Reactions

A Look at the Western Conference

/ Jay / Leave a comment

San Antonio Spurs – So much for the Spurs getting old and their window closing. Yet again Parker, Ginobili, Duncan and company find themselves atop the Western Conference. Other than their big three, the Spurs are arguably younger and deeper than ever. They’ve had 5 straight years of tough losses in the playoffs. Will this be their year? I’m going to go out on a limb and say they’re hoping Memphis falls a spot as it’s a bad matchup for them.

Oklahoma City Thunder – No Harden no problem. Durant and Ibaka took big leaps forward this season and Kevin Martin has fit into the 6th man role flawlessly. With the largest point differential in the league at + 9.1, it looks like the Thunder successfully improved their long-term outlook without sacrificing in the short term, giving them a good chance for a finals rematch against the Heat.

Los Angeles Clippers – No doubt about it, the Clippers are the best team in LA. The only rough patch of the season came when Chris Paul went down for a few games. Griffin and Jordan have both improved significantly over last year and the bench has been amazing with Barnes, Bledsoe and Crawford all playing above expectations. Now that Grant Hill and Chauncey Billups are back, this team goes 12 deep.

Memphis Grizzlies – Looks like the hangover from losing Rudy Gay didn’t last too long. Seven wins in a row for a sneaky good team. Prince has fit in well for them, adding more defense and consistent shooting than Gay was providing. Let’s not forget the huge frontline of Randolph and Gasol is a matchup nightmare for most teams. Continue reading →

A look at the eastern conference

/ Jay / Leave a comment

I was going to take a look around the league at the halfway mark. Then I figured since the trade deadline was so close I’d wait because that would change everything. Little did I know I could have written 95% of it and added a little blurb about JJ Redick afterwards since he was by far the biggest name that got moved.  Anyway here’s how each team is looking with about 25 games left in the season.

Miami Heat – Miami was only a few games ahead of the pack for the first half of the season. Now it looks like they are going to run away with the #1 seed as everyone expected. It helps that LeBron had a ridiculous streak of 6 straight games of scoring over 30 points while shooting over 60%. That streak ended with him scoring 39 points but only shooting 58%. What a slacker. Ray Allen and Udonis Haslem haven’t even been playing well so this team has the potential to get even better down the stretch. They get outrebounded often but at 39-14 and 5 ½ games ahead of Indiana I don’t think that’s a huge concern.

Indiana Pacers – Paul George stepped up in Danny Granger’s absence. Granger came back a game ago to further improve the 2nd place Pacers. The only concern is their max contract center, Roy Hibbert, who is averaging 10 and 8. Their last four wins have come at an average of 27 points a game which is impressive since they are one of the lowest scoring teams in the NBA.

New York Knicks – It looks like the Knicks trolled their fans with fast, crisp ball movement, excellent 3-point shooting, unselfish play, lockdown defense and an 18-5 start. The last 33 games they are 17 and 16 since, can’t defend any guard in the league, play iso-ball and forgot how to shoot. Continue reading →

Knicks suck against Pacers: The top 10 best things about tonight’s game

/ Jay / Leave a comment

  1. The game will eventually end…I think.
  2. Grunwald still has until the trading deadline tomorrow at 3PM to dump everyone on this roster and start rebuilding.
  3. No one was fatally injured in the playing of tonight’s game.
  4. If you missed tonight’s game because you had something better to do than you are winner.
  5. Tonight’s game actually made you look back fondly on the loss to Toronto right before the all star game.
  6. A meteorite did not hit Russia during tonight’s game. Continue reading →

Jay on the Popblerd Podcast

/ Jay / Leave a comment

It’s been a few days since we put out an episode but you can hear Jay talk NBA with GG and Big Money Mike on the Popblerd Podcast

The Knicks show a complete lack of interest in the #1 seed

/ Jay / Leave a comment

The Knicks lost to Harry Potters tonight and it was not pretty. Here are my thoughts:

  • Maybe the Knicks are scared that the Celtics will be the 8th seed
  • Would you be surprised to learn that the Knicks bet Woodson that they could stay up for 24 straight hours and still beat the Wizards?
  • Some people said that the Wizards won because they are younger and faster than the Knicks. I have seen old-timers games where both teams looked faster than the Knicks tonight. It was not like the Wizards were running the Knicks ragged tonight, they just hit the open shots that the Knicks gave them.
  • Felton slowly dribbles up, asks Melo for a pick, Melo refuses and demands the ball, Felton again asks for a pick, Melo again refuses and Felton gives him the ball 20 feet from the basket, Melo dribbles a bit and misses an off balance 18 ft shot. This really happened. Continue reading →

The Knicks Make Seattle Second Guess Asking For An NBA Team

/ Jay / 1 Comment

  • The game started with the Knicks down 13-3 and it looked like one of those sluggish starts that the Knicks seem to be having just about every game lately.  Them Amare came into the game and the Knicks instantly rallied to finish the quarter up by 5.  It was downhill for Sacramento from then on as the Knicks ended up going up by 50 points.  Yes, 50 points.
  • Carmelo Anthony ended his streak of 31 straight 20+ point games, falling 2 short of the franchise record.  He finished the game with 9.
  • Tyson Chandler had his 2nd straight game with 20 rebounds.  Ties Camby for the franchise record.
  • Amare Stoudemire went 10 for 10, one shy of the franchise record for most shots without a miss.  He’s been so good on offense lately, just a pleasure to watch.  Two months ago me would be amazed at how excited present day me is to see Stoudemire enter the game.
  • I bet everyone in Seattle who is watching tonight is real psyched for the franchise they are getting.
  • In a game where the Knicks won by 39 how the hell did Ronnie Brewer still manage to have a plus/minus of minus 10?
  • If Miami loses to Toronto tomorrow the Knicks will have the #1 seed and Mike Woodson will be coaching the all star game.
  • 2nd game in a row with over 30 assists and the Knicks also outrebounded the Kings by 22.

February is off to a good start

/ Jay / Leave a comment

  • The Knicks started off the 1st half in usual annoying fashion, falling behind by double digits before winning by a decent margin at the end.  This lack of enthusiasm for the first two quarters is going to really bite them in the ass against better teams.
  • Amare has developed this mini-hook that has been really really effective.  If he is going to continue to score 15-17 and grab 6-8 rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench while playing semi-tolerable defense while not complaining about his role I’m all in.
  • Tyson Chandler: 20 rebounds.  Awesome.
  • Felton hurt his previously broken finger.  After clearly showing some pain and icing it for a while he came back in and hit a few shots.  Lets hope it was just a bump and not a refracturing or the 2nd half of the season is going to be really long.
  • Kudos to the Knicks for finally not getting burned by not one but two fast point guards.  Also, after fast starts by Dunleavy and Ilyasova the Knicks contained them in the 2nd half as well.  In other words, no Knick Effect for tonight!
  • I’m really glad the Knicks won tonight, but they are playing tomorrow and I would have rathered Melo not play 44 minutes tonight.
  • In the 3rd quarter Shumpert got pulled after one minute for missing a defensive assignment.  I like that Woodson holds players accountable but it would be even better if he did that for every player.  Like when Melo all but sits down on the floor with his arms crossed like a 3 year old when he doesn’t get a call.

Knicks Outgun the Hawks to Bring Their Win Streak to 1 In a Row

/ Jay / Leave a comment
  • 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.

The Knicks Prove Their Lack of Desire for the #1 Seed

/ Jay / Leave a comment
  • The lack of effort in this game by everyone not named Amare was disgusting.
  • JR Smith final line, 0-8, 0 points, 4 turnovers, +/- of minus 16.  Thanks for putting to rest the debate of whether you should have made the all-star team.
  • Ed Malloy was the ref tonight, but he had no effect on the Knicks, this was all on them.
  • Jrue Holiday had a career high.  Knickeffect.
  • Amare Stoudemire had 20 points on 8-13 shooting and some nice defensive plays.  Too bad it was wasted on this shit show of a game.
  • Philly starters outscored Knicks starters 89-40.
  • This had better be a continuity issue that will resolve itself soon or else the Knicks have big problems as this is the healthiest they have been all year.
  • What happened to the defense from the 1st month of the season?  Wasn’t Shumpert coming back supposed to make the Knicks even more potent on defense?
  • Ronnie Brewer looked great the 2.5 seconds he played tonight.

Not this time Boston

/ Jay / Leave a comment

It was an ugly game but I’ll take it.  A few thoughts from what is hopefully the Knicks last game without Raymond Felton:

  • This game was so inconstant, Melo was terrible in the first half and unstoppable in the 2nd, Amare was the exact opposite, and JR was terrible for the first 45 1/2 and great for the last 2 1/2.
  • Even though the Knicks won, they only had 12 assist for the game.  I REALLY REALLY hope Felton is back for Saturdays game and never gets injured ever again.
  • I was really excited about how Amare looked in the first half, he had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in his first 10 minutes.  Then in the 4th quarter it was everything we were complaining about.  On back to back plays he stood right behind Chandler while he set a pick and then rolled to the basket right behind Chandler.  Did he not see him or does he think 2 is better than one?  On the next play he set a pick for Kidd, Kidd didn’t take the pick and passed the ball, but Amare still stood there for the pick until Kidd explained to him that he no longer had the ball and therefore didn’t need a pick.
  • I learned from Marv Albert today that Boston pumps in crowd noises.  It doesn’t get much lamer than that.
  • If you’re a Boston fan how mad are you at Jason Terry?  He’s in the conversation for 6th man of the year for about 10 straight years and then takes a dump all over the Boston bench all season.
  • James White played 13 minutes tonight and didn’t play bad, but that meant zero minutes for Copeland, not sure how I feel about that.
  • In the 1st half the Knicks went with a zone defense when Amare came in.  This seemed to work fairly well.  Maybe this is more suited to his….abilities.
  • Hey Boston, how do my Cheerios taste?