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The Knicks don’t send their fans into a panic by beating the Pistons

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The Knicks are supposed to win games like this and win them by a large margin.  Today did not disappoint.  Lets face it, if they did lose this game Knicks nation would be in a complete panic and endless talk of how the first 8 games were a fluke would ensue.  Some thoughts on today’s game:

  • The 2nd half almost seemed as if the Knicks were toying with the Pistons.  At least 3 times Detroit would come to within 8-10 points and then the Knicks would go on a big run.
  • Carmelo was unstoppable today.  When he’s scoring from inside and out as well as passing when he’s double-teamed there isn’t much you can do.
  • Welcome back Steve Novak, we missed you.
  • Camby looked a lot more mobile today.  Hopefully this means he’s getting into game shape.  We need another rebounder out there.
  • Can someone start a movement to ban Rasheed Wallace from taking shots more than 12 feet from the basket?
  • Jason Kidd is more important than people realize.  In the 2nd quarter Detroit made a run and almost came back to tie the Knicks.  Kidd enters and suddenly the Knicks are up by 20.  This is not the first time something like this has happened. Continue reading →

The Knicks Get Their Asses Kicked

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On a day when we were really hoping the Knicks would beat down the Rockets so we can finally end the “Would the Knicks be better if they signed Jeremy Lin” debate the exact opposite happened.  The Knicks were down by around 12 points all game….until they were down by almost 30.  Some thoughts on the game:

  • The defense was so bad tonight.  Harden and Lin were able to drive to the lane at will and Asik seemed to be able to be able to hide behind Chandler and get wide open for offensive rebounds and easy layups.  You’re not going to win if you give up 72 points at the half.
  • Chandler Parsons:  13-17 for 31 points.  Are you kidding me?
  • Carmelo Anthony was on fire in the first half, hitting 6 of 7 from 3 point land and had 24 points.  He ended up with 37, but also had 7 turnovers and about 5 pouter plays (where he pouts and lets the other team score).  He never gets a call and that has to be frustrating, but the pouter plays are unacceptable.  Taking contested 1 on 5 3-pointers isn’t the best of strategies either.
  • Steve Novak came out of his slump tonight.  Glad he snapped out of his funk, but could he have picked a worse game to shoot decently?  Continue reading →

Ho-Hum, Knicks Win Again, Knicks 8-1, What did you expect?

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The New Orleans Hornets have some young and really good players including Eric Gordon and Anthony Davis. Those guys didn’t play tonight so the Hornets pretty much had no chance. To their credit, the Hornets kept it close for two quarters and it was kind of like when you played your older brother in basketball growing up. There were times when your older brother took it easy and you hit some shots but then he would realize the score was too close and lower the boom down on you. There was never a point tonight when you thought Hornets had a chance. The Knicks teams of the last few years would have blown a trap game like this or at least kept you on the edge of your seat way too long. This team does not do that. I love this team. Here are my thoughts:

  • Do you think at half time Woodson told his team a win by less than 10 points is basically a loss?
  • The Knicks are 8-1 despite playing the toughest schedule in the NBA. Enough said.
  • The Knicks won by 22 tonight and the game didn’t even look that close for most of the second half.
  • The Hornets scored 31 points in the 2nd quarter. They only scored 32 points the rest of the game. Continue reading →

The Knicks Bounce Back by Bashing the Pacers

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Don’t look too sad, at least you’re filthy rich!

  • I thought we were in for a long afternoon when Joey Crawford gave Mike Woodson a technical 90 seconds into the game.  Some bad calls, but fortunately the Pacers can’t score so it didn’t matter.
  • Speaking of Joey Crawford, I don’t think it’s a good thing when your max contract center runs like a 61 year old ref.
  • It’s definitely not a good thing when he also scores 6 and 8 with 6 turnovers.
  • It’s really really not a good thing when that isn’t far off from his season average.
  • Carmelo attacked the rim all game, even though he was stopped most of the time.  He also followed up his shots which resulted in a few offensive rebounds.  I like the aggression.
  • Raise your hand if you thought Rasheed would be playing 15-20 minutes a night.  Keep your hand up if you thought that would be a good thing.
  • Camby is still not in game shape.  Far from it.  He looks like he’s walking waste deep in oatmeal. Continue reading →

6-1 Is Still Really Good

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We knew the Knicks had to lose eventually.  At least the Knicks first loss was to the Grizzlies who are playing the best basketball in the league and now have the leagues best record as well.

Once again the energy was playoff atmosphere.  The effort on both ends was unbelievable.  Carmelo held his own for the most part guarding Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph and Rasheed Wallace looked like 2004 Rasheed.

Jerryd Bayless and JR Smith got into it late in the 2nd quarter and everything began to go downhill.  Continue reading →

Knicks WIN!!! 6-0!!!! Yeah, that really just happened!!!!!!!!

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I have to be completely honest. The Knicks were down by 12 in the 4th quarter and I wrote a whole write up about the game. I recounted what went wrong tonight and how if you are going to lose, it might as well be to the Spurs because they look damn good. I wrote about how Carmelo and JR barely showed up to the game. As I kept writing, Jason Kidd hit two straight three pointers. I eventually had to stop writing and watch the awesomeness. HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe the Knicks pulled this one out. The Knicks will not remain perfect but they came to play this season. This is going to be a fun season to be a Knicks fan. I don’t want to overreact but this is their best victory all season. Here are my thoughts:

  • The 4th quarter is officially renamed “Hammer Time” because that is when the Knicks defense bring the hammer down.
  • Hey Melo, you scored 9 points tonight which last season would have meant you barely contributed. This season’s Melo played great defense, took down 12 boards and figured out he could contribute even if he was not scoring.
  • Ray Felton is officially nicknamed JW as in “Jeremy Who”. The Spurs challenged Felton to score especially on pick & rolls and Felton delivered when no one else could.
  • Speaking of Jason Kidd, does it violate any league rules for him to drink from the fountain of youth?
  • The Knicks as a team turned the ball over 7 times tonight. How is that even possible? Jeremy Lin used to turn the ball over 7 times in a half.
  • JR Smith looked like he was off but when I looked at the box score he had 17 pts on 6-13 shooting. I guess he played better than I realized. 6th man of the year, yeah that could happen. And, I almost screamed when he hit that 3 at the end of the game…but stopped myself for fear of waking my wife and baby.
  • I would have liked to see more Ronnie Brewer tonight but I assume his knee was hurting him. Hope his knee heels soon because Brewer has been way better than expected so far.
  • I believe Woodson’s grave might say “In Rasheed we trust”. Never thought I would see so much Rasheed this early in the season but he played pretty well tonight for a retiree.
  • Tonight was interesting because at times it seemed they were playing with “Refs call fouls mode” turned off.
  • Here is the beginning of the write up I started when the Knicks were down by 12 and I assumed they would lose (kind of fun to read this now!!!) Continue reading →

TOP 10 COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE KNICKS 5-0 START

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It has been said that we are a little too pessimistic about the Knicks and that we complain a little too much. Well here are the top 10 complaints about the Knicks 5-0 start so far:

  1. Their record in the NBA may be 5-0 but against the point spread they are only 3-2.
  2. Anyone can win their games by double digits. How about winning by triple digits?
  3. Kurt Thomas, Marcus Camby or Rasheed Wallace are all playing like they are old. I expected more triple doubles from these guys.
  4. If Melo is playing so well then why doesn’t Woodson have him play all 48 minutes every night?
  5. They are playing well now but how well will they do when every player on the team suffers a debilitating injury. Continue reading →

Knicks beat the Magic to start 5-0

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The Knicks are 5-0 for the first time since 1993-94!  Here are the good and bad of tonight’s game:

The Good:

  • Ball handling.  The Knicks only had 9 turnovers the entire game.  They’ve done an amazing job at not turning the ball over in all 5 games.  Something I don’t think they did for 5 games all last season.
  • JR Smith.  Arguably his best game all season.  He led the 4th quarter run that ended up being not only the Knicks 5th straight win but their 5th straight double digit win.  Just Ridiculous has been the good JR all season so far.
  • Carmelo Anthony.  Was aggressive, drove the ball a lot and hit from everywhere on the court.
  • Finishing the game. Last season the Knicks were known to fade in the 4th quarter.  Today the Knicks had their best quarter in the 4th.

The Bad:

  • Marcus Camby.  He only played 4 minutes and basically just stood there.  I really hope he’s just not in game shape instead of just being washed up.
  • Carmelo Anthony.  When he missed a shot or didn’t get a call he pouted a few times, giving the Magic a 5 on 4 power play.  Watch the end of the 2nd quarter, that last Magic basket was due to his pouting.
  • Defense.  The intensity didn’t seem to pick up until the end of the game.  If it was there all game this would have been a blowout.

It was an ugly game but a win is a win and the Knicks are still undefeated.  The real test is the Thursday/Friday back to back against Memphis and San Antonio.

Around the League

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This is a post that I wrote for Popblerd.com.  Check them out for music, movies, sports, basically everything.  Popblerd also started an around the league facebook page that I’m a part of so like the Roundball Soundoff Facebook page!

The NY Knicks are 4-0 for the first time since the 93-94 season. They are the only undefeated team in the NBA and played a lineup consisting of veterans Marcus Camby, Rasheed Wallace and Jason Kidd…in 2012. They are winning by an average of 17 points a game even though their opponents have a 13-2 record against other teams. I wouldn’t have believed any of these things would have happened if you’d told me a few weeks ago.

Boston is having a harder with their new pieces than expected. They are 3-3, with 2 of their wins coming in the last few seconds of the game. On the bright side for the Celtics, Rajon Rondo just had his 30th straight game with at least 10 assists; 3rd all time to Magic Johnson – 44 and John Stockton – 37.

The team many dubbed the best team in New York is 2-2 and have been wildly inconsistent, winning by 30 and losing by 20 in the same week. And in case you missed it, The Nets have a ridiculous mascot. Continue reading →

PER and the NYK

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Four games into the season and the New York Knicks are still undefeated. I have to admit, I’ve never been this excited about a Knicks team. The last time they started this strongly (1993-94), I was seven, so it makes sense. Usually, with teams who seem like they can’t keep up a great start (sorry, but it’s true), the underlying numbers make the case. With the Knicks, however, I’m not so sure. Let’s examine some NBA metrics to try to make a conclusion about this New York team.

Player Efficiency Rating (PER
This statistic, pioneered by ESPN’s John Hollinger, has become the poster-stat for basketball metric fans everywhere. Basically, it explains how effective a certain player is while on the court, taking into account a variety of factors. Currently, New York’s own Carmelo Anthony is ranked fourth in PER, mostly due to a very high Usage Rate (simply, how often he gets the ball on offense – ‘Melo leads the league) and the fact that he plays 36 minutes a game, third most in the top ten (behind Kobe and Kevin Durant).

The worrying part of this equation is Anthony’s poor True Shooting Percentage (TS%, what a player’s percentage would be with free throws and three pointers included, then adjusted). His .546 is by far lowest in the top ten, and the only person lower than him in the top-23 is Brook Lopez (who, in my opinion, kind of sucks). This is partially attributed to his poor free throw shooting early in the year, which should improve. I think Melo’s PER should hover around fifth in the league for most of the year, strictly due to the aforementioned Usage Rate. Continue reading →