tkf keys to the loss

[Pedro Pistolas]

Amar'e needs to be given more credit , the guy played like a man possessed. I feel like he didn't get the ball enough this game....Toney looked him off alot....
One other thing Landry needs to be playing in crunch time.

[StutterStep]

Missed the game, but just watched 'Knicks in 60'. They do such a terrible job at editing those so it's hard to make any sense out of the game.

The box score shows that our backcourt gave up 52 pts to the Sixers 3 guards. Well, that sounds like where the loss came.

Also, Knicks playing at home on Sunday at NOON? Judging by the box score, I don't have to guess too hard to see who went clubbing last night.

[StutterStep]

Good observation. Douglas misses alot of people on cuts/rolls to the rim and it has to be frustrating the way he plays with tunnel vision. I understand he's a scoring combo guard but there's no way he should be attempting the 2nd most shots on the team.

You asked for an identity for this team. The question we have to ask: are we comfortable to go as our PG combo (Felton/Douglas) perform?

[StutterStep]

Also he is the team's "Second Option" right now. If he wouldn't have got in foul trouble some may say maybe we win but surely he puts up close to 20FGA again. I don't see how a player who comes off the bench puts up 20FGA but hey this is D'AnToni's crazy and wacky system we have here.

I said this before that D'Antoni sees players as roles - mere cogs in his system. Douglas is Barbosa. It's not D'Antoni's aim to develop him as a PG option.

[mrpoetryNmotion]

Been out all day. We always seem to have trouble against Philly but we have the better team now and we go 3-19 for three... losing in a typical D'Antoni die by the three fashion.

[StutterStep]

Yeah I saw that

But seriously, the kid is just a really solid basketball player, he does things so subtle that you just say wow, so old school, he uses the rim to protect against on-coming defenders, he fills the lane brilliantly on the break, he is a decent defender and a above average weak side rebounder.

He simply makes good basketball plays! He just needs to finish games and today should have been that day with Toney in foul trouble, I would have loved to see him finish, but then if he did and we still lost some would have been wondering why Douglas was not in the game....See what a problem depth can be for a team? LOL

We learned the other day during the pre-game that he's a LEGACY. His father played one season in the NBA (drafted in the 4th round), and his mother played college ball at Seattle University. This explains a lot.

[Punk]

Been out all day. We always seem to have trouble against Philly but we have the better team now and we go 3-19 for three... losing in a typical D'Antoni die by the three fashion.

Most of the 3 pointers were good looks. I didnt even know we attempted so many

[MSGBallerz]

Toney Douglas can't win EVERY game for us by himself.

[Punk]

Toney Douglas can't win EVERY game for us by himself.

Nobody asked him too. Amare had 20 & 14.

All I wanted was him to guard Holliday instead of a wide open 3. We would have probably gotten a real good chance to win if he didnt.

[Striders]

While people are quick to point out that we won't have shooting performances like we did vs Chi/Was very often, it should also be mentioned that we won't have many games like the one against Philly.

[MSGBallerz]

Toney Douglas can't win EVERY game for us by himself.

Nobody asked him too. Amare had 20 & 14.

All I wanted was him to guard Holliday instead of a wide open 3. We would have probably gotten a real good chance to win if he didnt.

Stop whining. Without Douglas we are winless this year and totally screwed because we gave a max contract to a guy who is dependent on Steve Nash to actually play well enough to deserve the money he got.

[HarthorneWingo]

I can boil all this down to two words:

Day Game.

[richardhutnik]

The Knicks have not turned the corner yet. They start winning games like this, then you can say they have. As of now, they haven't. Still a work in progress.

- Rich

[ComboGuardCity]

0 Rebs for Mozgov?

[TKF]

Toney Douglas can't win EVERY game for us by himself.

Nobody asked him too. Amare had 20 & 14.

All I wanted was him to guard Holliday instead of a wide open 3. We would have probably gotten a real good chance to win if he didnt.

Stop whining. Without Douglas we are winless this year and totally screwed because we gave a max contract to a guy who is dependent on Steve Nash to actually play well enough to deserve the money he got.

the whole, dependent on nash thing is a bit ridiculous, don't you think? I mean you come off as if amare is a scrub without nash.. that is hardly the case..... as of this point in time, nash is averaging 7 dimes a game.. last year with amare, he was at 11. amare avg. 23ppg ,last year, this year he is at 19.

I have a feeling amare will end up around 23-25ppg while nash probably won't get to 11 dimes again.. and you know why? maybe he could be missing amare as well?

[seren]

the whole, dependent on nash thing is a bit ridiculous, don't you think? I mean you come off as if amare is a scrub without nash.. that is hardly the case..... as of this point in time, nash is averaging 7 dimes a game.. last year with amare, he was at 11. amare avg. 23ppg ,last year, this year he is at 19.

I have a feeling amare will end up around 23-25ppg while nash probably won't get to 11 dimes again.. and you know why? maybe he could be missing amare as well?

great points 100% agreed.

[RHODEY]

This is why the Bulls win was so important, because unfortunately we aren't going to win every game that we are "supposed" to win. There are times where our shooting will be extremely hot, and we'll steal a few games versus "better" teams, but there will also be times where our shooting will be cold, and we'll lose to teams that we are supposed to lose to. It happens. I still expect a ~44-win team this year, or so.

+1... Courtesy of KnickBlogger Comments:

The Boston game was a road game against an elite team. The Knicks should and will lose almost all of those games. They lost it.

The Bulls game was a road game against a good team and the Blazers game was a home game against a very good team. The Knicks will lose most of those games. They went 1-1.

The Raptors, Wizards and Sixers games were home games against middling to bad teams. The Knicks should win most of those games. They went 2-1.

They have played like exactly the team that they are relative to their schedule; maybe even a bit better since they split the Blazers and Bulls games and their wins have generally been more decisive than their losses. If you thought this was a team who would have a win total in the low 40?s and get one of the last two playoff spots, then there is absolutely no reason for alarm. Crappy losses like this happen even to very good teams (which the Knicks are not) and pretty good teams (which the Knicks still probably are).

[tk76]

Thought I'd give you some perspective form a Sixers junkie.

1. Afternoon games usually have one or both teams out of rhythm. In the Knicks case that meant poor shooting. But they also were not generating open looks. I rarely saw drives creating open 3's. And when you shoot contested shots all game, its hard to get into a rhythm. While Jrue was left wide open and dared to shoot. The Knicks went under screens all game, which is odd against a PG who shot 39% from 3 last year and came off of a 29 pt night where he shot 3-5 from deep.

2. Aggressive interior players kill the Sxiers. Even unskilled guys like Varejo. That is because Hawes and Speights are the 2 worst defensive bigs in the league (and Brand is often a step slow.) But today the only active Knicks only energy big was Turiaf- but he never tried to do anything on offense (even simple put backs or attacking when he has a wife open lane.) Amare was active, but it was not enough.

3. The Sxiers have good defensive guards in Turner and Jrue. The Knicks perimeter scheme really played to the Sixers strength, And on the plays where TD or Felton got past them, they often made careless passes or poor shot choices.

4. Jrue is on fire right now (scored 29/9 the prior game and hit 3 of 5 from 3pts.) The Knicks did nothing to take the ball out of his hands, and they went under screens all day. Not to mention that Jrue tends to go off against small PG's (Clev w/ Mo Williams and Gibson, Knicks w/ Felton/TD.) If the Knicks had hard trapped Jrue he probably would have lost his rhythm. he is a streak young player who can get flustered- but the Knicks did not seem to treat him as the Sixers #1 weapon- which is what he is (especially without Iguodala.)

I realize the Sixers are a lottery team. But the Knicks are not good enough to think they can walk over teams without actually game planning for their opponents strengths and weakness or adapting in game to try and take away the opponents best player.

5. Stop going for pump fakes. Lou is not even that great of a shooter. 2 years ago he shot 29% on 200+ 3pt attempts (was 34% last year.) Why close that hard on a guy known for driving? He's not a guy you should crowd. Let him jack 20 ft jumpers and you win. They had their defensive approach for Jrue and Lou reversed. Crowd Jrue and he gets flustered. Crowd Lou and he parades to the foul line. Lou shot 17 and 13 FT's in 2 of their previous games (in limited minutes.) Again, the Knick did not seem aware of the Sixers few weapons, and I assume they figured they did not need to game-plan against the opponents two best players... even a few minior adjustments and it would have been easy for the Knicks.

[2010]

Thought I'd give you some perspective form a Sixers junkie.

1. Afternoon games usually have one or both teams out of rhythm. In the Knicks case that meant poor shooting. But they also were not generating open looks. I rarely saw drives creating open 3's. And when you shoot contested shots all game, its hard to get into a rhythm. While Jrue was left wide open and dared to shoot. The Knicks went under screens all game, which is odd against a PG who shot 39% from 3 last year and came off of a 29 pt night where he shot 3-5 from deep.

2. Aggressive interior players kill the Sxiers. Even unskilled guys like Varejo. That is because Hawes and Speights are the 2 worst defensive bigs in the league (and Brand is often a step slow.) But today the only active Knicks only energy big was Turiaf- but he never tried to do anything on offense (even simple put backs or attacking when he has a wife open lane.) Amare was active, but it was not enough.

3. The Sxiers have good defensive guards in Turner and Jrue. The Knicks perimeter scheme really played to the Sixers strength, And on the plays where TD or Felton got past them, they often made careless passes or poor shot choices.

4. Jrue is on fire right now (scored 29/9 the prior game and hit 3 of 5 from 3pts.) The Knicks did nothing to take the ball out of his hands, and they went under screens all day. Not to mention that Jrue tends to go off against small PG's (Clev w/ Mo Williams and Gibson, Knicks w/ Felton/TD.) If the Knicks had hard trapped Jrue he probably would have lost his rhythm. he is a streak young player who can get flustered- but the Knicks did not seem to treat him as the Sixers #1 weapon- which is what he is (especially without Iguodala.)

I realize the Sixers are a lottery team. But the Knicks are not good enough to think they can walk over teams without actually game planning for their opponents strengths and weakness or adapting in game to try and take away the opponents best player.

5. Stop going for pump fakes. Lou is not even that great of a shooter. 2 years ago he shot 29% on 200+ 3pt attempts (was 34% last year.) Why close that hard on a guy known for driving? He's not a guy you should crowd. Let him jack 20 ft jumpers and you win. They had their defensive approach for Jrue and Lou reversed. Crowd Jrue and he gets flustered. Crowd Lou and he parades to the foul line. Lou shot 17 and 13 FT's in 2 of their previous games (in limited minutes.) Again, the Knick did not seem aware of the Sixers few weapons, and I assume they figured they did not need to game-plan against the opponents two best players... even a few minior adjustments and it would have been easy for the Knicks.

Thanks, I appreciate the analysis coming from the oppositions perspective

[tk76]

I was surprised the Knicks didn't generate more looks for Gallinari. For a guy who an really shoot, he seemed passive and somewhat marginalized i the offensive flow. Is that part of the team adjusting to Amare and his need for touches?