G4 ~ Knicks (2-2) @ Pistons (0-3) ~ 7:30 PM EST

[whitehops]

Alright, obviously the first three games have not gone the best but this is a good chance to get our first win of the year.

STARTERS

~ Detroit ~
Brandon Jennings
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Josh Smith
Greg Monroe
Andre Drummond

~ New York ~
Shane Larkin
Iman Shumpert
Carmelo Anthony
Jason Smith
Samuel Dalembert

The knicks might be 2-2, but they have a below average offense and bad defense so far on this season. the pistons are the opposite, who have a below average defense and a bad offense. while the knicks do not have a very talented roster, they really slow the game down and spread the ball around. they are implementing parts of the triangle offense which would explain that.

KEY MATCHUP: melo vs. josh smith
Carmelo has a bit of a different role this year, and has been operating in the mid-range/perimeter a lot more than in previous years. This is partly responsible for his low amount of free throws, with less than 5/game so far. it will be interesting to see who exactly SVG puts on melo, since singler would be giving up about thirty pounds to a player that knows how to take advantage of his leverage, or play smith against melo and go with the super-sized lineup. my personal prediction is that if smith doesn't abuse acy/stoudemire/Jason smith off the bat then we will be forced to go with the super-sized lineup, as opposed to making the knicks match melo up with smith.

the knicks will be playing their second game of a back-to-back while we will have had three full days to practice and prepare for this game.


whitehops' key to the game: Drummond staying out of foul trouble. Drummond has been in foul trouble almost the entire time during our first three games and it's really hurt the team. he had some tough matchups with mozgov and faried, pekovic (a very large man) and the energetic and athletic plumlee/wily vet garnett. now he goes up against some very mediocre big men so it will be imperative for him to not pick up cheap fouls so he can stay in the game and make an impact. if he plays around 35 minutes and stays out of foul trouble it will make it a lot easier to succeed.


final note: the knicks aren't that good at defending the three point line so hopefully we FINALLY (especially KCP) find the range.




Let's get it!

[Spider156]

I can see this being a very sloppy game with the Knicks dropping shots left and right and us scrambling for the ball. Either we take a big step forward with our chemistry/offense/ball movement and execute plays that we practiced the past 3 days OR we fail miserably trying to get shots to go in while the Knicks rip us apart from 3. Melo like Johnson will probably have a good game. We NEED a SF.

[kurtis48239]

Moose should definitly be starting this game,we need to pound the ball inside to our bigs.

If smith was competent and would listen,I wouldnt mind just for this game if the big 3 started and smith concentrated on melo.But that wont happen,smith will probably get all caught up in a battle with melo to see who can chuck the most from the 3.

[engelbert321]

Amare ALWAYS destroy us. And prepare for Melo to drop 40.

[Spider156]

Amare ALWAYS destroy us. And prepare for Melo to drop 40.

We used to have a few players that always do well against us for some reason like John Salmons and Mike Dunleavy. Whenever we played against their team they always seemed to do well. Now? It seems every star on any team can destroy us. It's sad really.

[Spider156]

Drummond is the difference maker for us. The more he stays on the floor the better we are. The guy has a bad game and his stats are still high. But honestly if I were him, I would've developed into something better by now. I don't know what goes inside some players' heads sometimes. Smith and his dumb head of his, "Oh I can shoot even if my stats say that I'm a horrible shooter." Drummond and his development. Really? You don't know how to pump fake yet? You don't know how to use your body against your opponent and slam it above them? How about a secondary move to follow your first? Meanwhile, Monroe is making 3 different moves in one play. If I was Drummond, the only thing I would've worked on this summer is my post up game. And if by the end of the summer, it doesn't look like Shaq's then I would be ashamed of myself. Is it really that hard? You go on youtube and you study how big men move and then you copy them. Don't get me wrong. I'm not expecting him to be Shaq here. I just want half of that or even a quarter. I still see Drummond making plays harder than they have to be fading away from the rim. Go hard man! You're in the effing circle, throw some elbows and break someone's jaw for trying to block you.

[ImHeisenberg]

I'm already writing this off as a loss. Melo will be able to go crazy in this game.

That, and this sad sack of Pistons is a far cry away from figuring out how to play the way SVG wants them to.

Oh yeah, and they can't hit the broad side of a barn if they're more than 10 feet away from the basket.

[princeofpalace]

If we play like we've played the last 3 games, this is an obvious loss. That said, if Monroe keeps being Monroe, we stop wasting possessions with Smith jacking 18 shots a game, if KCP, Jennings and Singler can hit a shot and Drummond doesn't get into foul trouble- we could compete.

I'd also like to see Dinwiddie get some PT, we can't play KCP all game long.

[The Penguin]

Does anyone else see us losing the first 10 games and the last 10 games of the season?


I'm not convinced we aren't the 4th worst team in the entire league behind the 76ers, Magic and Lakers. I think even the Bucks and Jazz may have more talent than us.

[Ghost]

I love Melo, so I'll enjoy watching him go off for 35-40 points . Wouldn't be surprised if the game went how the other ones have went, but the long break and some extra practice time could help us out a bit at least.

[ImHeisenberg]

Does anyone else see us losing the first 10 games and the last 10 games of the season?


I'm not convinced we aren't the 4th worst team in the entire league behind the 76ers, Magic and Lakers. I think even the Bucks and Jazz may have more talent than us.

It wouldn't surprise me. These first 3 games is some of the worst basketball I've ever witnessed. Monroe is the only competent looking basketball player wearing a Pistons uniform. Everyone else's decision making is just awful (for the most part).

Also, Derrick Favors is playing better than any Piston is by a wide margin. They are a more talented team. Better PG, legit small forward, and young talent that actually shows some promise. All things Detroit is bereft of.

[princeofpalace]

Does anyone else see us losing the first 10 games and the last 10 games of the season?


I'm not convinced we aren't the 4th worst team in the entire league behind the 76ers, Magic and Lakers. I think even the Bucks and Jazz may have more talent than us.

It wouldn't surprise me. These first 3 games is some of the worst basketball I've ever witnessed. Monroe is the only competent looking basketball player wearing a Pistons uniform. Everyone else's decision making is just awful (for the most part).

Also, Derrick Favors is playing better than any Piston is by a wide margin. They are a more talented team. Better PG, legit small forward, and young talent that actually shows some promise. All things Detroit is bereft of.

Monroe is better than Favors and looked better than Favors in his first game but yeah Favors has looked better than any Piston not named Monroe. I expect Greg to have a huge year under SVG.

Also Jennings is showing signs of life, although he had a bad first 2 games. Hopefully his last game was the start of something.

But you are exactly right, there are a lot of teams with more young talent and more chemistry. We are only 3 games in though and have a new coach so we should be a bit patient.

[dVs33]

Any word on Martin's injury?? We could definitely use his shooting in this one.
It's going to be a hard match up for us I think. We haven't been playing well and the Knicks have a few weapons and are playing pretty well so far.
It will be interesting to see if SVG uses the "big 3" lineup with Smith on Melo. Last season Smith defended Melo reasonably well, but tried to outscore him on the other end which led to disastrous results. Hopefully we don't see that again.
I'd like to see Monroe start this one with Drummond and make the most of the Knicks lack of depth at PF. Also Jennings needs to have a big game since the knicks are also lacking depth at PG.

[whitehops]

Any word on Martin's injury?? We could definitely use his shooting in this one.
It's going to be a hard match up for us I think. We haven't been playing well and the Knicks have a few weapons and are playing pretty well so far.
It will be interesting to see if SVG uses the "big 3" lineup with Smith on Melo. Last season Smith defended Melo reasonably well, but tried to outscore him on the other end which led to disastrous results. Hopefully we don't see that again.
I'd like to see Monroe start this one with Drummond and make the most of the Knicks lack of depth at PF. Also Jennings needs to have a big game since the knicks are also lacking depth at PG.

this was reported yesterday:
"Cartier Martin (foot) is feeling better, but there is no timetable for his return.

Martin is day-to-day and it's not clear how much longer he'll be out."

source: http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1589/cartier-martin


sounds like he's gonna return soon but we shouldn't expect him to play many minutes (if any) tomorrow.

[MotownMadness]

I think we win this one

[whitehops]

Looks like we may see a lot of the big 3 in this game:

Stan Van Gundy said that he's thinking about starting Greg Monroe, Josh Smith, and Andre Drummond vs. the Knicks on Wednesday.

Van Gundy is likely going to be tinkering with his starting lineup all year depending on the matchup, and Gundy's reasoning for bringing Monroe back to the starting lineup was so that he could put Smith on Carmelo Anthony. Monroe looked great coming off the bench on Saturday, racking up 18 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists over 30 minutes of action, so he should be fine whether he's coming off the bench or starting.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1708/greg-monroe

it isn't ideal but smith really does match up the best with melo and leaving singler, butler or Monroe on him could be a disaster.

[MotownMadness]

Looks like we may see a lot of the big 3 in this game:

Stan Van Gundy said that he's thinking about starting Greg Monroe, Josh Smith, and Andre Drummond vs. the Knicks on Wednesday.

Van Gundy is likely going to be tinkering with his starting lineup all year depending on the matchup, and Gundy's reasoning for bringing Monroe back to the starting lineup was so that he could put Smith on Carmelo Anthony. Monroe looked great coming off the bench on Saturday, racking up 18 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists over 30 minutes of action, so he should be fine whether he's coming off the bench or starting.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1708/greg-monroe

it isn't ideal but smith really does match up the best with melo and leaving singler, butler or Monroe on him could be a disaster.

Hes definitely are best matchup for Melo so I guess its fine. Im just scared too see the three bigs starting again but then again weve looked like **** anyways so I really dont care anymore.

[MotownMadness]

I think if we start all 3 bigs then we will have to eventually have a starting backcourt of Meeks and Augustin. You have to have some sort of shooting with those 3 and Jennings with KCP might not cut it.

[RSCD3_]

I predict KCP and Jennings will have good games but melo will drop 50 on almost retired butler and Singler. Having smith on him allows the Knicks to play melo at the 3 and it shrinks the floor for us to pre 1970's levels

Man I feel like this is gonna be a long season, at least we have our pick though


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[TurboTitan]

Still early days. Need to start winning ASAP though to get some pressure off Stan