- I figured since the Knicks expended almost no energy last night they’d have plenty for the Hawks game and come out on fire.
- Felton and Shumpert did come out on fire, scoring the Knicks first 10 or so points before Melo and Smith decided to continue last nights futility by jacking up terrible shots and missing most of them. Melo also started the game in the mode (which we’ve seen way too often) where he stops and has a lengthy conversation with the ref as to why he didn’t get a foul call while the opposing team keeps playing and gets an open layup. Fortunately that only lasted for the 1st quarter and they both got hot the rest of the game.
- Melo shot 9-12 from 3-point range, tying the franchise record for 3’s (Starks, Sprewell, Sprewell again and yes Toney Douglas) before the Hawks finally caught on in the 4th and refused to let him even take a 3.
- We got on Kurt Thomas case for being a -8 in 2 minutes the other day, well he was +8 in 4 minutes tonight so we’ve come full circle.
- Ronnie Brewer doubled his minutes total from last game, going from 2.5 seconds to 4.9 seconds tonight. The opposing team was scoreless during Brewers time on the court yet again.
- Fast point guards must salivate when they see the Knicks come up on their schedule. I can’t remember the last time a quick point guard, or even a moderately quick one didn’t tear the Knicks a new one.
- Speaking of which, @imadoggarcia and I have been trying to guess which opposing player will have their best game of the season against the Knicks, a.k.a. the Knick Effect. He chose Teague (a fast point guard) and I chose Stevenson (a random bench guy who hasn’t done much all season, a perfect candidate). Teague scored 27, his second highest scoring game of the season and Stevenson had 15, tying his highest game of the season.
- Amare had 18 and 8 and once again didn’t look terrible on defense. If this keeps up this raises the bar for what the Knicks can do this season.
- Kidd left after 5 minutes to nurse a sore back in the locker room and Chandler was in obvious discomfort in the 4th with a tweaked neck. I can’t express how much I hope both of these are very minor injures as it would be heartbreaking to get this close to a full roster only to have 2 guys go down almost immediately.
- Tough ending for Josh Smith. Last 4 plays were a backcourt violation, a turnover, a foul on Amare (which wasn’t a foul at all but made up for the completely ridiculous technical on Anthony that almost decided the game) and a missed wide open 3 that would have won the game. Not very smoove.
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The New York Knicks Podcast 