New York Knicks Breakdown: Half Good May Be Good Enough

[Erick Blasco]

The New York Knicks’ 88-81 victory over the Chicago Bulls was a tale of two halves.

 

In the first half, the Knicks passed and cut with alacrity, were remarkably unselfish, pushed the tempo, and walled off Chicago’s drives to the paint on the way to a 53-31 halftime lead.

 

In the second half, the Knicks still passed the ball, but without the purpose they displayed in the first half. Cuts and drives were executed at half-speed, they didn’t run as eagerly, and their defense was a half step slow. The Bulls outscored the Knicks 50-35 and had chances to overtake them on numerous occasions.

 

Why such the bipolar performance?

 

A number of reasons:

 

• A mediocre roster
• No interior offensive presence
• No shot blocker or shot contester on defense
• Mediocre shooters in a shooting-based philosophy
• The relative youth of so many key performers.
• The lack of mental toughness after jumping out to a huge lead.

Instead of focusing on the half-to-half differences, it would be best to focus on who consistently did what.

 

David Lee is the Knicks best player and came through with a monster game—8-13 FG, 21 REB, 5 AST, 1 TO, 18 PTS. Offensively, Lee has worked hard on his mid-range jump shot, and it was his baseline springer with just over five seconds remaining that put the Bulls away for good. He also completed nifty bounce passes from the high post, stayed in front of Noah’s clumsy drives, and sank a spinning, turnaround one-handed push shot from 12 feet out.

 

Lee’s always been an exceptional rebounder, boxing out, hustling, and showing an incredible first and second jump to beat opponents to loose balls. His efforts on the boards—especially against Chicago’s own rebounding dervish Joakim Noah who also pulled down 21 rebounds—and particularly his quick outlet passing helped the Knicks establish easy scoring opportunities in transition and early offense.

 

Lee isn’t an All-NBA player. He doesn’t have enough of a consistent impact offensively, and his defense is adequate at best. It wouldn’t be a stretch, though, to call Lee the second best rebounder in the game.

 

Wilson Chandler is a dynamite scorer in transition, in the post, and when New York’s spread offense generates lanes for Chandler to curl, weave, or drive to the hoop. Chandler—8-18 FG, 16 PTS—looked to post any smaller defender stuck on him in early offense, and indeed generated most of his points on broken plays.

 

In the halfcourt, his pet moves were to drive with his right hand, and spin back to his left for a layup, or to weave from the left side of the court to the paint and shoot a short jumper.

 

He has long strides, a powerful body, and is built to score and score often.

 

Defensively, Chandler can occasionally block a shot, and did a decent job of keeping Rose, John Salmons, and Luol Deng in front of him.

 

Chandler still makes inexperienced mistakes on both ends, and doesn’t have a consistent jump shot. Still, the sky is the limit for the future standout.

 

Danillo Gallinari didn’t shoot well—2-13 FG, 1-8 3FG, 11 PTS—and was repeatedly burned off the dribble by Deng. His only saving grace was that twice after being beaten, he recovered well enough to block Deng’s shot.

 

While Gallinari has more ups and strength than meets the eye, he has no lateral mobility, limited foot speed, and is slow off the dribble. In other words, Gallo needs to hit his jump shots to be effective, something he failed to do against the Bulls.

 

Chris Duhon missed two layups, only connected on one of his four triples, made numerous intelligent backdoor cuts, made good decisions with the ball, and for the most part, did a respectable job defending Rose and Salmons.

 

Duhon would be best served as a backup on a better team. He gets worn out easily and isn’t a difference-making talent. But he understands how to run screen/rolls and drive-and-kicks, plays above average defense, and will drop a trey. And he takes the game more seriously than his childish teammate Nate Robinson. Usually, if Duhon’s playing well, the Knicks are playing well, and if he’s not, then the Knicks are not.

 

Jared Jeffries recorded countless deflections, discouraged Rose the entire first half, defended all five positions exceptionally, showed great awareness and anticipation when double-teaming or defending off-the-ball, sank two critical jump shots in the end game, missed two equally critical free throws with under a minute to go, and had two of his shots at the rim blocked.

 

Despite his offensive limitations, Jeffries is a perfect fit for Mike D’Antoni’s team because he fills their defensive niche. He’s the team’s only ace defender, and has shown enough accuracy on his jump shot to not be a total offensive liability. However, when Lee and Duhon aren’t scoring, Jeffries’ lack of punch becomes more pronounced. Therefore, his rotations should be monitored so that the Knicks don’t go extended stretches without scorers on the floor.

 

Larry Hughes made a number of excellent passes on screen/rolls, made several careless decisions, was below-average defensively, and missed his three shots from beyond the arc. Hughes’ main problem has been his shot selection, a problem which curtails his effectiveness as a backup point guard. Still, he plays with more maturity than Robinson which is cause alone to keep him in the rotation.

 

Jonathan Bender forced a shot, showed good lateral quickness on defense, and looked like he’d taken the past several season off.

 

Al Harrington can score from here, there, and everywhere—8-16 FG, 2-7 3FG, 20 PTS. Decision making has never been his strong suit—late in the game he forced a drive into five Bulls defenders and was promptly rejected at the rim—nor has playing disciplined at either end. While Harrington has shown the ability to play lock down defense, he simply doesn’t focus enough.

 

D’Antoni has Harrington in the best possible place—a sixth man off the bench. Here, Harrington can wreak scoring havoc when he comes into the game, and plays against more scatterbrained opponents than the usual starters. Also, his rope is shorter in case his cold stretches become polar in nature and/or his brain freezes up.

 

The Knicks played with tremendous unselfishness for the majority of the game, particularly the first half where extra passes were the norm and the ball and players never stopped moving.

 

The Knicks sagged off of Rose and dared him to shoot, a challenge Rose couldn’t overcome. Nearly all of Chicago’s second half success came in early offense by Rose, or when Deng abused Gallinari on isolations. When the Bulls did beat their man off the dribble, the Knicks had no shot-blockers waiting at the rim. Only when the Knicks offense settled down late, did their defense follow suit.

 

As a team, the Knicks have too many inconsistent, unfocused players to put together serious winning streaks and stretches of good basketball. They also have enough firepower to challenge all but the best opponents anywhere, anytime.

 

Rarely are they playing up to their full capabilities, and usually they cap out at 50 percent. They’ll play outstanding for one half, but not the other. They’ll do a terrific job of attacking the rim, rebounding, and defending the paint, but they’ll shoot 19 percent on threes, which they did against the Bulls. Or they’ll shoot the lights out, but get no points in the paint.

 

It’s that inability to play a complete game that leaves the Knicks as only half of a good team. With the sorry state of the Eastern Conference, and the fact that the Knicks have won seven of their last nine games, half good may be good enough for a playoff berth.

[xx.]

I watched the game tonight as well and you're right on the money. I didn't get to see Bender in action however as I started watching it in the 2nd quarter.

[Erick Blasco]

I watched the game tonight as well and you're right on the money. I didn't get to see Bender in action however as I started watching it in the 2nd quarter.

 

It was the first time I've ever seen him play, and my goodness he's athletic. He shuffled his feet on a Luol Deng drive and was right in front of him. After missing several seasons, and only playing a few games back, that's super impressive for a guy who is over 7-feet. He looked like he wanted to make plays and be unselfish on offense, but he hasn't been with the team long enough. And he crowded players on the perimeter and they were able to drive past him. I'm impressed though. Physically, he looks like an exciting player. I hope he finally is able to stay healthy.