Tag: basketball

Not Tonight, Pierce! Knicks Hold Off Celtics 89-86

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It was an ugly game on the offensive end, but a key JR Smith 3-pointer and two huge defensive stops on Paul Pierce allowed the Knicks to get their first win in Boston last night since November 2006. I was not in the mood to see another Pierce dagger jumper and thankfully JR saw to it that NY fans didn’t get another disappointing loss. Onto the game’s notable points.

 

MELO WAKES UP, BUT OFFENSE PROBLEMS PERSIST: Melo had a horrid first half going 4-13. It wasn’t all his fault either — the refs allowed him to get pounded down low and swallowed their whistles on several calls. To his credit, Melo keep his cool and picked up his aggression in the second half, finishing with 28  points and nailing a key three-pointer in the fourth to help push the lead to 10.

So why was the game so close in the end? There was way too much iso Melo in the last few possession with everyone just standing around. Yes, Melo is our best player, but let’s get some cuts to the basket to help him out. You could see in his body language that Melo was getting exasperated in continually getting the ball with the shot clock running down, which brings me to my next point…

STICK WITH KIDD OR GIVE PRIGIONI A SHOT?: PAblo Prigioni gave us good minutes last night. He got Stat going on some pick n’ rolls and hits two 3s to keep the defense honest. I understand that Coach Woodson has a lot of faith in Jason Kidd — who can forget his early season heroics, especially in the San Antonio and Brooklyn comeback games? Nonetheless, the season is wearing on and Kidd’s legs aren’t as fresh. Rajon Rondo was abusing him in the fourth and like in the Sacramento game, his holding the ball late instead of getting the offense going lead to several bad possessions. I can’t help but think Prigioni would’ve done more than just dump it in to Melo.

STAT GETS GOING: I must say, I like the progress that Amar’e Stoudemire showed today. His block and reverse dunk sequence in the second gave me flashbacks of Stat’s 2010 form. He also got a few offensive boards, 2 blocks and worked the ball in the post. For whatever reason, Stat was ignored on offense during the last few minutes of the fourth which was a huge mistake. If Stat would’ve gotten some of Melo’s and JR’s bad shots, I’m certain he would’ve had his first 20 + game of the season.

KNICKS IN THE ZONE: On defense New York went for long stretches using zone defense which provided excellent results. During one stretch in the first half, the Celtics missed 11 straight field goals. And in the fourth, their offense went stagnant again to allow the Knicks to pull out front 80-70.

I LIKE KURT THOMAS… ON THE BENCH: Unless the Knicks are having a blowout, it’s best that Kurt Thomas stays on the bench and gets his 90s Herb Williams on. In less than a minute during the second quarter, Thomas bricked an open jumper, blew a layup and got beat by Garnett on an alley oop. Woodson did the smart thing pulling him immediately on a timeout and that’s the last we saw of him.

SHUMPERT’S JUMPER: I’m praying that Iman Shumpert’s shooting isn’t fool’s gold like Ronnie Brewer’s early season success. In the second quarter, Boston went on a 8-0 run to take a 33-31 lead and Pierce was lighting us up to the tune of a 15-point quarter. It was Shumpert who hit back to back 3-pointers to kill their momentum and allow NY to take a slim 50-48 lead into halftime. We’re in desperate need of a third reliable scorer, especially when Melo and JR are struggling. If Shumpert can be that, it’ll do wonders for the rest of the season.

CHANDLER NOT AT HIS BEST: Although he picked it up in the second half, Tyson Chandler had a subpar game by his standards. Guys were getting into the lane too easy without him contesting. I’m sure foul trouble played a role, but he had some strong finishes at the rim in the third for “and 1” finishes that helped NY to take a 72-66 lead into the fourth. He finished with 5 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Most importantly, he held Kevin Garnett to eight points.

WHY YOU STAY WITH JR SMITH: When you don’t shoot well, you have to contribute in other ways. That’s exactly with JR did last night. He shot 3-16 for just 9 points, but with him off the floor we lose. With Boston threatening to take the lead, JR single-handedly made Paul Pierce look like a fool on two possessions. The first was a deflection off Pierce after breaking up a Jason Terry pass. The second was the game-clincher in JR thwarting a potential three-pointer by slapping the ball away and off Pierce. JR should’ve took a bow and blew a kiss at the crowd to prove a point.

A STATEMENT GAME: After getting pushed around for most of the season by teams with physical defense, the Knicks proved they could get it done in a grind-out, playoff type game. It was made extra sweet being against a hated division rival, pushing their record two games under .500 (20-22),and extending their losing streak to five. I couldn’t ask for better “revenge” game ending to the whole Honey Nut Cheerios nonsense.

The Cope & Melo Show — Knicks End Three-Game Skid with Hornets Victory 100-87

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Even with the Knicks struggling mightily in the New Year with various injuries, a loss to the Hornets would have been a huge low point. It wasn’t a flawless performance earlier today, but we saw glimpses of the ball movement and defense that made this team great to kick off the season.

A CONTINUATION OF THE BULLS BEATDOWN: Including today, the Knicks have lost 11 of the last 14 first quarters. Early on the Knicks were flat today with no ball movement and heavy on isolation plays for Carmelo Anthony, who was ice cold from the field (1-5 to start). Our second-leading scorer in JR Smith was no better in going 0-4 in making a stupid foul at half-court with the clock winding down that gave the Hornet 3 free throws to push their lead to 29-22. Eric Gordon had a hot start as well lighting up our guards from long range and driving at will. The one bright spot was Chris Copeland, who hit 3 three-pointers to keep it close.

COPELAND MAKING A NAME: With JR struggling, Chris Copeland provided the offense that the Knicks sorely needed. He went 4-7 from downtown and made some key drives to the basket to keep the Hornet at bay. At times, the Knicks have gone with lineups that has them playing three against five when it comes to offense execution. As one of the few guys on the team that can create his own shot, let’s hope Coach Woodson keeps Copeland in the rotation.

NOVAK DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST: Steve Novak hit some key three-pointers in the fourth that put this game out of reach. One at the beginning of the quarter pushed the game to 76-68, and another a few minutes later put it at 84-68.

STAT MOVING ALONG: Amar’e Stoudemire had a productive 23 minutes in getting 12 points. The rebounding was still bad; he only had 3 and was getting pushed out of position by the likes of Robin Lopez. However, Stat did get one offensive board and with the exception of a few miscues, was competent on defense (even with 5 fouls). It’s only his seventh game back and I remain hopeful that he can start beasting with our second unit.

MELO WAKES UP: After going 1-9, Melo woke up and and went off for 18 points in the second quarter. He showed his full arsenal by scoring on fast breaks and jumpers. His work was instrumental in an 8-0 run to take the lead for good at 36-34. At one point, Melo scored 14 straight Knicks points which lead to MVP chants whenever he went to the line. He finished with 27 points and was a presence on the glass in notching 7 rebounds.

JR OUT OF SORTS BUT STILL CONTRIBUTES: Aside from the bonehead three-pointer foul mentioned earlier, JR Smith also got a technical for complaining about fouls in the third. Nonetheless, our shooting guard started to find his jumper in the second half and was aggressive driving to the basket. Even with only 8 points, JR notched six assists and two steals, showing his importance in the second half in regards to ball movement and defense.

It’s onto to London (!) next for a game against the Detroit Pistons.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AUOm-FtkJ4&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

 

No Melo, No Offense – Knicks Can’t Score in 4th, Fall to Pacers 81-76

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The score in the end was respectable, but watching that wretched fourth quarter last night if you’re a Knicks fan was not. After some nice circus shot drives from JR Smith that gave NY a slim 60-58 lead going into the final stanza, the Knicks just fell apart of the offensive end. How bad was it? At one stretch the Knicks were shooting 1-11 in the quarter, and at another NY was on the wrong end of an 18-6 run. The team scored no field goals over a 7-minute stretch. To say Melo was missed is an understatement considering NY posted their lowest scoring total of the season thus far with 76 points.

And as if we didn’t need another injury, Marcus Camby re-aggravated his foot and didn’t play down the stretch (MRI scheduled for today). That lack of size down low was a key reason why Pacers backup center Ian Mahinmi killed us on the boards in the fourth (6 rebounds, 2 offensive) and dropped 13 points.

It seems like nothing has gone right in recent weeks. When the offensive is good, the defense is trash. When the defense is tough (like it was for most of last night), the offense is putrid. There’s no time to sulk, as the Knicks are back in action tonight against the Bulls, who’ve already beat us up twice this year.

Melo better come out on fire tonight. I don’t want to see any whining to the refs from anyone in orange and blue.

NBA Suspends Carmelo Anthony One Game For Garnett Confrontation

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The NBA has announced Carmelo Anthony will serve a one game suspension for attempting to confront Kevin Garnett Monday night following the Knicks’s 102-96 loss to the Celtics.

Although Anthony has since disclosed their issues were resolved via a phone call, the footage of Anthony waiting outside the Celtics tour bus and having to be restrained by police made national headlines.

Anthony will serve his one game suspension this coming Thursday when the Knicks face the Indiana Pacers.

The loss of Anthony comes as the Knicks are struggling through a difficult stretch going back to the last week of December. The team has only won two of its last five games.

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This is a league that’s all about appearances so I’m not surprised. As soon as the footage of Melo looking like a goon waiting for KG got picked up by outlets like TMZ, and was plastered as a main headline on Yahoo!, it was only a matter of time before an unnecessary suspension was handed down. Funny enough, Zack Randolph earlier this year attempted to confront Kendrick Perkins after a game. But because there was no footage nor extensive coverage, Randolph only received a fine.

Here’s one case where playing in a big market and having star power can work against you.

Not much funny about this situation for Knicks fans, but the below pic at least got a smirk out of me.

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Phone Call Ends Melo-Garnett Beef

Referee Brothers moves to break up New York Knicks' Anthony and Boston Celtics' Garnett as they argue during their NBA basketball game in New York

Carmelo Anthony has confirmed a phone call with Kevin Garnett has put an end to their hostilities that began last night at Madison Square Garden.

Anthony and Garnett spent the majority of yesterday’s Celtics win trash-talking in the fourth quarter, drawing a double technical. According to Melo, Garnett said something that “crossed the line” enough to merit him waiting by the locker room and outside the Celtics tour bus after the game for a confrontation.

There’s certain things that you just don’t say to men, another man. I felt he crossed the line. We have an understanding right now. We handled it the way we handled it. Nobody needs to know what was said behind closed doors, so that situation is handled.

I just wanted to know what was being said, where was all that coming from? Whatever was being said on the basketball court, where was all that coming from?

Melo refused to go into detail about the matter, but took responsibility for his “losing his cool” during the game and reiterated that his reason for attempting to confront Garnett was simply for a conversation, not a fight.

Absolutely, and that was my whole mindset and motive of going back there and seeing him in the locker room and in the front, to have a one-on one conversation and talk it out like grown men,” Anthony said. “I lost my cool yesterday. I accept that.

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The unconfirmed rumor going around is that Garnett said something about Melo’s wife Lala. If that was the case, then I’ll have to do a 180 on my earlier stance as I completely understand and support why Melo went looking for him after the game. A man’s family should always be off-limits unless you’re looking for a fight or at the very least a confrontation.

I can’t wait for the next game between these two squads.

Knicks Unravel In Physical Game, Fall to Celtics 102-96

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I HATE LOSING TO BOSTON! It was a story of composure and physicality last night at the Garden with the Celtics, being the veterans they are, rattling the Knicks with hard defense to execute down the stretch for their third straight victory. Our leader Carmelo Anthony mentally checked out and got into a personal battle with Kevin Garnett, leading to several ill-advised late contested shots and trying to win the game by himself. It’s a learning experience for sure, but this game also shines light on our recurring problem dealing with physical teams.

 

MELO VS. KG: Garnett does what he’s done for most of his career — throw sneaky elbows and other fouls to get under his opponent’s skin. Melo was already having a horrid shooting game, but I firmly believe the stuff with KG got him even more out of sorts in the pivotal 4th quarter with the game on the line. After the double-tech was called on both, Melo hit a clutch three and then proceeded to stink it up the rest of the way. He got caught repeatedly on switches where he fouled KG in frustration 10-15 feet from the basket.

As we saw in the games against Chicago and Memphis, Melo doesn’t channel his anger with physical play well. He makes stupid fouls (his second in the first quarter far away from the basket caused him to sit most of the half) and puts his team at a disadvantage. I don’t give Melo any points for trying to confront KG after the game. That does nothing for the team or himself. If he wants to truly get KG and the Celtics back, and I’m sure Coach Woodson told him this at some point last night, you stay poised and kick their ass on the court with ball movement, defense and playing NY basketball.

 

 

NY FOLDS UNDER DEFENSE: The Knicks had a horrible third quarter exacerbated by the play of Pablo Prigioni. He had awful time handling the Celtic full court pressure. The Knicks couldn’t get into their offense until late in the shot clock, causing sloppy pick n roll passes that were intercepted for turnovers. Speaking of turnovers, the Knicks had six in the third and only scored 16 points. And keep in mind the Celtics didthis with Pierce on the bench, who had picked up his fourth foul.

 

ISO VS. BALANCED SCORING: The Celtics shot 53% from the field and got contributions from everyone. Pierce dropped 23, KG 19, and Avery Bradley 13. Their bench, lead by Jeff Green’s 16 points, contributed a total of 39 points. Melo lead the Knicks with 20 points on a putrid 6-26 shooting night. Tyson Chandler had a few rebound lapses late but it’s hard to criticize his 13 point, 17 rebound night. JR Smith chipped in 24 points but on 7-18 shooting and Amar’e Stoudemire added 13 points. The reason our points came on 41% shooting was due to heavy isolation plays and long three-pointers, while the Celtics made the extra passes needed to get many wide open jumpers.

 

THE WORD IS OUT: Until the Knicks prove otherwise, the scouting report on them will be they can’t handle physical play. This game, along with the losses to Memphis, Chicago (2X) and Houston (2X), prove that in spades. The bitching and moaning has to stop and it starts with our leader Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks will have to turn it around quick because later this week they face two more physical teams in the Pacers and Bulls.

And on one last ironic note, Melo has won NBA Player of the Week.

[Video] Carmelo Anthony – “The City That Made Me” Commercial

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Carmelo Anthony once again reps hard for New York in this new commercial for his Melo 9 sneaker.

Defense for 2 Quarters? Melo Drops 40 to Rally Knicks Past the Magic 114-106

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After a dominant, defense-heavy win over the San Antonio Spurs last game, most of us were hoping a light bulb had gone off for the Knicks in realizing their defense has to be like that every game. At the very least, we hoped the defense wouldn’t go to shit in the very next game.

That’s exactly what happened in the opening quarter last night against the lowly Orlando Magic, who blitzed the Knicks for a 36-point first quarter and replicated another 30 point-plus quarter after the half to go into the final quarter with an eight point lead. But luckily for us, NY has this MVP candidate on the squad you may have heard of… Carmelo Anthony.

It wasn’t pretty at times, but Melo’s 40 points (16 in the fourth) was a joy to watch. Onto the game’s notable points.

 

WE’LL HAVE TO LIVE WITH OPPOSING GUARDS GOING OFF (FOR NOW): Face it, Knicks fans. We’ll have to live with the fact that any team with quick point guards are going to give us fits until Raymond Felton and Iman Shumpert make it back. Jameer Nelson lit up Jason Kidd in the first quarter last night for 12 points. Kidd couldn’t keep up on screens or when Nelson drove to the basket. Pablo Prigioni did marginally better, but it was a recurring problem in the first and third quarters.

 

ONLY DEFENSE FOR 2 QUARTERS, BUT IT WAS DAMN GOOD DEFENSE: The Knicks again played hard defense when they wanted to. But when they did, the team had phenomenal results. After giving up 36 points in the first, the Knicks held the Magic to just 19 points in the second while scoring 32. The offense was spurned on by a aggressive Carmelo Anthony, who came in at the 9 minute mark and was able to draw a third foul on Vucevic. This helped to open up the lane and the rebounding for the Knicks. JR Smith took full advantage, earning three-point plays at the rim and driving at will. Aside for some late defensive lapses in the second that lead to JJ Redick hitting a three to pull the Magic within 2, the Knicks played strong to take a four-point lead, 59-55, at halftime.

The Knicks started the third strong but inexpicably fell apart halfway through. This coincided with Nelson, and Arron Affalo for that matter, getting hot from mid and long-range. A coast to coast Nelson drive off a jump ball gave the Magic the lead for the quarter, and he added further damage with three pointers. Affalo got in his own and even a four-point play earlier in the quarter to give the Magic a nice 87-79 lead going into the fourth.

The Knicks woke up again and held the Magic to just 17 points. NY somewhat got a break in the Magic waiting a little too long to put Nelson back in, but even then the defense was stifling. With the game on the line, we had the ultimate closer in Melo and the Magic had no one.

 

JOSH MCROBERTS ON MELO?: Poor Josh McRoberts probably woke up this morning in a cold sweat and shivering from the lingering effects of that torching he received from Melo in the fourth. Melo was literally toying with him: exaggerated dribbling, holding the ball to the end of the shot clock, and chuckling repeatedly after every bucket. Vucevic got some abuse too when he had to guard Melo on switches. Melo pretty much lived in the post with short jumpers and the Magic had no answers. A double team late in the quarter led to an open Kidd three-pointer which served as the dagger in putting them up 111-1104.

 

MELO’s DEFENSE: Lost in Melo’s 40 point performance was his great defense on JJ Redick in the fourth. It seemed like a crazy move to have Melo chasing Redick on screens, but he stayed with him most of the time. Redick is a rhythm shooter and you could see he never felt comfortable shooting over Melo. He had several possible game-changing three-pointers that bricked and finished the game shooting 3-10.

 

CAMBY LIMITED AND RIGHTLY SO: The Spurs game had a lot of people saying Marcus Camby in our starting lineup was the solution to our defensive woes. Well, Camby had 2 points, 1 rebound and 0 blocks yesterday. The lineup needs to be adjusted to the competition and that was proven in spades last night. The most promising thing I liked about Camby’s time was his passing out of the high post. His teammates fumbled some of them (including Melo on what looked to be an easy alley oop) and hopefully that improves in the coming weeks.

 

STAT TRYING HARD: It was rough watching Amar’e Stoudemire. On the positive end, he was getting to the rim easily on pick and rolls and his first step. But once he got there, he couldn’t finish for anything — either his shot got swatted or rimmed out. You could see it was bothering him and Melo had some encouraging words. I liked that the team kept going to him even with the repeated misses. He started the fourth good with a three-point play and a open dunk, so that’s promising. The defense is still shaky, but 11 points and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes is solid.
JR, TYSON AND KIDD: JR Smith couldn’t extend his 20 point game streak to six, but his 18 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals were very important. If he didn’t get his fifth foul early in the fourth, I’m sure he would have been even more aggressive. Kidd did get lit up for 29 points from Nelson, but he dropped 15 points, going 5-8 from downtown. Chandler couldn’t keep Vucevic off the boards (18 rebounds), but he contributed another strong double double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, going 6-6 from the field. And all three were very strong defensively in the closing fourth quarter.

I want the team to get all the rest they need because we have the division rival Celtics next, who are currently on a two-game winning streak and looking to pick things up to get back into the playoff picture.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlTMleKacJs&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

Refocused! Knicks Pound Out Spurs 100-83

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Is it the beginning of the season? Are the Knicks 6-0 again? It certainly felt like it last night when NY brought back that early season defensive intensity to bully around and finish off what was already a weary Spurs team to post one of their wins of the season. What wasn’t there to like? With Marcus Camby and Tyson Chandler starting together, the Spurs could get nothing going inside. They scored only 12 points in the paint (where they are averaging 44 points per game). The Knicks were content to live with the Spurs shooting long jumpers and it worked with San Antonio shooting only 36%. The 83 points is the lowest total the Knicks have held a team to this season. To make it more sweet, this is the first Spurs sweep in 10 years.

The most promising aspect of this win is that everyone contributed. Novak went 5-7 from downtown and even notched some good steals and deflections. JR Smith went for 20 points or better in his fifth straight game. Pablo Prigioni had several excellent steals and dropped 9 assists, one of which being  a sick alley oop to JR. Melo got his points but with the balanced scoring didn’t have to work as hard.  Amar’e Stoudemire is still getting back in the swing of things, but looked much better defensively and contributed 10 points. Once he gets his legs back, he’ll start finishing better around the rim (he was blocked 4 times after getting by his man).

And don’t forget the rebounding — NY won that battle handily 48-35 thanks in large part to Chandler (14), Camby (6) and Melo (8). Let’s hope we keep this poise tomorrow when we head back to Orlando.

[Video] Pablo Prigioni’s Sick Alley Oop To JR Smith 1/3/13

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The interior defense. The rebounding. The hard effort over four quarters. There’s many reasons for Knicks fans to rejoice at the 100-83 victory the team achieved tonight over the Spurs. But for now, let’s marvel at this amazing alley oop to punctuate a blowout fourth quarter from Pablo Prigioni to JR Smith. Props to the good people from the Knicks board at realgm.com for getting this up on Youtube so quickly.