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j4remi wrote:Thinking Points after the game...
. Melo had 21 points, 7 boards, 2 assists and played great D. His only weakness tonight was shooting the three, where he missed a handful of really nice looks. His play though...really great. Led the team in +/- btw.
. Felton had his most complete game so far. He had the energy of his 2010 run and did everything well. When the Knicks fell behind early, he was the calming presence that got them to relax and take over.
. Brewer's defense was nice but it was his ability to knock down jumpers and cut to the basket that really stood out.
. Jason Kidd kind of overshadowed by Felton and Prigs tonight but he was mr. reliable all night.
. Tyson looked much better tonight. More energy on both ends and some very nice defensive sets. He absolutely OWNED the paint tonight whenever he was in. He also took a couple of 15 footers and made some post moves...nicely done.
. JR Smith, before the fourth he wasn't shooting well but he was playing good D, grabbing boards and passing well. He erupted in the fourth but it was really garbage time scoring. The dunk was insane but I'm more impressed by everything outside of his scoring tonight because he did all of that other stuff when the game was still in doubt.
. Sheed on the floor stretches a defense thin. He came out and was open for three the whole time. He stuck to places that dragged the opposing C out consistently which opened the middle and forced non-bigs to collapse on drivers. This meant constant rotation issues and good looks on kick outs. Not only did Sheed pull that off though, he went into the post and made another nice move. He set good strong picks. He played smart defense and had a couple of blocks. His only real issues came with some defensive timing challenging the drivers but that will come. I was extremely impressed tonight.
. Thomas, couldn't find his jumper again. He sets good picks, good defensive effort and got on the boards a bit...but his missed jumpers made it easier for defenders to lag off. Sheed took his second half minutes and made the most of them.
. Prigioni probably should have had 20 tonight. He passed up some wide open looks throughout the game but wow....what a great game from him. He was passing comfortably and with confidence. He used his picks for better results tn than yesterday. He passed the ball really well. His defense was tremendous too. The guy is legit!
. Team defense was absolutely PHENOMENAL...can't say enough about how this team has defended the ball. There were sequences in the second half where the Sixers looked completely overwhelmed by the pressure on the ball. The best part though...It never let up when substitutions went down. There was no weak link on the D. Novak had one or two poor rotations but even he played solid D despite being fairly invisible offensively.
. I'm a little nervous about how Woodson will manage minutes...Camby is on his way back but Sheed was great tonight. Shump is gonna come back to a team with great contributions from a set Guard rotation. Amare is the only weak defender anywhere and he has to find a way to fit in. This is actually a good issue though, it speaks to our depth. Woodson can bench guys that are slacking and leave just as much talent out there.
. The three point ball isn't going anywhere. They were 40% from three tonight and that was with these guys missing good looks. The amount of open looks they're getting from three is absolutely insane. D'antoni is somewhere weeping when he watches this execution. I don't think the Knicks will always be this good from the field, but they're looking like a team that will consistently find the open shooter and that will lead to major three point shooting on a pretty good basis. Consider this...Novak was 0-2 from three tonight and the team still shot over 40%...Impressive.
. 24 - 7 assist to TO ratio for the team...Dear God!
. Offensive efficiency continues
. Opponents under 90 again
. JR Smith legit 6th man of the year candidate this year
. Woodson legit Coach of the Year candidate
. Grunwald is gonna win executive of the year...I'd put a sig on it.
Late Edits: If we're going to treat this as a makeshift keys it's only right to have a scrub of the night. Nick Young was 4/15 for 12 points...all but one shot was a chucked piece of garbage. How anyone can warrant so much playing time while throwing that much garbage at the hoop, I don't understand. His high total minutes was truly offensive in spite of his meager contributions to his team. He had as many TO's as he had Rebounds AND Assists (2).
And just a late shout out to the net guy...He fixed that net just in time for the Knicks to set it on fire and Lord knows he cringed when JR Smith almost tore the entire rim down.
