Month: November 2014

Knicks @ Thunder 11/28/14 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

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New York was completely overwhelmed by the return of Russell Westbrook to Oklahoma City.

Westbrook first feed his teammates, assisting on the first three made field goals for the Thunders, and then eventually got himself involved with a vicious baseline dunk to give Oklahoma City a 8-5 lead. The dunk was only the start to what ignited a 15-0 run, where the run was bookended by a Westbrook three-pointer that gave the Thunder a 21-5 lead with under five minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Westbrook received a standing ovation when he was substituted out of the game, finishing the first quarter with 14 points, which was more than New York scored as a whole… New York shot a dismal 18.2% from the field, converting on only four field goals.

Even with Westbrook on the bench to start the second quarter, New York could not capitalize…instead Jeremy Lamb went to work on the Knicks. Lamb was personally responsible for a 10-0 to start the second quarter. Lamb scored eight of his 13 points in the run while also handing out an assist to Kendrick Perkins. The deficit for New York grew up to 40-13, where finally with Cole Aldrich’s hustle plays helped give a lifeless Knicks team an 8-0 run.

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Knicks @ Mavericks 11/26/14 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

On Thanksgiving Eve, New York for the first time, matched up against their 2012 NBA Defensive Player of the Year since their major off season trade this past summer. The trade that sent Tyson Chandler reuniting with his old mates, the 2011 NBA Champions Dallas Mavericks, as the Knicks would acquire Jose Calderon, whom just recently returned from injury to stabilize the point guard position in New York.

In a highly motivated game for both Tyson Chandler and Jose Calderon, each went off on their former team. Tyson Chandler went off for a season high in points and rebounds, scoring 17 points, and grabbing 25 rebounds, devastating New York by collecting 10 offensive rebounds. Jose Calderon not to be out done, tied his career high in rebounds with ten rebounds, and scored 21 points, all on three-pointers, knocking down seven from beyond the arc. Samuel Dalembert, who was also in the trade this past summer also had himself a great showing against his former team, collecting a double-double with 13 points, 13 rebounds, along with a couple of steals and blocks.

New York hung in tough Wednesday night despite not having their star player Carmelo Anthony due to issues with back spasm. Without Anthony, New York actually doubled up on Dallas early on in the first quarter, up 20-10 with five minute remaining in the opening quarter after Calderon knocked down his third three of the quarter.

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2014/15 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 5

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4 games and 3 losses this week. At least the Knicks found a way to beat Philly, even if they did almost blow a 20 point lead to one of the worst teams of all time. They also lost to a team who was missing 4 starters and the 1 starter who did play had the flue and a broken wrist and still managed to drop 37 points on the Knicks. Rage. Remember my comment last week about not being able to win without Melo? Well we may find out if that’s true or not this coming week.
       
Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Anthony, Carmelo Another highly productive week for Melo, which ended in back spasms. I’m guessing Melo will set a game or two to get healthy for the Knicks playoff push. Playoffs…hahaha. 1
2 Stoudemire, Amar’e Amare was the only player on this roster other than Melo who was able to string together more than one good game in a row this week. I’m not going to bother bringing up the defense anymore. He’s been scoring and rebounding which is what he needs to do. 8
3 Wear, Travis Wear was the Knicks best bench player this week. In related news the Knicks are 4-11. 6
4 Acy, Quincy Quincy isn’t expected to do much other than rebound, and in that regard he doesn’t disappoint. He’s been playing exactly to expectations. 4
5 Prigioni, Pablo It was just a week ago that I was talking about Priggys slump. Looks like he snapped out of it and might push Larkin out of the rotation if he keeps it up. Continue reading →

Knicks @ Rockets 11/24/14 – Game Recap

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 Written by William Lee

Carmelo Anthony had to call a timeout to get himself out of the game with 1:45 remaining in the first half. It would later be announced that Anthony was dealing with back spasms. Up until that point Anthony was having himself a great game, in fact, it was his 14th point of the first half, where it looked like he was experiencing discomfort after making a jump shot with 2:05 remaining in the second quarter. Anthony tried to stay in the game…but could not bear the pain, raising his hand to the referee indicating that he needed to leave the game.

When Anthony exited the game, the Knicks were trailing 49-38, and it looked like it would to be all doom and gloom, but the Knicks would go on 7-0 run to end the first half in the final 51 seconds to cut the deficit to 51-46 entering halftime.

New York tied the game up at 69 a piece after three quarters, winning the period 23-18, largely due to Houston’s own sloppiness with the basketball. The Rockets turned the ball over seven times in the quarter, this helped ignite the Knicks offense, and gave them more opportunities to work with.

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Episode 272: Better Than Philly

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Marc and Jay talk about the last three games, talk to the basketball gods, interview derrick rose, Papa Johns deals for the Knicks, a debate about the triangle, listener questions and much more

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2014/15 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 4

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The Knicks almost went 2 weeks without a win. After a quick start where Denver hit 237 open 3’s they remembered they totally suck and ended up getting blown out. Things aren’t very good right now but I’ll try and find a few positives in this weeks rankings.
Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Anthony, Carmelo Melo had an insane week and I’m now convinced that the Knicks would be completely incapable of winning any games should Melo go down. 4
2 Smith, J.R. JR played really well during an early Sunday game. This may never happen ever again so I’m rewarding him with the #2 spot this week. Kudos for not being hungover on a Sunday morning! 8
3 Dalembert, Samuel Dalembert was the 3rd best player on the Knicks this week. In related news the Knicks are 3-9. 5
4 Acy, Quincy Acy did a good job of not being terrible this week. I’d still rather see him come in off the bench but Fisher needs a few more years of data to figure out Melo is better at the 4. 10
5 Larkin, Shane I’d love to see our point guard get some assists. I mean he got some, but more than 2 would be nice. Did Calderon die? Where is this guy? Continue reading →

Episode 271: Can’t Lose Em All

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Will and Jay talk about the last 4 Knicks games, the 3 point defense or lack thereof, Travis Wear, tanking, trades, what to expect going forward and much more

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TRIANGLE!

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TRIANGLE!

Written by Nicholas McGowan

The Knicks headed into last night’s game against the Jazz with a 2-7 record, came out of the game with a 2-8 record. While it looked as though we would have chance to win the game with Melo’s tying bank in three 3 with 3 seconds left, it was just not to be as Trey Burke sealed the deal for the Jazz on a 19 foot baseline jumper over J.R. Smith. Now of course this record is not what we as fans envisioned but there is nothing we can do about it. We started off with a blowout loss to Chicago yet were somehow able to bounce back and beat the Cavs in LeBron’s homecoming. After that, after our hopes for the season skyrocketed, some of us had this feeling that maybe this season might turn out better than we thought, that maybe we will finish with a somewhat high seed in the eastern conference. At least that’s what I though, yet I was dead wrong as the Knicks went 1-6 over our next 7 games dashing all hopes. The playoffs look ever bleaker due to the fact that we suffered back to losses to Hawks, and also had losses to Pistons, Nets, and Magic. (All of those teams besides the Pistons could be competing for a playoff spot.)

Now the triangle so far has looked as expected, there are times when the Knicks have faded back into isolation basketball yet there are times when the triangle allows for open uncontested jumpers and layups. One problem that has still plagued the Knicks is the lack of the ability to make smart basketball decisions. Such as J.R. Smith and that final shot he took against the Magic, or the fact that with 4 minutes left in the third quarter J.R. had to take a seat on the bench because he had 4 fouls last night. On a night where Amar’e is out, and where Shumpert gets injured 58 seconds into the game, J.R. has to realize that he becomes the second scoring option; he cannot be taking bad fouls. The amount of 24 second shot clock violations also appear to be very high, I do not have an exact stat but its bad when the game is on the line and you appear to commit a 24 second violation. Now we were saved by replay, but the Knicks have to understand the situation better.
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Knicks @ Magic 11/12/2014 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

Two 2-6 teams early in the season, played with urgency to start Wednesday night. Both teams played with great energy and it was a high paced game, going back and forth throughout the first half. The game was tied 25 times, and changed leads 11 times within the first half.

Orlando held a 56-50 lead at halftime, largely due to being able close out quarters strongly. The Magic went on a 7-0 run to end both the first and second quarter. Evan Fournier got it going early on, scoring 15 points in the first quarter. Fournier was able to get free in large part because Iman Shumpert was overzealous on defense, leaving his own man, gambling to get steals.

Tobias Harris went off at late in the second quarter, scoring ten straight points for the Magic. There was no defense in the first half, Orlando shot 57.1% while New York shot 47.5%.

Not even a minute into the second half, New York needed to take a quick time out because Orlando got themselves a double digit lead scoring on their first two possession. Derek Fisher did not want to let Orlando run away with the game. The Knicks responded in a big way, going on a 16-4 run, taking the lead 66-64. Carmelo Anthony was the catalyst for the run, responsible for 12 points, scoring ten and handing out an assist to J.R. Smith. But just as the Knicks were riding high, and held all the momentum in the game, taking the lead with 5:02 left in the third quarter, a minute later Anthony would foolishly pick up his fourth foul in the game, essentially taking himself out of the game.

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2014/15 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 3

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Last week I wrote about how excited I was about this team. What a difference 7 days and 5 straight losses makes. On the plus side the Knicks have their own draft pick this year.
Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Shumpert, Iman Shumpert has been the Knicks best player so far this season. He shot .500 or better in 4 of the last 5 games and seems to have developed a 3 point shot. My one criticism is he seems too hyper on defense. He gets some dumb fouls and has a habit of trying to cover whoever had the ball. For example, leaving Korver open at the 3 point line to double team Antic in the post is not a great decision. 2
2 Larkin, Shane For a backup point guard forced into a starting point guard position Shane has been doing OK. His numbers won’t blow you away but he doesn’t turn the ball over very much and he plays defense. Two things Felton did not do last last season. 3
3 Stoudemire, Amar’e Amare has been rebounding like a madman this week. He hasn’t been scoring a ton but he’s been scoring efficiently. His defense is still a complete mess but at this point I think we’re seeing best case scenario Amare. 5
4 Anthony, Carmelo Melo is here by default because no one played better. But if he has 1 more 25% shooting night while taking over 20 shots I’m dropping him down to 10th. He did look better when playing PF, you know, the position we have massive amounts of data showing he’s better at. Let’s keep playing him at the SF position though. 1
5 Dalembert, Samuel Fisher seems to only want to play Samuel in certain types of matchups, but when Sam does play he does a decent job. Decent: enough to get you the #5 spot on the Knicks roster! Continue reading →