Tag: Clippers

[Video] Inspired Knicks Can’t Close Show Against Clippers

Photo Credit: USA Today Sports Images

Last game, the Knicks were rightly trashed for a despicable effort against the Lakers. Tonight, the effort was there, but a few miscues in the final four minutes allowed the Clippers sans Chris Paul to pull out an 119-115 at Madison Square Garden.

Yes, outside of Charles Oakley’s arrest there was an exciting game that took place.

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BIG THREE LOCKED IN: This was one of the rare times that Melo, Rose and KP all played well. All three scored 20 or more and shot at least 50%. Melo lead the way with 28 points and 9 boards. At times, he was engaged in an intense duel with Blake Griffin, who had a first quarter rampage with 18 points and finished with 32. Melo kept his heat-check shots to a minimum and played well in the flow of the offense.

What I liked most about his game is he got to the rim and in most cases finished, got fouled or kicked out. The 1 assist doesn’t reflect it, but he had a few hockey assists and it kept everyone involved.

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We got our best game since D-Rose’s return with 20 points, 7 boards and 8 assists on 63% shooting. The most surprising thing about it was he did a lot of his damage on mid-range jumpers from all over the court. That was pivotal in keeping the floor spaced as the defense couldn’t pack the paint for his drives. And for the first time in what feels like ages, you saw Rose actively looking to pass to KP and others.

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Looking to keep Porzingis involved did wonders for the kid’s confidence. He didn’t feel the need to defer to the vets and attacked the Clippers defense from the perimeter and inside with cuts to the rim. The three-pointer was there (4/7) and he finished with 27 points, 6 boards and 2 steals. The two glaring issues were the unwise personal fouls (5) and being unable to keep Deandre Jordan off the boards.

KP didn’t foul out, so in a twisted way that can be seen as progress. But if we had him for the stretches he had to sit, the game might have turned out differently. As for getting muscled in the paint by Jordan, that is something that only time can correct. However, it’s a good indicator that we are still a few years away before KP can consistently battle at the center position.

DEFENSE AND BENCH: So as good as the Big Three played, how did we lose? First, the defense simply couldn’t sustain their energy and focus. After outscoring the Clippers 95-88 over the first three quarters, the Clippers stormed back to outscore the Knicks 31-20 over the final 12 minutes. Former Knick Jamal Crawford burned us for 20 points (nine in the fourth) off the bench and even Deandre Jordan hit four straight free throws.

The other area that killed us was a lack of bench scoring. In recent games, we could count on a great showing from some combination of Jennings, O’Quinn, Holiday or Hernangomez. But last night they were overwhelmed and outscored 36-18. The highest Knicks bench contributors were Hernangomez and Holiday, who scored 5 points apiece on a combined 2/9 shooting.

The Knicks are home again on Friday to face the Nuggets.

 

[Video] Knicks Losing Streak Extends to Nine with Defeat to Clippers

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Tonight wasn’t so bad, but I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring. – CARMELO ANTHONY

Melo’s above quote was about his sore left knee, but easily could have been attributed to the team’s performance in last night’s 99-78 defeat to the Clippers. Melo had 19 points (7/18 shooting) and was the only Knick to hit double figures. No one shot well, as evidenced by the team shooting 38% overall and 23% from downtown. The Clippers had six players hit double figures. DeAndre Jordan ran amuck in the paint to the tune of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

New York’s inept perimeter defense provided a feast for JJ Redick, who scored 20 points. The game essentially went out of reach in the third when the Clippers turned a 10-point lead into 23 courtesy of a 13-0 run.

Andrea Bargnani made his return and scored 9 points (4/11) in 19 minutes of play. JR Smith also returned and had 7 points (3/10) in 17 minutes off the bench.

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Knicks Sign Kenyon Martin to 10-Day Contract

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The Knicks’ long-standing interest in Kenyon Martin has come to the fruition today with the two sides agreeing to a 10-day contract.

The Knicks appeared close to signing Martin during the off-season but were reluctant to offer a long-term deal, instead choosing to invest multi-year agreements with veterans Jason Kidd and Marcus Camby. With Camby and fellow big man Rasheed Wallace out indefinitely with injuries, the Knicks are hopeful Martin will have an immediate impact on the team’s problem areas of rebounding and defense.

Martin finds himself reunited with several teammates — Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith, with whom he made it to the 2009 Western Conference Finals with as a member of the Denver Nuggets, and the Jason Kidd, two vital parts in the back to back NBA Finals Nets teams of 2003 and 2004.

The 35-year-old Martin played 42 games for the Los Angeles Clippers last season, averaging 5 points and 4 rebounds in 22 minutes of play.

Martin will not be suiting up this Friday when the Knicks head to Toronto to face the Raptors.

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Solid move. No, it’s nothing spectacular, but Martin’s addition should provide welcome relief when it comes to rebounding and interior defending. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s quite familiar with three of our core players in Melo, JR and Kidd. And hopefully some of his goon mentality can toughen up the overall team mentality.

With that said, Knicks fans need to tempter expectations. I’ve noticed over the last year fans have become enamored with annoiting “saviors.” Last year it was Baron Davis and Jeremy Lin. This year it was Shump’s return, then Felton’s. There is no one player that will save this squad — team ball had us riding high atop the East, and it’ll be a team effort to get us back there.

The main concerns with this signing will be what type of shape Martin kept himself in and praying to the basketball gods that he can remain healthy. I can’t wait to see how he does over these next 10 days. Woodson better not be stingy with the playing time. Case in point, see the below impact Martin can have on a game on offense and defense.

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

[Video] A Bench Massarce: Clippers’ Second Unit Runs the Knicks Out of MSG

NBA: Los Angeles Clippers at New York Knicks

It was not a pleasant Sunday for the Knicks yesterday as a fourth quarter hammering (outscored 31-18) at the hands of the talented Los Angeles Clippers resulted in a bad 102-88 loss at home. The Knicks were never completely in sync throughout the game but had a slim lead to start the fourth before everything simply collapsed. Want to know what went wrong? Let’s start with what else but the perimeter defense…

 

CP3 FEASTS ON SHUMPERT: We’ve been begging for Shumpert to get moved off guarding small fowards to the guards that have been killing us in recent games. Well, Shumpert had no easier time stopping Paul, who drained several three-pointers off picks and got by Shumpert at will in the first quarter. Coach Woodson said Shumpert’s timing and lateral movement are still slowly coming back since his ACL tear, so we just had to live with CP3 going off, unfortunately.

 

USELESS DOUBLE-TEAMS AND SWITCHING: We’ve seen it every game. Our Knicks players end up switching defenders way too easily and we end up with a gross mismatch in someone like Tyson Chandler trying to guard Paul (that happened a few times yesterday). Or we double-team players that aren’t that big of a threat leading to open threes when we can’t rotate back soon enough. The most blatant example yesterday of a useless double was on players like Lamar Odom, who haven’t warranted that type of attention since 2010.

Still, a lot of this stems from the fact our guards can’t stay in front of their man.

 

CRAWFORD ON FIRE, SMITH ICE-COLD: The battle of best bench players in the NBA was definitively won by Crawford, who dropped 27 points on an array of long treys and circus shots in the paint. JR Smith was a woeful 1-9. And it wasn’t like it was the Clippers defense that kept JR in check — he bricked plenty wide open shots. We’ve come to expect these type of games from JR, but it’s a death sentence when he plays this bad and we also don’t get big contributions from Amar’e.

 

STAT STRUGGLES: Amar’e Stoudemire had his worst game since early January with 9 points and 6 rebounds. The Knicks had problems getting the ball to him in the second half. And defensively Stat missed a few assignments.

 

NOVAK EXPLOITED: Novak had another scoreless game and his defensive liabilities swung the momentum in the Clippers favor early in the fourth. The Knicks had a 73-71 lead and the Clippers went straight at Novak to kick off a 7-0 run. At times like this, it would have been better to go with Ronnie Brewer. It would have done nothing for the offense, but at least our defense would have vastly improved.

 

MELO’S 42 AND FELTON’S 20 WASTED: Melo and Felton were the only two that had energy and really seemed to want this game. Melo had an amazing first three quarters where he dropped 38 points. That worried me because he was carrying nearly all the offense (including an 18 point 3rd). We saw in the last game against Brooklyn he had nothing left in the fourth. While Grant Hill did a good job guarding him in the last quarter, I feel the real reason he only had 4 points was due to fatigue.

Felton suffered whiplash but toughed it out and did his best to try and contain Paul, who dropped back to back buckets (one of them a three-point play), to seal the game in the fourth 96-86 with just a few minutes remaining.

 

HORRID REBOUNDING:  The Knicks gave up way too many offensive boards but this isn’t on Chandler, who have 11 rebounds and several tip-outs. Melo even contributed 8 rebounds. With Camby and Wallace out, other players have to crash the boards. In recent games, we’ve seen Shumpert and SMith do this. Yesterday, they only had 4 rebounds combined. The Clippers nabbed 13 offensive rebounds and won the board battle 43-35.

 

BENCH SLAUGHTER: How badly did the Clippers bench outplay the Knicks’s second unit? How about a scoring edge of 48-15. Only one Clippers bench player, Ryan Hollins, failed to score. Our bench had no scoring outside of Stat and JR, who combined for 15 points.

JR Smith went on Twitter yesterday and called Wednesday’s home game against the Raptors a must-win. Let’s pray the whole team brings that mentality to the Garden.

[youtube http://youtu.be/V_sDjUWHDp8]