New York at Golden State

[Real Deal]

TIME: 10:30 PM ET

TV: NBA TV

[JYD]

Going to try to stay up for this one! Should be a good game. LGK

[NomarFachix]

Go Knicks! Get to see D-Lee, which will be nice and a reminder of how far we've come the last two years. Steph Curry is out. Bummed, because I really love his game.

[The Next Knick]

We need to win this game, especially since they don't have Stephen Curry.

[ChosenOne]

Knicks are getting flat out out played here in the fourth. Both Melo and Amare sucking big ones lol

 

Edit: especially Melo haha

Edited December 29, 2011 by ChosenOne

[NomarFachix]

Looked great out there tonight, especially Chandler picking up some of the most ticky tack calls I've ever seen and playing a total of 22 minutes. Good lord the Knicks are terrible on defense with him on the bench.

 

Douglas is not a good basketball player. Neither is Bibby. Please get healthy, Baron and Shump.

 

Offense is grossly predictable. Give it to Melo, isolation. Give it to Amar'e, isolation. Bricking shots? Who cares. Keep at it.

 

Never had a shot in this game, Monta was simply trying his best to give it to us early.

[NomarFachix]

Refs were horrible as well, but there is no excuse for as bad of a loss as this was. Maybe the Knicks aren't going to be as exciting this year as I thought they'd be. Meh.

[Newman]

Brandon Rush might just live up to his potential after all. He is looking good at the moment.

[JYD]

As pointed out by iMan, the Knicks glaring problems were exposed. When Chandler is in foul trouble, the defense is horrendous. The PG play does not fit the team at all, no playmaking/passing ability from either Bibby OR Douglas. And, when STAT and Melo are not making their ISO shots, their is no offense. Those three combinations = big loss versus any team.

 

I'll start to be worried if they come out looking like that again tomorrow night.

[Built Ford Tough]

The Knicks lack of perimeter defense is going to be a huge problem all season long. Douglas is the only player who has any sort of defensive ability, but even then, Rondo picked him apart on Christmas and Ellis had his way with him (when he was in the game) in the 4th tonight. Adding Davis to the team isn't going to solve these problems either, since he doesn't have nearly enough mobility at this point in his career to contend with the majority of point guards in this league.

 

Gotta give a lot of credit to Rush tonight, though. He gave the Warriors a huge lift off of the bench and played a superb all around game. He was hitting shots, getting in the paint, getting on the glass and playing very well defensively. Of course, it didn't hurt that the Knicks decided to stick Bibby on him for long stretches, but you still have to give him credit for realizing the advantage that he had over him and going right at the overmatched Bibby.

 

Ellis sucked for the vast majority of the game, but he completely picked the Knicks apart in the 4th. He stopped settling for jumpers and instead used his quickness to put all kinds of pressure on the Knicks defense and that opened up his entire game and also gave his teammates plenty of great looks of their own. With Curry out of the lineup they really needed him to step up, and even though he was awful for the first 3 quarters, they got what they needed out of him in the 4th.

 

Brown and Maguire came in and played some great defense off of the bench as well. Some of Melo and Amare's struggles can be placed on them settling and not being aggressive, but you have to give credit for the two of them for the excellent defense that they provided off of the bench, Maguire especially.

 

The Knicks need to get more movement in their offense. They are way too predictable at the moment and the ball does not move enough. It sticks in Melo's hands when he catches it and that allows the defense to get set and provide the necessary help. The same thing happens when Amare catches the ball at the top of the circle and sizes up his man. They need to be more decissive on the catch and not allow the defense to get set.

 

I am impressed with how Jackson has the Warriors playing on defense, though. He doesn't exactly have the ideal defensive roster but he has really gotten his team to buy into his system so far and it is working wonders for them. If they can continue to play this kind of defense and allow it to fuel their offense, the Warriors are definitely going to be in the hunt for a playoff spot.

[Real Deal]

Both Bibby and Douglas are just small two-guards. Neither of them belong at the point. Bibby used to be able to create for others, but he's pretty worthless now.

 

The Warriors shouldn't have won this game the way they did, regardless. Melo and Amare had under 30 combined points, and both shot the ball very poorly. Monta was even trying to hand them the game, with the shots he was bricking...but damn, Golden State just came out and pulled down boards galore (Kwame had 10 boards in 12 [expletive]ing minutes, doing his best Danny Fortson impersonation) and actually passed the ball around.

 

Oh, and...B-RUSH to the rescue.

[NomarFachix]

The Knicks lack of perimeter defense is going to be a huge problem all season long. Douglas is the only player who has any sort of defensive ability

This is why we miss Shumpert more than we should.

[Built Ford Tough]

This is why we miss Shumpert more than we should.

 

I agree that he will help, but he is hardly the answer since he isn't a lockdown defender (at least not yet, he does have the potential) and you can't really rely on him to run the offense at the other end, but then again, you can't rely on Douglas or Bibby as well.

 

Woodson needs to come up with some schemes that will help hide the lack of defense at the point of attack because it will be a problem come playoff time when you consider that the Knicks will inevitably have to face somebody like Rondo, Rose, Holiday, Collison or Nelson in the playoffs.

 

Of course, it is still very really and the shortened training camp obviously didn't help Woodson fully instill his system into his players so the issue could easily get addressed long before the playoffs.

[JYD]

The Knicks defense wasn't even a huge problem last night. They played pretty well in the first half, but when Chandler is in foul trouble it's impossible for them to play great D. If they aren't hitting ANY shots, and the offense gets stagnant, their defense begins to look real bad because the other team starts to pull away.

[Built Ford Tough]

It wasn't a huge problem last night because, as you said, their offense wasn't going anything either and even if they were able to get a few stops it wouldn't have made much of a difference due to their poorus offense.

 

However, I wasn't specifically speakng about last nights game and was more of a general observation. They aren't going to be successful, regardless of how they play offensively, if they are letting the opposing teams point guard consistently get into the paint and create at will. There was absolutely no resistance at the point of attack and you aren't going to be able to make a deep playoff run if you are letting opposing point guards absolutely carve you up and get whatever he wants, whenever he wants it not only for himself, but for his teammates as well.

 

Chandler being in foul trouble was a factor, no doubt about it, but the Knicks are going to have to learn to play at least above average defense even when Chandler isn't on the floor because with his playing style, there are going to be plenty of nights where he isn't able to play 35 minutes due to foul trouble.

 

Last night it wasn't a backbreaking issue because of how they played offensively, but even if they were hitting their shots on the other end of the floor it wouldn't have made a difference if you ask me.

[JYD]

If they were hitting their shots, at least in the first half, it would've been a 15 to 20 pt lead. Carmelo and Stoudemire were arguably the worst I've ever seen them play in a Knick uniform.