knicks

Heat, Mavs, Improvement?

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Heat, Mavs, Improvement?

Written by Declan Ryan

The Knicks moved to 19-21 this season after an encouraging win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Prior to the Dallas game, the Knicks threw away what would’ve been a great confidence boosting win in Miami, who’s victory was largely predicated on their willingness to shoot threes, and the Knicks’ reluctance to do the same.

The 107-103 loss in overtime to the Heat was a reminder for Knicks fans that despite a
promising start to the season, there is room for improvement on multiple fronts for the
team going forward. Much has been made over the improved defense and effort that passes the eye test when watching the team, but statistically, the game-plans have to
improve if the Knicks want to reach even the 8th seed in the playoff race this year.
Miami attempted 42 threes on Friday, but the Knicks only managed 13 attempts – this
disparity further highlighted by the fact that the Knicks didn’t make a single 3 pointer until the 3rd quarter. Of course, attempting a low number of threes would be excusable if the team was having an off night – there’s no use chucking threes just for the sake of it. However, the Knicks hit 5 threes on Friday, shooting a good 38.5% as opposed to the Heat who shot 28.5% (12/42).

We all know that the Knicks have struggled mightily in defending the 3 point line this
season, in fact, it’s probably the most frustrating part of watching the team so far. Given that for the most part the effort on defense has been great, the Knicks’ players are doing themselves a disservice by giving them up.

A more detailed study of the Heat game, undertaken by reddit user /u/zounderk1te  (1) , shows that the team suffers from multiple individual errors when on defense; this is compounded by the fact that the team has to constantly help on defense to contain opposition players who are allowed to drive to the rim far too easily.

Despite KP’s recent ‘tired’ comments, there is a real case for him moving to the 5 once he can hang physically with NBA big men down low. KP frequently doesn’t contest 3 pointers when guarding stretch 4’s, and there’s no doubt he’s best defensively as a rim protector, closer to the basket.

Anyone who has watched the Knicks this year will tell you that the team appears to flat out refuse to box out sometimes, instead ball watching and allowing easy offensive rebounds as well as long rebounds which lead to easy threes for the other team. Truthfully, it’s hard to say whether this is solely a coaching issue, or because of the inexperience of the team’s young players, but regardless it’s killing the Knicks especially down the stretch in close games.

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The New York Knicks Podcast – Episode 407: Beasley, McDermott, or O’Quinn

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Marc and Jay talk about the Knicks lack of three point shooting, Beasley, the Knicks lineups, Porzingis is tired, 10 minutes with a die hard fan, and much more

The New York Knicks Podcast – Episode 406: January Optimism

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Marc and Jay are back, we talk about possible moves for the trade deadline, different rotations, covering the 3 point line, 10 minutes with a die hard Knicks fan, and more

The New York Knicks Podcast – Episode 405: Let the Good Times Roll

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Marc and Jay talk about the last 3 games, how we feel about the roster, who we’d like to see stick around next season, how to build for the future, 10 minutes with a die hard Knicks fan, and much more

2017/18 New York Knicks Player Power Rankings – Week 9

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Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Porzingis, Kristaps Please don’t be injured, please don’t be injured, please don’t be injured, please don’t be injured. 3
2 Kanter, Enes The fact that Kanter is a double-double machine and McDermott is a solid bench player while Melo is averaging career lows in just about every category makes me feel so much better about this trade than I did a few months ago. 2
3 Lee, Courtney Lee has had some monster games lately. Definitely picking up scoring void Hardaway left when he went down. 1
4 McDermott, Doug McDermott was a big reason that all of the starters had a negative +/- while all the bench players had a positive +/- against the Hawks. 7
5 Beasley, Michael If Beasley keeps playing like this it’s definitely going to effect the odds on Knicks making the playoffs. 5
6 Ntilikina, Frank Up and down season, which is normal for a 19 year old PG. This week was a very up week. 11
7 Jack, Jarrett Jack had a similar week to last week. He’s only moving down because so many Knicks had an even better week. 4
8 Thomas, Lance Thomas has moved into the starting lineup and hasn’t looked too bad. No apology coming. 8
9 O’Quinn, Kyle O’Quinn hasn’t been getting many minutes lately but he’s definitely been making the most of them. 9
10 Hardaway Jr., Tim The Knicks have been winning, but they are going to need Timmy to get healthy soon. A ton of away games in January and against much better competition. 6
11 Baker, Ron Baker came back and has looked like a 4M a year player. Take that however you want. 13
12 Dotson, Damyean Looks like Baker took Dotsons minutes. Not sure how I feel about that. I don’t think I feel great about it. 10
13 Hernangomez, Willy Willy better figure out defense and fast or he’s going to be out of the NBA in a year or two. 12
14 Sessions, Ramon Since Jack is the Knicks veteran PG presense what value does Sessions bring? 14
15 Noah, Joakim Parsons is averaging over 12 PPG this month, making Noah the official worst contract in the NBA. 15

The New York Knicks Podcast – Episode 404: We’re Back

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Sorry for the audio, my computer broke and the new one won’t cooperate so the audio is horrible.  We try and recap everything we missed since we last recorded.

Recap of Loss to Magic by Declan Ryan

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(Note, we apologize to Declan for getting this very well written recap up late. We would also post a recap of last night’s loss to the Pacers but that would be NSFW)

Knicks lose at home to Magic, 105-100

With Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kristaps Porzingis out through injury, the Knicks (11-11)
fell to the visiting Orlando Magic (10-14) 105-100 in what was an uninspiring 48
minutes of NBA basketball.

Sunday’s loss sees the Knicks having won only 1 of their last 5 games, the only win
in that stretch coming against the Whiteside-less Heat on Wednesday. The absence
of both THJ and KP made a seemingly perfect opportunity for Frank Ntilikina to be
green-lit for sizeable minutes, yet as the game progressed it became obvious that
Jeff Hornacek had other ideas.

Immediately shifting the blame to the foul disparity in his post-game interview,
Hornacek failed to justify why at 8.55 in the 4 th he decided to bench Ntilikina for
Ramon Sessions’ first and only minutes of the game – not bringing the French rookie
back onto the court until the game was almost over with 25 seconds left to play.

Sessions immediately missed a wide open 3 pointer and had a -5 in his 4 minutes of
action. This substitution left the Knicks with a lineup of Sessions, Baker, Lee,
Beasley and KOQ playing important clutch minutes, where Ntilikina could have
instead been gaining invaluable experience in a game where despite foul trouble
early, he was being productive offensively.

Notwithstanding the 4 th however, the Knicks will rue their ineptitude in the 1 st where
they were down by as many as 17 points. Jarrett Jack and Enes Kanter were most
noticeable with their self-destruct style of defense allowing the Magic to enter the
paint like a hot knife through butter. On the surface Kanter’s 18 points and 16
rebounds seem more than serviceable for the Knicks most talented starter on
Sunday, but he allowed the Magic’s Nikola Vucevic to have 34 points and 12
rebounds, offering a stark reminder of perhaps why Kanter won’t be the long-term
answer at the 5 position for the Knicks – Vucevic had his number all game.

Unfortunately for rookie Damyean Dotson his first career start was met with great
effort but poor execution as he ended the afternoon with 2 points on 1-3 shooting, 1
rebound, 0 assists and with the worst +/- of any Knicks player with a -16 for the
game. Michael Beasley had a nice 21 points but made numerous poor decisions
especially in the 4 th that ultimately cost the Knicks, going 1-3 with a foul and a
turnover in the final 5 minutes.

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2017/18 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 7

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The holidays got in the way so this raking will cover two weeks and 6 games. Unfortunately 4 of those games are losses and injuries are finally playing a factor.
Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Hardaway Jr., Tim Well I didn’t see this coming. Hardaway has kicked it up a couple notches since last rankings. He’s still inconsistent but in addition to scoring he’s been rebounding and assisting at an impressive rate. 3
2 Porzingis, Kristaps Porzingis shot has still been way off since it came out that his elbow has been injured. Still he’s been averaging over 20ppg and is still the prohibitive favorite among the most improved players 1/4 through the season. 1
3 Lee, Courtney Other than the first Raptors game Lee has played well. On a team of inconsistent players the consistency has been appreciated. 2
4 Jack, Jarrett Jack had a 14 assist game this week. It was in a loss to the Hawks, but still. 6
5 O’Quinn, Kyle O’Quinn isn’t the best player but man is he fun to watch. Gotta love his energy. 8
6 Kanter, Enes The Knicks have a lot of big guys but not a lot of good ones. This was really apparent when Kanter went down. Bonus points for trolling LeBron. 5
7 McDermott, Doug Can’t put all the blame on McDermott but his +/- this week raises all the eyebrows. 7
8 Beasley, Michael Beasley had 24 points at the half against the Rockets. In the 2nd half he showed why so many teams gave up on him. He didn’t even cross half court on a couple defensive stints. 11
9 Ntilikina, Frank Frank had a rough couple weeks. He’s looked out of his element lately. Coach seems to notice too, his minutes are way down. 4
10 Thomas, Lance Meh 9
11 Dotson, Damyean Didn’t get to see much of Damyean lately. 10
12 Noah, Joakim 3 minutes in the last 2 weeks. Noah is going to get run in Westchester this week, that’s the way to slowly bring him back. I like it. 12
13 Baker, Ron Baker is also playing in Westchester this week. If you’re doing the math that’s over $20 million in salary playing in Westchester instead of MSG. 14
14 Hernangomez, Willy Willy has been so bad I went from ‘the Knicks have too many big men’ to ‘I wonder what Luke Kornet is up to?’ 13
15 Sessions, Ramon Nothing to see here. 15

 

Will the Knicks make the post season?

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Will the Knicks make the post season?

Written by Luke Ambrose, follow him on twitter and instagram


The Mecca has been rocking of late with some impressive Knick performances, even the heart breaking come back loss handed to them by Cleveland was great to watch. Porzingis’s down tick in shooting percentage has gone unnoticed with Tim Hardaway Jr coming out party, highlighted by the dagger three at the end of the Utah game on Wednesday, a week after scoring 38 points against Toronto at MSG. Production from other role plays has also been important in jumping out to a good start. Lee, O’Quinn, Jack and Thomas have all been better than expectations at the beginning of the season.

So, what’s next for this gritty new Knicks team? In this unpredictable Eastern conference, it is too easy to fantasize about playoff basketball, and the Knicks will have to continue to improve to make it there.

The triangle is out of sight and out of mind. Horneck has been given full control of the
offense and now the offense is going to run. Unsurprisingly (given the Knicks personnel) they have managed to create an identity as a team that can run in transition, ranking in the top 10 in points added through transition (per 100 possessions). Getting out in transition is one thing but the Knicks have also remained efficient ranking 7th in transition points scored (per 100 transition plays), and 12th at finishing at the rim.

The numbers illustrate how the Knicks are trying to play, however to be successful against the better teams they will need to emphasis transition opportunities more often. We have seen New York resort to iso situations even off a steal, which slows the offense down and lets the opposing defense set up.

Another warning sign that the offense maybe struggling more than it seems is the inability to turn steals into transition points. So far, this year the Knicks rank 27th in transition points added through steals. This combined with the efficiency or lack of the Knicks are showing in transition is a worrying sign for the 10-7 New York squad.

Defensively, the Knicks have been dramatically up and down. Just over a week ago Kyle
Korver highlighted the main blundering point, defending the three-point line. This weakness was also taken advantage of by the tanking Hawks. The Knicks are one of the worst teams in the league at defending the three-point line, especially from the corners. In a three-point shooting league the team will struggle to make it to the post season without improving their close out defense. Otherwise we may start to see even more games get away from the Knicks like we saw against, Toronto (at Air Canada), Cleveland, and Atlanta.

The Knicks can’t rely on Kristaps through 82 games.

Versus both the Clippers and Raptors this week the Knicks have taken some further baby steps towards consistency. Even more encouraging for the blue and orange is Tim Hardaway Jr’s performances. Offensively the shooting guard has grown into his roll, taking less contested 3-pointers and getting to and finishing at the rim. Hardaway Jr’s performances have meant the Knicks have pulled out wins without completely relying on KP. As the season continues Timmy’s offense will become even more important, and he has to stay aggressive in attacking the rim if the Knicks are serious about staying over .500.

Unbelievably, THJ’s defense has also been worth writing about. Defensively, Hardaway has become more like his team mate Courtney Lee instead of 2015-16 James Harden. Once-upon-a- time, the young shooting guard would reach constantly, and become a turn table when confronted with a driving opponent. Nowadays, NY’s number 3 is moving his feet, muscling over screens, and stealing the ball from lackadaisical ball handlers. Hardaway Jr will never transform into Tony Allen, but if he can remain average on the defensive end the Knicks become a much better team.

Nothing illustrated the Knicks defensive improvements more than the third quarter on
Wednesday night vs division rivals Toronto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmVIcNqBfF4

However, the defensive effort has to be there for the Knicks 8/10 games if they want to hold on to one of those magical playoff seeds.

So, can the Knicks finally make a playoff run?

That’s to be decided, but they are making progress.

The New York Knicks Podcast – Episode 403: Slump or Elbow

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Marc and Jay talk with Chris from the Almighty Baller podcast network about the Knicks vs the Raptors, injury situations, rotations, Noah, Ntilikina, and more