It has been a while since I’ve seen an NBA article by George Willis, good to read he’s still around.
Tough game to watch last night. They were able to control the tempo, which of course, spelled our doom. After the first quarter we had 31 or so, I thought it was still possible, but with Lee was on the bench for a good portion of the fourth, and Nate not able to stop Felton from driving into the paint due to the size difference, we started clanging three point shots because that was all we could get, and that was that.
It was a winnable game, because Charlotte didn’t have a strong offense, but they had that Larry Brown stamp of approval defensively, and it completely disrupted what D’Antoni hoped to do on the Garden floor last night.
Kudos to the former D’Antoni players Bell and Diaw, they both played very well for Charlotte.
Brown said before the game that if the Knicks make the playoffs that Nate should be considered for the Sixth Man of the Year award. Nate has certainly been the scoring catalyst for this team since the all-star break. Yet I still think with all his physical talent, he could do even more defensively, i.e. reading the passing lanes and anticipating, just being a ball hawk like Mookie, Payton or even that other guy that used to play for Charlotte, Muggsy. The talent is there, it is just a matter of how he wants to use it.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
From REALGM:
With 21 games to play, the New York Knicks hurt their playoff chances by losing to the Charlotte Bobcats at home, 114-105 on Saturday night.
The Bobcats, on a franchise high six-game winning streak, are only one game out of the 8th seed, currently being held by the Chicago Bulls.
The Knicks are three games back.
“It is a skill to play hard and we have to either acquire the skill or learn how to do it, or something but we did not come out like a playoff game like this really meant the season more or less,” said Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni. “It doesn’t but we should have had that attitude.”
Charlotte held off a potential fourth quarter comeback, as New York got within six with just over a minute to play in the game. The Knicks, however, could not make it happen. Boris Diaw, who played for D’Antoni during his time with the Phoenix Suns, hit a key 3-pointer down the stretch to seal the win. Diaw finished with 22 points.
“Every game right now matters a lot and the fact that they [are] right in there matters even more,” said David Lee, who finished shy of his customary double-double with only 10 points and 7 rebounds. “It’s like losing two games. They get a win and we get a loss. It’s frustrating all around.”
Lee’s double-double streak ended at 24 consecutive games, which is the second longest streak in franchise history.
New York’s defense was once again suspect, allowing the Bobcats to shoot over 55 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc. Gerald Wallace led the Bobcats with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Raja Bell, another former player of D’Antoni’s, chipped in 17 points, while Raymond Felton added 19 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds.
“They are a team that won six and a row and there’s a reason for that,” said Lee. “I think we need to stop thinking that because it’s Charlotte, you know, you look in the past and their record has been bad but they’re playing great basketball and we didn’t play well enough tonight.”
Nate Robinson provided a spark early in the game, but flamed out with a poor shooting performance. He added 20 points, but it came on 5-of-15 shooting from the field. The Knicks trailed by 10 when he entered the game with over five minutes to play in the first quarter. However, by the end of the quarter the Knicks were within one.
“I didn’t think [Robinson] played great, he didn’t shoot but his energy was fine,” D’Antoni said after the game. “We just didn’t have the effort we needed today.”
The Knicks hop over the Hudson River to begin a five-game road trip against the Nets on Sunday. The Nets are another team that stands in the Knicks’ way of the last seed in the Eastern Conference. They are a game and a half ahead of New York.
The Bobcats have off until Tuesday when they travel to San Antonio to play the Spurs.
another tough loss tonight in jersey. why nate was on the bench down the stretch is still a mystery to me. gallinari was playing well (yes, i’d still rather have gallinari than either Lopez), but hughes didn’t come through when it counted. he’s still rusty, he’s not 100% yet. harris showed what he can do. good trade to get him at the beginning of his career whilst getting rid of a rapidly aging Jason Kidd.
our playoff hopes are starting to slip away. not much margin for error from this point on if you’re still believing they’ll make it.
Don’t know if Hughes missed that shot because he’s rusty. I think he might have missed it because he’s not a primetime player. He needed to make that shot and his turnover with a little over a minute left proved to be fatal.
DLee led the team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. They have to resign this guy.
I was at the Knicks Nets game.
I agree about not having Nate out there for the end game. Duhon should have been on the bench. He made a large number of sloppy misguided passes several of which were picked off and resulted in fast breaks or scoring opportunities for the Nets.
Nilo showed that he can create separation and space with his dribble but he is not yet the type of player who can get to the rack off the dribble. He’s more of the type of player who can create seperation against on the perimeter with his variety of dribbles, head fakes and ball fakes.
I’m no doubt cheering for the Kid b/c he’s a Knick and his development will help the franchise. I still think the Knicks should have picked up Lopez over Nillo. But what’s done is done.
wouldn’t trade gallinari for either lopez right now.
i love the fighting spirit our boys are putting up tonight in milwaukee. i hope they keep it up for four quarters–victory will be theirs if they do.
nate, chandler, gallinari, duhon all reving on all cylinders.
Let’s go New York!
nate is really phenomenal when he is playing the right way.
spectacular move to the basket and one– we’re down two with 20 seconds left in the first quarter….
that is one empty arena.
talk about recession times.
looks like the grapes of wrath up in milwaukee tonight.
although you could make the argument that neither team has a superstar.
the nba has seen better days than this.
Nate has been playing great but still a little too shot happy for my tastes and sooooooo in love with the dribble like Steph and Stevie Franchise… I wish he would look for nilo more or the drive and kick and AHarr need to pass more as well
Big step up game by Hughes… i like his effort on D The knicks really blew by not getting a reliable back up for Duhon…they have over used him
Marcus Williams was released by the Warriors after being pretty much buried by Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, and Jamal Crawford, who are the three team leaders in minutes played. He’s got the skills to be an effective pass-first backup PG. He’s pretty efficient with the ball [led the Warriors with an assist / turnover ratio that would also lead the Knicks BY FAR] and he’s got a playmaker’s attitude.
If I were Donnie Basketball, I’d give the kid a 10-day!
call me crazy, but i think larry hughes is a good knick so far.
seems to be pretty good playing for mike d’antoni.
obviously it’s too soon to tell.
i just don’t miss crawford at all.
the knicks are in this pistons game late in the fourth.
we can do this….
nate, wait for rebounders before shooting that!
Larry Huge!!~!
thanks for the overtime!
you know, when you’re down one point, and there are 13 seconds left and your opponent has the ball, that’s when you’ve got to be confident in your team’s ability to get a defensive stop.
The knicks absolutely need to work on that.
but right now they’re doing a good job fighting for their playoff life.
larry hughes was clutch with those three free throws.
wilson, good take!
hughes looked like sprewell a little just now with that one handed floater through the lane.
Q with the steal!
lee missed the bunny!
chandler has been the mvp for the knicks tonight.
didn’t think q was going to make that!
thank you q
ball game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
put the good free-throw shooters in, and hold the ball, milk the clock….
q, you’re stealing the mvp from chandler tonight…
be nice to your depaul alumnus Q.
Larry HUGE indeed!
Need to beat the Wolves in Minny in order to make this positive momentum meaningful.
Nate hade another 30 point outing.
That back court while not starting the game together has picked the Knicks up.
Nate may handle the rock alot but unlike, Jamal he isn’t afraid to take the rock to the basket, and unlike Marbury he brings a positive upbeat energy to the team that is sorely needed when the team is in its doldrums
whats up O&B?
hey, check this out:
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/57852/20090312/nelson_to_crawford_opt_out_or_well_move_you/
ouch.
Good pull out win last nite!!
The team needs to pay Minny back for the loss in the Garden and redeem themselves as far as the mediocre effort that night
Hey KnicksD
It does appear that time is slowly showing that Jamal, while a very productive offensive player, isn’t the type of team oriented playmaker or two way player a team would spend meaningful contract space for.
I like the dude b/c he’s always been a good citizen while he was @ MSG but the team needed players who would in the long run facilitate the offense, and players can effectively play both ways- whether they consistently do so is another issue all together.
No bones about it alot of Knicks fans right now are ok for the Harrington for Crawford Deal.
And considering that Tim Thomas was flipped to produce Larry Hughes that’s another trade that ultimately worked out well.
Also note how Z-Bo killed the Clipper’s chances against the Cavs with 6.4 remaining by trying to win the game by himself while having Varejao draped over him. His teams were a mixture of amused, befuddled, and some even pissed off.
Read Money Ball the NYT Mag article dated 02.15.09, it says something about how numbers in basketball can be very misleading.
Good weekend bro!