Knicks @ Magic - Tuesday, March 1st

[miked1958]

For the whole 2nd

Was waiting to see when D'Antoni would be blamed... How about giving him credit for having a team gel as well as they are for being together for a week! They looked good last night but they still need some help in the paint, a backup pg to help Billups and I feel they need a 3 point specialist to come off the bench and give us 10 minutes a night.

quarter and most of the 3rd when we out scored them 37-15 and then played them even through 3/4 of the 3rd, it looked like we were maybe going to RUN THEM OUT OF THEIR OWN GYM> but I knew better. I posted while everyone was praising our Defense that Orlando would make a run, just like we made our run on them when we were down 11 after 1quarter.
Sure enough they did, and we went down by 11 or 12 again, which means they outscored us by 22or23 points from the end of the 3rd through the latter part of the 4th. then we made a small move and got within 4, but that was as close as we would get.

If this team is to go anywhere in this years playoffs it will have to be because of Defense. We all now how the game slows down in the playoffs and u have alot of those boring low scoring games. its just the way it is.
Hopefully we can get JJ in and comfortable with our system and he will be able to help us out in that regard. I think if Billups is okay, Had not heard anything about his knee (went knee to knee with Howard) then our big 3 should be able to put up 70/75 a night in the playoffs. So if we can get some scoring from other people that we can count on on a night in night out basis, it would not be to hard for us to put up 100 a night in playoffs. That should win us some games.

 

[miked1958]

I have to agree with u

Was waiting to see when D'Antoni would be blamed... How about giving him credit for having a team gel as well as they are for being together for a week! They looked good last night but they still need some help in the paint, a backup pg to help Billups and I feel they need a 3 point specialist to come off the bench and give us 10 minutes a night.

At this point i think they have maybe had more games then practices so far with this new bunch. He has done a good job in a short time. SO now he has a little more then a month to get them comfortable with each other. i think they REALLY need to work on and consentrate on DEFENSE and REBOUNDING>. Offense will come. You saw how we scored 110 on Orlando at Orlando last night. Scoring will not be a problem. Its just that we dont want to get embarrassed everynight putting up gauding offensive numbers and still lose. So I think all the practices should revolve around how to stop the other team. IMO we could put up 90/100 everynight in playoffs, with a halfway good D that should win you alot of games

 

[Sprewell-Houston]

It's easy math with us:

If we play defense we win. If we don't we lose most of the time, except for those crazy games where we score 129 on 15-22 from downtown.

I'm really excited to watch the playoff matchup with Chicago. I'm not convinced hough that our guys will play defense. If they don't we'll lose the series.

 

[LJ4ptplay]

8-24 from Melo and Q Rich outplaying him in the 4th. For those of you that have not really followed Melo until now, this is a common game from him. He has these kind of games frequently. Get used to it. He plays great when he's motivated. He stinks up the place when he's not. This is why he is not in the same category as Lebron, Kobe, Wade, etc.

 

[iSaYughh]

8-24 from Melo and Q Rich outplaying him in the 4th. For those of you that have not really followed Melo until now, this is a common game from him. He has these kind of games frequently. Get used to it. He plays great when he's motivated. He stinks up the place when he's not. This is why he is not in the same category as Lebron, Kobe, Wade, etc.

Well, I still think Melo is a tremendous player...But he has been pretty bad with us so far.

His superficial numbers (points/boards etc) are great, even elite.

But his efficiency has been...and I am not a "melo is ****ing inefficient he sucks" type guy...but his effiicency has truly been WRETCHED.

If there was ever a more proper situation to put the tag "Black Hole" on...I don't know it.

To make matters (potentially) worse, what arguably is Melo's greatest weakness...is in tandem the greatest thing that will hold him back from really adapting to our team and it's system....more ball movement, fluidity, not reliant on iso moves (and post ups).

Of course, even in this worst case scenario...Melo is pretty great. But it certainly blurs the line of the longterm, true value of the trade, and brings new issues into play that must be rectified before we reach the elusive label as Champions(hip Contenders).

 

[mafra]

8-24 from Melo and Q Rich outplaying him in the 4th. For those of you that have not really followed Melo until now, this is a common game from him. He has these kind of games frequently. Get used to it. He plays great when he's motivated. He stinks up the place when he's not. This is why he is not in the same category as Lebron, Kobe, Wade, etc.

Carmelo goes from Lebron stopper to QRich enabler... in a span of 48 hours? His defense on Q was absolutely pathetic in the 4th quarter. I heard Anthony was a better passer, but so far I have yet to see any sort of vision.

I still have ZERO problems with the trade. Chandler was walking after the season; Billups is better than Felton; Gallo is young and has enormous potential, I just think he lacks that killer instinct/narcissim that's necessary to be truly great. Mozgov? PLease.

In other words, if I had to bank on the next 5 years... and given the choice of Gallo or Melo... I'm taking Anthony.

BUT, we see quickly why you need a strong-willed PG, and why Billups will have ball in hands in the 4th. Carmelo is a scorer. Plain and simple. He'll defend when the lights are in... in the playoffs. So I'm not worried.

Kobe is a volume shooter as well. It is what it is.

We lost this game b/c coach was passive. He should have been ready and aware, and know according to history... to put Carter-Douglas on Nelosn when he started going off. TAKE FIELDS OFF THE FLOOR, and go with that small 2-guard combo. Nelson exploded and Fields gave us nada.

 

[LJ4ptplay]

Well, I still think Melo is a tremendous player...But he has been pretty bad with us so far.

His superficial numbers (points/boards etc) are great, even elite.

But his efficiency has been...and I am not a "melo is ****ing inefficient he sucks" type guy...but his effiicency has truly been WRETCHED.

If there was ever a more proper situation to put the tag "Black Hole" on...I don't know it.

To make matters (potentially) worse, what arguably is Melo's greatest weakness...is in tandem the greatest thing that will hold him back from really adapting to our team and it's system....more ball movement, fluidity, not reliant on iso moves (and post ups).

Of course, even in this worst case scenario...Melo is pretty great. But it certainly blurs the line of the longterm, true value of the trade, and brings new issues into play that must be rectified before we reach the elusive label as Champions(hip Contenders).

Good post! You pretty much summed up what I have been saying about Melo for the last few months. Noone wanted to listen. I live in Colorado. I watched almost every Nugget game last year (didn't bother with NBA League Pass last year and love basketball). This kind of game from Melo should not be surprising to anyone.

Like I said, when he is motivated, he is arguably the best player in the league. He seems to always get motivated to play against Lebron. When he plays like he did against Miami, he was worth every player we traded. Just hope for our sake he is able to stay more motivated than he has his entire career in Denver.

 

[mafra]

"We played hard and we got to the point where we drew the line and we said we're not going to let this one slip away," said Magic reserve Quentin Richardson, who had 10 points. "We knew this was a big game we needed to win."

Too bad for NY. With 3 games against ORL, Knicks had a shot (if they took all 3) to pass ORL. Not happening now.