blowout – NEW YORK KNICKS LOYALIST

[Video] No Contest: Warriors Hand Knicks Season-Worst Loss 121-85

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

We knew it was going to get ugly. The question was how ugly. The Warriors are on a roll and the Knicks were the latest victim last night at Oracle Arena, getting burned for 18 threes (eight from Steph Curry) in a season worst blowout loss of 121-85.

OVER AFTER THE 1ST: The Knicks couldn’t take advantage of a slow start by the defending champs and found themselves down 31-19 after 12 minutes. Curry hit 4/6 from downtown and had 16 points, and New York’s failure to close out on threes lead to four of five trips late in quarter resulting in Golden State treys. After that barrage, the Knicks would get no close than 14 points the rest of the way.

NO CONFIDENCE: When the Warriors came to MSG in January, the game was seen as a litmus test for our team’s ceiling. New York played hard until Golden State’s talent took over. Last night, you got the impression the Knicks never felt they could compete. They went down by 16 at halftime, and were ran out the gym in the third being outscored 35-18. Even backup center Marreese Speights got in on the fun to the fun sinking three shots from downtown.

Carmelo Anthony, who had 18 points (53%), 6 rebounds and 6 assists, could only marvel at how badly his team was outclassed.

It’s unbelievable, the way that they play. The lineups that they mess around with out there, Their record, 61-6, we’re witnessing, kind of, history here. It’s hard to give them a pat on the back when you just got your (tail) whipped.

BRIGHT SPOTS: Since this game got out of reach very quickly, Melo got to rest that knee with only 29 minutes of play. Langston Galloway (14 points) and Jerian Grant (8 points) showed confident jumpers in extensive garbage time, which bodes well for their continued development. In Grant’s case, it took a Calderon knee sprain to get him extensive playing time.

SICK KP DELIVERS WORST PERFORMANCE: Kristaps Porzingis is coming off the flu and it showed. He had just 2 points (1-11) and looked completely lethargic. We’re still looking for KP to have his first really good game under Rambis.

Rock Bottom: Jazz Beat Knicks 106-85, Hand New York 3rd Straight Loss

Calderon_Neto — Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images

Remember when we were right at .500 a few days ago and seemed ready to fight for playoff contention? Right now the team is playing as bad as last year’s squad. Coming off two losses, you’d think New York would play with urgency. Instead they came out completely flat, mustering just 11 points (5/23, 22%) and falling behind by 18 points at the end of the first quarter.

The embarrassment continued throughout the night. At halftime the score was 60-35. There was a faux run late in the game, but Jazz never let the Knicks get the lead into single digits.

Why did we look so bad? Let’s start with our leader, Carmelo Anthony. He hasn’t looked right in about a week now, and we can speculate whether that’s due to lingering effects of the strep throat illness, banging knees with Giannis Antetokoumpo or a combination of both. He has no lift on his jumpshot nor lateral movement. He mustered just 12 points on 3/11 shooting. The only good thing to say is he played just 25 minutes and should be sufficiently rested. But if he isn’t right physically, I’d rather him sit than aggravate any ailments.

Our second scoring option in rookie Kristaps Porzingis wasn’t much better. He seemed lost trying to cope with the Jazz’s small ball and got yanked after scoring just 4 points (2/8) in 13 minutes of play. I disagreed with Fisher shutting him down like that. When it became clear the game was out of reach, Porzingis should have gotten some time just to learn.

Arron Affalo had been a big help in recent games, but he was also absent in mustering 4 points (2/5) in 21 minutes.

Finally, the Knicks’ defensive switching was again exploited. The constant mismatches allowed the Jazz’s frontline to abuse our guards with easy baskets. Did Fisher find Mike Woodson’s playbook somewhere around the Knicks office? This needs to stop… NOW.

On the Jazz’s side, their lineup outscored the Knicks starters 58-31, powered by Gordon Hayward (24 points) and Derrick Favors (20 points).

Fisher wasn’t forthcoming about adjustment details, but he did mention changing the starting lineup.

Something has to give.

This Is Our Town! Knicks Destroy Brooklyn 110-81, Continue Playoff Push

With the Nets having the best Eastern Conference record since January, a few Nets fans have started to become too vocal. Some even have the audacity to claim they’ve “taken over” basketball in New York. Well, the Knicks had to remind them of their status with a beatdown last night at Madison Square Garden. After going 3-2 on the recent West Coast trip, there is no room for error with less than 10 games left in the season. The Knicks needed to make a big statement on national TV and boy did they ever deliver…

67%: How hot were the Knicks to start? How about jumping out to a 29-20 lead after the first and shooting 67% for the entire first half to hold a 63-38 lead. The ball movement was strong and the Knicks fed the paint (31 points) via Stoudemire post-ups (13 points) and Melo. On the perimeter, Tim Hardaway Jr., Iman Shumpert, and JR Smith all had their jumpers flowing. In addition, all three attacked the old legs of Brooklyn (who were on a back to back without Kevin Garnett) with aggressive drives, including the best finish at the rim Shump has had all year.

BRIEF LITTLE SCARE: In the third, Raymond Felton came down hard on his back and ribs during a rebound, leading to some deep contusions in those areas. His injury seemed to spark a five-minute period of lethargy where the Nets were able to pull within 14-points. The surge was finally put to a halt by a Prigoni three, and key shots from Melo and JR Smith to push the lead back over 20 headed into the fourth quarter.

LOCKDOWN SHUMPERT: Despite picking up five fouls, Shumpert never wavered in his defensive intensity. Everyone he guarded was harassed and forced into bad leads. His work caused him to be a +29 on the court, to go along with 10, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 24 minutes.

With Shump leading the defensive charge, the Nets were reduced to sub 40% shooting for the majority of the game.

THJ N’ JR: Hardaway got 28 minutes off the bench and was a sharp-shooting 7/10 from the field (17 points). JR was lethal behind the arc (6/12) and had one of his best all-around games with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

NO PRESSURE ON MELO: All the big contributions allowed Melo to take a step back on offense. This allowed him to be highly efficient from the field (8/16, 23 points), get to the line (7/8), and focus on rebounding (10).

IN THE PLAYOFFS…FOR NOW: Atlanta lost to the Bulls last night, allowing this win to put the Knicks into the playoffs. The hold is still very tenuous — New York’s next game falls on Friday against the Wizards, followed by the Heat on Sunday.

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[Video] INDEFENSIBLE: Knicks Disgrace Themselves in LA, Crushed by Lakers 127-96

I hope it was the greatest alcohol and sex-filled party of all time on Monday night. That would be the only thing that could explain the embarrassing display of what the Knicks called “basketball” last night at the Staples Center, where they further sunk their playoff hopes with one of the worst defensive displays in recent memory against the Lakers. If you are a Knicks fan, the game was disgusting on many levels — the (lack of) defense, giving up early in the second half etc. etc. If you stayed up to watch this madness, I’m sure you’re still infuriated this morning.

51 POINTS IN 12 MINUTES: The Lakers set a franchise high by scoring 51 points in the third quarter. That mark of defensive futility is also a Knicks record for points given up. The Lakers had six three-pointers and stretched what had been a 8-point halftime lead to 30 by the start of the fourth quarter.

BENCH MASSACRE: The Lakers didn’t miss Pau Gasol or Steve Nash since the bench trio of Nick Young (20 points), Xavier Henry (22 points) and Kent Bazemore (18 points) destroyed the Knicks. Those three were a combined 10/14 from three-point land. From the starters, Jodie Meeks did the most damage, going 4/7 from downtown. In comparison, Tim Hardaway was the only competent Knicks player off the bench (from an offensive standpoint, anyway), scoring 17 points (5/7 FG).

The Lakers bench outscored their Knicks counterparts by 82-21.

HOPE UNCLE PHIL WAS TAKING NOTES: Our new president Phil Jackson was in attendance, and you just know his brain was spinning at how badly this team needs to be deconstructed. It’s been put out there this morning that Melo and Jackson had a sitdown meeting last night. I hope they both came to an agreement that damn near the whole team has to go by next season.

STILL ALIVE: Mathematically, the Knicks are still in the playoff hunt simply due to how the Hawks have been sliding recently. But honestly, does this game give you any enthusiasm about their playoff hopes, or their ability to be competitive should they make it? For them to come out this flat with what’s at stake and after the Cavs debacle shows this team’s mental focus.

The Knicks have little time to dwell on their embarrassment, as they visit Sleep Train Arena to face the Kings at 10 p.m. on Wednesday night.

[Video] Knicks Destroy Cavs 117-86

What a difference a month makes. Around this time in December, the Knicks were getting embarrassed in Cleveland with Kyrie Irving running amuch for 37 points and 11 assists. That was against a Knicks team with no identity. Last night, New York never let the Cavs in it after blitzing them with a 38-21 first quarter, and holding off all comeback attempts over the remaining 36 minutes to take a well-deserved 117-8 6 win at Madison Square Garden. Like all Knicks blowouts this year, it was a total team effort on this one.

JR’S BACK?: After being on the verge of getting shipped out just a few weeks back, JR Smith is finally returning to the excellent form we saw at the end of last season. Starting in place of the injured Iman Shumpert, JR sliced up the Cavs defense with strong drives to the rim and long-range jumpers. It was a case of erratic shots falling — JR played within the offense and shot 8/16 for 19 points, including this collection of breath-taking plays below.

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THJ!!!: Tim Hardaway Jr. continues to shine in his expanded role and thank God Coach Mike Woodson is riding the hot streak. Tim dropped a career high of 29 points, going 11/17 from the field and 6/12 from downtown. Once this kid learns defense, watch out.

EFFICIENT TO THE LAST MAN: Melo (29 points, 5 rebounds), Chandler (11 points, 8 rebounds), and Felton (12 points, 9 rebounds) had good games, along with Jeremy Tyler (8 points, 6 rebounds). The team was shooting over 60% for most of the game while holding the Cavs under 40%. New York would wrap up the contest on 57% shooting from the field and a hot 46% (12/26) from downtown.

The Knicks get to put their win streak to the test against the defending champion Miami Heat on Saturday.

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[Video] Sweet Revenge: Knicks Pummel Celtics 114-88

It’s always a great evening when the Celtics get smashed. The worst defeat the Knicks suffered this season was an embarrassing 41-point defeat to Boston at home, so it was highly appropriate that New York returned the favor with this rout.

MELO SETS THE TONE: The Knicks came out the gate with Carmelo Anthony dropping 2 assists via backdoor cuts from Iman Shumpert. The team quickly followed the ball movement lead to a 12-0 run that had New York up 18-5. JR Smith added two triples and when the first quarter ended, the Knicks had 9 assists on 62% shooting for a 31-15 cushion. The sparks for this great start were Melo (11 points, 2 assists, 2 steals), Tyson Chandler (5 rebounds) and Kenyon Martin (4 points, 1 block).

BENCH FIREPOWER: There was no dropoff when the second unit came in to start the second quarter. In fact, the Knicks bench blew the game open. Lead by Jeremy Tyler delivering his best game of the season (17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks), New York had 63 points from the reserves, allowing Melo and company to get extended rest in the second and all of the fourth quarter. JR chipped in 17, and Tim Hardaway Jr. added his dribble penetration and deadly 3-point shooting for 16 points.

CHANDLER ON THE RISE: It was a struggle his first few games back, but Chandler is starting to get back into a groove on offense and defense (12 points, 13 rebounds). He was the recipient of several nasty alley-oops, and when Tyson gets those touches his defensive intensity picks up.

[youtube http://youtu.be/kCaS0tuk9vU]

AUDITION FOR RONDO?: In the off-season, stories began circulating that Melo was pushing for the Knicks to sign Rondo. A few months back, Rondo’s high school coach said Melo was actively trying to recruit him. Rondo is just six games back into his comeback from ACL surgery, so he doesn’t have his legs and looked pretty bad out there (7 points, 5 assists, 4 turnovers).

However, if Rondo can get back to his old form, he’d be a huge asset for Melo’s game. All ACL injuries aren’t created the same, so I’m sure the Knicks will be monitoring his progress closely to see if he bounces back like Shumpert, or slides further like we’ve seen with Derrick Rose. I’m banking on the former happening.

THREE AND NO REASON TO STOP: The Knicks are on a three game winning streak and have the Cleveland Cavaliers next on Thursday (January 30). The Cavs are struggling having lost four of their last five, so the Knicks should keep this streak going.

SOUR NOTES: Shumpert left the game early with a right shoulder strain, a re-aggravation of an injury he suffered in the pre-season. K-Mart was also forced to sit after re-aggravating his left ankle sprain. Metta World Peace returned, so we’ll just have to pray he can step up with spot minutes if K-Mart misses any extended time.

Garbage Effort: Spurs Hammer Knicks 120-89

Looks like another player’s only meeting is in order. Just one game after appearing like the Knicks had turned a curve in stablizing out their offense and defense, the Spurs brought them crashing back to reality with a embarrassing 120-89 thrashing at the Garden. The offense? Terrible the entire game. The defense? Even worse — so bad it became absurd almost from the opening tip. The crowd booed lustily every quarter. Teammates and Coach Woodson looked demoralized. Although it’s still just six games into the season, these are the types of games that end up getting coaches fired.

Think I’m exaggerating? Let’s get right to the numbers behind this massacre.

0-10: The aforementioned number represents the start of the game, where the Spurs came out the gate to reel off 10 straight (six behind two open three-pointers for Danny Green) and never looked back. Our guards had no communication on defense and repeatedly got beat off the dribble, abused on back-door cuts and didn’t have Tyson Chandler in the middle to cover up their mistakes (Bargnani was absent-minded and always a step behind himself on the help defense). The Spurs took away everything inside and doubled Melo quickly, forcing the rest of the team to try to be playmakers.

The result was another disastrous opening 12 minutes that saw the Spurs shoot 74% (4-4 from downtown) and go up 35-17. The Knicks could only manage 29% from the field.

TOYED WITH: One of the many indicative plays of the Knicks futility was Kawhi Leonard securing a rebound and literally going coast to cast for an uncontested layup. The Spurs continued to hit from downtown and the boos started appropriately from the Garden faithful. By halftime, the Spurs were up 61-45. That 16-point deficit would represent the closest the Knicks would get for the rest of the game.

JR OUT OF SYNC: The Knicks needed a big game from JR Smith and got nothing. Smith was 0-5 in the first half, missing a circus shots and turning the bally over 3 times. As the lead ballooned to 28 in the third (79-52), Smith was visibly frustrated. Green hit his sixth trey and the lead was 90-60 headed into the fourth. JR finished with 5 points on 1-9 shooting.

BAD PLAY ALL-AROUND: Although Melo (16), Bargnani (16) and World Peace (13) all hit double figures in scoring, no one on the Knicks can claim they had a good game. The defense was bad on every front. Nothing came easy on offense, and San Antonio would always find the open man with efficient ball movement. The entire fourth was essentially garbage time.

KNICKS WINLESS AT HOME: After protecting home court last year with only 10 defeats at MSG, the Knicks have dropped all three games played at home thus far. It’s very disconcerting to see the team not being able to bring effort in front of their fans.

A COACH ON NOTICE: Coach Woodson wore the look of man exasperated with his situation. It’s clear he has a team whose pieces he’s yet to figure out. Time is short — even with Chandler out, this slow start can’t last for long or he’s gone by next month.

The Free Fall Continues – Pacers Hammer Knicks 125-91

This team, man. What else is there to say? All-Star Break, sufficient rest, and the Knicks still delivered one of their worst all-around performances for the year. Having now lost four of their last five games and just a half-game removed from third place, now is the time to be very concerned about where the Knicks are headed over the second half of the season.

PUTRID OFFENSE AND DEFENSE: The Pacers are known for their phenomenal defense but also for their struggles to score. In fact, they are one of the lower teams in the league when it comes to scoring. Last night you’d have no clue as damn near the entire team lit up the Knicks to the tune of 53% shooting and over 100 points while still in the third quarter.

The Pacers were getting open treys at will since the Knick guards couldn’t fight through picks to close out. It’s become a tradition as of late to have some unheralded guard drop a career or season high against the Knicks, and last night it was Orlando Johnson (8 pts, 2-2 from downtown) and Sam Young (7 pts) — the latter could be seen slamming home windmill dunks in the fourth.

The Knicks offense (33.7% shooting) was pathetic with zero ball movement and hoping for Melo to be hot (he wasn’t). Melo went 7/21 for just 15 points and no one else stepped to fill the void except Tyson Chandler (19 pts, 11 rebounds), who got 11 of his points at the line. Amar’e Stoudemire had 7 points and just one field goal as he struggled to handle Tyler Hansborough and was nearly ejected for yelling at a ref.

Raymond Felton tried (12 pts) to make things happen, but the pick and roll with Chandler was well scouted and there was zero cutting from any of the players around him. The guards of Iman Shumpert, Jason Kidd and JR Smith would go a combined 2-17 for just 9 points.

GAME ENDS IN THE 2ND QUARTER: This game didn’t feel promising from the outset. A four point deficit in the first felt like 10 the way the offense was going. The Pacers bench took full advantage and outscored the Knicks 44-26 in the second quarter to take a 77-44 lead into halftime.

WOODSON REMAINS STUBBORN: Coach Woodson had a terse rebuttal when asked in the post-game if he’d consider changing the starting lineup. He said it was a matter of getting better, not changing lineups. Has Woody gone mad? Going back to when Felton went down with the hand injury, Kidd has been a disaster in the starting lineup. Over his last three games, he’s only made one shot and is getting torched on defense. Last night it was Lance Stephenson (14 pts) abusing him. And it was sad to see Iman Shumpert trying to be play small forward and at times having to body up much bigger guys like David West.

This lineup is not going to cut it. Woody’s love affair with Kidd will have this team looking at the fifth seed if this keeps up. First off, Kidd needs to be benched, Shumpert to shooting guard, Stat to power forward and Melo at the 3. We need as many offensive weapons as possible and as we’ve seen, just dropping it in to Melo will not suffice.

A MENTALITY OVERHAUL: For a team that likes to administer bully ball, they sure do not handle it well when a team gets physical with them. Once again, the Knicks resorted to whining (Stat), and cheap shots when the game got away from them. JR Smith got ejected for his shenanigans with Stephenson, and the team just seemed to literally bend over like we’ve seen far too many times this year.

We’ll see if this was a wake-up call on Friday when the Knicks look for revenge against the Toronto Raptors.

[youtube http://youtu.be/26pR2UedLNY]

Ran Off the Court: Sixers Rout Knicks 97-80

The hell with this game. That was my thoughts just a few minutes into the third quarter when the Sixers extended their lead to 20-plus and it became obvious the Knicks had completely phoned it in. How bad was it? Melo, Shumpert and JR shot a combined 9-42. The team well into the third was shooting 32%. The lane was wide open for any Sixer player that wanted an easy bucket *stares at Tyson Chandler*. Jrue Holiday abused a returning Raymond Felton (and anyone else that tried to guard him, for that matter), to the tune of 35 points.

The sole bright spot for the Knicks was Amar’e Stoudemire got going for his first 20 point game and played decent defense. Other than that, the Knicks are lucky that the Bulls and Nets also dropped games allowing NY to keep their tenuous #2 spot in the East.

All in all, it was an absolutely disgraceful night of basketball. The Knicks better had redemption on the mind today when they face the Hawks on ESPN.

Take the Night off, Melo — Knicks Stomp the Heat… Again 112-92

Y’all should’ve listened to Chris Bosh over the summer. When he was asked what team he thought would be their toughest challenge in the East, he mentioned the Knicks as being very underrated. Now everyone else sees what he meant, as the Knicks without Carmelo Anthony completely destroyed the Heat in Miami for their second consecutive blowout. It was a beautiful night for Knicks fans and a wake-up call to the so-called observers out there that who comes out in the East is not a foregone conclusion. Onto my thoughts.

Live by the 3 and Murder the Heat With It: For the second game, the Knicks took over 40 three-pointers (44). NY hit 18 of them (41%). No, the Knicks weren’t just jacking them up most of the time. They were open shots from ball movement — the Knicks did a great job with spacing (Miami Coach Spoelstra even called Tyson Chandler’s lob threat “vertical spacing”), preventing the Heat from just staying home on any particular three-pointer shooter. And the Knicks had them in abundance — Steve Novak dropped 18 points (4-9 from downtown) and Raymond Felton was 6-10 from behind the arc.

Felton Is Fearless: What more can be said about Raymond Felton? It’s an amazing story considering where he was last year with Portland. The man was drawing ohhs and ahhs from how he was crossing over Miami guards and big men alike to get into the lane and sink jumpers. Felton’s stat line was 27 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and just 3 turnovers. He rose to the challenge of picking up Melo’s scoring hole but also kept the rest of the team involved. By the middle of the third quarter, Felton was walking with a definite swagger in his step.

The Heat Was Beat Into Submission: A Mike Miller buzzing-beating three to end the first gave Miami a 26-23 lead after one. From then on it was all Knicks. It got really ugly in the second half with the Knicks outscoring Miami 37-27 in the third and 22-12 in the fourth. The threes and the defense just flat-out killed Miami’s spirit. LeBron became discouraged and the rest of the team followed suit. A defining moment came in the fourth when Chandler cut to the basket and the Miami bigs didn’t even both trying to contest, just walked to the bench while Tyson slammed home another dunk.

American Airlines Arena Became MSG South: The Knicks fans got louder and louder as the game progressed. It was a beautiful sight to hear the arena completely taken over for by the fourth quarter.

Let’s Not Rest On Our Laurels: Yes, we’ve embarrassed the Heat twice. Yes, NY has the best record in the Eastern Conference. It’s just December, and we still have a lot of basketball left to the play. There will be bad games, but the effort need to be there every night. We don’t play Miami again until March, but beyond that we know there’s a good chance we’ll be matched up with them at some point in the playoffs. Let’s be ready to meet the challenge.

Tomorrow night we head to Chicago to face off against the defensive-minded Bulls. Hope NY stays on the mental high from this win.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjRqKSJ4sn8&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

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