Why is Duhon in, in close games

[Duhon2Lee42]

As soon as he comes up the court he passes to Nate. If he's not passing to Nate, he's turning over the ball. What kills me the most he constantly pass up open shots and put others in a tough spot. Dude is a complete liability on both ends. He wore out his welcome.

[wambam78]

He's been doing this all season. I mentioned it, and I got yelled at because he's "clutch"

The guy has made some (drawn) up plays where he drives in and can get a scary looking layup to fall against the right defense, but most of the time he A. turns it over B. drives in and forces up a layup which he air balls or hits only glass over a guy 10 times his size C. drives in on the other teams center and gets stuffed or D. (more rare) drives in and hits the layup

Hes solid, but not a starter on a championship team

[EricAnderson]

Hopefully we draft Brandon Jennigns or some pg this year...Duhons a perfect backup but his flaws are highly exposed when he starts and plays heavy minutes

[Scalabrine]

really?

[2010]

Duhon has been exposed. He had a nice run now everyone knows what he's going to do every time he tries to make a move. The guy is nothing more than a backup pg. He sux, bottomline. Plus, I'm ticked off at how he constantly freezes out Gallo!

[uapeople]

because he has played great for 90% of the year. one bad week and he's a villian. he lead the league in minutes, he's playing hurt. it's not his fault and he did have 10 assists.

[KnicksGadfly]

hes doing fine...without him, we'd be in super lotto land right now..

[GuyverADL]

Duhon has been exposed. He had a nice run now everyone knows what he's going to do every time he tries to make a move. The guy is nothing more than a backup pg. He sux, bottomline. Plus, I'm ticked off at how he constantly freezes out Gallo!

Sadly this is the case. The scouting reports are out. Dont jump for his weak layups and you are good.

He is still decent starter.

[defjux21]

Duhon is continuing to play on a sprained ankle.

[blueNorange]

who cares about duhon ... he was always a stop gap.

the best thing that a lot of people aren't realizing is that this summer harrington, duhon, q-brick, and hughes are useful expirings -- although i'm praying for a q-brick buyout.

[Big C]

who cares about duhon ... he was always a stop gap.

the best thing that a lot of people aren't realizing is that this summer harrington, duhon, q-brick, and hughes are useful expirings -- although i'm praying for a q-brick buyout.

Hughes will still be here. He has another season where he will be making about 13 mil a year.

[MrWet]

because he has played great for 90% of the year. one bad week and he's a villian. he lead the league in minutes, he's playing hurt. it's not his fault and he did have 10 assists.

Ummmmm, Duhon has been sucking for way more than a week. Duhon is a typical system PG. He is only as good as the system he is in.

Now late in games when the teams have both locked each other's offense down, the game becomes simplified and improvisational. Meaning it usually turns into a 2 man game and each offense is looking to exploit the other teams weaknesses. Unfortunately, Duhon and Lee are not the two to run the pick and roll in those situations because teams don't fear Duhon after the pick and they concentrate on stopping Lee's roll. They know that Lee has no jump shot so they just block his path and put their hands up.

Now let's use Dani and Nate. Both of these players pose a whole slew of problems for defenses because of Nate and his ability to score from where ever he is and Gallo's long range shooting. Teams can't follow Nate when Dani is out there or even Harrington because they can shoot the 3. That leaves Nate one on one with a defender and usually that ends in our favor.

Duhon may be playing hurt but that's part of the game. If hurt means Duhon can't push the ball up faster? Then we need another guard. If hurt means he stops licking his hands while he should be pushing the ball up, maybe we can get some easy buckets. If hurt means he can stop driving just for the sake of driving and throwing up a weak shot then he is really hurt I guess.

Duhon is good when the system is working. David is most effective on offense when the pick and roll is working. The problem for those two is when the Pick and Roll is not working, that's when the ballers have to play ball. Enter Nate and whomever else is hot that night.

Don't hate the player. Hate the starting PG.

[nykfan]

Duhon has been really important in most of the Knick wins. He's played much better than anyone thought he would. I do think that Duhon doesn't bring nearly as much to the table when Lee isn't on the court with him. Maybe the question should be, why is Duhon playing when Lee isn't on the court.

[LJ4pointplay]

I love the fact that you continue to hate on Duhon, and your stuck with him for your s/n..

[nykfan]

Mr. Wet,

Lee definitely has a jump shot. He doesn't shoot as well from outside as Gallinari or Harrington, but he's the best on the team at finishing around the basket and rebounding.

Duhon can't create his own shot or shoot as well as Nate, but he's better than Nate at distributing the ball and getting people involved.

D'antoni needs to get these guys to play well TOGETHER in the same game if they are going to win games because none of them are good enough to carry the team on their own.

[MrWet]

Mr. Wet,

Lee definitely has a jump shot. He doesn't shoot as well from outside as Gallinari or Harrington, but he's the best on the team at finishing around the basket and rebounding.

Duhon can't create his own shot or shoot as well as Nate, but he's better than Nate at distributing the ball and getting people involved.

D'antoni needs to get these guys to play well TOGETHER in the same game if they are going to win games because none of them are good enough to carry the team on their own.

Hey Nykfan. Great post but I disagree on a couple of things.

1 - David does finish around the basket but tonight was not the night for Lee's magic. The middle was closed down unless you were Nate because nobody else wanted to drive for contact. Lee is around the basket a lot but he doesn't draw a lot of fouls. Create contact. If you are not gonna do that when you are in the heat tank against Dwight, what do you think you can do? The funny thing is Nate knew what to do.

2- If Duhon get's more people involved, why do we continue to start slow? Why do we always have to fall behind just to catch up and why do we have to catch up with Nate playing just about the whole second half and scoring like crazy? If the team does better with Duhon distributing the ball then Nate would not have to do all those little things that he does to get us a victory or keep us in it.

The problem with Duhon is he is only a ball distributor. A ball distributors that favors one player (David Lee) at that. That's about it. He is no threat any other way. Maybe a 3 pointer here and there but as a point guard, there is so much more you need to do to be successful and considered an asset to your team. Throw in the fact that his defense sucks monkey bizness and what do you have?

Do you notice for the second game in a row, Nate has played PG more than Duhon in the second half? Why is that?

[mjhp911]

I kept trying to tell everyone earlier in the season that Dudu is a backup. The ankle, the fatigue, they all tie in. You ask a backup to play out of their minds and give them starter minutes, and it will eventually catch up. No matter how much lipstick you put on the pig, it's not going to change things.

[nykfan]

I wasn't specifically talking about this game, more about the entire season.

I'm not sure what you disagree with regarding Lee. You said Lee doesn't have a jump shot, I think he does. We both agree that Lee is the best rebounder and finisher on the team. It's obvious he had a bad night against one of the top big men in the league. Howard is always going to be a tough matchup for Lee, he's just bigger, stronger, and better at Lee's biggest strength, rebounding.

You're basing your opinions on Nate and Duhon based on a 17 game stretch where Nate has played out of his mind and Duhon has been disappointing. The reason Duhon starts is because, although he has gone through a tough stretch, he does a much better job at getting other players involved. Nate Robinson holds on to the ball too long and has a hard time finding and hitting the open man. You say Duhon is "only a ball distributor", but look at their FG and 3P % for the rest of the season.

Now, I'm not dogging Nate. All I'm saying is that both players have their own strengths and weaknesses. It's not fair to start dogging Duhon because after 2 bad weeks. Duhon has had a rough stretch, but I think there are 2 reasons for that. 1, the offense has changed a lot with Nate picking up his game and Duhon needs to adjust to that. 2, he's been hurt. He played some serious minutes early in the season and is getting over an ankle injury.

[Duhon2Lee42]

because he has played great for 90% of the year. one bad week and he's a villian. he lead the league in minutes, he's playing hurt. it's not his fault and he did have 10 assists.

He leads the league in minutes, plays on the fastest pace team in the league, and he can't even average 10 assist. Dude is a scrub, weather you want to admit it or not.

[Duhon2Lee42]

I love the fact that you continue to hate on Duhon, and your stuck with him for your s/n..

Well he does pass to Lee, so...