It's down to Melo

the fact we lost the first game, I'm sorry it's on his toes regardless of that poor decision on him or not. He had enough chances for us to not be worrying about the final seconds of the game but he threw up brick after brick not only not scoring but gifting possession back to the C's.

The good news is it would be hard for him to play worse all series and if he mans up, makes it personal and plays as we know he can and Amar'e continues to lead this team then I believe we can get by the C's something I didn't believe before it happened.

We also have to stop making every C or PF with any effort whatsoever look like KAJ, maybe getting someone under the basket to take the odd charge would help or something equally as revolutionary....

There are plenty of reasons for optimism not only for the future but for the here and now.

You've talked the talk and got what you wanted Melo, not it's time to put up or shut up.

"Earn this!"

LET'S GO KNICKS.

And boy did he deliver and prove exactly what I was on about. Sadly Amar'e wasn't around and losing 2 of your 3 best players in the home of one of the best teams in the league was just a bridge too far.

Proud in defeat, our day will come.

I honestly think that was the turning point for this team. Going foward they know they can stay with this Boston team even w/o 2 of our best 3 players and I believe Melo has found out what he needs to do to be effective against these guys. You know that if he has another game like tonight w/ Amar'e we win...hell if he has this game at home and Bill Walker hits atleast 2 shots we win. We still have a chance and it's because of what we saw from Carmelo tonighteace:

Melo put up bigtime tonight, too bad none of his other teammates helped. Bill Walker was a Walking disaster tonight but MDA kept him in the game. HOW THE **** DO YOU KEEP A GUY WHO'S 0 FOR ****IN' 11 IN THE GAME FOR 32 MINUTES?!?!?! Jared Jeffries made some plays but was also a big part of why we lost getting backed down by KG like he was invisible on that game winning basket. & I'm sorry but it's about damn time Landry Fields caught some grief for his pisspoor level of play not only tonight's disappearing act, he's been HORRENDOUS for the past month & a half. Your "put up or shut up" challenge needs to be posed to the rest of the Knicks players they can't just sit back & expect Melo or STAT to carry them every single game. You're in the god damn NBA for God's sakes, play like you belong!

I get why people want to critisize Mike D for Jefferies, Walker being in there at the end, but really who else did we have?? Jefferies had just hit the go ahead shot, are we gonna put in a cold turiaf for the last shot of the game? The sad truth is that boston has a much deeper team. People can say all they want about Doc rivers outcoaching D'antoni but i don't buy it! The celtics have mutiple lineups where they can have 5 scorers on the court. With all the injuries the knicks do not! Thats what creates spacing. Jefferies played KG one on one because he had to. Who do you leave. Rondo under the basket? Ray Allen, Pierce or West on the Wing?

STAT1 said:

I'm sorry but it's about damn time Landry Fields caught some grief for his pisspoor level of play not only tonight's disappearing act, he's been HORRENDOUS for the past month & a half.

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Yeah seriously. Bet management is wishing they had included fields and kept wilson or felton. WTF, did you see him air ball that runner at the beggining of the game???

What does being cold off the bench have to do with playing defense on a defensive possession? I have no problem with Jeffries' play overall tonight he made some nice plays I give him credit, but that last possession was bad defense by him on KG plain & simple, he was overpowered & backed into the paint like he wasn't even there. Why was he guarding KG instead of blanketing Pierce or Allen on the perimeter using his length to disrupt their shot? Why is it a bad idea to have Turiaf in the game to defend the lane with his shotblocking ability & being our top low post defensive player with our team up by 1? Please explain.

As for Bill Walker, I'm not sure why you think it was a good idea to leave him in the game for so many minutes tonight but he looked horrible out there he wasn't making any shots, & I mean ANY shots, & he was making boneheaded plays on both ends of the floor, not even D'ing up particularly well either. I have no idea why he was left in there for so long especially in the most crucial stretch of the game. I realize the team was +10 when he was in the game but that was obviously no thanks to his play or lack thereof if you watched the game closely I think most would agree. I would have liked to see Shawne Williams get more minutes with Bill Walker struggling the way he was, hell even Roger Mason or Derrick Brown would have given us more IMO.

Imisscharlesoakley said:

Yeah seriously. Bet management is wishing they had included fields and kept wilson or felton. WTF, did you see him air ball that runner at the beggining of the game???

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His lack of ability to shoot off the dribble is a huge weakness in his game that he needs to spend this summer working on. No one respects his dribble drive to the lane because of this they can crowd him & make him put the ball on the floor, which oftentimes leads to turnovers or missed running floaters & layups which give the ball back to the other team. The days of getting easy putbacks & dunks off offensive rebounds has gone by the wayside for some reason I have no idea where Landry's energy level has gone he's just not the same player he was in the 1st half of the season.