Unofficial game thread:NY Knicks @ Houston Rockets

[mafra]

How many games has N8 been given the time and opportunity -- let alone confidence and experience -- that Duhon has to run this offense? Curious.

You and a few others act like you know N8 so well; as if you know what he absolutely is, and more shocking, what he absolutely will be. Why?

How old is N8? How old is Duhon? Who has more talent? Who has more ability to actually, potentially help this team? Curious.

Could you think of a better season, a better spot, a better roster, to allow N8 the opportunity to start in place of Chris Duhon?

You might as well ask Curry to run the offense. Hughes might be able to run the offense, but he's like Duhon. Both are bad more often than they're good. WE ALL KNOW Robinson is better than Duhon, but he's not a better PG.

Robinson tonight in 28 minutes: 1 assist and 4 turnovers.
Duhon tonight in 35 minutes 4 assists and 2 turnovers.

Nate had SEVEN turnovers the other night in like 18 minutes. Do you not see the point? There is no PG in N8. He is instant-offense off the bench.

I look back at the Lacker game last year and I get teased too thinking N8 could be our PG.

BUT, after 4 years.... What more do you want? He is what he is... He'll never be a PG. If you think Duhon stinks.... watch N8 throw pass after pass into the stands.... Watch him try to run the pick-n-roll?

This is not a Duhon or N8 thing, and this isn't a LET'S BASH N8 thing either.... The Knicks do not have a PG.... If they find one soon, they'll win 37-43 games.... If not, they'll win something like 33. Simple as that!

[mafra]

I'm not saying N8 is a good PG even. I'm saying it doesn't matter if he is bad -- Duhon is bad enough ipso facto where the simple fact that N8 *could* very well become better...if not much better....in this type of season....makes it the right move to given him the legit chance that Duhon has been given and has failed at.

Duhon stinks but he stinks WITHIN the system.... He runs the offense. Sure, he misses wide open shots... But he keeps the ball moving. Sure, he makes bad passes, but he works the pick-n-roll well w/ Lee (ever see N8 attempt pick-n-roll w/ Lee)....

N8 will drive you nuts if you start him at PG, and then you'll lose that offense off the bench. N8 will always look to get N8 points first. he wont run the offense. You cannot ask him to do something he's not suited to do.

We tried to get him to run the offense the other night.... Did you not see that turnover machine throwing away passes left and right?

N8 is not a passer, he's a scorer. If N8 starts at PG, Knicks will grind to a halt.

As bad as Duhon is... Knicks just went 12-6 with him running the point.

[SSj4Wingzero]

Duhon isn't good but Nate has no PG abilities whatsoever. He's a 5'9" shooting guard, it's that simple.

Duhon at least has some semblance of running the offense. He also doesn't turn the ball over nearly as much as Nate does.

[johnstarky]

Can anyone explain to me why the Knicks play 48 minutes of basketball at home but only play 36 minutes on the road?

Another game in which the Knicks give you hope throughout the first 3 quarters and then throw in the towel at the end.

The Knicks are like a marathon runner that decides to slow down when he sees the finish line.

I would rather watch them get blown out than watch them give you these kind of performances.

[CoolClyde]

another knick loss, and lo and behold, Duhon sucked ass in the 2nd half.
coincidence? What happened to the pick and roll? what happened to Duhon?
How does a player just disappear like that?

this 7-8 man rotation is starting to have it's effect on Knicks losing steam in 4th quarter,
as Houston subs score 48 points (!) to Knicks 22 (Nate had 20 of them). That's just ridiculous!

The Knicks are playing great under D'amntoni, but the lack of substitutions at the right time
is killing them... why no Douglas or Hill when team is obviously gassed?
David Lee was running on rubber legs... SMH.

[Arod2k9]

Send Douglas and Hill to the D-League if they aren't going to play. The Knicks are still the only franchise to not send a player to develop. If they don't play in a rebuilding year then when the hell is d'antoni going to play them. So let me get this straight, he plays Landry/Bender but he doesn't play our 2 first round selections? This is sickening to me because the growth of our 1st round picks is so important for this franchise. Look at Hill's college teammate Chase Budinger, a second round pick 44th I believe getting playing and getting better and better. Maybe losing 10 games in a row and falling out of the idiotic playoff race will make ****ing coach play Hill and Douglas.

[SSj4Wingzero]

I too agree that the short rotation should be fixed. Problem is why is he throwing Jonathan Bender out there when we could put Jordan Hill out there? At least Hill actually has a future with this team

[_______√ictory_______]

I too agree that the short rotation should be fixed. Problem is why is he throwing Jonathan Bender out there when we could put Jordan Hill out there? At least Hill actually has a future with this team

this is what i don't understand.is this team a charity? i mean come on.give me a ****ing break.bender isn't giving extraordinary contributions when he does contribute, and when he doesn't contribute, he looks like bambi with A basketball.

[Arod2k9]

this is what i don't understand.is this team a charity? i mean come on.give me a ****ing break.bender isn't giving extraordinary contributions when he does contribute, and when he doesn't contribute, he looks like bambi with A basketball.

I was so happy when we took a ferocious power forward in last years draft with the game of an Oakley, Dale Davis, Horace Grant. Hill is athletic enough to be a Jermaine O'neal or Nene and is killing me to just see him on the bench. I don't get how you can have a 6'10 player, with a 7'2 wingspan, 9 feet standing reach on the bench.

[KBlack25]

I was so happy when we took a ferocious power forward in last years draft with the game of an Oakley, Dale Davis, Horace Grant. Hill is athletic enough to be a Jermaine O'neal or Nene and is killing me to just see him on the bench. I don't get how you can have a 6'10 player, with a 7'2 wingspan, 9 feet standing reach on the bench.

Nevermind that. How is your 1st round lottery pick sitting on the bench when he is, by all accounts, healthy? If he sucks, he sucks, and he was a bust. But I want to see what we at least got with him...

[paris401]

Nevermind that. How is your 1st round lottery pick sitting on the bench when he is, by all accounts, healthy? If he sucks, he sucks, and he was a bust. But I want to see what we at least got with him...

AGREEEEEE... we ain;t goin anywhere this year, no pick, setting up for the future... so bring on the young'ens...

[knickzrulezH20]

I'm not the biggest Jordan Hill supporter, but I do want to see what he can do. It doesn't matter to me whether he's got to play in the D-League or here, I just want to see him get in some action. Seeing guys like Budinger play, when he was a 2nd round draft pick, really gets me even more depressed thinking about draft night.

[Arod2k9]

Nevermind that. How is your 1st round lottery pick sitting on the bench when he is, by all accounts, healthy? If he sucks, he sucks, and he was a bust. But I want to see what we at least got with him...

D'antoni has to understand that he is not coaching the Phoenix Suns a team close to winning the championship. Under D'antoni as coach (2003-2008) and GM (2006-2008) helm they traded most of their draft picks.

2004- 7th Pick Loul Deng traded to Bulls
2005- 21st Pick Nate Robinson traded to Knicks
2006- 21st Pick Rajon Rondo traded to Celtics
2006- 27th Pick Sergio Rodriguez traded to Blazers
2007- 24th Pick Rudy Fernandez traded to Blazers

We actually need our draft picks to develop because making the playoffs this year doesn't mean a thing if Douglas and Hill are not part of it.

[iSaYughh]

Mafra, you can't cherrypick random games and use that as an actual barometer for what N8 can accomplish, in direct regard to what we *know* we have with Duhon running the point.

Yes, we've been on a nice win streak, and Duhon has done a few extremely simple things well while Lee, Chandler, Gallo -- and N8 -- have elevated their games...but let's look at what our team truly is, it's real ability, and what we can seriously accomplish, with Duhon running the system.

Again, N8 has not been given the shot that Duhon has. Not in any which way. Duhon is an abject failure, N8 is our best chance of having someone supplant DuDonkey and do a better job. It's worth the risk to me. If he is given the chance, the responsiblity, and acts like a wild untamed kid who is *unwilling* to do some of the basic things that a PG has to do, bench him or give him a different role and know that you're exhausting every legit option to make this season be something, AND help out Gallo's development, which Duhon RETARDS.

You yourself last week praised N8 for how well he dished the ball, in addition to his lights-out shooting and energy. One game? Yes. Just like the one game you mentioned above that is supposed to show how bad N8 *would* be *if* he was given a shot like Duhon has. Nonetheless, like *many* N8 games, it shows he *can* dish the ball effectively, and with a helluva lot more potential and ability than DuDonkey.

If N8 sucks he sucks. I'll be the first in line to say it if he's given anywhere near the same shake as Chris Duhon and he comes up gimp. It's not as if we live in a static world where replacing Duhon will result in some cataclysmic, irreversible event that will destroy our season or future in any way.

This season isn't about W's or L's, first and foremost anyways; it's time to take a chance, a calculated risk, with extremely little downside to our franchise and a decent deal of upside.

If we disagree, we disagree. I think we both want the same thing; I just have zero objection to letting N8 take over for Duhon for a small stretch and see what he can maybe become.