The Knicks were tied heading into the fourth quarter but lost 92-78 to the Warriors. Mike Vacarro says that the Knicks are still working out the kinks and so it may look like this for a while. Mark Jackson got the last laugh against the team that almost hired him says Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News. Howard Beck of the New York Times says that IF the Knicks superstars could’ve saved them they would have. Meanwhile the Knicks newest import found the court yesterday and Jeremy Lin’s journey has been tumultuous to say the best in the last 18 months but at least he didn’t have to travel far to reach his newest team, says Howard Beck of the New York Times.
Howard Beck touches on exactly what was wrong with the Knicks. If the stars aren’t hitting their shots, it will be almost impossible for the Knicks to win. That’s the problem in a nutshell. The Knicks don’t have a playmaker that can create offense for the team. There isn’t a point guard on the team that will create shots for other players. This team will look better when Iman Shumpert returns and Baron Davis too. Those two guys slash into the basket and create offense for themselves or others. They don’t have that kind of athleticism right now. Amar’e is a pick and roll player. Melo is a pick and pop player. The Knicks don’t have the player that will generate offense right now.
Like I wrote in my post game report early this morning, Toney Douglas’ progress as a point guard has been non-existent. He’s a few seconds late seeing almost everything which means he’s not a natural floor leader. More and more I see him the more and more I have an appreciation for true point guards who have such excellent court vision and can see a play develop before it happens. Good point guards can see things happen before they do and I’m rethinking this whole “we need Dwight Howard over Deron Williams” argument that is developing.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, all they need is a semi-reasonable point guard who can play the position and run a simple pick and roll. A pick and roll because that’s ALL Amar’e needs. That’s all Carmelo needs. Someone to hit the man as they are running right to the hoop. The Knicks are too much of a half court team and settled for far too many jumpers while the Warriors were getting to the hoop with regularity. Tyson Chandler got into foul trouble and without him the Knicks were a layup line again.
There was far too many troubling signs on offense that continue to plague them If the Knicks superstars aren’t hitting their shots nobody is trying or attempting to grab the offensive rebound and nobody is trying to initiate any offense. The limitation the Knicks have is that too much of the offense depends on Melo and Stat. Stat is not an offensive initiator. He took far too many double teamed and contested shots instead of finding the open man. Too many isolation situations where there was NOBODY willing to pass off. It was too stagnant while on the other end, the Warriors were putting on a clinic. This time an average point guard dominated the Knicks. It was kind of sad to watch and its troubling that the Knicks don’t have any kind of sustained defensive intensity right now. I get that they need more practice time. I get that they need more time to get used to one another and the defensive schemes of Mike Woodson. I get all of that, and I see some improvement from Amar’e but again, its not a sustained effort throughout and that’s what they need.
The Knicks will need to work on how to run plays on offense that consist of more than one guy being isolated and everyone standing around watching. Now granted there will be few games like this where the Knicks have both stars off their games. And right now the Knicks have two guys capable of dropping 30 on any given night and so the Knicks will overcome and have rare games like last night but here’s the good news: The Knicks had a pretty terrible day shooting and yet they still led through three quarters of the game. Their defense kept them in it and they were great in keeping their hands actively in passing lanes.
The final verdict: these games will be far and few between. The Knicks will play better. They just need to keep their defensive intensity alive for longer stretches. Slow and steadily the Knicks are getting better.
Osi Umeniyora returned to Giants practice right in time for the G-men who will need the waves of pass rush to stop the Cowboys and it appears, according to Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, that he returned faster than ever. Jorge Castillo of the Star Ledger reports that amidst the thrill of victory was the reality that the Giants passing attack has suffered in the last two weeks and will be depended upon to play well Sunday night.
Osi is going to be key for the Giants but I agree with Jorge, the passing attack has been average. Eli has been good, however but the receivers haven’t been making plays. Apart from that 99 yard play, the Giants have been uneven. I think it has to do with the reshuffling of the line. I liked Mitch Petrus at Guard and Kareem Boothe at Center. If the Giants hope to fly they need Jake Ballard back and they need Travis Beckum to finally show some kind of skill. They need Hakeem Nicks to catch passes again. They need Mario Manningham back in the line up. They need guys to step up on offense.
The defense is tough to figure but it can only get better having Osi in it. Osi figures to get plenty of pass rush and in the report, it says that he will probably only see action during obvious pass rush situations. Which would move JPP into the interior and give the Giants four really good strong defensive players on the line. That line would cause massive mayhem and given that the Cowboys will have Sammy Morris and a banged up Felix Jones, the Giants will need the athleticism to get pressure on Romo. Add on to the fact that Romo will have a banged up arm its not looking good for the Cowboys.
Which is what scares me about Sunday night’s game. Add on to the fact that the Giants are playing at home which has been anything BUT good. Like I said earlier: this game is so evenly matched that it can literally go EITHER WAY. Ugh.
The Miami Heat were in their second close game in a row and they found a way to win. And for the second consecutive game, crunch time buckets went to player not named Lebron James and that will get plenty of the attention if its a trend that continues. Tom Haberstoh of ESPN’s TrueHoop (who’s been fantastic by the way) covers the Heat and said that the bucket that Wade hit to win it for the Heat should not have counted according to Rob Mahoney. On a night full of close games, another one came down to the wire between the Thunder and Grizzlies and Kevin Durant won the game for the Thunder, but it wasn’t without conflict. According to Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman, Durant and Westbrook got into a fight where both had to be restrained. This is bad news for the Thunder.
These are two of the most talented teams and the two that most of the expert crowd predict to make the Finals this year. But this shows the problem with having too much talent in two different ways. Last year, the Heat struggled with who would get the crunch time scoring opportunities and especially who WOULDNT. The Heat this season have played 2 close games out of three and are already hearing the whispers of superstars who can’t get it done. And again, Chris Bosh is quietly having monster games in which both Lebron and Wade are expected to step up. Regardless of what happens, the Heat are facing similar pressure to show up every night. In front of a sell out crowd, the Heat got the opposing team’s best game. The Bobcats played tremendously last night and came close to pulling off the upset had it not been for the general excellence of Lebron and Wade. Lebron had the monster game. Wade wasn’t nearly as effective and Bosh was having a really good game as well. The Bobcats put forth their best effort and yet the Heat’s three man team were too much for the Bobcats to handle. Of course it didn’t help that Paul Silas chose to not play his two most effective scorers in Byron Mullens and Kemba Walker (I already know what you’re thinking, Kemba who right?) down the stretch. But its interesting that the Heat still play in that rock star atmosphere where every single game they play they get the very best from the competition and they are surviving on pure talent. The point though comes down to what exactly was the rationale behind giving a cold D-Wade the look at the final shot OVER Lebron who had 35 points OR Bosh who had 28 points. Wade who was troubled by an ankle sprain that kept him out for most of the third quarter came back in and defensively played great blocking a few shots and coming back in transition to finish a few more. But offensively the night belonged to Lebron and yet the coach decided to draw up a play for a cold D-Wade who finished the night 5 for 13. So why would the coach give the ball to Wade if Lebron had it working last night? And that’s the question that will be posed to Lebron every time a game comes down to the wire and the Heat require someone to hit a clutch shot or make a clutch decision. That’s the price of being given such uncoachable talents (I promise that’s not an insult and that’s a compliment).
On the other end, this brotherly blood feud between Durant and Westbrook was eventually bound to happen but it appears that the schedule is not the only thing that’s being compressed. With only 66 games, it appears the drama is fitting itself in pretty early with this team. After finishing a stinking 0 for 12 and with no regard to his team’s position in the game, Westbrook kept shooting and I kept thinking to myself “uh oh”. To me, and this is just me, Westbrook has the higher ceiling than Durant. Durant is a phenomenal scorer and he can make plays happen and he’s a willing passer but Westbrook has the ability to be it all. Scoring/defensive/slasher/playmaker and thus I’d rather take Westbrook’s upside more so than Durantula. I think Durant just works on his shooting and becomes automatic like Dirk in the coming years while, if Westbrook dedicates himself he can become a much better player. Which is why I floated the possibility of the Lakers making a run at Westbrook instead of Chris Paul. I love Paul and to me he’s the best (pure) point guard in the NBA today BUT if they added Russell Westbrook and Kobe took him under his wing, how awesome would he be for them? He’d give them the kind of jump athletically they haven’t had in quite some time and for Kobe having that second superstar on his team would help his old legs because he could resolve himself to be that pop and stop shooter. Kobe’s getting up there in age and the Lakers are asking him to be the focal point of the offense and while he can manage that on some nights, its not something he can do on a nightly basis. Its also interesting that I see a lot of parallels between Kobe and Russell Westbrook. Westbrook has the talent to be a great, not good player in the NBA. He just needs guidance. Something he will NOT get in OKC. He’s as untouchable as Durant and while Durant is more highly regarded among front office people, Westbrook is like I said more talented potentially than Durant and so keeping him in a Thunder uniform is of utmost importance. But imagine the Lakers offer them Andrew Bynum for Westbrook and Nazr Mohammad. Imagine what that does to the Thunder? That front line would be beastly. Kendrick Perkins and Bynum down low and Durantula playing the three. AT 6 feet 11. How tough a match up would that be for opposing teams? Meanwhile the Lakers get a good developing young player WHILE still preserving precious cap space for Dwight to supersize their front line WHILE still having Pau Gasol for next year. Imagine THAT team in LA. How does this not work out well for both teams? Please. Someone tell me? Oh wait. You can’t.
Aside from the issues that Durant and Westbrook have, which are real and exist and were eventually going to reveal themselves, the fact is the Thunder have a problem that most teams would love to have. How Scotty Brooks handles that will be something to watch. Remember, this is what Phil Jackson used to do really well. Great coaches know how to handle egos and massage them while making the co-existence workable for the betterment of the team. Embedding that team philosophy in guys who clearly are looking out solely for their own stats is tough but a necessary evil in this profession. At some point, Durant and Westbrook will have to face the prospect of putting aside their issues and working out an understanding. Westbrook will be told he’s the playmaker and Durant will be told to shoot because that’s how this will work. Until Westbrook can be trusted on a nightly basis to keep the plan, this situation bears watching. How long can you trust Westbrook to set aside his ego? How long can you expect Durant to play Mr. Nice teammate? How long before it becomes painfully obvious to everyone involved (Sam Presti, please) that the Thunder NEED to get some value for Westbrook now before it becomes impossible to get anything good for him? People may say its too early but let’s be real, the path to a championship has been cut to 66 games and now is a better time than any to make that run start to count while you still have a chance to.
Ken Davidoff of New York Newsday finds common ground for A-Rod and the Wilpons. Kinda.
This shady German operation has me thinking about aging superstars and their constant need to compete with their younger competition. Whatever happened to aging gracefully? Speaking of gracefully has anyone put those sad puppy Coupons out of their misery yet?
Mike Pereira went postal on Jon Gruden in this FoxSports column.
Me and Mike Pereira are FOREVER cool after this. Does anyone else feel like Jon Gruden likes almost everything on the planet?
Finally, if women EVER wanted to understand why they feel they are being objectified on television. They had better hope that THIS never gets shown in front of a nationally televised audience.
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