MSGKnickz33
The Gold Mac
Toronto Raptors(18-17) vs New York Knicks(9-25)
Friday Night at 7:30pm ET on MSG
Friday Night at 7:30pm ET on MSG
Welcome to the MSGknickz33 pregame show, the best game threads on the F*ckin internet. Im your host Jazzy Jeff and we gonna get right to talkin about Friday nights game. The struggling Raptors come in losing 6 of their last 10 games with their starting point guard TJ Ford out for the season although he insists the he'll return sometime this year. The Knicks have lost 8of their last 10 games while coach Isiah Thomas still feels like its a short matter of time before this team starts winning. The stats tell me something different: The Knicks lose by an average of 7.9 points per game with only the Minnesota Timberwolves losing by a larger margin (8.8ppg). Meanwhile, the Toronto Raptors win by an average of 1.5 points so the Knicks better come ready to play.
STARTING LINEUPS
The Toronto Raptors
pg-Jose Calderon
sg-Anthony Parker
sf-Jamario Moon
pf-Chris Bosh
C-Rasho Nesterovic
AND NOW, YOUR NEW YORK KNICKS!!!!!!!
AT POINT GUARD, STEPHON MARBURY
AT SHOOTING GUARD, JAMAL CRAWFORD
AT SMALL FORWARD, QUENTIN RICHARDSON
AT POWER FORWARD, ZACH RANDOLPH
AT CENTER, EDDY CURRY
Key Matchup: Eddy Curry vs Rasho Nesterovic
Eddy Curry has a 30 pound weight advantage on Nesterovic. He needs to work hard and play strong down low so he can get good positioning even when Zach is on the court. Nesterovic should be no match for Curry down low so we should expect Curry to easily outscore Nesterovic. Rasho should not score more then 7 or 8 points.
The Knicks keys to Victory:
- Alot of people dont know this but Toronto is the 6th best team defensively in the league so the Knicks need to play as a team on offense and step up their defense if they want to have any chance of winning this game
- Defend the Perimeter!!!! !!!! An extra set of exclamation marks, Toronto is the best 3 point shooting team in the league
- Do Not Get in the Penalty!!!! Toronto is the 2nd best free throw shooting team only behind the Dallas Mavericks
- Heads up!!! Look out for the high-flying rookie Jamario Moon, he has the ability to embarrass opposing players by dunking on them or rejecting them
Stat of the Night: The Raptors only have 2 Technical Fouls so far this season
Who's hitting all these 3's for Toronto?
Jason Kapono-50%
Anthony Parker-49.6%
Jose Calderon-40.6%
Andrea Bargnani-39.3%
Carlos Delfino-38.2%
Jorge Garbajosa-37.5%
Toronto has a very unselfish team style of play and the Knicks will have to play the same way to keep this game close. Giving Nate Robinson 30+ minutes would be a wise move, hes been on a tear the last 10 games. Lets take a look at his averages over the last 3 games:
31mpg
16ppg
5.6apg
3.6rpg
54.8fg%
57%3P
1.3topg
Nates shooting percentages are excellent and its good to see Isiah giving him the minutes. His shooting is what the Knicks will need to keep them in this game. Marbury is capable of playing some good perimeter defense. Crawford will have to look to put more effort in on defense as will Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry. I think another important key to the Knicks victory is playing Balkman instead of Jeffries. Sometimes Jeffries can do some good things on defense but hes overrated in that aspect and provides absolutely nothing on offense. Its not neccessary to show his stats for the last 3 games, just look at his stats for the season.
15.4mpg
2.3ppg
2.9rpg
37% fg
12.5%3P
What about his defense? His is only averaging .5 steals and .3 blocks per game. Even if you double his minutes hes still not averaging that good of numbers for a player whos known for playing good defense. Of course playing defense is not all about numbers but he does get beat off the dribble, not like Crawford and Richardson but with his lack of offense and his overrated defense its a mystery as to why he got the contract he did and why he gets 15 minutes per game. Even Balkman can score more points then Jeffries.
Well thats gonna do it for my pregame show, I thank everyone for watching and remember to tune into MSG Friday night to catch the Knicks and the Raptors live from Madison Square Garden.