mafra
Legend
I'm a fairly new poster here but been following the forum and game threads for quite some time here.
This loss to the magic, especially the 4th qtr just compelled me to post.
Melo is solid. Other than the pistons game where he bricked all night, he almost always gave decent effort on defense. Tonight he looked to move the ball with the assists column backing that up.
Knicks made adjustment to the game plan to get Melo more comfortable with his shots, but Stat just looked the odd man out tonight. But the recent 4th qtr meltdowns..... man, its just disheartening. MDA is supposed to be an offensive genius so where's the 4th qtr offense in his playbook? Knicks were down by 5 with under 2 mins to go, this is the moment where coaches do their thing and get their stars to make plays.
I dont wanna throw this all on MDA; knicks have alot of holes on this roster still. but coach is supposed to make lemonade with his lemons and surely getting shots in the 4th is not supposed to be the hard part of the equation. I'm not gonna comment on defense, blah blah, cos that's too easy. But getting Stat some shots closer to the bucket should really be his strength. I'm starting to miss Ray's speed, defenders abuse billups old legs when he comes off screens.
GREAT POST. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I couldn't agree more.
1) This is my biggest beef with Mike D'antoni. Like you wrote, forget about bashing his defense... It is what it is. You know what you're getting from MD. What bothers me most... late in games when we need a score, when we need to get someone an open look, where is this beautiful mind that is supposedfto be MD's offensive genius?
We saw it when Crawford was getting last second shots, when Al or N8 were getting the ball, and the one common theme from the MD era is just that... Knicks have one possession left in the game and going for tie or win... HOw often do we not only see a poorly designed play, but how many times to we even really see a player get a solid, open, high % look at the basket? Not often enough for an offensive genius, and certainly not enough to warrant this style of defense.
This leads to other common theme during MD's tenure here in NY.... He's never exceeded expectations. FOR ONCE, make lemonade out of lemons. At least go for par... 3 years in a row we fall below even our modest expectations.
2) Amar'e was TERRIBLE late last night. One possession, ORL had the ball and was up by 4 or 5... They miss a shot and he just watched the guy drive to the hoops and failed to do anything to prevent or alter anything. Then, as he stood wacthing, he doesn't even both to halfway box his man, or even attempt to make body contact. Of course his man grabs the rebound and puts it back up. GOOD.
I'm tired watching every PF in the NBA excel on the offensive side against Amar'e. I know far too many of these no-name chumps now. Too many than I should know. From Hansbrough to Bass, you name a PF and chances are their season's best game came against Amar'e. This has to stop.
Amar'e must get stronger. Simple as that. This is almost David Lee-esque.