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Knicks vs Wizards – 4-4-14 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee
The Washington Wizards quickly doubled up on the New York Knicks Friday night, leading 18-9 mid-way into the first quarter. After a much needed timeout, the Knicks responded with a 10-2 run to take the lead on a Carmelo Anthony jumper, up 20-19 with 2:43 remaining in the first quarter. Basketball is a game of runs, and after a Washington timeout, they would answer with a run of their own, ending the first quarter on a 7-2, to take a 27-21 lead.
            New York’s started off the second quarter on a 15-4 run, playing suffocating defense, holding Washington scoreless for four minutes during the stretch. This gave New York a 36-31 lead with 5:31 left in the second quarter. The Knicks would continue to apply defensive pressure in the quarter, forcing the Wizards to 28.6% shooting in the period. New York outscored Washington 22-12 in the second quarter, leading by 43-39 at the half. J.R. Smith was huge for the Knicks, scoring 19 points in the first half, connecting on five money ball.
            The Knicks and the Wizards would go back and forth in the third quarter, exchanging baskets. Amare Stoudemire at one points scored 12 straight points for New York, including a vicious slam dunk on Marcin Gortat to give the Knicks a 60-55 lead. Washington would regain the lead with John Wall aggressively attacking the paint on consecutive possessions, drawing free throws on the first possession, then getting into the lane for a dunk to help regain the lead for the Wizards 62-60. New York would answer, regaining the lead on J.R. Smith’s seventh three of the game. Then J.R. Smith would hit a fade away jumper to that was basically a buzzer beater for the third quarter, giving the Knicks a 67-64 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

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Knicks vs. Nets – 4-2-14 – Game Recap

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new-york-knicks-v-brooklyn-netsWritten by William Lee

Early on in the first quarter it was a battle of tag teams between the duos of J.R. Smith and Amare Stoudemire, and the combination of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson. Smith and Stoudemire combined to score the first 16 points for New York, with each scoring eight points to help keep pace with the Brooklyn Nets, tying the game up at 16-16, eight minutes into the game. Deron Williams answered with a driving layup, giving him nine points in the opening quarter, who was one-half of the Net’s tag team attack, with Joe Johnson scoring seven points to compliment his backcourt-mate.

You don’t have to be an expert oddsmaker to understand the Knicks chances of winning these days.  For example, one look at these official lines for NBA betting tell that story.  But we could all tell that the Knicks, Shumpert in particular, wanted this one.  With both teams exchanging punches, Knicks tagged in Iman Shumpert. Shumpert came off the bench, giving the Knicks a huge spark with his defensive intensity. Shumpert stole the ball twice within the last 17.9 seconds of the first quarter, leading to a Carmelo Anthony dunk, and then a Tim Hardaway Jr. buzzer beating three, giving the Knicks a 29-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. This run bridged into the second quarter, where it was extended to a 20-2 run, giving New York a 39-22 lead with 8:29 left in the first half.

Shumpert continued to put his imprints on the game, when he grabbed an offensive rebound, taking the ball back out to size up Mirza Teletovic, where he then put the moves on Teletovic, going behind the back on him for a reverse layup! This gave New York a 45-30 lead with 6:16 remaining in the quarter. A minute later Shumpert would disrupt Marcus Thornton’s pass to the post, collecting his fourth steal in the first half, and then running out for an and-one opportunity. Continue reading →

Knicks @ Suns – 3-29-14 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

Friday night’s matchup featured two teams fighting desperately for their playoff lives with the Phoenix Suns clinging on for dear life onto their eighth spot, holding only a half a game advantage on the Dallas Mavericks. As for the Knicks, as poorly as they have played, the Atlanta Hawks have played that much worse, and are in a complete downward spiral losing five straight games, as New York climbed a game and a half back of the eighth seed.

Goran Dragic exploded out the opening gate, going 7-for-8 from the field, with three of them coming from beyond the arc, finishing the first quarter with 18 points. Phoenix as a team had six threes in the opening quarter, which should come as no surprise since the Suns are third in three-point field goals made with 9.4 made per game, and top five in the league in three-point field goal percentage with 37.6%. J.R. Smith kept New York in the game early in the first quarter, scoring back to back threes, after tying a franchise record the previous game with nine three-pointers made against the Sacramento Kings. Smith scored ten points in the first quarter, but cooled off significantly the rest of the game, going 2-for-7 the rest of the way. Continue reading →

James Dolan: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

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Written by Nicholas McGowan

I write this piece as not a defense for James Dolan but instead of a reason as why we as Knicks fans should appreciate what Dolan has done for us over the past few years. Dolan has made his fair share of mistakes. Let us begin with said mistakes:

-Handed out his band’s CD to free agents in the summer 2010 at the end of their meetings
– CAA apparently runs the organization, (Mike Woodson reportedly had to change his representation to CAA)
-Strict media policy limiting the amount that Knicks personnel can talk to media
-Rumor that he would trade Iman Shumpert if he did not play in the Summer League
-Has proven incapable of finding a GM who can make sound basketball decisions
-Can’t find consistent coach

These are just some of the many mistakes that James Dolan has made. His actions drove us to protest our beloved Knicks. While that action is justified; he isn’t as bad Knicks fans make him out to be. My aim is not to convince you that he is good owner, but my intention is to persuade you to be glad to have him as an owner. We could be worse off. Dolan through his decision to hire Phil Jackson and his never changing spending habits are the reasons of why we as fans shouldn’t be as angry as we are with him. Continue reading →

Knicks Vs. Pacers – 3-20-14 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

Welcome to New York Phil Jackson. One day after the Knicks formally introduced the new team President in a Tuesday afternoon Press Conference, and on a day Knicks’ fans decided to hold a protest rally, New York welcomed Mr. Phil Jackson with a 92-86 victory over the Indiana Pacers. The Knicks extended their season high winning streak to seven games, and avoided a season sweep by Indiana.

The New York Knicks lead 21-14 after the first quarter, in a very sloppy and ugly opening quarter. Both teams made only six field goals, converting on less than a third of their attempts. Indiana turned the ball over six times in the quarter, yet New York was so inept themselves, that they were not able to capitalize on any of those opportunities. The game was so ugly that for the last three and a half minutes of the first quarter, neither teams made a field goal to end the period. The one saving grace for the Knicks was that they were able to get to the line, and convert free throws, making 9/10 from charity stripe.

The field goal draught would continue for both teams, before Lance Stephenson finally made a field goal for the Pacers a little over a minute into the second quarter. Amare Stoudemire finally ended the Knicks’ field goal draught by hitting a mid-range jumper two minutes into the second quarter. This sparked an offensive bonanza out of nowhere for the Knicks, compared to how snail paced the game was going beforehand, going on a 16-2 run, giving the Knicks a 39-23 lead with 6:11 remaining in the second quarter. Stoudemire scored 10 of his 21 points in the second quarter, during the crucial run that gave New York a sixteen point lead in the first half. Continue reading →

Knicks vs Bucks – 3-15-14 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

New York avenged a terrible February 03, 2014 loss to the league’s worst team on a Saturday matinée game, defeating Milwaukee 115-94.

The previous three contests against Milwaukee were highly competitive, going to a double overtime, and even giving the Bucks one of their league worst thirteen wins. Saturday would be a completely different story, as New York stretched their season high winning streak to six straight. Tyson Chandler and Amare Stoudemire made their return to the starting lineup, and even though they looked rusty at times, their presence was immense for the ball club. New York went on a 19-6 run early in the second quarter, which ended any competitiveness from the game the rest of the afternoon.

John Henson would dunk the ball to start the second quarter, the Knicks would answer with the massive run, sparked by Tim Hardaway Jr, who scored 11 of the 19 points, during the crushing run to the Bucks. Hardaway Jr. got to the rim at will, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk, where he was the recipient of a great team basketball play. On an inbound pass to Pablo Prigioni, he threw a three quarter court pass to Iman Shumpert, who threw the lob to Hardaway Jr. for the jam. Hardaway Jr. would then cap the run with a three, giving the Knicks a 49-31 lead with 5:36 left in the second quarter. Things were going so well for New York that Iman Shumpert somehow banked in a three from the right corner three. (I don’t think he called bank on that shot)

New York held a 60-42 lead at the half, and the second half both teams basically just went through the motions, waiting for the game to end. It was non-competitive in the second half, and garbage time came early. Tim Hardaway Jr. poured in 20 points from the bench, lending a helping hand to Carmelo Anthony who finished the game with 23 points.

Knicks @ Celtics – 3-12-14 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

New York matched their longest winning streak all season, collecting their fifth straight win Wednesday night defeating Boston 116-92.

An extremely thin frontline, got thinner Wednesday night, as Tyson Chandler did not play due to personal reasons for a second consecutive game, and Amare Stoudemire sat out to recover, who has been playing tremendous basketball both on offense and defense. Without Chandler and Stoudemire, Cole Aldrich stepped into the starting lineup. To the Knicks credit, every player stepped up to the challenge, especially Aldrich and Earl Clark, who saw meaningful minutes due the decimated frontcourt. Aldrich collected a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, along with three blocks for a +19 +/-. While Earl Clark didn’t have an impressive stat line, his impact overall was felt, stepping into the rotation, giving excellent back up minutes (particularly in the second quarter when Anthony was resting), proven with the best +/- of anyone, +22.

The Knicks scored 68 points in the first half, which were the most points scored in a half by New York. New York put on a three-point shooting clinic in the first half, connecting on 9-of-10 from beyond the arc. Both Carmelo Anthony and Tim Hardaway Jr. connected on three-threes. Anthony started off strong, as per usual, with 13 points in the first quarter. J.R Smith got off to a hot start as well, scoring nine of his 13 points in the first quarter, helping build a 36-24 advantage by the end of the first quarter.

Tim Hardaway Jr. provided a huge lift off the bench, scoring 12 of his 22 points in the second quarter. New York was unconscious on offense Wednesday night, scoring at a 60.5% clip in the first half, leading 68-48 at the half. The Celtics defense looked like they were imitating the Knicks’ defense, constantly switching out bigs onto New York’s perimeter players, which forced mismatches in favor of the offense. This is scenario that played out for most of the first half, if the double didn’t come, Anthony easily scored on crossover dribble pull ups, and if the double came, the ball swung around the perimeter for a wide open three. New York handed out 15 assists on Continue reading →

Fantasy Basketball Quarterfinals

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Written by William Lee
 
We are heading into Week 21 for fantasy, which in most leagues will be the beginning of the Playoffs. Good luck to all. Be sure to use up all your available transactions, do not hesitate to drop inconsistent production players. Try to grab some role players that are playing four games, to help accumulate as much stats as possible (always keeping in mind the negatives that comes with more games, for example more turnovers, risking chances to lower your percentage in field goal and/or free three).
 
Teams
Game Played
  
Atlanta
4
  
Boston
3
  
Brooklyn
4
  
Charlotte
3
  
Chicago
4
  
Cleveland
4
  
Dallas
4
  
Denver
4
  
Detroit
3
  
Golden State
3
  
Houston
3
  
Indiana
4
  
LAC
2
This is going to be a problem for anyone that has Chris Paul, Blake Griffin as their top player, you cannot just drop them for free agents…you might need to add and drop to compensate for this. Continue reading →

Knicks vs Jazz – 3-7-14 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

Utah Jazz losing streak is extended to five games, fall to the New York Knicks Friday night 108-81.

New York again led wire to wire for a second consecutive game, scoring 39 points in the first quarter. The 39 points was the most points scored in any individual quarter by New York in any quarter this season.

Since Amare Stoudemire has been inserted into the starting lineup three games ago, the Knicks have been a +42 in first quarters. Stoudemire has been extremely impressive looking, even on defense!

Stoudemire with 9:05 remaining in the first quarter blocked a Derrick Favors layup attempt, igniting a fast break, leading to a J.R. Smith three. Smith was on fire from distance Friday night, knocking down five three-pointers, finishing the game with 17 points. Amare Stoudemire looked lively, running the floor on the fast break, drawing a foul with 7:14 left in the first quarter, he would convert on both free throws increasing New York’s lead to 16-8. On the very next Knicks’ possession, Stoudemire would Continue reading →

A Letter from James Dolan to Phil Jackson

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Dear Phil Jackson,

I would like to offer you the opportunity to tarnish your legacy by becoming involved with our shitshow of an organization. We would love you to be our coach but happy to have you as GM, team president, our starting PG or just have you sit court side at all our home games. I promise we will overpay you by a ghastly amount that we will have to eat for years to come when this relationship blows up like all things do in Knicksland. If you choose to be our GM, you will have complete control and autonomy to remake the team in any fashion you choose as long as you resign Melo, agree to continue our tradition of treating first round draft picks like Mexican peso and allow me to meddle in every decision you make including what you will eat each day for lunch. We know that you have brought many titles to Jordan led Bulls teams and Kobe/Shaq led Lakers teams and that you will understand with New York that you will have the ultimate opportunity to prove your greatness by taking an Amare/Bargs (we all know Melo has Chicago real estate agents on speed dial) led Knicks team to the promised land. When we do win with you in charge your place will be secured as the greatest basketball mind to ever walk the Earth. Plus, if you agree to join the Knicks in the next 24 hours I will provide you with a personally signed JD & the Straight Shots limited edition box set. Continue reading →