So there’s plenty to get to. Giants. Jets. Knicks. Opening night of the NBA. Christmas. Plenty. And we’ll get to them all. This is Part 1. Part two will be up later tonight as I break down the Giants/Jets game and where I feel like both teams are going from here.
In their regular season opener, the New York Knicks defeated the Paul Pierce less Celtics 106-104 at the Garden. Marc Berman writes that Carmelo Anthony saved Christmas for the Knicks. “I made a game-plan mistake,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “We didn’t go get the ball out of Carmelo’s hands and I thought we probably should have.” That was an excerpt from Frank Isola’s piece in the Daily News this morning including more in depth analysis of Carmelo’s amazing 4th quarter. Jonathan Lehman of the Post wrote about Tyson Chandler and the Knicks defensive effort in the fourth quarter limiting the Celtics to 7-20 shooting including two critical stops in the final minute. Mike Vaccaro writes that despite all the things that went wrong for this team yesterday, they responded. Howard Beck of the New York Times writes that for one game, the Knicks were better.
Ok, let’s put everything into perspective here. The Knicks won. A “w” is a “W”. Can’t complain about who was and who wasn’t there. BUT, there were several things that need to be pointed out about this game that should temper expectations about this Knick team. Yesterday, if there EVER was a reason when the Knicks needed some semblance of a reasonable point guard effort it was yesterday. Toney Douglas was ineffective and Iman Shumpert has a green light to shoot it seems everytime he touches the ball. Then there’s Mike Bibby who was out with a back spasm but was available to play but wasn’t available if you catch my drift. Then there’s Baron Davis who won’t be eligible to play until a month from now. The Knicks didn’t have ANY answer for Rajon Rondo.
Part of the problem was their transition defense. NOBODY leaked out once the rebound was snared, and we’ll get to the rebounding as well. NOBODY rotated to Rondo who went uncontested atleast 5 times on the other end for easy layups. Rondo had 30 points and for the first time I kept thinking to myself, WOW, the Knicks need a good point guard. Who i STILL think could be Iman Shumpert but he needs to look for others more than his own. Yesterday, if Rondo had a competent jump shot (Which he did shoot 11-19) he would’ve been unstoppable. He was a one man wrecking crew with a little bit of help from Brandon Bass who has historically given Amar’e Stoudemire fits because of his size and thickness down low.
I was a bit disappointed in Stat who scored a very quiet 21 points. He was comfortable in playing the one on one isolation game a little too much and never tried to get involved in the flow of the offense. He was the definition of a ball stopper and that HAS to stop. For the Knicks to be successful both Melo AND Amar’e have to carry the team and do it in tandem. Bass outplayed Stat in many ways and looked like the tougher player. HOWEVER, I did like Stat’s determination on defense.
Look, I liked the Knicks opening statement on defense. Yes there were spurts where it looked like nobody knew where to rotate at all and there were times where this team played excellently. They showed emotion and communicated well. They had an idea on who was guarding who and where they should leave spacing. They had an identity and a game plan. The Knicks have the ability to have a few one on one defenders and its clear that teams on the pick and roll will try to switch up and get Amar’e. That’s the match up that teams will play and try and until Amar’e gets comfortable D’ing up then teams will continue to force the issue. What I feel comfortable in knowing is that guys who are crazy athletic like Amar’e and who are naturally gifted in basketball like Carmelo (also the two guys who get the most blame for their deficiencies on d) can learn on the fly and rely on their natural abilities to make offenses pay. They can learn how to do that. As opposed to guys who don’t have that kind of natural ability like say a Jared Jeffries who looked as if he had suffered that injury during warm ups.
Eventually the Knicks will put together more than just sporadic 15 minute shifts on defense and will put in a total 48 like the Celtics do. I think that the shorter regular season puts them in the fire more and because they have guys like Carmelo and Amar’e who can score whenever they want, they WILL win games on the strength of that, but they can also get better on defense much quicker thanks to the grueling schedule. The thing is, the Knicks don’t have depth and we saw that yesterday. Iman Shumpert is out 2-4 weeks and thankfully not longer. I thought that was an ACL tear and from reports that are coming out, its just an MCL sprain which is a much lighter injury. I think during rehab, the Knicks can focus Iman on becoming a better ball distributor. What my fear is that he comes back and Baron and Mike Bibby are in, where does he go from there BUT become a combo guard in the mold of an OJ Mayo. While I would be fine with having an OJ Mayo on my team, I think his athleticism suits us best if he were becoming a pass first point guard. He has the ability to cut into the paint area and his vision has to improve. From everything I’ve read about the kid he is a willing student and loves getting advice. I’ve seen Baron Davis give him advice as well and he’s always willing to listen. I hope he uses that and becomes better at his court vision. IF he becomes a better ball handler, he’ll have much more wide open looks because teams will have to close out passing lanes leaving the middle of the paint wide open.
I have this crazy belief that Iman Shumpert CAN be that great point guard we need. Ok, maybe saying great is getting ahead of myself. I’m just saying that the Knicks need a guy who has athleticism, can push the ball and can get inside the paint area and allow guys on the Knicks to cut. Douglas doesn’t have that yet and his first instinct is to shoot it. Maybe that’s part of the D’Antoni offense. Maybe that’s his own decision making which again would be an area where he would have to improve. Douglas needs to be pass first but I feel like his ceiling is as an on the ball defender. That’s where he’s best. He disrupts passing lanes. He is active on the defensive end and that’s what I love. He needs to work on his corner three. If he can develop those strengths I think he’d be a better fit. That’s a more realistic ceiling in my opinion of Toney Douglas.
Did anyone see Landry Fields? I mean I could’ve swore he was introduced last night. I could’ve swore I saw him on the court last night. Man, his sophmore swoon started after the Melo trade and its continued. He couldn’t fit through screens, he was taking the wrong route and he was lucky that Ray Allen was having an off night shooting. He just looks lost and its unfortunate. I dont want to see anyone succeed more than Landry. At this point he’s in the starting line up as a default, just like Keith Bogans was in the line up for the Bulls, just like Mario Chalmers was in there for the Heat, just like Derek Fisher for the Lakers. These are guys that are occupying roster spots because they HAVE to not because its a decision that the team feels they are fit to be starters. If they could find better players they would. That being said, I’d take any of those guys over Fields right now. His mind just isn’t there and he isn’t enjoying himself. He’s overwhelmed by the moment. Its one thing to play for a team with no realistic expectations but its another to play AT the Garden, for a team that’s expected to contend. The fact is, Landry needs to see the Wizard of Oz or just man up and play like he did the first half of last season. I mean Spike Lee is still rocking your jersey, at some point he may switch to Iman who has gotten the rookie confidence meter on high.
46-37, 54-56, and 41-31, the opponent’s rebounding total is the first number and the Knicks rebounding total is the second. So far they have been outrebounded 141-124 and its pretty disappointing. This is not on Tyson Chandler, but this is an indictment on the Knicks overall ability to rebound. They seem more intent on getting back on defense rather than contesting a rebound. The Knicks need to do a better job rebounding. I cant begin to explain how important it is to give Amar’e and Melo more opportunities to score. If they get in a rhythm and knock down shots, trust me there will be few teams that can compete with the Knicks.
Melo, there really isn’t a word anymore to describe him. Talent personified. He’s on the verge of having such a stranglehold on this city. Lord help him if he hits a game winning shot during a huge playoff series or leads his team through a series. This city will go goo goo over him. They already are.
If only the Knicks had a competent backcourt player who could distribute the ball. Having Melo as the point forward while it being an awesome position would wear him down as the season progresses. That’s a lot of pressure. Melo needs to get his offense in different ways. Melo can and Melo must. I’d rather have Melo play point forward during stretches rather than the whole game.
Boston fans can only wonder what Rondo COULD BE if he had a jumpshot.
By the way, in case you were wondering: Boston wins by 8 if Paul Pierce is in this game. He plays his best at MSG and with that Rondo run where everything came so easy for him, Boston would’ve erased that 17 point lead and would’ve been up 15 themselves. They just didn’t have enough offense from Jesus Shuttlesworth and KG to sustain them.
At some point KG is going to realize that NOBODY buys his tough guy act. He’s a great player without all his bullshit. Please stop. Nobody is afraid of you. He’s a skinny tall guy. If he werent black, we’ be making Shawn Bradley jokes about him. True story. But he’s a good player with some athleticism. Hence he’s black and he is a good player. That wasn’t racist enough for you was it?
I dont know how pissed Rondo IS at Celtic management. All I can say is, for that contract, he’s the guy you rebuild around. The guy has a motor. He’s aggressive and he’s tough. He’s Tyronn Lue back in that Laker/Sixer series, only with ACTUAL talent. He’s the agitator but with real skill. Real potential. I can’t begin to explain how badly I want to see Rondo injured because of how good he plays. He seems to come up with huge plays in almost every game and I think everyone is realizing that without his maturity and growth the Celtics DONT win that championship in 08 and his development doesn’t go ten notches faster without KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce there to guide him. They have needed him just as much as he’s needed them. If the Celtics are going to rebuild after this year, I wonder what that does for Rondo. That’s why I felt the Celtics handled this poorly. Now the Celtics HAVE to rebuild with a guy that they openly left out to be traded. I get that the guy they wanted was a better player in CP3, but they need to smooth over that situation if they ever want Rondo to sign another extension. Rondo is the key for their future and the guy they will build around but let’s see how much of a willing participant he will be. His contract expires after the 2014-2015 season. By then he’ll be the last of the big four left. Hmmmm
acebook
witter
The Lazy Eye of Sports 