The only positive about this game was that the Knicks would have won if the game was only 3 quarters long.  I am not even sure if the Knicks outplayed the Celtics for the first 3 quarters or if the Celtics had a bet going about how long they could toy with the Knicks before putting them away. Here are my tips for the Knicks going forward:

• On defense everyone gets a guy and you HAVE to stay with that guy unless there is a switch and then BOTH players must switch, NOT just one of the two players. And, when there is a switch at least one of those players should announce his plans to switch out loud.
• If your name is Amare (and sometimes Carmelo) and you are being covered by multiple players that means that MULTIPLE PLAYERS ON YOUR TEAM are open and you should probably try to find one of those open guys.
• When the other team shoots, no matter how pretty the shot is you can’t just stare at the ball, you HAVE to find a player on the other team and stand near him (even better if you can try and box him out).
• If Ronny Turiaf or Jarred Jeffries have the ball on offense within 15 feet of the basket and no one is covering them then they are required to shoot the ball even if they think shooting will result in an allergic reaction.
• The fans are no longer allowed to chant M-V-P at STAT until he plays defense for an entire game.
• When you are on offense and you pass the ball to a teammate PLEASE don’t then walk over to that teammate and bring your defender with you (I wish I was only talking to Amare).
• Every game a lucky fan should get to sit in Andy Rautins’ seat on the bench, wear his uniform and basically pretend to be Rautins. D’Antoni should not be told about this promotion and we will all wait to see how long it takes him to notice.
• Derek Brown should introduce himself to D’Antoni every game at half time.

So, Derrick Brown is annoyed because he has not had very much playing time. Not a shocker that he is upset. I guess when he signed with the Knicks he did not think to ask whether he would actually play. I am just really frustrated with D’Antoni.

as the Nuggets keep rolling.

Fantasy Draft Results

Episode 43 – All Time Knicks Fantasy Draft

Be sure to check out out post on podcast where we did our all time (post 1990) Knicks team draft and vote on who has the better team (in the poll on the top of the main page). Posting this one more time, we’ll have a new poll up shortly and our next podcast (probably an angry one) should be out tomorrow night.

More thoughts from last night

Carmelo willing to shoot less…but is he willing to play defense?

Knickerblogger disagrees. It is not D’Antoni’s fault as his roster just lacks talented defenders.

Definitely an interesting argument. I just think there is more D’Antoni could do with this team. There always just seem to be so many players open under the basket, so many uncontested offensive rebounds and so many easy lay-ups. So many players seem to have career nights against the Knicks these days. I just question how much D’Antoni is focusing on defense with this team.  I do, however, completely agree he can only do so much with this roster. In particular, the knicks roster is screaming for big men who could clog the middle and get rebounds. No defensive genius could magically turn anyone on this roster into the center they desperately need.

One cool thing about last season was that I could always look on stubhub the day of the Knicks game and get two tickets for like $20. I could do this because the team sucked. I guess D’Antoni is hoping to help me buy cheap tickets again by producing another awful team.

I know this game was close and things do not always work out but this team is just not that great. How do you get swept in a two game set by the Pacers? Is this why we got Carmelo and Amare? D’Antoni can’t be the coach of this team next year.  I don’t care that the Knicks basically have a new team with chemistry issues, you can’t lose these games. You have to have a coach that knows how to emphasize defense. D’Antoni either doesn’t understand defense or doesn’t care.  How can this team be continually so unprepared on the defensive end?

• Last play of the game: why doesn’t Carmelo know you can’t catch and shoot with 0.3 seonds? Why is Jared Jeffries of all people throwing this important pass in? Why not have a better set play? At least Landry realized you need to tip it in.
• In the post game interview D’Antoni said Shawne Williams did everything he could defending Granger. While you have to give props to Granger for hitting a tough shot, Williams could have done more. He could have actually been in Granger’s face instead of allowing him to step back for an open shot. He could have and should have forced Granger to go left.
• If you score 117 points you should win. I am fairly certain that with any coach this team would have one of the better offenses in the league. When you have so much natural offensive talent, you need to emphasize defense. This team will never lead the league in defense but if they could be middle of the pack they would be dangerous.
• Last game Hansbrough had a season high 29 points, tonight he had 30 points. I bet Hansbrough wishes he could play the Knicks every night.
• Hibbert again looked like a beast. Collison looked awesome. Granger looked like Kobe. I guess you need to start calling this the Knick Effect. When good players look like hall of famers, it is called the Knick Effect.
• Billups looked old tonight and you can see why Denver was eager to move him. He will, however, be a good tutor for Toney Douglas. He also is still good but he is no longer great.
• Amare and Carmelo combined for 49 points…who cares if this is in a losing effort. Amare needs to play better D, or should I say he needs to play D.
• Frazier keeps lamenting about the lack of boxing out and how it is a forgotten art. He is right. I wish he had D’Antoni’s phone number.
• On a positive note, Jared Jeffries tied his season high with 4 points. That was a pretty unexpected offensive explosion.