Fresh off a 41 point game and a dunk contest victory (literally) over Dwight Howard, spark plug Nate Robinson will battle the magic tonight while I’m stuck in my weekly night class. I’m sure it will be a good game, both teams have new players they’re trying phase into their respective systems, but skip seems to adopting more quickly to Stan’s system than the rusty Larry Hughes or Wilcox.
In any case, it should be a fun game though, enjoy.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
hard fought battle they should played howard one on one and locked down their shooters
but they do not lie down and fade like the recent past
Marbury best wishes but you had a lot to do with what went wrong here as well as others
Isiah’s last gift to New York will come in 2010 when the Knicks will give their unprotected first round pick to the Jazz.
Marbury is addition by subtraction. The distraction is gone.
Isiah left some decent gems in Lee, Chandler, Nate but they may not all last to 2010 b/c they’re possible contract demands in this restricted free agent period they will enter into may be way more than the actual value of their contribution to the team and their noted deficienies- Lee no interior D, slow foot speed against 3s/4s who take him off the dribble on the perimeter, Nate erratic at times, hot and cold, could play better D.
Repost from a convo I was having out at the Knicks blog Sports NY’s Shrine to Knicks’ basketabll…
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Craigamus83
Cosign with your take that defense wins championships and that the Suns but for Championship, would have won but for Stoudemire’s suspension, is all woulda shoulda, coulda material.
There are things which peeve me about [ ]‘antoni, that terrible clock mgt. against Portland, and as you mentioned the myriad of constant excuses made about a star, heck even non star, players big night against the Knicks. on the offensive side of the ball against [ ]‘ant’s team still leaves alot to be desired.
That said in all fairness to [ ]‘antoni he has shed off some of his carefree style, I recall shortly after the not so impressive win against the Pacers early last week, [ ]‘antoni was clearly expressing his displeasure with his team lack of a complete game played at both ends of the court as Jared Jack nearly “Jacked” the Knicks again.
I also wonder if defense not being [ ]‘antoni’s fortey then why not get in an assistant whose fortey is that side of the ball and having that coach handle the responsibility of coordinating and coaching that end of the game. I’ve read somewhere that one of the reason’s [ ]‘antoni wouldn’t or couldn’t stay on in Pheonix was b/c he wouldn’t budge and acquire a more defensive oriented assistant coach for his staff- then again Mark Iavaroni was listed as that sort of assistant and he left for the Memphis Grizzlies opening.
Mike’s Knicks have also seen upheavals, the exiting of two key offensive players who provided the team with more interior scoring, scoring off the dribble and overall depth. Add to that the recent trade deadline upheavals which brought in new players who might otherwise help the team but need to get acclimated. Those are difficult tasks to integrate players in the midst of an attempted playoff push.
But the why is Hughes the shooter/chucker, depending on how he plays, getting minutes meanwhile Wilcox whose not a shooter but finisher inside isn’t gettting minutes. Tommy Dee and many tend to think WIlcox should get that burn to help Lee out with the rebounding and to improve the interior shot blocking. As a host of an LBE with a wiley bunch of Knicks fan I tend to see the same tendency, Knicks outrebounded against bigger and deeper front court oriented teams.
That result always brings me back to an allegation that surrounds [ ]‘antoni… Does he just only prefer shooters? Can he or will he ever include players on the floor who are not primarily shooters? Is he the type of coach who plays a style that has no place for the glue guy or no stat all star?
See…New York Time’s Magazine
THE NO STATS ALL-STAR
By: Michael Lewis
Published: February 13, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html
There’s plenty of nuggets for all to seave through
[ ]‘anonti’s use of jefferies to slow opposing team’s point men and as a glue guy cuts against that theory to some degree but the other than Jeff, [ ]‘ant hardly appears to play any player on his bench who cannot provide some degree of shooting- Nilo’s PT over Wilcox’s. No doubt Nilo should be developed and will likely be part of the team’s future but the present requires that the team address the deficiencies down low as Tommy Dee indicated.
A playoff spot even if it results in an early exit, IMHO, is preferrable for this teams moral even aiming for it is more than could have been expected a year ago.
The other pressing need for the Knicks, a true superstar/team leader and sidekick, can and or should hopefully be addressed in 2010!
Go New York!