Preseason Game 3 - Philly at NYK

7:30 @ MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
SIXERS at KNICKS

Looks like no Noel, still no Afflalo for us, maybe Seraphin Looking to see if Williams can be a consistent scorer, seeing how Grant does in getting to play as a pro against his brother, and hopefully NYK win! Sorry not more in depth but at least another poster is back, it's only preseason but I will be more serious soon.

WNY_Knickfan - Thanks for the thread, always good to see an old member back. The boys have a 2 game winning streak and the offense is clicking with Melo and balanced scoring by everyone. I was expecting a better defensive team but not the offense the team has shown so far. Very happy with how the team has gelled so far, my only complaint so far is with Rolo, he's been meh so far for his 54M contract.

Zinger has been one of the better rookies so far imo, he's gassed by the 3rd period but you can see the potential that Willis Reed see's, that 3 pt shot, his dribbling ability and that wingspan. Just needs to develop a couple of go to moves close to the basket and he'll be looking at a Tyson Chandler shooting %.

Agree I am hoping from more from ROLO but do think the team defense needs to come together on the whole, we need to be a top 15 defensive team in my opinion. Its just preseason but I do think building confidence and a winning culture is important to shake the ghosts of seasons past

Last year they were near the bottom in defending the 3, in the 2 games so far they held that 3 happy Brazil team to 25% and the Wiz to 17%, it's a good start. The starting lineup with JC and Sasha has been worse than the second unit defensively, so I think they'll be better when Affalo takes over the starting SG position, just hope he doesn't have a lingering hammy injury that will keep him out for months. There's no hope for Calderon at the defensive end, his only value is as a 3 point specialist so if he doesn't shoot lights out from long range in the pre-season give his job to Galloway and let JC come off the bench.

I'm looking for O'Quinn to be our starting PF coming out of camp, that should improve the starting lineup defense as well. He's looking to be the opposite of Rolo, a steal at 4M/yr, still wondering why the Magic would let him go for the reasonable contract the Knicks gave him.

I like Oquinn a ton, I like Seraphin think he will be good on a second unit, small sample size but I hold hope that Williams can provide offense with 2nd unit, really its just Lopez of the new guys, and I'm not hating, but we need more than he's shown in 2 preseason games. Not scary at this point, but hope to see more soon. I'm not high on Sasha but he was solid last game, but I want him to be more of a glue guy not a guy we count heavily on, so yes, Afflalo get well soon, and yeah JC I'm definitely down on, he can hit the 3 but not much else, I like either Grant or LG over him, not sure how much of a pg LG really is but I'm in favor of a lead guard at least somewhat being able to keep their man in front of em, sure your Westbrooks and Walls are gonna get into the paint, but if you can at least limit it and make them work rather than Ole its preferable

Was'nt expecting this ...

NEW YORK ? Fans looking to get a glimpse of Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor team up against the New York Knicks on Columbus Day are out of luck.
The 76ers version of the Twin Towers will be sidelined for Monday night?s matchup at Madison Square Garden.
Noel, a 6-foot-11, 223-pound power forward, will miss his second consecutive game with lower back and left knee contusions. Okafor is out to rest his sore right knee. Sixers coach Brett Brown said that the 6-foot-11, 268-pound center hasn?t had any setbacks with his knee.
?It was always planned that we were going to give him off today, and give him off Sunday,? Brown said. ?He went through the recovery stuff [on Sunday] and were going to rest him. Sit him tonight, and get him jumping back into practice tomorrow.?

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/sixers/Okafor-Noel-out-vs-Knicks.html#UlRDTACgqv4CL2ll.99

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NO Noel n NO Okafor = a D.League 76ers team.
NO Afflalo for two games .. Fisher has only gave PT minutes to 4 guards in both preseason games?

I expect low PT minutes from Lopez, Melo, n Galloway .. 20 minutes or less vs the D.League 76ers.
I expect to see major PT minutes from PKzingis, O'Quinn, Seraphin, D.Williams, L.Thomas, Thanis, Vujacic, and Grant. I still believe Fisher should give Thanis a shot at the big-guard spot.

For the first time in a while, the Knicks are getting people excited and they are doing it with their play on the court, even if it is occurring in fake games. I'm looking forward to another encouraging team performance.

Lopez should dominate tonight. If he doesn't he never will playing against Holmes.

Just as I wrote Lopez should dominate he hits two mid range shots.

The difference when you have a penetrating PG like Grant in instead of Calderon is night and day.

Williams looks like a beast tonight. Really seems serious about making this a breakout season for him.

Derrick Williams quickly becoming the star of preseason. Can he do even a fraction of this in the regular season?

In a preseason full of positives, Calderon continues to look like a negative. Turnover on a bad pass there. Perimeter defense continues to be sieve-like. Not sure how far we can go with Calderon getting major minutes. I'm much more sold on Vujacic than Calderon staying in the starting lineup if we choose to add either Grant or Galloway.

I know that they are missing their two or three young top guys, but seriously, this Philly team is a real NBA roster? I know I ask that question every year, but how does the NBA allow this experiment to continue? Will anyone argue that tanking this many years in a row is worth maybe getting one star player when other franchises can add them left and right in free agency?

Again the Knicks offense is clicking. We're holding the Sixers to 27% on their 3s but they have had a lot of wide open looks that they just missed, they need to tighten that up a little. DWill did a little of everything for a great game by him, showed range with that three he hit, his dunks and a sweet pass to Lou.

How do you let a 6' FT PG like Canaan get to the basket like that. Those starters can't defend worth a crap.

It's 63-55 and DFish turned over the whole squad with the second unit, lets see what happens to the score.

Another win. Loving these Knicks, Galloway for the 3rd straight game played the most minutes, does this spell the end for JC as the starting PG. The Knicks offense looked the best with Grant running it, night and day with his penetration vs. Calderon who never attacks the rim.

tiger0330 said:

Another win. Loving these Knicks, Galloway for the 3rd straight game played the most minutes, does this spell the end for JC as the starting PG. The Knicks offense looked the best with Grant running it, night and day with his penetration vs. Calderon who never attacks the rim.

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Calderon might be have 2 good games for every 12 played. He's worthless and such a terrible contract to have on the books. I said as soon as we selected Grant he should be Day 1 starter. We've looked much sharper(not so triangle heavy robotic) vs last yr but our talent level still lacks. Also Afflalo hasn't played 1 gm which could speak to chemistry and rotation issues. I like the effort and sense of professionalism from what I've seen thus far but everything has to be taken with agrain of salt. We played Philly and some run of the mill Euro team.


We always have to remind ourselves IT'S PRESEASON...


Kyle Lowry leads the preseason in scoring. He's scoring at an alarming rate, dropped 40pts in 25min yesterday and the Raptors offense looks as pristine as anyone's this preseason. Kings are balling(an offseason of turmoil) and Bellineli is doing his best impression of "Derrick Micheal Jordan Williams". Charlotte is undefeated, while Cleveland hasn't won yet nor have the Spurs

Broadway said:

Calderon might be have 2 good games for every 12 played. He's worthless and such a terrible contract to have on the books. I said as soon as we selected Grant he should be Day 1 starter. We've looked much sharper(not so triangle heavy robotic) vs last yr but our talent level still lacks. Also Afflalo hasn't played 1 gm which could speak to chemistry and rotation issues. I like the effort and sense of professionalism from what I've seen thus far but everything has to be taken with agrain of salt. We played Philly and some run of the mill Euro team.


We always have to remind ourselves IT'S PRESEASON...


Kyle Lowry leads the preseason in scoring. He's scoring at an alarming rate, dropped 40pts in 25min yesterday and the Raptors offense looks as pristine as anyone's this preseason. Kings are balling(an offseason of turmoil) and Bellineli is doing his best impression of "Derrick Micheal Jordan Williams". Charlotte is undefeated, while Cleveland hasn't won yet nor have the Spurs

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Definitely going to be a plus running this modified triangle offense, last year trying to run the triangle exclusively was a nightmare. This year more uptempo on the break and more just playing bball as Clyde says, they used that big in the pinch post play to death last year but I've only seen it a few times a game so far in the pre-season.

I agree about pre-season, can't really tell much from it particularly not with 3 games against Brazil and the Sixers w/o Noel and Okafor. That said the Knicks need these pre-season wins to build some confidence going into the regular season. We'll see about the talent level but DWill has really looked good, O'Quinn looks solid, and Rolo looks to be one of those guys that Phil said we'll have to overpay in FA but he can contribute. Zinger hasn't looked bad, though you have to be worried about his durability for the rugged NBA schedule. If DFish see's the light and starts Grant or Gallo instead of JC and Affalo can contribute on both ends when he comes back maybe they make the playoffs after all.

Didn't get to see this game. Glad they won regardless of the circumstances. As Broadway said, it's pre-season and all that, but as tiger said, it builds confidence. Let's forget the past, and just think about what the guys are doing now and what they need to do on building their future.