Bad loss....but huge steps have been taken forward

Blumatic

Rotation player
We came out like gang busters in the first half against Boston. Melo played well. STAT was there to support. Turiaf played well. There was an intensity. Throughout the whole game.

Celtics are a championship team. They showed that in 2nd half. We did well in the 3rd to hold it off.


Defense imrpoved.
Chemistry improved.

The Knicks seemed to be in new territory in the progress. Which is trust and execution in crunch time. This will come.

Celtics scored on Knick turnovers and ill advised shots. Billiups and Melo did not know what to do. STAT was not involved. Had this been the old team we would have won this game. It would have been similar to when we meat Miami at the Garden. That team knew each other.

Defense was not the issue as it was in past games. Offense execution was terrible. Knicks are spending alot of time practicing defense with no talk of offense and it showed in the 4th. But that what happens when The Knicks...who are clearly in November mode, playing against teams in playoff mode.

Spacing was so bad. TD passing into a crowd. Melo dribbling into a crowd b/c a teammate didnt back off. Those things will work out. It will get better.

D'antoni sub pattern is bad but he is trying to rest STAT b/c playoffs are near.

But let's be clear....there is a danger of completely falling out of the playoffs because Indiana is 4 games behind us. Thats why its imperative to play like this against bad teams because we need that cushion.

NYK ALL DAY AND TOMORROW!!!!
 

nuckles2k2

Superstar
MDA is trying to rest STAT for the playoffs? The same MDA who won't expand his rotation and literally build rest for starters into his gameplan/rotation during the regular season? LOL

I guess he was trying to rest Melo in those games where the dude would score 14-16 points in the first quarter and then proceed to sit for like 9+ mins of the second quarter like they do you in My Player mode in 2K11....stop.

And none of what you said explains why this Knicks team is losing games in the same fashion as the pre-trade team, and also the Knicks the past two seasons. Jamal Crawford and David Lee aren't here anymore....why are we losing games in the same fashion as when they were here?

WHAT. THE. ****. IS. GOING. ON?????????
 
Great post & sad MDA takes the blame by posters such as the one above. I swear, Knicks fans are turning into Tampa Bay Ray fans (my team) which is pathetic, sad & funny @ the same time.

During Joe Maddon's first two years with the Devil Rays... Fans hated him. They wanted him out. He wasn't "sweet Lou" who quit on us. They were trying to run him out of town because of losing seasons during his first couple seasons with the ball club.

Then the Rays won the AL East & made the playoffs for the 1st time in franchise history back in 2008. The Rays dominated the White Sox during the ALDS. Beat Boston during a game 7 & advanced to the World Seires during his FIRST playoff run; during a year where TB fans said "Joe Maddon can never beat the experienced Red Sox".

Those same sorry ass fans, who hated Maddon from DAY ONE, who said "he'll never lead a baseball team like the Rays to the WS"

Are the same fans that were later forced to STFU, admit they were wrong & feel stupid as ever for not giving the coach a CHANCE.
 

la2ny

Starter
But let's be clear....there is a danger of completely falling out of the playoffs because Indiana is 4 games behind us. Thats why its imperative to play like this against bad teams because we need that cushion.

NYK ALL DAY AND TOMORROW!!!!
They are not falling out the playoffs wakeup dude. Theres 12 games left and were 6 1/2 games ahead of the 9th place Milwaukee Bucks lmao.

Also note that were in a matchup with the Bulls right now in the 1st round instead of The Heat or Celtics.
 

iSaYughh

Starter
Ya. I don't think that unmistakable Met stink is in the Garden.

One reason we look whack is bc I'm pretty sure MDA just wants us to be primed the day playoffs start.

Our non-commitment to a legit system of play, especially offensively, is a result of this closing weeks experimentation process to be able to most confidently have a game plan we can consider our best bet, for our players to ultimately perform at their best.

I'm still waiting to see

BigShot
Douglas
Fields
Melo
Amare

I wanna see how Billups/Douglas tag team on court can effect our game flow, and versatility in tempo.
 
The defense improved for one game.. That's it. How many times have we seen this team play really strong D in one game only to let the opponent run a target practice in the next game? Until we show they can keep this up for more than 1 or 2 games in a row we are still very bad on the defensive end. This team is like Jekel and Hyde on defense.. never know what to expect.. most of the time its gonna be poor.
 

MusketeerX

Rotation player
Ya. I don't think that unmistakable Met stink is in the Garden.

One reason we look whack is bc I'm pretty sure MDA just wants us to be primed the day playoffs start.

Our non-commitment to a legit system of play, especially offensively, is a result of this closing weeks experimentation process to be able to most confidently have a game plan we can consider our best bet, for our players to ultimately perform at their best.

I'm still waiting to see

BigShot
Douglas
Fields
Melo
Amare

I wanna see how Billups/Douglas tag team on court can effect our game flow, and versatility in tempo.

That is one small line-up. Don't think it would work at all. I think today's games hows that this team can play defense. MDA made some boneheaded moves at the end of the game, but there is hope.

A great defensive coach will have this team playing like an elite team. A team they should be.
 

iSaYughh

Starter
That is one small line-up. Don't think it would work at all. I think today's games hows that this team can play defense. MDA made some boneheaded moves at the end of the game, but there is hope.

A great defensive coach will have this team playing like an elite team. A team they should be.

Small, ya. But you could argue we'd have our 3 best defenders on the court...an ability to play up tempo or slowed down on command within the rotation...and range from a variety if positions, with guys who can cut in at will, too.

We gamed versus the Celtics as hard..if not harder...much earlier in the season, too. But fell eerily short, all the same.

The former game we rampaged with movement and high tempo, and a balance of slashing, Amare's inside prescense, and guys with range time to keep BOS honest.

Constant? Zero effective NBA starting center. Where Amare wilted late in effectiveness, and we relied on too many jumpers and an inherently flawed black hole of a roster spot that makes our players play Russian Roulette on defense and flow each game,

Ur asking to get put down when ur in a gambit that has such a glaring doomswitch in it.

Till we get a real NBA starting C, this is a juggling act.
 

Blumatic

Rotation player
MDA is trying to rest STAT for the playoffs? The same MDA who won't expand his rotation and literally build rest for starters into his gameplan/rotation during the regular season? LOL

I guess he was trying to rest Melo in those games where the dude would score 14-16 points in the first quarter and then proceed to sit for like 9+ mins of the second quarter like they do you in My Player mode in 2K11....stop.

And none of what you said explains why this Knicks team is losing games in the same fashion as the pre-trade team, and also the Knicks the past two seasons. Jamal Crawford and David Lee aren't here anymore....why are we losing games in the same fashion as when they were here?

WHAT. THE. ****. IS. GOING. ON?????????

You dont think STAT will be playing the same minutes in the playoffs do you?

To answer your question? In past years there was no talent. Especially defensively.

Pre-trade Knicks...team was very young. No expreince in crunch time. But they were getting there. They had an impressive win against Atlanta in MSG before the trade. That old team showed a great ability to bounce back. This team is in stage one in a league where everyone is on stage 3 or 4.

In the losses to the Bucks and Pistons, non of them scored over 100. Thats an improvement from Indiana and Cavs.

Now its about offensive execution. There so many turnovers and bad shots from the TOP OF THE KEY, the closest area to the opponent's field goal. The would not allow us in the paint and we tried to go 1 on 3 way to many times especially Melo.

In moment of pressure you go to what to know best especially in unfamiliar territory. Melo doesnt have the trust in his teammates yet. And thats normal at this stage.

Everyone says Dantoni focuses to much on offense and not on defense. Which is true but you win by which team scored the most and we could not score enough in the 4th. Look at the Box score. 18 and 17 points in the 3rd and 4th qtr respectively. Celtics 8 TOs the whole game. Knicks with 13. We hand 4 turnovers in the 1st half. Celtics 18 fastbreak points. Knicks with only 7. Most of our turnovers and Celtic fast breaks were self inflicted.

And they only scored 96. Last time this was shoot out. Melo wants to win badly here I saw that tonight. If anyone is screwing things up its Billups. He needs to be reigned in a little.

I know you mad, but trust me. We will get there.
 

Blumatic

Rotation player
The defense improved for one game.. That's it. How many times have we seen this team play really strong D in one game only to let the opponent run a target practice in the next game? Until we show they can keep this up for more than 1 or 2 games in a row we are still very bad on the defensive end. This team is like Jekel and Hyde on defense.. never know what to expect.. most of the time its gonna be poor.

Cant argue with that. However past few games there has been a greater attention defensively that 2 weeks ago. That 1st qtr in the Bucks game was a wash. I mean when you shoot jumpshots that bad teams are gonna run it down your throat. We had good looks that game. But after the 1st it was better. In the Pistons game we had a great 3rd qtr defensively. But offensive execution in the 4th was so bad. Billups was a turnover machine.

We'll make it bro. Just believe man.
 

MusketeerX

Rotation player
Small, ya. But you could argue we'd have our 3 best defenders on the court...an ability to play up tempo or slowed down on command within the rotation...and range from a variety if positions, with guys who can cut in at will, too.

We gamed versus the Celtics as hard..if not harder...much earlier in the season, too. But fell eerily short, all the same.

The former game we rampaged with movement and high tempo, and a balance of slashing, Amare's inside prescense, and guys with range time to keep BOS honest.

Constant? Zero effective NBA starting center. Where Amare wilted late in effectiveness, and we relied on too many jumpers and an inherently flawed black hole of a roster spot that makes our players play Russian Roulette on defense and flow each game,

Ur asking to get put down when ur in a gambit that has such a glaring doomswitch in it.

Till we get a real NBA starting C, this is a juggling act.

We played best when Ronny was on the floor -- a high energy defensive big man.

It is a tricky thing to play that quick. I think we relinquish a lot of boards and they score on almost every possession. You may be able to run it against some smaller teams... but, anyone with a legit post up player would be quite tricky.
 

petescud

Starter
WE played really well in the first half.. 3rd Qtr the Celtics turned up the D and made some offensive adjustments, but we sustained their push till 4 minutes left...sound familiar...last few minutes we were shooting like we were in panic mode. Game Over
 
There is no doubt that we're slowly improving on the defensive side of the ball & we really gave Boston everything they could handle; on a night, where our strongest aspect of our team (offense) simply had an off night.

Defense takes time to build, it doesn't come over night but we're lucky we have about 12 or so games to continue to work as a team defense heading into the playoffs.

I'd be pissed if we went into the playoffs with a below .500 record, would kind of ruin the playoff experience knowing that we're not a winning team. I'd feel like the Seahawks of the NFC this year who had a 7-9 record. Even if they won the SB some would say they never deserved to make it into the playoffs to begin with.

As a fan, my goal is to head into the playoffs 5-8 games above .500. As crazy as that may sound (as of right now) thats my goal as a fan.

It really doesn't matter who we play during the 1st round. Boston, Chicago, Miami? All tough. If we don't compete as a contending team... we aren't advancing to begin with.
 
Despite the loss it was a game to enjoy as a Knick fan! We played some tough basketball and didn't go down without a fight. That's all we wanna see for the moment!

Melo played very well, showed the right attitude and sacrificed himself. The same goes for STAT (although he's still a turnover machine).

In the end we lost because Fields/Williams both played poor D on Pierce. Jeffries or Balkman should have guarded Paul Piss in the 4th.

Anyway, I'm not in bad mood - opposed to those other losses where we played like shit against Micky Mouse teams.

It was a good game, we stunned them in the first half - they stopped us in the second. A lot of hustle ging on on both sides - 4 injuries, that's NYK style basketball!
 

miked1958

Rotation player
You saw what a really good team does

Despite the loss it was a game to enjoy as a Knick fan! We played some tough basketball and didn't go down without a fight. That's all we wanna see for the moment!

Melo played very well, showed the right attitude and sacrificed himself. The same goes for STAT (although he's still a turnover machine).

In the end we lost because Fields/Williams both played poor D on Pierce. Jeffries or Balkman should have guarded Paul Piss in the 4th.

Anyway, I'm not in bad mood - opposed to those other losses where we played like shit against Micky Mouse teams.

It was a good game, we stunned them in the first half - they stopped us in the second. A lot of hustle ging on on both sides - 4 injuries, that's NYK style basketball!
Celts held us to 4 points over final seven and a half minutes. We are supposed to be one of the highest scoring teams in the NBA and were held to 86 points and almost nothing in 2nd half. 17 and 18 points i think. Thats what a really good Defensive team can do to a great offense. They can shut you down when they have to. We cant do that. We let teams like the Cavs pacers buck, and pistons score at WILL on us.
So that is the biggest thing, we saw last night a little sample of what will happen to us in the Playoffs. In the playoffs its a whole different game, everything slows down and it becomes very defensive type ball. We wont be able to stop anyone but they will be able to shut us out for long periods of time. That will translate to some UGLY Losses. You will have some 105-72 or 99-67 type losses. Bad and very embarrassing. BUt unless we can learn to shut teams down on D, there is no way to stop that from happening. just a matter of time
 

Red

TYPE-A
Celtics scored on Knick turnovers and ill advised shots. Billiups and Melo did not know what to do. STAT was not involved.

Aka MISTAKES.

Keeping this clueless coach would be more of a mistake. "I'll advised shots" were advised by a Euro ball coach. Get a f*cking clue.


Ya. I don't think that unmistakable Met stink is in the Garden.

One reason we look whack is bc I'm pretty sure MDA just wants us to be primed the day playoffs start.

Our non-commitment to a legit system of play, especially offensively, is a result of this closing weeks experimentation process to be able to most confidently have a game plan we can consider our best bet, for our players to ultimately perform at their best.

I'm still waiting to see

BigShot
Douglas
Fields
Melo
Amare

I wanna see how Billups/Douglas tag team on court can effect our game flow, and versatility in tempo.

You got more excuses than a pregnant teenager.
Guess what, you and MDA have run out of them!

Take your excuses to another team, please.

I'm waiting to see a quality coach in here, stop wasting our time with your blind support.

Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results = insanity!
 
I don't know why people are so angry. For the first time since the Miami game we showed some spirit and fight. It was a loss yes, but one where we left the court with our heads up high. Boston is still the team to beat in the east so no big shame to lose against them.

I would have gone beserk had we shown the same BS performance like we did against Indiana, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Sacramento etc.

But we didn't and that's something positive for the moment.

You can't demand more than effort and our players showed great effort last night. If you lose - you lose it happens.

What's unacceptable though is to play like idiots and lose against every below .400 team. That's what annoys me.
 

nuckles2k2

Superstar
I don't know why people are so angry. For the first time since the Miami game we showed some spirit and fight. It was a loss yes, but one where we left the court with our heads up high. Boston is still the team to beat in the east so no big shame to lose against them.

I would have gone beserk had we shown the same BS performance like we did against Indiana, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Sacramento etc.

But we didn't and that's something positive for the moment.

You can't demand more than effort and our players showed great effort last night. If you lose - you lose it happens.

What's unacceptable though is to play like idiots and lose against every below .400 team. That's what annoys me.

We also got out to an early lead and did absolutely nothing to maintain it thru the end of the game. I've seen the 08-09 Knicks do that, the 09-10 Knicks do it, and now this Knicks team is doing it pre-Melo and post-Melo.

**** spirit and fight to only lose in the same fashion that this team has lost in the past 2+ seasons.

If every single relationship you get into ends because of excessive arguments...are you gonna blame every single chick you were with, or do you look in the mirror and say "dawg....you gotta correct some shit here..." Are people really that unable to recognize patterns and discern what's causing it? DO NOT patronize me and talk about "if you lose...you lose, it happens" do NOT talk about the team's effort when it's being misguided....you can study your ass off for that psych test on 3-parts of the psyche....but if that test is about personality disorders...then you're shit outta luck aren't you? Are you gonna run to the professor and say "but I worked sooooo harrrrrrrrrd to prepare for this other material" they. don't. give. a. ****. And neither do I. The players can be playing their asses off, and if the coach wants them to do things that fundamentally will not hold up in the NBA....now what?

I watched the Knicks rosters devoid of talent in 08-09, and last season, get out to decent leads...and do nothing to hold onto them because of a mixture of scheme and coaching. Shouldn't you throw SSOL out the ****ing window when you have a lead late in the game? If the whole premise of the system is to create extra possessions, why would that ever be a good thing going down the stretch with an 8-10 point lead? How come I see other teams trying to use more of the shot clock in those situations and yet the Knicks are still running the same ****ing plays over, and over, and over, and over, and over to get early perimeter shots? The ****?

I mean...some of this shit isn't even specific to basketball...In football, if you have a lead late in the game, what do you do? You play possession ball. Run the rock, eat the clock, make the other team use their timeouts. In basketball, you wear down the shot clock, get the best shots you can, play defense, rebound, protect the ball and don't foul. Instead the Knicks, with all the effort in the world, get down the court quickly, get a shot up quickly, don't get the rebound, and try their asses off to get back on D, but fail.

WHAT. IS. THAT. SHIT???

The same things were readily apparent during the years of roster purging, but people were too busy blaming losses on the lack of talent on the roster (which was a legit excuse) but there were still some disgusting tendencies being displayed on the court. But I guess that means nothing right?
 

Blumatic

Rotation player
Aka MISTAKES.

Keeping this clueless coach would be more of a mistake. "I'll advised shots" were advised by a Euro ball coach. Get a f*cking clue.




You got more excuses than a pregnant teenager.
Guess what, you and MDA have run out of them!

Take your excuses to another team, please.

I'm waiting to see a quality coach in here, stop wasting our time with your blind support.

Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results = insanity!


I understand why you upset. But in keeping last night's game in a vaccum:

The Knicks, a team lacking offensive and defensive familiarity, lost to a team that has has won a championship and lost a game 7 in the NBA finals. You are not mad at this game alone. You mad at the Indiana, Detroit, and Bucks losses.

This offense was clicking in 3 quarters. So it works. Celtics adjusted and made a run. Its the NBA that happens. This team is working hard the past few games. (Bucks 1st qtr no excuse). They just dont know how to finish.

Celtics 4th qtr offense in the half court set looked just like the Knicks in the 1st half. Celtics did nothing different than the Knicks except for the discipline to stay committed to the game plan and that is built through time and trust.

MDA is on a hot seat and rightfully so. But this offense is gimmicky when the players are not disciplined. This offense is only gimmicky when no defense accompanies it. We will get there.
 

knicksman20

Benchwarmer
Celts held us to 4 points over final seven and a half minutes. We are supposed to be one of the highest scoring teams in the NBA and were held to 86 points and almost nothing in 2nd half. 17 and 18 points i think. Thats what a really good Defensive team can do to a great offense. They can shut you down when they have to. We cant do that. We let teams like the Cavs pacers buck, and pistons score at WILL on us.
So that is the biggest thing, we saw last night a little sample of what will happen to us in the Playoffs. In the playoffs its a whole different game, everything slows down and it becomes very defensive type ball. We wont be able to stop anyone but they will be able to shut us out for long periods of time. That will translate to some UGLY Losses. You will have some 105-72 or 99-67 type losses. Bad and very embarrassing. BUt unless we can learn to shut teams down on D, there is no way to stop that from happening. just a matter of time

We also got out to an early lead and did absolutely nothing to maintain it thru the end of the game. I've seen the 08-09 Knicks do that, the 09-10 Knicks do it, and now this Knicks team is doing it pre-Melo and post-Melo.

**** spirit and fight to only lose in the same fashion that this team has lost in the past 2+ seasons.

If every single relationship you get into ends because of excessive arguments...are you gonna blame every single chick you were with, or do you look in the mirror and say "dawg....you gotta correct some shit here..." Are people really that unable to recognize patterns and discern what's causing it? DO NOT patronize me and talk about "if you lose...you lose, it happens" do NOT talk about the team's effort when it's being misguided....you can study your ass off for that psych test on 3-parts of the psyche....but if that test is about personality disorders...then you're shit outta luck aren't you? Are you gonna run to the professor and say "but I worked sooooo harrrrrrrrrd to prepare for this other material" they. don't. give. a. ****. And neither do I. The players can be playing their asses off, and if the coach wants them to do things that fundamentally will not hold up in the NBA....now what?

I watched the Knicks rosters devoid of talent in 08-09, and last season, get out to decent leads...and do nothing to hold onto them because of a mixture of scheme and coaching. Shouldn't you throw SSOL out the ****ing window when you have a lead late in the game? If the whole premise of the system is to create extra possessions, why would that ever be a good thing going down the stretch with an 8-10 point lead? How come I see other teams trying to use more of the shot clock in those situations and yet the Knicks are still running the same ****ing plays over, and over, and over, and over, and over to get early perimeter shots? The ****?

I mean...some of this shit isn't even specific to basketball...In football, if you have a lead late in the game, what do you do? You play possession ball. Run the rock, eat the clock, make the other team use their timeouts. In basketball, you wear down the shot clock, get the best shots you can, play defense, rebound, protect the ball and don't foul. Instead the Knicks, with all the effort in the world, get down the court quickly, get a shot up quickly, don't get the rebound, and try their asses off to get back on D, but fail.

WHAT. IS. THAT. SHIT???

The same things were readily apparent during the years of roster purging, but people were too busy blaming losses on the lack of talent on the roster (which was a legit excuse) but there were still some disgusting tendencies being displayed on the court. But I guess that means nothing right?

Quoted both posts for truth right here!!! We lost a game we should've won. There's NO silver lining in that dark cloud IMO. We're losing the exact same way in most games. It's obvious we have an inept coach. When the team is in panic mode, instead of calling a timeout to reign them in, draw up a play to get an easy basket or an easy look we get NOTHING. That's the difference between No D'Antoni & the top coaches in the league. Hell, most coaches know how to draw up a solid play out of a timeout to get an easy basket for their team. We don't.
 
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