New York vs Portland 01/09 Game Thread (W 113-105)

[rady]

http://i.cnn.net/si/images/basketball/nba/logos/knicks_100.gif vs http://i.cnn.net/si/images/basketball/nba/logos/trail_blazers_100.gif

Lineups:

New York Knicks (16-17) :: 10-6 at MSG
http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/stephon_marbury.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/allan_houston.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/nazr_mohammed.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/tim_thomas.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/kurt_thomas.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/lenny_wilkens.jpg

Portland TrailBlazers(14-17 ) :: 6-11 on road

http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/nick_van_exel.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/derek_anderson.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/theo_ratliff.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/ruben_patterson.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/zach_randolph.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/maurice_cheeks.jpg

Knicks Stats (http://www.nba.com/knicks/stats/)
Blazers Stats (http://www.nba.com/blazers/stats/)
NBA Standings (http://www.nba.com/standings/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Div.html)

Game Time: 7:30 PM EST
TV: MSG, MSGHD
Radio: 1050 ESPN (http://www.1050espnradio.com)

Portland Trail-Blazer forum:
www.trailblazin.com
You can discus the game with tblazers fans at the mentioned adress. Keep the conversation at a high level and stay away from flames

Game Recap
Knicks 113 - Trailblazers 105 (http://www.knicksonline.com/recap.php?date=2005-01-09)

[6thman]

After we've lost 4 in a row, we MUST win this one vs the blazers who aren't a great team!
If we win tonight, it will show that NY has some heart and really wants to play good BBall. What i wanna see tonight:
-Houston scoring at least 20 points
-Tim grabbing at least 5 rebounds and score 15 pts ( otherwise FIRE HIM)
-Defense
-Wilkens yelling

[pbjb14]

how does winning against a mediocre team show that we have heart?

[6thman]

how does winning against a mediocre team show that we have heart?

the opponent isn't important in this case!
We have to concentrate on our game and show we aren't that bad!

[NYKnicks15]

I think its more of it shows us that we have our head in the damn game, than anything else. Heart is going out there when were down 31 points and trying to make a difference, heart is driving to the lane when Shaq's (yes shaq) there for the better of your team....two things we didnt do when given the chance. I agree with 6th Man though, we need this win, our we fall 2 games under 500! Portland is not great BUT if we were in the same division wed only be 2 games ahead of them!!! So like it or not we are almost even man. We need to step it up.

Centers---Nazr Mohammed vs Theo Ratliff, they are both evenly matched when coming to size BUT Nazr has him beat everywhere else, foot work, shooting, and statistics (has him beat by an average of 7ppg and about 5 rpg---I think Nazr can do it and we should attempt to show that weakness early

Power Forwads---Kurt Thomas vs Zach Randolph, Kurt has him beat by an inch but nothing more than that, Its going to be a rough game for Kurt, but stopping and defending is Kurts speciality and if anyone can do it its Kurt

Small Forwards---Tim Thomas vs Ruben Patterson---I always dont have the greatest faith in Tiny Tim, but if any night tonight he can have a good night, He out sizes his man by 5 inches and hes truly a better all around player then Patterson (deep down inside) he just has to show it. I wouldnt say fire Tim haha we need that contract for bait boy haha

Shooting Guards---Allan Houston vs Derek Andersen---Id like to say Allan could do it but hes not the same old Houston we know and love. Hes gonna have a tough time defending him I think and well see a lot of Ariza tonight for that reason. Hopefully Houston will surprise me though.

Point Guard---Stephon Marbury vs Nick Van Exel---hmm I have nothing to say about this, if Stephons the "best point in the league" prove it!!! take some shots, pass the ball, drive to the hoop, ill see if he speaks for himself tonight....

We can do it, we just have to defend and like 6th man said play with heart even though its not a great team. A team with great heart goes out there every single night and plays close to 100%, right now I dont see the Knicks playing with that....it looks like they've been :idea: before every game! (no offense to Baker)

[Trin_Starr]

Nice analysis NYKnicks15.

They need to win this game for Pride at least
The whole eastern half of the nation saw the knicks utterly humiliated yesterday!

[jayp]

i just saw the game update from espn.com.. tim thoms has 0 mins, which means trevor ariza must have started... other than that, we're doing a pretty good job as of now..

[jayp]

^^^ they started Jerome Williams for Tim Thomas

[JaDaMeL05]

I like what Im seeing from the Knicks right now. Good all around play by everyone. JYD gave us alot of energy, from the beginning. Back to .500

[NYKnicks15]

Just quickly want to come on the game, a few pluses stick out...

Randolph had a great night like I expected but good for Kurt to get 18 points himself

Tim sitting the whole game? Somethings up, either banged up (no) or something else like getting shown he isnt too "good" to be seated! Good for Jerome tho 15 points 6 rebounds im glad.

Houston! Back to old form? hmm ill have to wait and see hes fluctuated since coming back so i wont jinx it just yet. But good for him to get 25 and do some defense in stopping Anderson to only 8

Last but not least Im glad to see Marbury take control and throw in 20 points and only allowing Van Exel to get only 10. He did his scoring, he did his defense. Good.

Decent all around game, nothing to brag about but good to be back at .500!!!

[NYKnicks15]

Man I almost forgot. MOOCHIE NORRIS. I have to say when he first came in with that Amachi/Weatherspoon deal I was highly upset. BUT no one gives him his props and I think its time he deserves it. Hes been a reliable back up to Marbury and gives marbury a breather when needed. Off the bench he scored 10 tonight. Good for him. OHHH and a truly great guy.

[Knickerbockers11]

After the jets playoff win, thier quarterback addressed the media in a press confrence and was asked about the two losses at the end of the regular season. Chad pennington replied, sometimes it better to loose because then things become exposed, while wins can cover those weaknesses up, and then you don't improve on what you need to. unfortunatly i think that is what happened tonight. Although the knicks looked perhaps the best on offense they have all season, there defense is still letting teams shoot too high a percentage and score too many points (and it will only get worse when CRAW " as unreliable as a" FORD on defense comes back). I don't know what its gonna take for the Knicks to play some D but talking about it certainly wont cut it.
After all that negativity I need to sit back and be happy we finally got a win. I hope there is more to come and we can commit more to defense.

[NYKnicks15]

Nice quote....I dont know about you, but we lost three in a row and were under 500....ill take the wins now haha :P Go Knicks!

[Blumatic]

Its not a good win, it snot a bad win. A win is what it was. They were suppose to win. I just hope that this "WIN" is not the win to answer the Cavs loss. This is not a statement game. This was game that was supposed to be won. Period. In retrospect we still havent beaten a good team. We've beaten team with winning records such as the Nuggets, Magic, T-Wolves and so on but they are all going through problems right now. We just caught them at their worst. I'm glad we won b/c we were suppose to. But lets start with beating the Pistons. They may be struggling but they are the defending champs. Lets beat teh Suns, Sonics, Spurs or Heat. 2 out of the 4 would be great. Then we will think of them as a decent team. If we dont win these next 4 games. Then i will start looking towards next season.

[pyotrveliky]

about tim, i think this was the order - knee injury against miami and he hurt his calf against cleveland. dont think its too serious tho

[pbjb14]

how does winning against a mediocre team show that we have heart?

the opponent isn't important in this case!
We have to concentrate on our game and show we aren't that bad!

i agree we have to concenttrate on our game and show we arent that bad but what i was saying was that this win would mean nothing especially that we have heart. heart comes from consistency