Knicks vs. Nuggets – 2-7-14 – Game Recap

February 8, 2014February 8, 2014 / Jay / Leave a comment

Written by William Lee

Friday night’s game between the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks was a very competitive game to start, with both teams going back and forth. New York took an early 8-2 lead behind a hot start from Carmelo Anthony, who made his first six shots. Denver would turn it around with defense, forcing the Knicks into eight turnovers in the first quarter. New York, who is best in the league at minimizing turnovers at 12.8 per game, was out of character Friday night. Iman Shumpert had four turnovers in less than seven minutes by himself! The defense propelled the Nuggets to go on a 12-0 run to get a double digit lead 24-14 with 1:48 left in the game.

In the second quarter, the script completely flipped, it was the Knicks defense that starting causing havoc, and getting the Nuggets to turnover. Denver had 11 turnovers in the second quarter, 7/8 of the players that played in the quarter all recorded at least one turnover. This helped give New York ten more possessions in the quarter than Denver.

Pablo Prigioni and Amare Stoudemire were especially effective, when all the starters were resting in the beginning of the second quarter. They got New York back in the game, and when the starters came back in they effectively ended the quarter well, going on a 13-2 run to end the first half to give the Knicks a 50-44 lead. Prigioni didn’t score a point in the game, but effected the games in other areas, with six assist and four steals. Stoudemire scored 17 points and grabbed 8 rebounds off the bench in 20 minutes of play.

In the third quarter, everything went well for the Knicks, including the play that gave them a double digit lead. Carmelo Anthony missed badly on a three-point attempt, but Tyson Chandler was fortunate enough to be around the ball, and just lays it back in to give the Knicks a 59-48 lead with 9:04 left in the third quarter. That was the lone offensive rebound in the quarter, but not much was needed, as the Knicks almost made 2/3 of their shot attempts in the period. A blow out was in full effect by the end of the third quarter with the score 83-68, and no Knicks’ starters would be reinserted back into the lineup in the fourth quarter.

New York had a great team victory, winning 117-90 with six players in double figures scoring. Carmelo Anthony led the way with 31 points in 32 minutes of play. Anthony had plenty of help as the Knicks’ bench scored 60 points in the game. New York’s frontline was impressive against the small Nugget’s frontline, Continue reading →

Knicks @ Blazers – 2-5-14 – Game Recap

February 7, 2014February 7, 2014 / Jay / Leave a comment

Written by William Lee

Carmelo Anthony was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for January, leading the New York Knicks to a 10-6 record for the month, averaging 28.7 points 9 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

Sadly, we can only look back fondly on January and on his historic 62 points night at Madison Square Garden, because February has been dreadful so far. Five days into February and the Knicks have already mounted three losses, losing to the Portland Trailblazers 94-90 Wednesday night.

In the opening minutes, there was a play that was indicative of how the 2013-2014 New York Knicks season has been going so far, and what is wrong with the Knicks all season. New York misses a shot in the lane, and while the Knicks are back paddling in transition, Nicolas Batum gets straight to the rim for a dunk because no one picks him up. When the offense isn’t clicking, the defense is just not sufficient, there an extreme lack of communication on the defensive end. The dunk gave Portland an early 10-4 advantage, during the play you can see Tyson Chandler yelling at Raymond Felton to pick up in transition, but Felton had no clue Batum was coming his way, and didn’t even have time to turn his head to react. Felton defense has been especially horrid this year, and was showcased in the Bucks’ loss a couple night’s back, when he was beaten on a backdoor cut at a pivotal closing moments of the game.

There were a lot of good things to take away from the game, especially in the first half where it was a very competitive game against a top team in the league. The Blazers only led by one, after the first half, with the score 47-46. Carmelo Anthony was a big reason why, Anthony missed his first shot, then would proceed to make his next six in the first quarter good for 14 points, including a buzzer beating mid-range pull up jumper, making it 26-23 deficit at the end of the quarter. Tyson Chandler was doing a great job of guarding LaMarcus Aldridge, forcing him to take tough shots, the only shot he made in the first half was a tough fade away bank in jump shot. Aldridge was 1/7 in the first half, and finished the game, making only five field goals. Although Aldridge struggled with Chandler’s length guarding him, and the double teams that New York sent, he did get his teammates involved, collecting five assist in the game.

Other than the first quarter, where the Blazers shot 50%, the Knicks played really good defense. Constantly lowing Portland’s field goal percentage in every quarter, Blazers shot 40% in the second quarter, 37.5% in the third quarter and then 23.5% in the fourth quarter. This is especially encouraging to see because Portland has the league’s most potent offense at 107.7 points per game. The Blazers are also number one in most threes made per game at 9.4 three-point field goals made a game. New York was able to hold Portland below their averages in both categories Wednesday night.

Unfortunately the Knicks reverted back in their ways in the third quarter. Even with the Blazers dreadful shooting, the Knicks did not complete defensive possessions with a defensive rebound. The Blazers outhustled the Knicks, getting seven offensive rebounds in the third quarter. The Knicks also could not defend without fouling, sending Portland to the line constantly. Of course this isn’t new, because New York is the fourth most-foul prone team in the league at 22.3 personal fouls per game. New York doesn’t only foul, but commit dumb fouls, fouling jump shooters. J.R Smith fouled Aldridge trying to contest his shot, and then a minute later would foul on a three-point attempt by Dorell Wright. Portland would make New York pay on their transgressions, converted on all ten free throws.

J.R Smith might have committed some low IQ fouls, but he actually did play well. Smith made aggressive moves to the basket, and then would make the right pass when the defense collapse on him because he beat his initial defender. Smith and Amare Stoudemire made a good pairing in pick-and-roll, and pick-and-pop. Four of Smith’s six assist were to Stoudemire, where he threw down a couple of dunks, and knocked down a couple of open jump shots, created by Smith’s dribble penetration to the rim.

In the fourth quarter the Blazers continued to parade to the free throw line, converting 8/13. With 1:11 left in the game, it looked like Portland would walk out of New York with a sure victory, leading by 89-81, but back to back threes by the Knicks got New York within striking distances in a few seconds. With 50 seconds remaining in the game, Portland called a timeout up only one possession 89-87. Aldridge would hit a clutch fade away jumper that would eventually end up being the game winning jumper, as the Blazers hit their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory. It is of note that Anthony laid an egg in the fourth quarter, not scoring a single point in the final period, in a highly competitive game against such a quality opponent.

A Look Ahead

February 5, 2014 / Jay / 1 Comment

Written by William Lee

The Super Bowl is over, and basketball season is over half way over. This is the time where causal fans move over from football to basketball. Listening to a recent appearance from Mike Breen on The Michael Kay Show, where “Mike Breen says at this point the Knicks just need wins at this point and it doesn’t matter how they come.” And that the Knicks need to continue to improve throughout the season, I completely agree with this sentiment, and decided to take a look at New York’s schedule, and predict what could happen. Below there is a breakdown, having an optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic outlook on the remainder of the season.

The Knicks currently stand 10^th in the Eastern Conference standings with a 19-29 record. Now the Eastern Conference is atrocious, and the Charlotte Bobcats stand as the 8^th seed with a 21-28 record. The Brooklyn Nets currently hold a 21-25 record, now ideally the Knicks would want to avoid the 7^th or 8^th seed, because that would mean they would either have to face the Indiana Pacers, or the Miami Heat in the First Round of the Playoffs.

Looking back last season, 2012-2013, the 7th and 8^th seed did not have more than 41 wins. Sixth seed was a 44-38 Atlanta Hawks, so to avoid a most definite First Round exit, New York will need to somehow get above .500. To get even at 41-41 the Knicks will need to go 22-12 the rest of the way…which seems a little far-fetched…Now in 2011-2012 all teams were over .500, but this was in a strike shortened season. In 2010-2011 the sixth seed was actually the Knicks with 42-40, so just looking back a few years back, getting the sixth seed is a must to be over .500.

Without further a due here is the breakdown.

Game	Date	Time	Pos/Realistic/Neg	Comments
New York vs. Portland	2/5/14	8:00 PM	L/ L/ L	Highest scoring team in the league at 108 per, we will not be able to stop them Continue reading →

February Blues

February 5, 2014 / Jay / Leave a comment

Written by Declan Ryan

With the Superbowl done and dusted, it’s suddenly all back to normal in New York. At the start of the season I wrote an article detailing why us Knicks fans should be optimistic about the 13/14 campaign – how wrong I was.

The Knicks are a mess this year, however at 19-28 they stand only two spots off the playoffs and next face Milwaukee in what is a very winnable game. It’s important to look at the here and now with this team; Dolan is not interested in a rebuilding project, of course the priority is keeping Melo, but the only way you do that is by winning games. The Knicks have to prove that this current roster won’t be a waste of space until 2016 when contracts are up and significant changes can be made. Unfortunately though I cannot offer optimism, and a quick look at the Knicks’ February schedule will almost certainly sway you too. Here’s my prediction for the Knicks record over the month of February:

Feb 6th – Blazers (Loss)

Feb 8th – Nuggets (Loss)

Feb 9th – Thunder (Loss)

Feb 13th – Kings (Win)

Feb 19th – Grizzlies (Loss)

Feb 20th – Pelicans (Win)

Feb 22nd – Magic (Win)

Feb 23rd – Hawks (Loss)

Feb 25th – Mavericks (Loss)

Feb 28th – Heat (Loss)

3-7. Honestly. The Kings, Pelicans and Magic are all winnable games against mediocre opponents, and should be won comfortably. On the other hand, teams such as the Grizzlies, Mavericks and Nuggets have all put up respectable records so far in a ridiculously tough Western Conference, and despite all of them only being marginally over .500, it’s hard to argue that players such as Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, Dirk, Monta Ellis, and Ty Lawson will be even slightly slowed down by the Knicks turgid and uncompromisable mess of a defense. After this brutal month of scheduling, the Knicks would be left with a 22-35 record – only one more win than the 8th seed Charlotte Bobcats currently have. I would go even further into the Knicks schedule, but I feel the point has been made. Continue reading →

2013/14 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 15

February 4, 2014 / Jay / Leave a comment

A 2-2 week. Doesn’t seem to bad right? Well the two wins were against some of the worst teams in the league and one of the losses was against literally the worst team in the league. I really don’t understand this team at all right now, you never know what team will show up from night to night and unlike last year no game on the schedule is a definite win.

Rank	Player	Comments	Last weeks Rank
1	Anthony, Carmelo	Two weeks in a row at #1. No one else on this team seems capable of stringing together more than 2 games of good play so this is Melos spot to lose. His rebounding has taken a slight dip but considering how bad everyone else has been I can’t complain too much. You have to wonder if Carmelo wants to stick around after this season considering the players around him. Is the Knicks pitch to Melo going to be “hey this offseason we are confident we will be able to add the pieces necessary to beat the Bucks.”	1
2	Smith, J.R.	Yes, the guy who spent the most weeks at the #15 spot is now in the #2 spot. That’s what this season has come to. He had one bad game, but looked surprisingly good in the other 3. My theory: It’s too cold out to go to the clubs. He’ll revert back to terrible, hungover JR around mid/late March, just in time for the playoffs.	6
3	Chandler, Tyson	Never mind what said about Tyson looking like the old Tyson. He looks like Tyson but old. Seeing him get manhandled by Zaza Pachulia was depressing. Still he played alright which is better than 12 other players on this team.	2
4	Prigioni, Pablo	Pablo needs to be more aggressive. He can’t go a game without a shot an another with only 1 assist. Deficiencies aside he’s still the Knicks best point guard.	3
5	Hardaway Jr., Tim	3 great shooting nights before that stinker in Milwaukee. Still, he has to get better on defense, THJ posted a +/- of -19 against the Heat despite being productive on offense. Continue reading →

Knicks @ Bucks – 2-3-14 – Game Recap

February 4, 2014February 4, 2014 / Jay / Leave a comment