defense

The Knicks display their lack of desire to lead catch division leader

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This is a photo of the Knicks shot selection tonight:

The Knicks had a chance to close the gap on the 76ers tonight, playing the terrible Raptors.  They had a multi-faceted strategy:

  • Turn the ball over every other possession
  • Miss at least 10 layups and/or dunks
  • Miss as many shots as possible
  • Don’t tire yourself out contesting any Raptors driving to the basket
  • J.R. Smith should shoot constantly no matter how contested or how far from the net he is
  • Keep Jorts on the bench even though Jeffries is injured
  • Throw the ball into the stands at least once a quarter
  • Make sure no one is boxed out, someone might accidentally get a rebound if that happens

This strategy did not work.

 

Carmelo Admits to Dogging It

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Carmelo Anthony said that since Mike Woodson took over he’s had focus and energy he hasn’t had all season. It’s not like this is game 5 of the season. It’s game 45 and he finally decides to try on defense. What a guy! It’s good to know that our 18 million dollar a year man decided to start trying. Now it would be nice if he could remember how to shoot again too.

What pisses me off the most is that the Knicks have a much better chance of getting out of the first round if we finish the season as the 6th seed and play the Magic instead of the Heat or Bulls. We have 19 games to make up 3. That’s doesn’t leave much room for error. I can’t help but think if Melo graced us with some effort a few games earlier our road to the 6th seed would be much easier. And if the plan was to get D’Antoni fired don’t half-ass it, just completely tank and let management make a decision 20 games ago.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re on a 5 game winning streak and everything seems great now, but if this is the kind of personality we’re dealing with who knows when he’s going to lose his motivation again. He had 18 million reasons not to the first few months of the season and that didn’t seem to work.

The Knick Effect 2011/12

/ Jay / 2 Comments

So last year we noticed that it seems like every game someone is getting a season high against the Knicks.  I decided to see if this is true and kept a running list I called the Knick Effect.  It turns out 37 players had their best or second best game against the Knicks last season.  This season we got the 2nd best defensive center in the league.  It doesn’t seem like it’s made that much of a difference, 44 entries this time.  So without further ado here is the 2011/12 Knick Effect:

12/25 – Rajon Rondo – 31 points
12/25 – Brandon Bass – 20 points
12/28 – Brandon Rush – 19 points
12/29 – Jason Kapono – 9 points
12/31 – Jason Thompson – 13 points
1/4 – Boris Diaw – 27 points
1/12 – Rudy Gay – 26 points
1/14 – James Harden – 24 points
1/16 – J.J. Redick – 21 points
1/16 – Ryan Anderson – 30 points
1/18 – Steve Nash – 26 points
1/18 – Shannon Brown – 14 points (tied for best)
1/20 – Brandon Jennings – 36 points
1/20 – Shaun Livingston – 18 points
1/21 – Danilo Gallinari – 37 points Continue reading →

Holy Crap the Knicks Won a Game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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To quote Frazier, it has been a long time since MSG has seen “winning and grinning”. The Knicks actually beat the Orlando Magic tonight, and though it took overtime to do it, I am just freakin’ happy. Some points from tonight:

  • The Knicks played defense tonight!!! This was a shocking event. A less shocking event would have been Jared Jeffries giving birth to a unicorn baby through his anus at halftime.
  • this would be the unicorn baby
  • Carmelo scored 39 points with 10 rebounds. Amare had 20 points with 9 rebounds. The Knicks got about as much as possible out of their boring isolation heavy offense. If they can actually get the offense grooving again and keep playing defense they could possibly put up a fight in the playoffs.
  • While Shelden Williams fouled out in 16 minutes he had a couple of huge plays including a big rebound and forcing a jump ball with Dwight Howard.
  • Jared Jeffries for some reason allowed Jason Richardson to shoot a basically uncontested three to tie the game at the end of regulation. I guess the defense Jared Jeffries provides does not include putting his hands up to contest important shots.
  • One of the biggest plays of the game was a lucky foul call against Jason Richardson. Carmelo and Richardson were scrapping on the floor, Carmelo nudged Richardson to the floor while getting up and Richardson tripped Carmelo in retaliation. Luckily the ref only saw Richardson’s trip which nullified big Turk’s game tying three. YAY playing dirty and stupid retaliation!
  • Shockingly no Magic player benefited from the Knicks Effect.

Download Episode 50

Episode 50: The All Positive Episode

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We’ve been pretty negative lately so we decided to only say positive things the whole episode.  We say positive things about the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks games.  We say positive things about the Knicks making the playoffs and positive things about the possible playoff scenarios.  Download Episode 50

Jameer Nelson Buries the Knicks, D.Howard Finishes Off Billups

/ Jay / 3 Comments

The Knicks played well tonight and it looked like smooth sailing for a while. Midway through the 3rd quarter the Knicks were up by 10 and it looked like another great victory was coming. Of course, there are 4 quarters and the Magic stepped it up late. There is a lot to like about tonight but moral victories don’t count in the standings.

  • Jameer seemed unstoppable in the second half. Someone might want to guard him when he goes for a layup.
  • Howard is big and Knicks are not. They had no answer for him. Though, Howard had quite a dirty answer for Billups, knocking him out of the game by sticking his knee out on a screen.
  • 97 free throws tonight. That is a lot. Billups was a crazy 18-20 from the line.
  • Billups and Amare had 30 while Carmelo had 25 which is great but only 12 rebounds between the 3 of them and Billups had half of those.
  • Landry Fields seems always to dominate the +/- battle with a +9 tonight while Shawne Williams had a -17. Shawne actually looked good tonight but the bench was weak.  This team is not going to win consistently until they can get more help off the bench consistently.
  • Billups has got this team looking smooth on offense. He should be nicknamed Mr. Chemistry. I don’t know why I was resistant to swapping Felton for Billups.