoni so much for his success and quoting Nate multiple times crediting the coaches for his play. I am impressed as hell D’Antoni let Nate out of the doghouse, and I bet Nate is too. Darko and Curry are in the exact same doghouse, though, and could also help the Knicks if they were playing to their potential. Darko has done nothing but dig himself in deeper, and Curry has done little besides lose a ton of weight most of which it was embarrassing that he was carrying in the first place. Nate deserves credit for his work and attitude. I agree that D’Antoni is doing a good job coaching the Knicks, I just think Nate has taken a HUGE step towards proving you and other critics wrong about him.

The Magic play is something that really pisses me off, not from you personally just from the entire anti-Nate camp.

The play you are referring to happened at the beginning of a run BEFORE they closed the lead to 6. They were not getting blown out when Nate did the little pogo-stick move that pissed Breen off so much.

I agree that Nate is particularly “antics” prone and a bit of a comedian, but I think because of that reputation he doesn’t ever get the benefit of the doubt. That play is the prime example, to me. Breen ripped him a new one for not getting back on D while he was literally waiting for the ball to come in so he could pick up his man at 3/4 court (Nate often applies 3/4 or full court pressure). He got ripped for showboating in a blow-out. The problem with that is that he was the only Knicks acting as if the team hadn’t already lost the game. He almost single-handedly brought them back while his teammates all sat around like boobs. The Magic’s PGs scored zero points and had like 1 ast during the 4th, as I remember. The wings and Howard were killing the Knicks D. Yet Nate has somehow taken blame for the Knicks D during that stretch from several posters.

Still watching Knicks in 60, and one thing that sticks out to me is that Nate makes a lot of plays in transition D. With 4 left in the 4th he jumped up for an alley-oop to Josh Smith and was literally eye-to-eye with Smith when he broke it up. The guy has some defensive skills. He broke up another 1/2 court pass from the Hawks earlier in the game. He is a beast in the transition game, and in that sense I can see why it was easier to bench him when the Knicks switched styles. It also bugged me, though, that posters here missed that and just bashed Nate as a useless little midget. Also bugs me that the while team was poor defensively early, and yet Nate takes the blame. Based on tonight it looks like he CAN fit in on an improved defensive team. And, though I was slow to recognize it, they have improved defensively.
From watching the game I also assume one or even two of his TOs came on plays where he was trying to save a loose ball, threw it towards a crowd, and threw it to the Hawks.
Also, at least 1/2 Bibby’s points came when Robinson was not on him.

There’s another aspect to this that no one has talked about — if he puts together a few good weeks, Nate might get traded as the sugar to get someone to take the Jeffries contract.

One possibility is the Rockets. Morey surely loves his efficiency as a scorer and, if they are going to make noise this year (and going forward), need someone who can create shots other than aaron brooks. Robinson, Jeffries, Hill and Mobley for TMac. Or something like that.

I get where you are going. I think you’re being ridiculous, and calling me an ass simply bolsters my view.
I think benching Nate was right.
I think time will tell whether the benching affected Nate in a positive way. I said twice now, we’ll see if there is a happily ever after.

I’m not sure what your deal is Ted. But I’m done with you.

D’Antoni has gotten productivity out of him. Perhaps even last night.:)

Ted, I think you have personalized this. I suspect if you were my coach you might have benched me by now. You would be a bad coach.
:)
Cheers all. Bed time for me.

The one where Nate scored 22 points in a quarter and was benched the next game. Check the play-by-play. Nate pulled them within 6 points, SIX POINTS, with 5 or 6 minutes to go. THAT IS A CLOSE GAME.

Frank, you’ve been the #1 bench Nate cheerleader for a month. Nate comes back and plays amazing and you credit yourself for being right. Notice that D’Antoni did not do that. Because he would have looked like a total ass if he had. If he went out there and was 1-20 and the Knicks lost, I would not continuously post every good thing he did during the game and then say I was right all along. I would have looked like an ass. See where I’m going?

“Do the Knicks have a center getting two blocks per? He’s sixth in the NBA in total blocks right now, seventh in blocks per game.
I’ll take that.”

Blocked shots do not equal interior defense. Lopez gets raped by the opposing bigman most nights and the reason he fell in the draft is because he lacks lateral quickness. He’s just not a good defender. He might help the Knicks interior defense, but I could say that about just about any decent legitimate center in the league. You can argue he is better than Gallo, but defense is a weird place to start.

Also yeah his D was fine tonight, the guards other than Joe Johnson didnt do shit tonight for the Hawks. I noticed that when Nate was in the game they played alot more zone which was a smart move especially in the 4th quarter where they played a matchup-type zone where they did (especially Gallo) a GREAT job on fronting the post on Horford and Josh Smith.