Knicks-Nuggets Post Game (Free Candy Strikes)

[BBALLER4FR]

he tried to pass the ball but lost the handle, are you forgetting the only reason the knicks got back in the game was because of melo?

There was .3 seconds left on the clock when he was stripped, which means he's have given Fields about 1 second to catch and shoot. Not exactly putting your teammate (or the team) in position to succeed no? 2.8 on the clock in that picture. If he gives Fields the ball there all is good. He doesn't though. He turns and drives into 3 guys and is consequently stripped. In Melo's mind Fields wasn't an "opened man", he was a "bail out". He wasn't trying to get his teammate the ball until the very last second he knew he couldn't do it by himself. That's not the way a leader should think.

[BBALLER4FR]

Then it's the job of the coach to recognize that and not call that play or put him in that situation. But what does D'Antoni do? Same thing over and over and over and over again. Which is why I don't think waiting for more time makes sense. You can judge a person by what he does even if he doesn't have the greatest deck to begin with and what D'Antoni has done is mind boggling, confounding and frustrating way too many times. His job. Control the team. Figure out the team. Get the team to play well. Maximize the players on the team. His job. Not anyone else's job. Short deck or bad hand aside, he's not played his hand well at all...at all.

I wish Carmelo Anthony was more able to be a point forward but I think he's shown that he's not one (see not favoring Carmelo guys). And since he's not, why keep doing it. Why keep repeating the same mistake over and over and over and over again. Reasons are one of two things again. 1. D'Antoni's stupid. 2. He has no choice. Either one, it's not Carmelo Anthony's fault for doing something he shouldn't be doing regardless of how bad it is that he's doing what he shouldn't be doing.

Does it mean he's perfect and blameless? NO. But he's being blamed for things that really he shouldn't be blamed for too too great a degree. To expect him to be Lebron James is silly. And that's basically what people are pretty much basing this on. Kevin Durant doesn't have to do what Carmelo is doing and if he were he'd struggle as well cause it's not what he does best. Does that mean Durant is crap? No...because Durant is actually in a role that he's best suited for...as THE NO.1 offensive weapon for his team. Not to be the guy that runs the offense and is supposed to get everyone else involved (that's Harden's and Westbrooks and the rest of their guards jobs as well as the job of their coach to make sure that the team knows what to do, does it well, executes, plays focused, doesn't repeatedly make mistakes, that players aren't playing roles they aren't good at, etc, etc, etc.).

I agree the coach is atrocious and he's #1 to blame. But he let Nash make decisions on the floor and now he's doing the same with Melo, not that I agree AT ALL with this. So since Melo has his "power" gifted to him the real issue I have is Melo is his view/approach/style. He has all that power and he's rather use it to get his own. It's like me giving you a gun and telling you to protect my family while I'm gone only to find out you shot my wife and kids. WTF is he thinking. You can be the worst PG and recognize that a triple team means 2 guys are opened. Melo dribbles into the teeth of it.

[ComboGuardCity]

Melo will be doubled constantly until another viable option steps up. Someone who is getting paid to just that...come on Amare.

And in terms of Gallo. Let's look at the whole body of work. When you have a crazy night, once in a blue moon, the opponent doesn't set up a gameplan against you. With this coach, everyone knows Melo will have the ball in their hand and that's all they have to plan against.

[KnicksScholar24]

Meanwhile Shumpert took 16 shots to get 17 points. Hes been one of the most inefficient players in the league. Settling for jumpers. Not getting to the line. Im not gonna get on him much b/c hes still a baby but I want to see this guy attack the paint.

If you're basing your "one of the most inefficient players in the league" comment on his 17 points on 16 shots, he shoot a shade under 44% for the night. Hardly "inefficient."

Gallo is efficient. Melo is not. Gallo got 12 more points with 10 less FGA. The flopping comments are gripes, but not a valid criticism. Drawing fouls is a skill.

Correction: Gallo was efficient this game. Melo was not this game.

Career numbers shows that Anthony is more efficient than Gallinari. Gallinari is not an efficient player. He's a streaky player, who can exploit sh**ty referees was his head flailing. He's also more efficient with the Nuggets because he's not playing for the Knicks Godawful coach anymore. Any ref worth a d**n wouldn't always his floppy a** to draw shooting fouls of charging fouls. Stern has ruined the professional game of basketball. He's a 16 PPG player who went up against a Mike Dumb'toni defense, with horrible refs calling the game.

Guys reasons like today is why we should never overrate our players. Talk about the best front court in the league and we're frign 6-10 right now lol . This is sad especially considering we've had one of the weakest schedules in the league. Sigh lets hope they right this ship soon or D'Antoni is about to be outtt

It was over for this frontcourt the second the masterminds at MSG described them as "formidable." They should shoot anyone as MSG who uses that word again.

Also, it's was Knicks fans overrating "our players" when predicting that Anthony/Stoudemire/Chandler would the best frontcourt in the league. PLENTY of sports guys on channels like ESPN and NBA TV stated the Knicks could have the best frontcourt trio when they added Chandler. No one knew that Stoudemire would have such a bad year, or that Anthony would be ball hogging and slumping for 4-5 games straight, or that Chandler would not being able to effect the culture of the Knicks defensively by much.

[Dr. Detfink]

The ONLY reason why Laundry & Shrimp were in double digits, due to all the attention Melo had been attracting but Melo is a FINISHER he is not a distributor...and you can't expect during a strike shortened season that he'll widen his skill set.

[K_ick_God]

After my congratulations, I have to offer a bit sharper critique on Gallo ... some might say a little sour grapes but I have some substantial basketball reasons here and I outline them below: I think all these fouls he gets are beyond rational explanation and I have no idea what's going on.

1) Gallo is lenky and awkward and can dribble hard face up, but this kind of foul calling is reserved for elite players. I don't even think Dirk gets this benefit of the doubt.

2) Gallo cannot convert at a high enough rate that this should be happening -- either getting the call OR getting this kind of defense played on him.

3) If the refs are going to send Gallo to the line a half dozen times in a quarter as he barrels his way in with questionable skills and ability to complete the play, then defenses are going to need to adjust radically. Don't reach in, don't even try to get in his way. I'd do some matador D on him a couple of times and make him complete a layup before I give the refs any reason to think you've fouled him.

Now, I will say that he got a lot of these calls in NY too so I don't think it's some anti-Knick conspiracy. But it's really one of the stranger things I've ever seen in all my years watching games.

Dude is shooting a low % from 3, doesn't have a post game, doesn't have a pull-up game, has below average athleticism, is not particularly good at finding people off the dribble, and blows layups. This is the guy you send to the line?

I used to feel guilty with the fouls that got Ewing to the line sometimes -- y'all know what I'm talking about -- but the ones that Gallo gets (as 1/5th the player) are way more suspect.

But I will say that if it's gone on this long, there must be something to it. Maybe he can build a career off of it but it doesn't really add up to me. I can't for the life of me explain why he goes to the line this often with what he brings to the table and the circumstances under which he's drawing these fouls -- which, by the way, always seems to be far from the basket.

At the very least, you shouldn't foul Gallo 20 feet from the basket where he can't pull up and hit the shot. At least let him get inside and then challenge him at the rim. Gallo is drawing a boatload of fouls when he is a couple of dribbles into his move and is no threat to score. It's odd.

[Johnny Firpo]

Correction: Gallo was efficient this game. Melo was not this game.

Career numbers shows that Anthony is more efficient than Gallinari. Gallinari is not an efficient player.

Gallinari's scoring efficiency this year, blows Melo's out of the water. In fact, Gallinari was a more efficient scorer in all of his seasons, than Anthony, in his best, so you have no idea what you're talking about. Gallinari is not an efficient player? He's probably the most efficient perimeter second option in the league, with almost a career 60%TS, he's a very efficient player, and that's a fact.

[Johnny Firpo]

3) If the refs are going to send Gallo to the line a half dozen times in a quarter as he barrels his way in with questionable skills and ability to complete the play, then defenses are going to need to adjust radically. Don't reach in, don't even try to get in his way. I'd do some matador D on him a couple of times and make him complete a layup before I give the refs any reason to think you've fouled him.

The problem is, he can finish, and he can finish with both hands. He had at least two acrobatic layups in this game, with his left hand, and another one or two in traffic, 1 or 2 ended up as an and 1. Also, i watched the game i think on all of his drew foul, there was contact. He attacked the rim relentlessly, and the Knicks couldn't do anything about it.

[K_ick_God]

Correction: Gallo was efficient this game. Melo was not this game.

Career numbers shows that Anthony is more efficient than Gallinari. Gallinari is not an efficient player.

Gallinari's scoring efficiency this year, blows Melo's out of the water. In fact, Gallinari was a more efficient scorer in all of his seasons, than Anthony, in his best, so you have no idea what you're talking about. Gallinari is not an efficient player? He's probably the most efficient perimeter second option in the league, with almost a career 60%TS, he's a very efficient player, and that's a fact.

Due to these questionable foul calls which may or may not last forever. He's shot low FG% (this is the first year he's got a good FG%) and he's been quite disappointing from 3 (still bad this year). I know everybody is in love with TS% and EFG% but it doesn't tell the whole story because great players make shots, hit wide open 3's and usually don't make their careers at the FT line until they've done the previous two things I just mentioned.

That may not last forever and then the rest of the whole franchise starts breaking down.

But I will concede that so far Gallo has been able to put the cart before the horse: He is living at the line but almost nothing else about his game has really improved ... well, that's not true -- his rebounding seems better and he's probably benefited from a) Karl's superior coaching/structure and b) not being counted on as much because Denver is deep.

But really -- these numbers don't mean anything to me because whether you like or love Gallo, nobody can really tell me that any of these things are false:

1) He has no post-up game.
2) He is unathletic.
3) He is a decent playmaker but not nearly as good as advertised when he came over.
4) His ability to hit the 3 has been below par.
5) He looks out of control and/or awkward going to the hole and blows a lot of layups -- more than his fair share.

His stats right now are living on questionable (bogus?) foul calls that send him to the line. That's all this "efficiency" we talk about -- it boils down to Gallo going to the FT line on plays that he can't finish in real life.

[K_ick_God]

3) If the refs are going to send Gallo to the line a half dozen times in a quarter as he barrels his way in with questionable skills and ability to complete the play, then defenses are going to need to adjust radically. Don't reach in, don't even try to get in his way. I'd do some matador D on him a couple of times and make him complete a layup before I give the refs any reason to think you've fouled him.

The problem is, he can finish, and he can finish with both hands. He had at least two acrobatic layups in this game, with his left hand, and another one or two in traffic, 1 or 2 ended up as an and 1. Also, i watched the game i think on all of his drew foul, there was contact. He attacked the rim relentlessly, and the Knicks couldn't do anything about it.

I'm just going to have to disagree with you there. Gallo is a good dribbler and he sometimes finishes with authority -- but just as often, he loses the ball or blows the layup. He is not that good around the basket and these "both hands" claims you are touting are really not true -- he does not have a lot of tricks in his arsenal around the hoop. What you perceive as good finishing is height. He is tall. I'd rate Gallo somewhere between a poor and mediocre finisher by NBA standards for a man his size.

He lives at the line ... is the bottom line. He scored 20 of 37 at the FT line.

[DuckTales]

The ONLY reason why Laundry & Shrimp were in double digits, due to all the attention Melo had been attracting but Melo is a FINISHER he is not a distributor...and you can't expect during a strike shortened season that he'll widen his skill set.

I expect a guy who has been in the league 8 years and not won jack squat to change his game and realize it's not about points at this stage of his career but about wins. Carmelo is still out to get his stats. Nobody takes the shots he did today, double and triple teamed, if it wasn't about stats.

[Johnny Firpo]

I'm just going to have to disagree with you there. Gallo is a good dribbler and he sometimes finishes with authority -- but just as often, he loses the ball or blows the layup. He is not that good around the basket and these "both hands" claims you are touting are really not true -- he does not have a lot of tricks in his arsenal around the hoop. What you perceive as good finishing is height. He is tall. I'd rate Gallo somewhere between a poor and mediocre finisher by NBA standards for a man his size.

He lives at the line ... is the bottom line. He scored 20 of 37 at the FT line.

Sorry, but you're wrong about a couple things. Gallo was a 37% three point shooter, on high volume up until this year, that's very, very good. Not Ray Allen good, but very good, it's not really debatable. He also improved in a lot of area this year, his body fat percentage is a lot lower, he's faster than ever. Also, unathletic? The guy, that was 3rd in the league in dunks a couple games ago, (now probably around 5th, or 6th) and probably top 5 in the league in fast break points, despite being 6'11.

Gallinari is not only not unathletic, he's a very good athlete for his size. Nowhere near elite obviously, but a very good athlete. His mid range game also improved quite a bit, he hits more and more pullup j's, and even some fadeaways. His defense what probably improved the most this season, thanks to his lower body fat, and therefore improved movement. He often defends the best wings, and does a great job. His length causes real problems for wing players, just like for Melo last night. Gallinari had a big part in Melo's another subpar shooting night. I understand the frustration, and it would probably be easier to some of you if those ex-Knicks players would just suck, but that's not the case.

[bargs]

Correction: Gallo was efficient this game. Melo was not this game.

Career numbers shows that Anthony is more efficient than Gallinari. Gallinari is not an efficient player.

Gallinari's scoring efficiency this year, blows Melo's out of the water. In fact, Gallinari was a more efficient scorer in all of his seasons, than Anthony, in his best, so you have no idea what you're talking about. Gallinari is not an efficient player? He's probably the most efficient perimeter second option in the league, with almost a career 60%TS, he's a very efficient player, and that's a fact.

Due to these questionable foul calls which may or may not last forever. He's shot low FG% (this is the first year he's got a good FG%) and he's been quite disappointing from 3 (still bad this year). I know everybody is in love with TS% and EFG% but it doesn't tell the whole story because great players make shots, hit wide open 3's and usually don't make their careers at the FT line until they've done the previous two things I just mentioned.

That may not last forever and then the rest of the whole franchise starts breaking down.

But I will concede that so far Gallo has been able to put the cart before the horse: He is living at the line but almost nothing else about his game has really improved ... well, that's not true -- his rebounding seems better and he's probably benefited from a) Karl's superior coaching/structure and b) not being counted on as much because Denver is deep.

But really -- these numbers don't mean anything to me because whether you like or love Gallo, nobody can really tell me that any of these things are false:

1) He has no post-up game.
2) He is unathletic.
3) He is a decent playmaker but not nearly as good as advertised when he came over.
4) His ability to hit the 3 has been below par.
5) He looks out of control and/or awkward going to the hole and blows a lot of layups -- more than his fair share.

His stats right now are living on questionable (bogus?) foul calls that send him to the line. That's all this "efficiency" we talk about -- it boils down to Gallo going to the FT line on plays that he can't finish in real life.

he's the fastest guy in the denver squad (apart from lawson..) which is the best nba team on fastbreak ..he bulked up a lot too since he left NY, i think overall he's suffered injuries in the d'antoni era in NY and probably coach karl is best suited for gallo as he demands going to the rim everytime instead of chucking threes all way long..

[b-lawson]

After my congratulations, I have to offer a bit sharper critique on Gallo ... some might say a little sour grapes but I have some substantial basketball reasons here and I outline them below: I think all these fouls he gets are beyond rational explanation and I have no idea what's going on.

1) Gallo is lenky and awkward and can dribble hard face up, but this kind of foul calling is reserved for elite players. I don't even think Dirk gets this benefit of the doubt.

2) Gallo cannot convert at a high enough rate that this should be happening -- either getting the call OR getting this kind of defense played on him.

3) If the refs are going to send Gallo to the line a half dozen times in a quarter as he barrels his way in with questionable skills and ability to complete the play, then defenses are going to need to adjust radically. Don't reach in, don't even try to get in his way. I'd do some matador D on him a couple of times and make him complete a layup before I give the refs any reason to think you've fouled him.

Now, I will say that he got a lot of these calls in NY too so I don't think it's some anti-Knick conspiracy. But it's really one of the stranger things I've ever seen in all my years watching games.

Dude is shooting a low % from 3, doesn't have a post game, doesn't have a pull-up game, has below average athleticism, is not particularly good at finding people off the dribble, and blows layups. This is the guy you send to the line?

I used to feel guilty with the fouls that got Ewing to the line sometimes -- y'all know what I'm talking about -- but the ones that Gallo gets (as 1/5th the player) are way more suspect.

But I will say that if it's gone on this long, there must be something to it. Maybe he can build a career off of it but it doesn't really add up to me. I can't for the life of me explain why he goes to the line this often with what he brings to the table and the circumstances under which he's drawing these fouls -- which, by the way, always seems to be far from the basket.

At the very least, you shouldn't foul Gallo 20 feet from the basket where he can't pull up and hit the shot. At least let him get inside and then challenge him at the rim. Gallo is drawing a boatload of fouls when he is a couple of dribbles into his move and is no threat to score. It's odd.

Idk why either. Maybe the Knicks should had you out there guarding this bum and see if you can completely shut him down, without fouling. Are you up to the challenge ?

[TrueWarrior]

Its funny to me how getting to the line is seen as a bad thing only when it comes to Gallo. Sure he flops around a lot (like most star players) but getting to the line is a skill, and Gallo is elite at it. There is nothing puzzling about how he gets to the line. Hes lanky and he can sell a call like an Oscar winner. He also attacks the basket nonstop. Dude is a slasher through and through. By comparison guys like Wilson Chandler and Shumpert are athletic beasts but they're lucky to get to the line once a game because they dont know how to draw contact and flop properly. I cant hate on a guy who flops well, its the refs and league you should be mad at if thats your thing.

Gallo is actually getting to the line less this season than he did last year, and has concentrated on finishing inside more instead, and its showing in his higher FG%.

Gallo in 2010-2011 w/ Knicks - 80% of his shots were jumpers, 20% at the rim.
Gallo in 2011-2012 w/ Nugs - 67% of his shots are jumpers, 33% at the rim.

via 82games.com

By comparison 78% of Melo's shots are jumpers, 22% at the rim.

So Gallos driving more on the Nugs than he did with us and banking less on getting to the line than finishing. Isnt that what you wanted KG mah man? He still has to get his 3P% up but you cant complain about Gallo on either side of the ball. Also to call him "unathletic" is laughable since he checked soopahstar Melo all game, and guards the best perimeter player every night. His athleticism at 6'11 is what sets him apart actually.

FYI Shumpert shot 44% from the field against the Nuggets. He scored 17 points on 7-16 shooting. From a FG% perspective that is fine for a guard, but as a TS%/efficiency perspective that is horrible. 1 point per shot. If Shumpert had Gallo's foul drawing ability he would be Dwayne Wade, but right now hes looking more like Jamal Crawford.

[DowNY]

I'll let Harrington, Gallo, & Mozgov get their little revenge game win over the Knicks in the garden. Call it karma.
But when Melo finally returns to Denver, he's going to go off. I'm talking 40+ points 10 assists game from him with a victory. & I'm oh so serious.

[b-lawson]

I'll let Harrington, Gallo, & Mozgov get their little revenge game win over the Knicks in the garden. Call it karma.
But when Melo finally returns to Denver, he's going to go off. I'm talking 40+ points 10 assists game from him with a victory. & I'm oh so serious.

He's going to have to work super hard to do that. Better hope he doesn't tire out in the altitude

But I like to say to those who's ranting about FT. First off Gallo averages 6 attempts at the line. Melo averages more despite staying perimeter. OK he went for 20 in a double overtime game. OK? How does he get to the line. Maybe cause nobody expects a 6'10 sf/pf to move that well. Much harder than it looks

[earthmansurfer]

I'll let Harrington, Gallo, & Mozgov get their little revenge game win over the Knicks in the garden. Call it karma.
But when Melo finally returns to Denver, he's going to go off. I'm talking 40+ points 10 assists game from him with a victory. & I'm oh so serious.

You know, none of us really care what he scores. It seems just like MElo cares. We want to win as a team not have him carry us to a victory over a team that probably doesn't get past the 1st or 2nd round. This type of thinking that he is our savior is a part of the problem. We need to play as a team.

I'm not trying to be hard here, really, we need to play as a team. Let MElo get is 27 points, Stat his 20 and the team play well TOGETHER.

[Thugger HBC]

I'll let Harrington, Gallo, & Mozgov get their little revenge game win over the Knicks in the garden. Call it karma.
But when Melo finally returns to Denver, he's going to go off. I'm talking 40+ points 10 assists game from him with a victory. & I'm oh so serious.

You know, none of us really care what he scores. It seems just like MElo cares. We want to win as a team not have him carry us to a victory over a team that probably doesn't get past the 1st or 2nd round. This type of thinking that he is our savior is a part of the problem. We need to play as a team.

I'm not trying to be hard here, really, we need to play as a team. Let MElo get is 27 points, Stat his 20 and the team play well TOGETHER.

If the team is winning as a team then Melo won't have to average 27.

Offensive contribution should come from others so Melo won't have to score 30% of the offense.

But as we saw tonite......Amar'e, no shots in the fourth or both OT's.

[earthmansurfer]

Its funny to me how getting to the line is seen as a bad thing only when it comes to Gallo. Sure he flops around a lot (like most star players) but getting to the line is a skill, and Gallo is elite at it. There is nothing puzzling about how he gets to the line. Hes lanky and he can sell a call like an Oscar winner. He also attacks the basket nonstop. Dude is a slasher through and through. By comparison guys like Wilson Chandler and Shumpert are athletic beasts but they're lucky to get to the line once a game because they dont know how to draw contact and flop properly. I cant hate on a guy who flops well, its the refs and league you should be mad at if thats your thing.

Gallo is actually getting to the line less this season than he did last year, and has concentrated on finishing inside more instead, and its showing in his higher FG%.

Gallo in 2010-2011 w/ Knicks - 80% of his shots were jumpers, 20% at the rim.
Gallo in 2011-2012 w/ Nugs - 67% of his shots are jumpers, 33% at the rim.

via 82games.com

By comparison 78% of Melo's shots are jumpers, 22% at the rim.

So Gallos driving more on the Nugs than he did with us and banking less on getting to the line than finishing. Isnt that what you wanted KG mah man? He still has to get his 3P% up but you cant complain about Gallo on either side of the ball. Also to call him "unathletic" is laughable since he checked soopahstar Melo all game, and guards the best perimeter player every night. His athleticism at 6'11 is what sets him apart actually.

FYI Shumpert shot 44% from the field against the Nuggets. He scored 17 points on 7-16 shooting. From a FG% perspective that is fine for a guard, but as a TS%/efficiency perspective that is horrible. 1 point per shot. If Shumpert had Gallo's foul drawing ability he would be Dwayne Wade, but right now hes looking more like Jamal Crawford.

Great post. Gallo is a player. And to think we could have had him and Melo on this team. As well as Mos. Sorry....