What to take out of the Boston game, Positives vs Negatives

Paul1355

All Star
Let me first say that Mike D was not playing to win this game. When you bring in your second unit against Rondo, Allen, and Pierce for the whole 4th quarter then you are not playing to win, I kind of got pissed at MIke D for blowing the game like that.

Positives:
-Amare was a beast and took over as our leader and most of all, he knows how to draw fouls...he drew 5 shooting fouls in the first half, more than the whole Boston team at that point.
-Mozgov is still solid and is clearly better than Turiaf starting at Center
-Turiaf looked better as a role player, blocking shots etc.
-I am very impressed with Toney Douglas, he is playing better than Felton right now
-Our draft picks are really smart players that are both crafty and can bring solid minutes, especially Fields, his defense on Ray Allen was very good.
-Our team defense was awesome...we were hawking the ball handlers, stealing the ball, blocking shots, cloging lanes...when Rajon Rondo is having a hard time then you know we have improved defensively. Our defense and Amare kept us in the game.
-Wilson Chandler is the 2nd best player next to Amare right now.
-Billy Walker is back and better than Mason and Rautins right now, Walker can get role players minutes come start of the season, his outside shot is consistently good and is a threat.

Negatives:
-Gallinari has been a failure because he has shown his continued inconsistency. Nothing has really changed from his tendencies last year, the only positive was the few times he drove to the hoop, but he still has not been posting up which he said he would do frequently. Chandler is clearly playing better on both ends of the floor.
-Roger Mason is brick city. I thought this guy would come out hitting shots but he reminds me a lot of Eddie House, he just throws up shots and will have one good day out of five days shooting....if Mason can't hit shots then he is useless and probably the odd man out of the 11 man rotation.
-Turiaf's offense is non existant. He passes up easy shots and even came 1 foot from the basket only to do a stupid jump pass to someone at the three point line...he is obviously scared to shoot the ball.
-This is probably temporary but Raymond Felton has been a D as our PG. -----Toney Douglas is better defensively and with the jump shot. Felton got murdered defending Rondo. And Felton's IQ as a perimeter defender is not high since he played Rondo, who has no jump shot, up close which allowed Felton to get screened constantly and let Rondo go in for layups and easy passes.
-Anthony Randolph is very nervous, so nervous that I see why he is so inconsistent. This guy is a head case. He needs one good play to get him rolling then he will be amazing but without a boostof confidence he will do nothing and after that missed dunk attempt, Randolph's face looked like a kid that just got schooled in a rap battle. Randolph wanted to hide in a corner and his face showed defeat and it affected the whole team. Randolph has to not try so hard to be a good player, he already is good, he has to let the game come to him.
-Mike D made me scratch my head by sitting Amare, Chandler, and Mozgov in the 4th so we could get embarissed, AGAIN, by the Boston elite players of Rondo, Allen, and Pierce. To see Mike D throw the game away made me pretty upset and mad. I know he wants to save his starters so they won't get hurt. BUT this is your first home game to prove that you have a new and improved team that can make the playoffs, Amare scored 30 points in 3 quarters and Chandler was taken out again when he was playing good early. When Doc Rivers puts in his best players, you have to match it. I felt like the whole game was wasted because of Mike D's Joe Girardi treatment by not playing his best for rest....you have to play to win no matter what.

Thoughts and anything else I missed?
 
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SSj4Wingzero

All Star
Good eval.

One thing is I don't think anybody's really THAT upset...we played our reserves and lost to the Celtics by 3 points...far as I'm concerned, it was basically a W had we actually bothered to play Amar'e in the 4th.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Great Thread

Boston played a small-ball rotation vs Knicks

Our positives were our Guard rotation of Felton, Douglas, Mason, Walker,
and hard-hustling rookie Fields were going all out on both sides of the court
taking no hostages from Rondo, Nate, Ray, and Daniels.
u had to luv our guards b/c any little mistake they made they made up for it
twice in their performance. Multi-talented Wilson Chandler performance in the
preseason is going to have the Knicks trade phone ringing off the hook by so
many NBA teams in need of a multi-talented starter or 6th man.

The negatives were Pierce taking a huge advantage over Gallo, bumbing
Gallo aggresively on both sides of the court, scoring & rebounding over Gallo
at will, and Gallo refusing to play aggresive vs Pierce.
Our bigmen of Mozgov, Turiaf, Amare, and Randolph getting outrebounded on
both sides of the court by Boston two 6.8 2nd round pick Lasme and 6.8 2nd
round pick rookie name Harangody (16 pts, 12 rbd) was enough to preach a
long sermon of "where is the Knicks bigman coach?".
We really got bamboozled in the trade for our double-double David Lee.
We blame David Lee, when all this time our Knicks dont have a
bigman coaching plan to orchestrate a play on covering the paint area on
offense/defense, our bigmen were bumbing each other for position. WTF!

P.S. we wouldve did better resigning F/C-David Lee to start with F/C-Amare.
Turiaf/Randolph/Azu will never be able to replace all the things David Lee
learned from coach Larry Brown & Mark Aquire to become a hustling double-
double bigman player off the ball.
Resigning Lee wouldve only made us sign Project Mozgov to a $1.5M per
salary rather than a $3M per salary.
:gony: :smokin:
 

TR1LL10N

Hannibal Lecter
I agree with most of your evaluation but I certainly don't fault D'ant sitting our stars in a preseason game. They showed what they could do against Boston's starters and I was impressed. Chancing an injury to win a meaningless game would have been stupid by D'ant...not protecting our investments.
 

TR1LL10N

Hannibal Lecter
Resigning Lee wouldve only made us sign Project Mozgov to a $1.5M per
salary rather than a $3M per salary.

There you go again...making unfounded statements that are not only unknowable but don't even make sense.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
There you go again...making unfounded statements that are not only unknowable but don't even make sense.
:boohoo::boohoo::boohoo:
Call it what u want, Im practicing to be a helluva better GM than the clowns
Layden/Isiah/Walsh all put together. If u ever see a license plate in New
York that reads "REFRULE" thats me driving pass u
TR1ll1on.....u r 2 slow for NBA b.ball to not notice the positive/negative in
the Boston vs Knick game. Especially a 2010 2nd round pick 6.8 Harangody
puting it on Mozgov. How much do we pay 2nd round picks again? LOL

I came up with the salary conclusion of Mozgov after watching my 2nd game
of Mozgov in the Fiba tournament (foul trouble). $3M per to a guy who is
prone to pick up 2 fouls in 4 minutes in the Fiba games.....Tr1ll1on, for now
on read this board dont comment.
After I signed Mozgov for $1.5M, I wouldve negotiated a $1.5M per for 3
years with D.League Earl Barron too.

P.S. What u dont understand is I never wouldve tried to trade David Lee to
Memphis for their 5th pick in the 2008 draft, which was a big insult to David
Lee and his agent (I wouldnt have been that stupid). I wouldve gave David
Lee an extension to his rookie-contract worth $7M per to keep his work ethic
on the team in Sept. 2008.
 

TR1LL10N

Hannibal Lecter
:boohoo::boohoo::boohoo:
Call it what u want, Im practicing to be a helluva better GM than the clowns
Layden/Isiah/Walsh all put together. If u ever see a license plate in New
York that reads "REFRULE" thats me driving pass u
TR1ll1on.....u r 2 slow for NBA b.ball to not notice the positive/negative in
the Boston vs Knick game. Especially a 2010 2nd round pick 6.8 Harangody
puting it on Mozgov. How much do we pay 2nd round picks again? LOL

I came up with the salary conclusion of Mozgov after watching my 2nd game
of Mozgov in the Fiba tournament (foul trouble). $3M per to a guy who is
prone to pick up 2 fouls in 4 minutes in the Fiba games.....Tr1ll1on, for now
on read this board dont comment.
After I signed Mozgov for $1.5M, I wouldve negotiated a $1.5M per for 3
years with D.League Earl Barron too.

P.S. What u dont understand is I never wouldve tried to trade David Lee to
Memphis for their 5th pick in the 2008 draft, which was a big insult to David
Lee and his agent (I wouldnt have been that stupid). I wouldve gave David
Lee an extension to his rookie-contract worth $7M per to keep his work ethic
on the team in Sept. 2008.


:boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo::boohoo:

Yea, I summed u up quite nicely! :cool: Mr. master GM who could "negotiate" MOz down to half what he took...why? Because you both use broken English...
 

pat

Starter
Resigning Lee wouldve only made us sign Project Mozgov to a $1.5M per
salary rather than a $3M per salary.


Impossible. The $3M salary has got to do with his Russian league contract. He could not have come to NY for less.
 

iJoe

Rotation player
Aww don't hate on Kiyaman! He provides me endless entertainment on these boards. If he were doing it purpose, he'd be a genius!
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Impossible. The $3M salary has got to do with his Russian league contract. He could not have come to NY for less.


Good point. Mozgov wouldnt be coming to NY if he wanted a penny more
than $1.5M per if I was the GM. Gallo probably could be making double his
salary in Italy. But this is the NBA. MSG will have a full population with or
without these players.
I will also add, I wouldve offered Amare the same salary-per the Suns offered
him but for 5 guaranteed years. Recall, our main objective was to sign
Lebron. Bussiness wise we spent our money wrong to become a playoff team.
 
The game would probably have been a lot worse for the Knicks if Garnett didn't get ejected in the 2nd Quarter. Many teams play their benches, sat their starters and still won/or played very well. The knicks still look disfunctional. I'm not even sure that D'Antonio knows how to coach to his players strengths. I see a lot of forced stuff by players doing stuff they are not really good at. Plus the fourth quarter collapses were inexcusable last year. Hopefully, what I've been seeing in Pre-season doesn't carry over...
 

pat

Starter
Good point. Mozgov wouldnt be coming to NY if he wanted a penny more
than $1.5M per if I was the GM.

Wait and see. It's just an hunch, but I have got the feeling we stumbled on a pot of gold. If I am right $3M will turn out to be a good price.
 

CoolClyde

Moderator
WooPaul!

Let me first say that Mike D was not playing to win this game. When you bring in your second unit against Rondo, Allen, and Pierce for the whole 4th quarter then you are not playing to win, I kind of got pissed at MIke D for blowing the game like that.

Positives:

-Amare was a beast and took over as our leader and most of all, he knows how to draw fouls...he drew 5 shooting fouls in the first half, more than the whole Boston team at that point.
-Mozgov is still solid and is clearly better than Turiaf starting at Center
-Turiaf looked better as a role player, blocking shots etc.
-I am very impressed with Toney Douglas, he is playing better than Felton right now
-Our draft picks are really smart players that are both crafty and can bring solid minutes, especially Fields, his defense on Ray Allen was very good.
-Our team defense was awesome...we were hawking the ball handlers, stealing the ball, blocking shots, cloging lanes...when Rajon Rondo is having a hard time then you know we have improved defensively. Our defense and Amare kept us in the game.
-Wilson Chandler is the 2nd best player next to Amare right now.
-Billy Walker is back and better than Mason and Rautins right now, Walker can get role players minutes come start of the season, his outside shot is consistently good and is a threat.

Negatives:

-Gallinari has been a failure because he has shown his continued inconsistency. Nothing has really changed from his tendencies last year, the only positive was the few times he drove to the hoop, but he still has not been posting up which he said he would do frequently. Chandler is clearly playing better on both ends of the floor.
-Roger Mason is brick city. I thought this guy would come out hitting shots but he reminds me a lot of Eddie House, he just throws up shots and will have one good day out of five days shooting....if Mason can't hit shots then he is useless and probably the odd man out of the 11 man rotation.
-Turiaf's offense is non existant. He passes up easy shots and even came 1 foot from the basket only to do a stupid jump pass to someone at the three point line...he is obviously scared to shoot the ball.
-This is probably temporary but Raymond Felton has been a D as our PG. -----Toney Douglas is better defensively and with the jump shot. Felton got murdered defending Rondo. And Felton's IQ as a perimeter defender is not high since he played Rondo, who has no jump shot, up close which allowed Felton to get screened constantly and let Rondo go in for layups and easy passes.
-Anthony Randolph is very nervous, so nervous that I see why he is so inconsistent. This guy is a head case. He needs one good play to get him rolling then he will be amazing but without a boostof confidence he will do nothing and after that missed dunk attempt, Randolph's face looked like a kid that just got schooled in a rap battle. Randolph wanted to hide in a corner and his face showed defeat and it affected the whole team. Randolph has to not try so hard to be a good player, he already is good, he has to let the game come to him.
-Mike D made me scratch my head by sitting Amare, Chandler, and Mozgov in the 4th so we could get embarissed, AGAIN, by the Boston elite players of Rondo, Allen, and Pierce. To see Mike D throw the game away made me pretty upset and mad. I know he wants to save his starters so they won't get hurt. BUT this is your first home game to prove that you have a new and improved team that can make the playoffs, Amare scored 30 points in 3 quarters and Chandler was taken out again when he was playing good early. When Doc Rivers puts in his best players, you have to match it. I felt like the whole game was wasted because of Mike D's Joe Girardi treatment by not playing his best for rest....you have to play to win no matter what.


Good post Paul, I agree on most points, esp Shitstache not playing to win; he still has no clue what his rotation will be, and probably won't until 2011. It's one thing to give your 2nd team run, in order to see who's who, but isn't it important to get a win to boost confidence, and show you can beat the elite, and not just a team of Armani Jeans Italians? and then Mr. Pringles walks off the court at end of game, while Doc Rivers gives props to players and mingles. just goes to show who the better coach is, on a personal and professional level.

Agreed:
-STUD is a beast, and will score 40ppg on several occasions.
-Moscow > Tuffiaf - time will show this to be true
-TD looking great. he is way improved, and playing better than Feltip, who is looking too fast for his own good, HOWEVER, I'm seeing VERY good passing from Raymundo, with some sloppy handling by several players. Give Feltip some time, he will prove to be SO MUCH BETTER than Duhound in every way, and if 'Antoni plays him and TD together, we've got an excellent backcourt.
-Mrs. Fields is a smart player and deserves 20mpg the least. Rottens is showing court smarts too, but when will he play?
-Antman Rando needs confidence boost, should not take outside shots or even medium range shots unless he's completely open. his shot selection when covered is embarrassing. he's shown to be capable of immenseness, but I agree, he's playing scared and nervous.
-Gallo. shoot shoot and shoot again, even when you're hitting 2 out of 10? I blame 'Antoni for giving him carte blanche to brick.
-speaking of bricks, Rog Masonite IS Eddie Brickhouse 2. wtf? I'd rather see Rottens get his minutes.
-how about giving some end of game minutes to Jr. Pat if we're going to play the second squad in crunch time?
-I like Weedson Chandler this year. If we're not going to trade him and Gallo for Caramelapple, let's let the man develop into a potential all-star, and when he's on a roll, keep him on the court, not rest him for a full quarter or two.

wtf was with Rottens shot at end of game? one of the worst chucks ever. again, I blame 'Antoni for not coming up with a key play.

notice how Boston fouled Turiaf, up by 3 with seconds left? do you think Mustachio noticed this elemental basketball play?

who the hell is Harmongrody? how does Boston come up with David Lee II to be a double double monster? damn, I miss DLEE's boarding skills.

all in all, it's still preseasoning, and i'm still excited about this squad, but still harboring negative fearful thoughts about the coach, his style of play, and his gang of yes-men on the sidelines.
 

portega1968

El Cacique
someone please hide Kiya's keyboard, delete his browser, cancel his internet connection or sell his fan credentials to the Celtics. Each time I read one of his posts, I feel I've suffered a stroke and lost my reading comprehension. It's like Yoda speaking to us in some weird english from Naboo.

Paul, your evaluation is pretty much on target, but Im on the side that it was good to let the bench play the fourth quarter so they can get their feet wet against good competition. This accelerates their development and we will benefit later on.
 

New New York

Quiet Storm
I have the game on DVR and only have watched the first half (work is killing me right now!)

But here is what I like based off of highlights, the box score, and the first half

Positives:

Amare's 30 against a quality NBA defense! Someone made a thread about his strong output in Italy wasnt impressive being that the comp. was weak....this deads that argument! (just having some fun to whoever made that thread) He went hard at KG and drew a ton of fouls and shot the ball very very well from everywhere

Wilson Chandler is looking like he can do a decent job at the SG position for us this year if push comes to shove despite it not being his natural position. Also Bill Walker looks like he could do well in a pinch as well

Mozgov's confidence on the court! He looks pretty poised out there, if that pass to Felton was not a fluke and passing is truly in his repitore then he is a major steal for us.

Our starting frontcourt blocked 3 shots and we blocked 4 as a team!!!! A feat probablly not accomplished too often last year.

Anthony Randolph gets 6 rebs in 19 mins along w/ 9 pts. Yes he shot the ball pretty bad (it happens) his TO's were pretty darn bad with 6 but he played w/ the second unit. 9 pts 6 rebs on a "off night" is pretty encouraging.

note: I still have not watched the game to examine how he actually looked out there just going off the box score

Stat sits out the 4th....we only lose to Boston (who is playing 3 All Stars) by 3!!!


Negatives

Gallo's game has not evolved much: I gotta say he took the ball to the hoop and hit this double clutch off the backboard shot which is encouraging but he still shoots that jumper way too much! We are going to need more from him!

Amare's rebounding: 30 pts is great, 5 rebs is horrible!!!! its not like Curry who lacks the focus and intensity, Amare has the ability and work ethic to pound the boards, he just simply doesnt! Big scoring nights w/ low rebounds is very Curry-like....and yes I know Amare is twice the player Curry is, yet their production is too similar.

Felton's poor play: nuff said....the feeling is that it he will get it going, but his struggles will worry Knicks until he does

Mozgov's Fouls: This has to improve or we will never get the most out of him, if he is not on the floor how can he get better?

Mike D's coaching: I get it it's Pre Season so what better time to experiment, I also get the fact that he sat Amare to rest him (although when are we going to take the protective cover off our new toy) but why did Mozgov sit the 4th? He needs to play to get better (seems like I said that once before), is our coach the type of coach who knows how to bring a young player along?
 

Paul1355

All Star
thanks to everyone who commented my post....some things really impressed me and some worried me but most of the worries can be fixed with a one good game.....Felton and Randolph just need that one great game to push them to consistency.

The best thing is our defense, by far. To see us not get murdered by uncontested layups was a godsend. If Felton played back on Rondo the game would have been different, he will learn, he is good at D but not that game.

I'm worried most about Gallo, he hasn't changed...yet. If he plays the same as last year, chucking shots an having one good game out of a couple while being inconsistent, is he worth keeping or trading for Melo???? Question of the day

What I got out of your posts:
Someone mentioned Amare's 5 rebounds, I agree that he just doesn't try hard enough for rebounds and that has to improve because Turiaf and Mozgov combined won't even equal Lee's average numbers on the boards. Hopefully Randolph will help with rebounds.

Mason's defense was good but if he can't hit shots then he won't get minutes. Walker, Rautins, and Fields have impressed were Mason has not.

The lineups are still up for grabs but it looks like Mike D loves having Randolph and Turiaf play together because they have been teammates. Felton and Douglas will def be used as a 1-2 punch back court and I see Chandler getting minutes everywhere from the 2 to the 4. I'm not bringing anything you guys prob don't know in this post but just mentioning what agreed with.

I think Mozgov will learn to not foul as much but he does commit really dumb fouls, this is why Randolph has to be good early on because he will be getting big minutes if Mozgov is always in foul trouble like Billy Walker was last year.
 

elcol

Rotation player
great post paul and others but kiyaman, portega, coolclyde, you guys are making me LMFAO!
 
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