Marc and Jay talk about the last 2 games, the state of the tank race, playing vets in a lost season, what the heck is Phil doing, upcoming schedule, draft prospects and much more
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Listen to The New York Knicks Podcast on ITunes
New York Knicks vs Indiana Pacers
March 14, 2017
Knicks 87, Pacers 81
Written by Eric Weinstein – @ericcweinsteinn
flagrant2blog.blogspot.com
The Indiana Pacers aren’t fans of snow, apparently.
The blizzard in New York City couldn’t keep the basketball out of MSG tonight as the Indiana Pacers came to town to wrap up the season series against the Knickerbockers. In a season without many bright spots, the Knicks put on an excellent performance in their building, to give the fans something to cheer about. Kristaps Porzingis was the biggest story tonight, as he left the game with a leg thigh contusion, because this season can’t have a high, without delivering a low immediately afterwards.
After the exit of the unicorn, it was Carmelo Anthony and Willy Hernangomez who put the Knicks on their back in the fourth to lead the Knicks to a win, 87-81. Anthony and Hernangomez were scoring, defending, and rebounding at an incredible rate, as both men pulled down double-digit rebounds for their respective double-doubles. Carmelo scored 22 to lead the Knicks, and Hernangomez scored 13 points and grabbed 16 boards. Derrick Rose also scored 16 points and continued to knock down mid-range jumpers.
The biggest story from this game? Defense. The Knicks played excellent defense tonight, and you read that correctly. The Knicks ACTUALLY played tough defense against a decent opponent. Credit to these guys to playing hard all game long and showing fight in another lost season. The Knicks could have easily played down and crawled to the finish, but they hung tough to give the paying customers what they traveled through the snow to see.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, how could the guy who has been one of the biggest advocates of the tank be okay with a win against a playoff team? I’ll tell you why, it’s because even though it goes against what I really think the Knicks should be doing, I love this team too damn much to not be happy about a win. During the 17 win season, the Knicks won a few games at the end of the season that knocked their draft position back a few spots, but I don’t see a win like this mattering too much. Everyone has to accept the fact that New York will land somewhere between the 6-10 pick range, and that should be just fine for everyone. This team isn’t bad enough to get to the top-5 mark with such little time left in the season.
Knicks are back in action against the tank-a-licious Brooklyn Nets in another riveting battle for New York City. Get your popcorn ready, this one will be brutal. 27-41.
Marc and Jay talk about the last 4 games, Phil teaching the triangle, upcoming draft, overstepping boundaries, top PG’s of the last 10 years, and much more
Listen to The New York Knicks Podcast on ITunes
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or check out the rest of the Almighty Baller Podcast Network at AlmightyBaller.com.
New York Knicks at Detroit Pistons
March 11, 2017
Pistons 112, Knicks 92
Written by Eric Weinstein – @ericcweinsteinn
flagrant2blog.blogspot.com
Same game, different day.
In what will be the final time the Knicks face the Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the Knicks once again failed to show up on the road. New York came out flat and allowed the Pistons to jump out to an early lead, one that was too much to overcome. New York showed fight and cut the deficit over the next three quarters, but were blown out at the end of the fourth.
Kristaps Porzingis led New York with 18 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. He set up Willy Hernangomez on a number of nice bounce passes while set up in the post, passes that become possible through the triangle offense. Carmelo Anthony was invisible for another game, only scoring 13 points on 4-9 shooting, to go along with 4 assists. Chasson Randle made great use of more extended minutes to score 12 points, pull down 3 rebounds, and dish out 3 assists. The Knicks may have found something with this kid and he needs to see the floor more as the season comes to a close. Long Island product Tobias Harris led Detroit with 28 points, and Andre Drummond scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
It’s just more of the same with the New York Knicks as we keep rolling along here, with the team not being committed on defense, as well as having difficulty with an often stagnant offense.
When Carmelo has nights like tonight, where he doesn’t seem to even be interested in the game, really, it’s going to be tough for the Knicks offense to get going. When the top gun struggles, the team will struggle.
I turned the game off midway through the fourth quarter. It’s just too painful.
After today, the Knicks are currently six games back of Milwaukee with Charlotte, Miami, and Chicago ahead of them. Barring a miracle, this team is not making the playoffs, and that’s easy to see. It makes sense for the Knicks to go into this last stretch of the season seeing what they have in some of the guys who don’t play much. Guys like Randle, Ron Baker, Mindaugus Kuzminskas, Marshall Plumlee, among others, should all be playing more than they are. The Knicks know what they have with guys like Derrick Rose and Courtney Lee, so why not see if these other guys have a future with the team? It’s an easy answer, one that the Knicks don’t seem to understand.
Another back to back situation on Sunday, as the Knicks fly home, but will need to hop on the subway to Brooklyn for a Sunday evening affair with the Brooklyn Nets. This game should be renamed the tankapalooza, considering the participants. Chin up everyone, it’ll all be over soon.
26-40.
New York Knicks at Orlando Magic
March 6, 2017
Knicks 115, Magic 105
by Eric Weinstein
Yo, didn’t they just play the Magic?
After another home loss on Sunday, the Knicks immediately hit the road and went back down to Central Florida to take on the Orlando Magic once again. On March 1st, the Knicks defeated the Magic 101-90, and this game had the same end result, a Knicks victory. This game went a little differently, as New York had to play the catch up game for the first three quarters, without Carmelo Anthony, only to pull away in the fourth. Kristaps Porzingis, Courtney Lee, and Lance Thomas, all stepped up in Carmelo’s absence to get the Knicks a win, 112-105. Lee led the Knicks with 20 points, and Porzingis and Thomas combined for 31 points. Maybe the biggest story of this game was undrafted rookie Chasson Randle, who was playing his first extended minutes as a New York Knick. Randle filled the stat sheet with 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, and was an astonishing +27. To compare, Derrick Rose was a -23, for all those who think the Knicks should resign Rose in the off-season. Evan Fournier led the Magic with 25 points, and Elfrid Payton ended his night with a triple double. 16 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and 1 awful haircut for the Magic point guard.
New York Knicks vs Golden State Warriors
March 5, 2017
Warriors 112, Knicks 105
by Eric Weinstein
We almost saw the impossible.
A sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden welcomed in the Golden State Warriors on a cold Sunday afternoon in the City. Most Knick fans, including myself, figured this game would be over quickly, but that wasn’t the case at all. The Knicks rose to the challenge and played some of their best basketball in a long time, albeit in a losing effort. I’m not one for the, “moral victory” but the Knicks should be proud of their effort on both ends of the floor. Granted, they gave up 112 points, but this is the most explosive offensive team in the NBA, so that could’ve been a lot worse. Kristaps Porzingis snapped out of his seemingly endless slump in a big way, going for 24 points and 15 rebounds, along with a couple of blocked shots. Derrick Rose was in vintage form as well, scoring 28 points and getting whatever he wanted on the offensive end. I’m ignoring his defense of course, but Rose was a blur offensively. Those two weren’t enough to stop the two time defending Western Conference Champs, however, as Steph Curry and Klay Thompson proved to be too much. The Splash Brothers (hate that name) combined for 60 points and continued to be the best backcourt in the NBA. Continue reading
Marc and Jay are joined by Robert Silverman to talk about the last few games, Charles Oakley, Dolan and Trump, worst contracts, the exciting race to the bottom and much more
Listen to The New York Knicks Podcast on ITunes
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or check out the rest of the Almighty Baller Podcast Network at AlmightyBaller.com.
New York Knicks at Orlando Magic
March 1st 2017
Knicks 101, Magic 90
Written by Eric Weinstein – @ericcweinsteinn
flagrant2blog.blogspot.com
The Orlando Magic are a bigger mess than the New York Knicks, if that’s possible.
The Knicks began a stretch of road games in Orlando on Wednesday to take in the Magic, and what a thrilling game it was. If you couldn’t pick up the sarcasm, the Knicks won a snoozer in the amusement park capital of the world and defeated the Magic, 101-90. Kristaps Porzingis returned from a two game absence to lead the Knickerbockers in scoring with 20 points and 9 rebounds. KP pulled down 9 rebounds, knocked down 2 three pointers, and showed little rust in his return to action. Carmelo Anthony had another off game, scoring 17 points on 4-16 shooting.
Derrick Rose finished with 19 points. Evan Fournier led the Magic with 22 points.
If you watched this entire game, you deserve some kind of recognition. This was just a bad game that included two bad teams with nothing to really play for. If you think that the Knicks have anything to play for, you’re just wrong. The Knicks began the game shooting well from the perimeter, with Melo, KP, and the rest of the Knick shooters starting out hot. The shooting allowed the Knicks to get a nice double digit lead to get some space in-between them and the Magic. As we’ve seen all year, the Knicks love to let their leads go once they get them, and that was the case tonight as well.
The difference tonight was that New York was playing Orlando, who are in full blown tank mode for this season, so the Knicks were able to hang on and pull away for the victory.
There’s really not much to say about this one, other than the fact that the Knicks won. Nobody played all that well, and nobody really stunk up the joint either. This was just one team who was clearly better beating another team who was clearly worse. The fact that the Magic can’t even compete with the Knicks shows just how badly it has gotten in Orlando. That city is where basketball goes to die.
Also, Marshall Plumlee scored, and that’s just fun for the entire family.
The Knicks road trip takes them to Philadelphia for another date with the 76ers, Friday night at 7 pm. The Joel Embiid-less Sixers are another squad currently attending tankapolooza, so we should be in for more bad basketball on Friday. Can you feel the excitement. 25-36.
New York Knicks vs Toronto Raptors
February 27, 2017
Raptors 92, Knicks 91
Written by Eric Weinstein – @ericcweinsteinn
flagrant2blog.blogspot.com
Once Rose got switched on DeRozan, you could see the end result coming.
An old school, defense first, Eastern Conference matchup took place at the world’s most famous arena tonight when the new-look Toronto Raptors came to town. Both teams would be without important players tonight, with Kristaps Porzingis out for the Knicks, and Kyle Lowry out for the Raptors. The Knicks were also without Joakim Noah, who will miss the rest of the season, and Brandon Jennings, who was waived earlier in the day. Chasson Randle replaced Jennings on the roster, and he did not see any action tonight. This was a battle of all-stars as DeMar DeRozan had another game where he could show off just how gifted an offensive player he is. DeRozan finished with 37 points on 25 shots, including the game winner over Derrick Rose with 1.9 left in regulation. Carmelo Anthony had a tough shooting night, but led the Knicks with 24 points on 9/26 shooting.
If you’re somebody who wants the Knicks to tank on the rest of this disappointing season, then this was the perfect game for you to watch. An entertaining, down to the wire game was just what the tank enthusiasts were looking for, just for entertainment value alone. Games like this can almost make the idea of tanking again, bearable.
There were positives all over this one, starting with Lance Thomas, who was once again inserted into the starting lineup to replace the injured Kristaps Porzingis. Lance put up decent numbers, he scored 12 points and pulled down 6 rebounds, but the intangibles he brought to this game were what the Knicks wanted when they resigned him this past summer. Diving for loose balls and solid defense was the key to Lance’s game tonight, and that’s something to watch moving forward. Along with Lance, Courtney Lee continued to prove he was worth the money as well, and he finished with 16 points, 3 three pointers, 5 steals, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Lee also drained a three pointer late in the fourth quarter that gave the Knicks the lead before DeRozan took it back from them. Lee and Thomas were the two best players on the court tonight for New York, and these guys will be important for next years team.
The real problem for the Knicks tonight, and this season, has been a lack of killer instinct. Once again, the Knicks had a 17 point lead over their opponent, and weren’t able to finish the job and leave with a win. The Knicks did everything right on the defensive side of the ball, holding a talented Raptors squad to just 92 points, which is well below their seasons average of 108.5.
They were hustling and sticking with their man, and showed the type of fight we’ve all been looking for all season, and it still wasn’t enough. Credit to Toronto to the moves they made last week, because the acquisitions of PJ Tucker and Serge Ibaka are going to do wonders for their team defense. To see those guys every night and have to deal with them defensively is going to be tough for any Eastern Conference team in the postseason.
Depending on what side you’re on, you left this game with a sigh of relief, or a broken heart.
Knicks and Magic, Wednesday at 7 PM. Talk to you all soon.
By the way, if you like college basketball, seeing Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet defending one another was pretty cool. Those guys were a lot of fun to watch at Wichita State, and they played in a ton of big games. Shoutout to the Wheat Shockers.
Marc and Jay go over the trade deadline moves, gear up for the exciting race to the bottom, review the last few games, talk strategies, and much more
Listen to The New York Knicks Podcast on ITunes
Listen to the Almighty Baller Podcast Network on iTunes
or check out the rest of the Almighty Baller Podcast Network at AlmightyBaller.com.
