Marc and Jay talk about the last three game, a rare episode where we only cover wins, shoelaces, reenactments of Woodsons press conference and a JR interview, trade scenarios, stats guy and much more
Some Positivity After the Heat Game
Written by William Lee
Normally I would write recaps on games for New York Knicks Podcast, but for the Heat at Knicks game January 09, 2014 I would like to try something different. I want to point out some positives that came out of the victory over the two time defending Champions Miami Heat. Some positives that if it continues to hold, may offer Knicks fans a slim hope, if and when New York sees them in the playoffs this spring. Now I want to just preface that I am not a coach, or anyone that played for his school’s team, just someone that is a basketball fanatic that watches way WAY too much basketball… Also I am admittedly going to be a homer, so maybe I am seeing everything from orange and blue goggle glasses. With all that said, here are some positives I take from Thursday night’s game, and situations that have to occur if you have any chance of beating the Heat once, let alone four times in a series.
Stretch Four – One of Miami’s strength is their ability to overload the strong side on defense, yet have quick enough players to recover on the weak side. It helps when you have Lebron James and Dwyane Wade when using this defensive philosophy. Though we have seen stretch fours, give the Heat troubles, when the four is able to shoot the ball well from deep along with a good shooting backcourt. The most notable example of this was when the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Championship in 2011, with arguably the best stretch four, Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki. The Knicks seemly always have a stretch four on the court at all times, be it Carmelo Anthony or Andrea Bargnani. Bargnani had a great shooting night Thursday night, and highlighted this theory when he was able to knock down open shots, or attacked the rim when the defense was stretched too far. Of course Carmelo Anthony is going to be Carmelo Anthony, and we saw what he can do when he was put in the stretch four position last season (2012-2013). Side note, this was the biggest disappointment of last season when New York was eliminated and New York fans could not have seen what would have played out if the 2012-2013 Knicks team played against the Heat, and see what they could have done. Continue reading
JR Smith Trade Scenarios
The Knicks are looking into trading JR Smith. Considering he’s played like crap for pretty much the entire season, had an offseason knee surgery, got suspended for repeated drug violations as well as fined for repeated unsportsmanlike conduct (shoelacegate parts 1 and 2) the market for JR is at an all time low. Remember, when the market for JR was at an all time high after he got the 6th man of the year award the Knicks were still the only team to make an offer. That being said I’m going to attempt to propose a few trade scenarios that would kinda sorta make sense for the other team (obviously any trade getting rid of JR makes sense for the Knicks).
Scenario #1
Milwaukee Bucks get:
JR Smith
Cole Aldrich
New York Knicks get:
Gary Neal
Carlos Delfino
Why the Bucks do it: The Bucks really want to get rid of Neal and Delfino hasn’t been healthy in 4 years. The Bucks save about 1M a year after this year and in theory replace Neals 3 point shooting.
Why the Knicks do it: They get rid of JR Smith
Scenario #2 Continue reading
Knicks vs Pistons – 1-7-14 – Game Recap
Written by William Lee
The New York Knicks welcomed the struggling Detroit Pistons to Madison Square Garden Tuesday night. Raymond Felton returned to the starting lineup after a six game absence from a strained groin injury. Kenyon Martin was also inserted into the starting lineup replacing the injured Tyson Chandler. Detroit was missing Rodney Stuckey due to a sore shoulder, which is very fortunate for New York because he was a key reason why Detroit was able to pull out a victory in November when these two teams met early in the season with 21 points and 5 assist in the previous game.
This game would start off ugly, with both teams shooting a dismal from the field in the first half. Both teams struggled, shooting sub .400 in a tied ball game 41-41. The Pistons dominated inside with 30 points in the paint. This is not an aberration since the Detroit Pistons are ranked second in the league in most field goals made within five feet, and within 5-9 feet as well. This is not surprising with the large frontline of Greg Monroe, Josh Smith and Andre Drummond. This combination scored 71% of the Pistons’ total offense in the first half. At the half Drummond had 11 points and 8 rebounds, Monroe also helped carry the offense with 12 points. Josh Smith only had 6 points but dominated the glass with 11 rebounds and got his teammates involved with 4 assist. Continue reading
2013/14 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 11
| Shocking week as the Knicks take 2 out of 3 in Texas and should have won the Houston game (more on that below). We also got to see Shumpert come out of his season long slump with 3 straight huge games: | |||
| Rank | Player | Comments | Last weeks Rank |
| 1 | Shumpert, Iman | The largest rise in the power rankings ever is much deserved. Not sure if this weekend was a fluke or the first two months of the season was an abberation but damn 2014 has been good to Iman so far. In the course of the weekend Iman hit 22-32 overall, 13-16 from the 3 point line, 16 boards and 7 steals. These are numbers JR couldn’t get to even in the wettest of dreams. Iman also hit 2 very clutch shots against Dallas which put a stop to their run and may have saved the game. | 14 |
| 2 | Murry, Toure’ | Murry might be the Knicks best PG right now. Good thing Woodson won’t play him more than 15 minutes a game, all that defense and lack of turnovers might be contagious, keep that man quarantined! | 1 |
| 3 | Anthony, Carmelo | Melo had 2 great games and started off the Dallas game on fire with 15 points in the first quarter. He then decided to play hero ball, turning the ball over or missing a terrible shot on just about every posession he was involved in in the end of the 3rd and 1st half of the 4th quarter, letting Dallas get right back into the game. This game was the perfect example of why people love and at the same time hate Melo. | 5 |
| 4 | Udrih, Beno | I feel like Beno is always passing to the other team, but looking at the box score I see that he had 22 assists and only 5 turnovers during the Texas trip. He also made up for the 5 turnovers with 5 steals. What’s most impressive is that none of the trio of Parker, Lin and Ellis scored more than 14 points, so I’d say that’s a solid week for our 3rd string turned starting PG. And I’m not dinging him for that foul in Houston, 1 because he was hustling for the ball and 2 because the shot he was trying to rebound shouldn’t have been taken in the first place. | 3 |
| 5 | Chandler, Tyson | Tyson still doesn’t look himself and then he missed all but the first four minutes of the Dallas game with a respiratory infection. Is there any player in the league that gets sick as often as Tyson? I feel like he has the flu or a cold or some infection every couple of weeks. Anyway, Chandler was big in the Houston game and even took a few outside shots and hit one! Continue reading | |
Episode 232: Texas Triangle
Marc and Jay talk about all 3 Texas games, trade rumors, basketball IQ, lineups, Shumpert, and get real silly by the end of the episode
Knicks @ Mavs – 1-5-14 – Game Recap
Written by William Lee
Sunday night was the final step of the Texas Triangle, and after another costly mental error by the New York Knicks Friday night, they looked to put that behind them, and end the trip on a positive note against the Dallas Mavericks. Tyson Chandler received a nice loud ovation from Dallas fans for his contribution to the Mavericks 2011 championship run. Although Chandler’s night would be a short one, he left the game four minutes into the game. Per the New York Knicks, Chandler was held out of the game due to an upper respiratory infection.
Carmelo Anthony scored on a turnaround jumper seconds into the game, it would be the beginning of a great all around first quarter. Anthony was responsible for 21 of the 29 Knicks’ points scored in the first quarter. Dallas had no answers for Anthony, watching him score 15 points as well as getting his teammates involved with 3 assist, and grabbing four rebounds. The Mavericks had an early 10-6 lead, which prompted Mike Woodson to call a timeout. New York went on an 18-3 run after the timeout to take a double digit lead. The Mavericks were held scoreless for over three minutes during the stretch. The lead would grow to as much as 19 mid-way into the second quarter, with the score 44-28, in favor of the Knicks.
Dallas was held to 36.1% shooting in the first half, there was very little ball movement, as evident by recording only three assist for the half. New York on the other hand was passing the ball well, getting 13 assist on 22 made field goals in the first half, on their way to a 52-35 advantage at the half. Andrea Bargnani and Amare Stoudemire both Continue reading
The Knicks Dictionary
There are some things that only exist on the Knicks because this is an insane and screwed up franchise. In order to simplify things we decised to come up with a dictionary to explain these Knicks only phenomena. Here is the Knicks Dictionary which will be updated as necessary:
3rd Quarter – The quarter the Knicks take off every game before trying again in the 4th
Accountability – The best way to learn is to be allowed to keep doing what you are doing.
Big Lineup – Playing tall players.
D-focused Coach – a guy who doesn’t coach defense
Game Shape – Enough stamina for 3 quarters
Herb Williams – A permanent fixture of the assistant coaching staff no matter who is head coach. Never a candidate for head coach.
Knick Comeback – Coming back from at least 20 points down only to juuuuust fall short at the end.
Knick Effect – When someone on the opposing team has a season high scoring game due to terrible defense.
Knick trade – Getting fleeced while exchanging players and being happy about it.
Knicks 6th Man – This player has to be extemely inconsistent and undependable.
Knicks Out of Timeout Play – Isolation. Always.
Knicks @ Rockets – 1-3-14 – Game Recap
Written by William Lee
Friday night New York continued their Texas Triangle road trip, taking on the Houston Rockets, after a very impressive victory over the San Antonio Spurs the previous night. Jeremy Lin made sure to let his former team know what they were missing, scoring seven points in the opening four minutes. Lin penetrated into the paint for a couple of layups, and knocked down a three, which quickly gave the Rockets an 11-4 early lead. James Harden would also get into the act, easily getting into the paint for a layup as well. Mike Woodson decided to substitute out Beno Udrih in favor of the home town native Toure’ Murry for his defense. Murry and Iman Shumpert made a good defensive backcourt, and it sparked an 18-9 run to end the first quarter, to give the Knicks a 24-20 lead.
The Rockets started the second quarter on a 9-3, where they were able to keep the Knicks scoreless for three minutes early in the second quarter. The run gave the Rockets the lead briefly, as the game was tightly contested throughout, with 18 lead changes in the game. The Rockets would extend their run, leading by as much as seven points in the second quarter, behind the dribble penetration from Lin, who scored another seven points in the quarter. The Knicks would connect on three straight three pointers in route to an 11-2 run to take back the lead 43-41 with 2:25 remaining in the second quarter. Continue reading
Episode 231: Knick Dictionary
Marc and Jay talk about Chris Smith getting waived, Shawn Marion, The Knick Effect, The Knicks Dictionary, the west coast trip, and much more
The New York Knicks Podcast 