Balkman vs Yao

http://www.dimemag.com/smack.asp

Yao Ming was destroying the Knicks last night (35 pts, 17 rebs, 7 blks), but for about half of the fourth quarter, was actually getting all he could handle from rookie Renaldo Balkman. Denying Yao the ball, keeping him off-balance and just generally being a pest, Balkman basically took Yao out during a period when Houston was making a point of trying to run the offense through him. At 6-8, Balkman is undersized even for a power forward, let alone to be sticking someone 7-6, but he was handling his business out there.

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If he continues to play like this, Isiah will definitely have another option if Curry and Frye don't start stepping up.

Putting Balkman to defend Yao was a good move by Isiah but if you are suggesting Balkman should defend and play center, that ain't going to work. Yao's weakness is his speed and slow dribble and putting quicker SFs and guards on him is going to cause some turnovers but over the course of the game Yao's size is going to be more advantage playing against a guy like Balkman or Lee.

The Knicks have been starting slow and are having to dig themselves out of a hole with that starting lineup. Time for Zeke to start Lee and Balkman for a starting lineup of 1. Steph 2. Q 3. Balkman 4. Lee 5. Curry.

By no means am I suggesting that Balkman can and will play center. I am simply pointing out that he has stepped up and Isiah will have the option of giving teams a different look and disrupting their offense. If Curry and Frye aren't doing the job then use Balkman, Lee and Jeffries, when he gets healthy. Its simply a matter of Curry and Frye realizing that Isiah doesn't have to stick with them if they aren't producing.

It's time to see if IT meant what he said when he said he'd bench anybody.