Knicks vs Nets 12-5-13 – Preview

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Written by Anish Philip @dak0mish

The Knicks are set to play the Nets tonight, and it couldn’t lack any less luster. These two teams were supposed to be jockeying for a high seeding in the playoffs. Instead, you have two very injured teams that look like easy chum for the NY media feeding frenzy. 1

This wasn’t what was promised to us over the summer. Deron Williams attacking a child Knicks fan, Pierce embracing every chance to proclaim his hatred or leave the Knicks out of the contender conversation, JR getting on his social media soap box, to Dolan and Prok  – you expected a 12 round grudge match. What was supposed to be a clash of the titans has turned into a slumber party pillow fight.

No matter who you think is worse, you can’t argue with one simple fact: The team’s with the two highest payrolls, Brooklyn at $101 million, and the Knicks at $87 million, have less than half the wins of the East leading Pacers combined . By building through the draft, shrewd signings and trades, the Pacers are paying homage to the greatest of all small market teams, the Spurs. The two hometown teams have done the complete opposite. Trading picks for players who are far from superstars & taking on monstrous contracts has given them the headlines they lust for, but not the tangible results to cement their claim to contender status. Don’t act surprised. Patience is a virtue, but long term growth will always be throw aside for a quick buck in Gotham.  Continue reading →

2013/14 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 6

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This would be a lot easier if someone could string together more than 1 game of decent play.  Three games, three losses and lots of blame to go around.  Read along as I try to make sense of this mess of a roster.
       
Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Bargnani, Andrea Yes Bargnani is really bad in transition D.  However he has been playing good man to man D, even getting 10 blocks over a 2 game stretch, been scoring pretty efficiently and rebounding at a decent rate.  That’s all it takes to get a #1 spot on this roster apparently. 3
2 Anthony, Carmelo Still rebounding really well.  Still scoring very inefficiently, but at least he made up for it with 4 assists over 3 games and topped it off with running down the clock while down by 2 before missing a turnaround at the buzzer, shocking no one. 1
3 Martin, Kenyon Assists! Rebounds! Defense!  Why doesn’t this rub off on anyone else? 2
4 Prigioni, Pablo Lets not ever try the two point guard lineup.  It worked too well last season and everyting is going great so far this season.  It’s not that Pablo played great this week, but he played better than all the other point guards on this team. Continue reading →

Episode 224: Make It Stop

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Marc and Jay talk about the losses to the Clippers and Nuggets, a new trade rumor, top 5 things that will magically turn this season around, listener questions and much more

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Knicks vs Pelicans – 12-1-13 – Game Recap

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Written by William Lee

The Knicks did a great job of defending the Pelicans in the first quarter, forcing them to shoot 23.8%, going 5/21 from the field. Kenyon Martin set the tone from the tip, he did a good job of harassing Anthony Davis on the first two Pelicans’ possession, poking the ball from Davis, causing the Pelicans to start off with two turnovers. A couple possessions later Anthony Davis made a strong move to the rim, attempting to dunk the ball, but Andrea Bargnani was there to contest it without fouling. Bargnani had an amazing defensive effort in the first quarter, blocking three shots in the period, highlighted by a block on Jason Smith which led to a fast break alley opp to Carmelo Anthony. Anthony Davis left at 1:33 remaining in the first quarter, with the Knicks leading 18-16, and never returned.  The New Orleans sophomore stud suffered a non-displaced fracture on his left hand. His season averages coming into tonight’s match up with the Knicks was 19.6 points 10.6 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per game. This was another golden opportunity for the Knicks to take advantage of, to finally stop their losing streak.

With the Pelicans’ superstar sidelined, the bench came out swinging in the second quarter with Tyreke Evans and Ryan Anderson both scoring ten points in the quarter. This kept the Pelicans in the game with the Knicks in the first half, with the Knicks leading 49-44 going into intermission. The Knicks were sharing the ball and had great ball movement, with 13 assist on 18 made field goals at the half. Raymond Felton led the way for the Knicks at the half with 10 points and 5 assist. Continue reading →

Knicks @ Nuggets – 11-29-13 – Game Recap

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trade

Written by William Lee

            Hard to believe this trade was over two years ago, in a cold February winter night in 2011. Since then it has been an up and down roller coaster ride for the Knicks and their fans. The blockbuster trade brought immediate dividends with the Knicks making the playoffs for the first time since the 2003-2004 season, but was immediately swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round. Then the worldwide phenomenon we all now come to be known as Linsanity occurred the following season. The Knicks had another first round exit, but not before picking up their first playoff victory, in over a decade. With the incredible hype behind Linsanity, James Dolan guaranteed that the Knicks would to match any offer up to one billion dollars during the offseason. All it really took was a poison pill contract worth $25 million over three years, with $14.8 million of it in the third year. Even with the departure of Jeremy Lin, the Knicks then had a magical 2012-2013 season, where the Knicks set a new NBA record with 891 three point shots made in a season. The Knicks broke past the First Round, but not before JR Smith elbowed Jason Terry, prolonging the series with the Boston Celtics. The Knicks then fall to the Indiana Pacers in the Second Round, in a hard fought series.

Up and down, up and down we are along for the Carmelo Anthony era ride of the Knicks. Unfortunately last year may have been the apex of the roller coaster ride up, as this year has been a complete disaster. The Knicks has lost seven straight entering tonight’s match up with Carmelo Anthony’s old team, the Denver Nuggets. Things look bleak now, but it could take a nose dive descent for the Knicks as the Nuggets hold the upcoming Knicks first round pick this year from the Carmelo Anthony trade. The Nuggets helped their own cause tonight, as they sent the Knicks to their eighth straight defeat, winning 97-95. Continue reading →

Knicks at Clippers 11-27-13

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Written by William Lee
Raymond Felton made his return to the Knicks after missing the last four games with some nerve complications in his hip. At first Felton looked out of sync with his teammates committing two quick turnovers, but quickly got back on track, finishing the game with 12 points and 7 assist. Blake Griffin got into early foul trouble, picking up his second foul before the half way mark of the first quarter. With the Clippers’ superstar forward on the bench, the Clippers united as a group to take a 29-27 first quarter lead. The Clippers had eight players score by the end of the first quarter.  Carmelo Anthony and Andrea Bargnani got off to a quick start, both finishing in double digit scoring by the end of the first quarter predicated by the Knicks better ball movement. The Knicks finished the first quarter with eight assist on eleven made field goals.
Basketball is a game of runs, and the second quarter featured three prolonged runs. The Clippers opened up the second quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 40-29 lead with 8:20 remaining in the second quarter. The Knicks then went on a 13-0 run to regain the lead 42-40, during this run the Clippers took and missed four straight threes. The Clippers then went on a 9-3 run to end the first half leading 49-45. During the two prolonged Clippers’ runs there was one common denominator; Amare Stoudemire was in the game defending the paint for the Knicks. The first Clipper run ended when Stoudemire was substituted out at 8:13, and then the Clippers went on the run to end the quarter when Stoudemire checked back into the game at 3:37 left in the first half. Whenever Stoudemire was in the game, there was a clear path to the rim, he was completely lost on defense. He finished the first quarter with a +/- of -21, as compared to the current best Knicks defender Kenyon Martin, who had a +17 at the end of the first half. Overall Stoudemire finished the game with an even worse+/- at an astonishing -29, while Martin was by far the best Knick in +/- staying at +17. Continue reading →

Episode 223: What We’re Thankful For

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Marc and Jay do two top 5s, what we’re thankful for and what you can watch instead of the Knicks, we very briefly talk about the Portland game, listener questions, Marcs fantasy basketball strategy, we talk to Tyson Chandler and much more

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2013/14 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 5

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Four games and four losses since last weeks rankings.  I will now try and rank the varying levels of awfulness that make up the Knicks roster.
       
Rank Player              Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Anthony, Carmelo Last night was the first night in a long time Melo has shot over .500, but he’s also fighting constant double teams due to the lack of help around him.  A few more assists would help but I can’t complain too much considering he’s currently 2nd in the NBA in scoring and a very impressive 11th in rebounding. 1
2 Martin, Kenyon Huzzah!  An actual Knick player that plays defense.  He can rebound too!  He’s been playing over 25 minutes a game.  Anyone else terrified at what this team would look like if K-Mart went down? 6
3 Bargnani, Andrea Bargnani went ice cold for a few games but who am I going to put above him?  He’s been grabbing 5 boards a game which is…not the worst I guess.  Would still like to see him get more touches in the 2nd half of games, especially when he’s productive in the 1st half.  Looking at you Melo and JR. 2
4 Udrih, Beno With Felton out Beno has bene our resident ‘PG who lets every opposing PG run past him on just about every play’ guy.  He’s up this high for his performance in the Indiana game because 1 great game is 1 more than the players ranked 5-15. 9
5 Stoudemire, Amar’e You know this team is in trouble when we’re putting Amare in the top 5.  Yes his defense is still the worst but he’s been scoring and rebounding at a very efficient rate which is all you can expect from him at this point.   Continue reading →

Episode 222: Running out of Sad Songs

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The Knicks lost again and Marc and Jay try to cope.  We are joined by a basketball god, Derrick Rose and Chris Smith.  Talking about the usual, coaching, injuries, fixes, trades, whether it’s time to panic, and much more

Episode 222

What is Shumperts Real Trade Value?

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Written by Anish Philip @dak0mish

Knicks fans overrate many of their players, especially those they draft. It’s typical of any hardcore fan of any team, but it seems amplified by the Knicks fan insatiable desire for a contender. Gallo was the next Bird depending who you spoke to. A solid player, but he won’t be starring in McDonalds commercials at any point.

The affliction occurred again with Iman Shumpert. Walsh’s final stamp on a franchise he pulled from fan hell like Dante, was selecting Shumpert with the 17th pick in the 2011 draft. Relatively unknown till the draft, the word potential was attached to his game. He couldn’t shoot, but he had NBA ready defense, great athleticism, and had above average handle for a two guard. With two non defenders in Anthony and Stoudemire, the pick was made. Continue reading →