GT: Knicks @ Wizards 02-19-08

[fishercob]

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He still has the ability to take it to the rim. That has a better shot of happening than Daniels knocking down a jumper.

Hes one of our only players who can create a shot for himself. But its all good, we should trade him for Tim Thomas or Kyle Lowry tommorow.

I actually wouldn't wait until tomorrow. I'd trade him for Lowry tonight.

[fishercob]

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I agree with you that it was a bad play. But how do you know that AD wasn't suppose to get the ball back to AJ and it wasn't failed execution. In any event, the game shouldn't have even gotten to that point. If it wasn't for AD's untimely turnovers and missed layups and the lazy effort of the players, we wouldn't even be having a conversation about the last play.

Fishercob, I agree wholeheartedly with you. I don't even like E.J. and I agree that the criticism about some of his decisions is warranted. But, I'm getting sick of every frickin' loss being blamed primarily on the one person who probably has the least to do with the win/loss column. By doing so, everyone on this board just gives the players a free pass.

That's because you're old, smart or some dangerous combination of the two.

[dandridge 10]

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He still has the ability to take it to the rim. That has a better shot of happening than Daniels knocking down a jumper.

Hes one of our only players who can create a shot for himself. But its all good, we should trade him for Tim Thomas or Kyle Lowry tommorow.

Although I think E.J. should have rode Young more in the 4th quarter, I don't have a problem with EJ not running an ISO play for Young on the last play. Although Young was on tonight, he is also turnover prone driving to the basket. However, I would have rather AD ran the clock down and then get the ball to A.J. on the block for one of his patented jump hooks that is nearly impossible to stop.

BTW, I just saw E.J.'s press conference. That was the first time I remember E.J. looking so mad. I'm glad he called the team out for their lack of effort. He hit is square on the head...the Wizards acted like the Knicks were going to just roll over.

[dandridge 10]

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That's because you're old, smart or some dangerous combination of the two.

I wish I could just say I'm smart.

[hands11]

Wow

After watching the EJ post game interview something dawned on me.

Maybe EJ is losing these guys. His main focus was about energy and how the team just didn't bring it. I thought that was part of the coaches job to get them ready.

Now if you have CB on the court, CB takes on that roll. But if CB isn't there, as the coach you have to fill that emotional void.

I just don't think EJ can fill that roll either.

What exactly does this guy do well again?

We have a shooting coach helping us shoot better.
The D coach improved our D.
CB is the emotional leader that gets us up.

He admittedly didn't call the best play on the last play, again.
His line ups and rotations aren't great.
He get stuck on players like Ruffin and Songaila.

I'm just not sure what purpose EJ serves.

[fishercob]

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I wish I could just say I'm smart.

Well if greendale would post more, you could. But in his absence I'm afraid you're a fogey.

[hands11]

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Well if greendale would post more, you could. But in his absence I'm afraid you're a fogey.

Should I get the whip cream ready?

Where is Donkey when you need him. He is usually good for a one liner like this.

[miller31time]

Sort of. The root of the mess on the last possession was that AD can't shoot well from the outside, so the Knicks could easily jam Jamison and back off Daniels. If he had a reliable jumper it would be different, but as SecretKev repeated to me from some folks who used to be in the Sonics' front office, if AD had a jumper he'd be an all-star. AD should have gone strong to the hole and I'd have lived with the result.

Which goes back to my, your and Nate's entire thesis - AD shouldn't have been in the game. Young should have. With Nick, as you alluded to, the opposing team would have to pick their poison. If and when Nick penetrated and the defense collapsed, Jamison is left with an open jumer. If and when Young gets the ball to Jamison, the defense sags off of Young, leaving Nick with an open shot.

With AD/Jamison, the defense's job was easy. Pack in the lane, preventing AD from driving, and stick to Jamison, preventing Antawn from even getting the ball.

This leaves but one option - an AD jumpshot. Not something any of us want to see.

[hands11]

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Which goes back to my, your and Nate's entire thesis - AD shouldn't have been in the game. Young should have. With Nick, as you alluded to, the opposing team would have to pick their poison. If and when Nick penetrated and the defense collapsed, Jamison is left with an open jumer. If and when Young gets the ball to Jamison, the defense sags off of Young, leaving Nick with an open shot.

With AD/Jamison, the defense's job was easy. Pack in the lane, preventing AD from driving, and stick to Jamison, preventing Antawn from even getting the ball.

This leaves but one option - an AD jumpshot. Not something any of us want to see.

But if you didn't have AD in they would have trapped the ball.

Maybe the balance would have been AD, DS, NY, AJ, BH

[LyricalRico]

Maybe EJ is losing these guys. His main focus was about energy and how the team just didn't bring it. I thought that was part of the coaches job to get them ready.

Now if you have CB on the court, CB takes on that roll. But if CB isn't there, as the coach you have to fill that emotional void.

I just don't think EJ can fill that roll either.

What exactly does this guy do well again?

We have a shooting coach helping us shoot better.
The D coach improved our D.
CB is the emotional leader that gets us up.

He admittedly didn't call the best play on the last play, again.
His line ups and rotations aren't great.
He get stuck on players like Ruffin and Songaila.

I'm just not sure what purpose EJ serves.

Great post.

[RickRoll_inDC]

one thing good i saw from tonight was a big lineup at the end. AD DS AJ AB and BH...too bad it was too late.

[fishercob]

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Which goes back to my, your and Nate's entire thesis - AD shouldn't have been in the game. Young should have. With Nick, as you alluded to, the opposing team would have to pick their poison. If and when Nick penetrated and the defense collapsed, Jamison is left with an open jumer. If and when Young gets the ball to Jamison, the defense sags off of Young, leaving Nick with an open shot.

With AD/Jamison, the defense's job was easy. Pack in the lane, preventing AD from driving, and stick to Jamison, preventing Antawn from even getting the ball.

This leaves but one option - an AD jumpshot. Not something any of us want to see.

That's not my thesis -- that AD should have been benched for Young. My point about AD was that if he was going to play, he needs to produce a better effort.

I don't think putting the ball in Young's hands was the answer either. If you want him in to game as a spot shooter, then fine. But we saw the best of Young tonight -- making his shots in a 1-on-1 iso setting. He gets no assists, no rebounds, and he can't defend. And for all his hotness tonight, he was -6. Everyone go read Moneyball, don't let your eyes fool you and realize that this kid (and he may be a GREAT kid) is Juan Dixon.

[miller31time]

-6, +6, whatever the case may be. The fact of the night is that Young converted iso opportunities.

Buck and Phil made a specific point on it, as well. They mentioned that, on non-assisted shots, Young was 6-6, and on assisted shots, he was 0-2. The man has a knack for getting off a make-able shot. Maybe not make-able for him consistently, but when he has a game like he had tonight, it's most certainly make-able.

EDIT: Comparably speaking, Young's -6 was was tied for the BEST +/- on the team, with the exception of Pecherov who played 5 minutes. When your team loses, not many of your players are going to have a net "+" (Pesh being our only one). That doesn't mean they didn't have a good game.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Let's not put this entire loss on EJ though. EJ made two critical mistakes as I see them. The last-second play call was atrocious. And he did not bring Nick Young back in. (Note that he had to rest Young a little. Young played from the middle of the 3rd to the middle of the 4th. I didn't mind him sitting Young when he did. He just should have brought Young back in with about 3 minutes to go.)

New York recognized that AD was afraid to shoot from the outside so they just packed it in. We needed to counter with outside shooting. EJ should have went with Mason, Young, Stevenson, Jamison and Wood down the stretch.

I think Daniels was casual with the ball late in regulation. AD had several turnovers, several times failed to cover Robinson, and AD held the ball too long at the end.

The players laid down like dogs today. Jamison and Daniels were hapless at the end and didn't compete on defense. Haywood was a non-factor late.

EJ will catch all the hell for the loss, but Daniels was a big time dog today, as was Jamison at the end.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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I agree. I'm not blaming the loss solely on EJ. Most of the team didn't show up tonight. EJ deserves some blame though.

Usually I pile on on EJ but Daniels was Amazingly Sucky today at the end.

I don't care what he did the first three quarters, he was bad at the end.

Just awful.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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Gotta agree with you here. It almost looked like AD was purposefully trying to throw the game. The only thing I blame Eddie with is not going to Young more. He had the hot hand but EJ failed to ride him. Wiz should have kept going down to Young on the block until New York could show that they could stop him. But, the reason why we lost is AD's pathetic play down the stretch of regulation and the lack of effort from most everyone on the team.

[BruceO]

I came to check out if it wasn't only me who didnt like that play. I;ve seen it before..ISO letting the clock run down then trying to score. I remeber gil tried it once and vince trapped him and he got off a bad shot. I remember caron trying the same thing before he learned to close at the beginning of the season having issues as well. I was not happy with that play. I mean is that a high percentage shot? C'mon at the very least give the ball to nick young and let him post up jamal crawford. He killed Jamal on those. Give it to the post, something..you have 18secs to run a play and instead you hold the ball till less than 10 secs are left only to blow the play on a forced shot. I mean that makes it super easy for the other team to defend. They don't have to defend the entire shot clock, just the last few seconds because we wanted to protect the lead at the expense of a bad shot. Give the ball to where the mismatches are, Jamison, nick young, blatche would get off higher percentage shots.

[Dat2U]

You can't totally blame EJ for the loss. The last play was questionable b/c EJ wanted them to run the play with 6 seconds left which gave AD little alternative if they crowded AJ, which they did. NY played it perfectly. AD probably should have attacked the basket but the NY defender backed off to give him room to shoot. Isiah won that battle against EJ. A bit dissapointing to say the least.

AD was awful but its not surprising considering he's getting far too many minutes as a starter and is probably gassed by the 4th quarter. I was stunned AD got 46 minutes against the Clips coming off of injury. But EJ has a bad habit of doing that. It's probably one of his bigger failings that goes overlooked with his in-game management struggles.

My only other gripe would be Suck-gaila playing so many minutes late in the game, but Blatche was awful for the most part. Maybe a bit more McGuire would have helped...at least on the boards and defensively.

I'm not sure why so many people where calling for Nick Young late in the game. EJ has tried that before and Nick frankly has no self control in terms of when and when not to shoot. Sure, he can create a shot but its not always necessarily a good one.

I also take issue with the notion that Young is a "good scorer". He's a scorer, plain and simple, but scoring efficiency isn't a strength of his just yet. There's a big difference b/w creating a shot and making it on a consistent basis.

I'd like to have seen Roger Mason in late. Outside of Jamison, he might be the best shot maker we have with Gil & Caron out.

Without Caron, this team has no toughness whatsoever and often cracks under pressure. I'd like to see EG get a guy that won't back down when the chips are stacked against us. We need a Stephen Jackson type, well maybe not as crazy, but someone along those lines.

[Soup's Uncle]

Now DeShawn is saying his knee is really bothering him...c'mon FO, we gotta do something.

[Pass_The_Sticks]

at least Atlanta, New Jersey, and Philadelphia all lost.