Tag: sports

Six and Counting — Knicks Survive 2nd Half Grizzlies Surge, Extend Winning Streak

JRSmith_Grizzlies

Could the Knicks have been any more bipolar tonight? Leave it to my beloved squad to deliver the best first half of this season only to flush it right down the toilet with an abominable second half. Luckily for New York, their dominance in the first two quarters was enough of a cushion to give them an important win to extend the winning streak to six games. Yes, a win is a win, but I still watched the entire second half pissed off.

FIRST HALF BRILLIANCE: It cannot be overstated how phenomenal the Knicks were over the first 24 minutes. The offensive blitz started behind the hot hand of Iman Shumpert, who scored 13 points just six minutes into the first quarter. He hit three treys and had his mid-range jumper working as well. Although Grizzlies center Marc Gasol surprised everyone by playing despite suffering from an abdominal tear, the Knicks made it a point to go right into the teeth of their defense with aggressive layups courtesy of Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith, who had 11 points each in the first quarter to give the Knicks a 37-25 lead. In addition, the team shot a scorching 72% from the field.

With Melo resting to begin the second, the ball movement got even better with JR manning the second unit. Steve Novak delivered 9 points on three treys while Jason Kidd found JR for a monster alley oop dunk to extend the lead to 58-34. Raymond Felton and Shumpert added more three-pointers and by halftime the Knicks had a 69-41 lead. Smith had 23 points off the bench to lead all scorers, and the field goal percentage for the team was still high at 61%.

With how great things were going, apparently the Knicks could only go down in the second half…

Camby_Knicks

A GRINDING HALT AND REPLAY OF THE KNICKS’ FIRST DEFEAT: Remember when the Knicks lost to Memphis way back in November? In that game, the Knicks also shot roughly 60% in the first half, but fell apart in the third and earned several technicals for complaining. Nearly the exact same thing happened tonight with Marcus Camby getting tossed for cursing out the refs after picking up quick fouls. Shumpert and Kenyon Martin were forced to sit with 4 fouls apiece, and this quarter dragged on and on as the Grizzlies were able to live at the line (14 free throws in all) to outscore the Knicks 29-17.

The beautiful ball movement that marked the first half had degraded to repeated isolation plays and long jumpers. With this being the second night of a back to back, you’d think fatigue might have played a factor. But it was clear that this bad quarter was simply the result of the team getting too relaxed with their big lead, which had wilted to 86-70 entering the fourth.

ANOTHER LONG QUARTER: This game should have been put away early in the fourth and at first it appeared that was going to be the case. JR Smith kicked off the first Knicks possession with a three-point play on a fast break. But then Jerryd Bayless, another bench player like Toronto’s Alan Anderson that seems to get fired up to play New York, started hitting some timely three-point shots to pull his squad to within 10 (89-79). Melo didn’t do the team any favors by earning his own technical for complaining about a missed foul inside, but he made up for it later by hitting back to back jumpers to extend the lead to 100-86.

Still, the Grizzlies refused to go away and the Knicks kept giving them chances. Unbelievably, they cut the lead to just five (100-95) before Jason Kidd was fouled on his only made shot, a three-pointer, to earn a four-point play with 1:29 left. There must be something about four-point plays that rattle Kidd because he missed this one just like he did in the second Nets game. The Grizzlies had a little life and they used it over two timeouts, but JR’s free throws to make it 106-99 with 26 seconds left finally iced the game.

JR GOES OVER 30 AGAIN: How about JR Smith dropping over 30 points on back to back nights? The best thing about these games is how JR is staying in control and continuing to not settle for jumpers. I can count on one hand how many contested, outside jumpers he took. I never thought I’d be saying Melo could learn a thing or two from JR’s new approach. If Smith keeps this up, he’ll not only win Sixth Man of the Year, but ensure the Knicks lock up the Atlantic Division and the #2 spot in the East.

GOOD DEFENSE UP FRONT, BAD DEFENSE IN THE BACK: I was worried about how the Knicks would handle the Grizzlies’ big frontline, but the team did very well in that department. Kenyon Martin did good work on Marc Gasol (13 points) and Zach Randolph (3 points), and Melo held his own when he got those assignments (even drawing two offensive fouls on Randolph).

The backcourt is where the Knicks got some punishment, with Mike Conley (26 points), Jerryd Bayless (24 points) and Tony Allen (18 points) all going off at different points. Luckily for New York, Felton made up for some of his bad turnovers with 13 points overall and some key drives to the rim in the fourth.

The Knicks are still in second place in the East with a small lead over the Pacers, so it’s a welcome sight that the next game is against the lowly Charlotte Bobcats at home. With that said, it was a tooth and nail battle against them in December with the Knicks needing a JR game-winner. Let’s hope the “Friday Night Knicks” curse doesn’t rear its ugly head.

[youtube http://youtu.be/VjXafjTfMCM]

No Mercy in Beantown — JR Smith Powers Knicks to 100-85 Thrashing of Celtics

Let’s just be quite frank about them. We always want to beat Boston. New York in anything wants to beat Boston and when we do, it’s a great feeling. – Carmelo Anthony

JRSmith_Celtics

There are few things sweeter for a Knicks fan than smacking around the Boston Celtics. Both teams have dealt with severe injuries in recent weeks, but it’s been the Knicks that have weathered the storm to nurse a 4-game winning streak heading into tonight. On the other hand, the Celtics were on a 4-game losing streak. With both teams missing their notable defensive bigs in Tyson Chandler and Kevin Garnett, this one was decided by who could dominate the hustle plays.

SLOOOOW START: Being that it took over 2 minutes before anyone scored, this game looked like it could be an ugly one when it came to offensive execution. On the Knicks side, the ball movement was dead with lots of useless perimeter dribbling and Carmelo Anthony isolations. Matters really didn’t start clicking until JR Smith came in. Like the other games on this winning streak, Smith kicked off his night by getting to the rim at will for acrobatic layups. His 10 points off the bench offset Jordan Crawford abusing Jason Kidd in the post for the Knicks to hold a 28-24 lead after 12 minutes.

KNICKS RIDE JR’S HOT HAND: With Melo sitting, the offense had to work solely through JR. With Boston’s solid perimeter defense, Smith wisely kept the outside jumpers to a minimum and kept attacking the basket. At one stretch, he scored 11 straight points to power the Knicks back in front after the Celtics had taken a 33-31 lead behind 7 straight points from Jason Terry.

When the run extended to 14-0, the Celtics attempted to get physical on defense. In years past, this was when they slowly broke the Knicks down and climbed back in it.

Not tonight.

The ball movement picked up and all of sudden Steve Novak was duping Paul Pierec on pump fakes and nailing threes. Pablo Prigioni was wreaking havoc defensively with steals and Melo was shoving the physicality back down Boston’s throat, most notably with a bully ball 3-point play inside (and a war yell added for good measure). By halftime, the Celtics were staring at a 58-44 deficit.

PUSHED BACK IN THE THIRD: The Celtics made a nice 16-9 run to get to within seven (67-60) due to the Knicks forgetting about penetration and settling for jumpshots. That all changed when JR came in around the six-minute mark. He righted the ship by going right back to Boston’s big weakness (lack of shotblocking) with a shot-clock beating short jumper over Brandon Bass. Now Melo’s post-ups were resulting in better perimeter shots (like a timely Jason Kidd trey to extend the lead to 74-62). Kidd had a lot of crucial cleanup plays in the final 3-4 minutes (rebounds, steals, drawing charges) to keep the Knicks in control.

And if the Celtics needed any reminder this wasn’t their night, the below JR heave from way downtown reminded them.

[youtube http://youtu.be/W14ZBDvG_vE]

Melo_Celtics

A FOREGONE CONCLUSION: There was never any real drama in the fourth except how many shots was Melo going to chuck up. Melo went a horrid 10-30 to get his 29 points. To be fair, a few of them were due to not getting calls inside and getting his own rebounds (six on the offensive glass) for second chance scores. Bottom line is the Knicks don’t win tonight without his scoring output, but better efficiency is needed.

Prigioni_steal_Pierce

PRIGIONI, KIDD AND K-MART: This trio didn’t have big numbers, but they were highly effective in making sure the Celtics got no momentum throughout the game. Prigioni in particular chose most of his four fouls wisely (stopping fast breaks), had two steals and five assists. Aside from the previously mentioned cleanup plays he made, Kidd even put it on the floor and got a nice driving layup over Avery Bradley. Martin had his quietest stat line of the win streak with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block, but he protected the paint (causing a few blown layups) and set hard screens to get guys open. K-Mart’s toughness is a big reason the rest of the Knicks were emboldened to push back the Celtic attempts to push them around.

There would be no Knick-killing heroics from Paul Pierce tonight, as he had 16 quiet points. Four of Celtic starters got into double figures, but there was no flow to their offense — everything was disjointed and Boston never had a serious chance to get back in this after the middle of the third.  After going winless in Boston for years, it’s an excellent sign to see the Knicks win two straight there as this is a potential playoff matchup. And the final icing on the cake is that this win is the worst loss the Celtics have had at home since 2010.

The Knicks will be right back at it Wednesday night when they face the Memphis Grizzlies, a squad that beat New York up and handed them their first defeat this season. Let’s see how much Martin’s presence makes a difference.

[youtube http://youtu.be/UR9al3_svKc]

Taped Again — Knicks Complete Back to Back Sweep of Raptors 110-84

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Begone, lowly Raptors! With Rudy Gay again out of commission with back spasms, the Knicks needed to take care of business emphatically at Madison Square Garden. That’s what they did from the second quarter on through a strong overall team effort. And what made this easy victory even sweeter was our conference rivals all lost (Pacers, Nets, Celtics), allowing the Knicks to slide back into second place.

There wasn’t much to complain about, so let’s get right to the highlights…

 

KENYON MARTIN REMAINS IN BEAST MODE: K-Mart ran roughshod over Toronto yesterday and did so again tonight. His active presence does so much to keep the offense flowing — he catches lobs, cleans up misses and NEVER lets anyone come into the paint without getting checked hard. He got away with a hard misse foul on Carl Lowry which turned into an Iman Shumpert three-pointer in the second.

In the same quarter, Martin got a huge block on John Lucas outside the paint. The hard-nosed defense got contagious with Shumpert blocking Landry Fields inside a few seconds later. The Knicks got possession, and Melo found K-Mart inside for a three-point play which pushed the lead to 59-47 at halftime.

Most impressive was Martin doing all his damage while sitting out the fourth, scoring 18 points, grabbing 7 rebounds and notching 2 blocks.

 

MELO DINES ON FIELDS: I normally have love for ex-Knicks, but Landry Fields lost a lot of good will from me when he started doing interviews basically blaming Melo for his post-rookie year regression (Riiight, like Melo was the reason you shot 56% from the free throw line last year). It’s no secret that these two don’t like each other, and Melo even got a flagrant 1 for a retaliatory shove from a Fields elbow.

Thankfully, Melo did the majority of his talking by torching Fields for 28 points on 9/19 shooting coupled with 8 rebounds. And in a big improvement from Friday’s game, Melo hit all his free throws (10 in all) and just had 2 turnovers. Melo feasted in the paint on an array of turnaround jumpers. Alan Anderson couldn’t do much better when he got the defensive assignment.

And like Martin, Melo did all this work in just three quarters and got to chill for the fourth.

 

THE SUPPORTING CAST: Melo and Martin were the leaders, but this was a strong team effort. JR Smith had 25 points (9/16 from the field) and kept his efficiency high by going strong to the rim. JR also managed to give the Raptors one final huge disrespect by scoring a layup in the final second after both teams had clearly stopped playing.

Shumpert continues to gain confidence defensively off ACL surgery — the second year guard forced the Raptor perimeter players into contested jumpers and logged 4 steals. Copeland got a Woody tongue-lashing for some first half bad defense, but tightened up and still brought it on offense (12 points). Jason Kidd and Pablo Prigioni didn’t have big scoring outings, but their defense was solid and helped to deflate the Raptors in the second half. And even Novak hit a long jumper off the dribble! *GASP*

 

THE LINEUP MOVING FORWARD: With K-Mart playing so well the last two games, the rumblings have already begun among fans about him starting. As a natural power forward, he increases our defense and offense, which takes some of the load off Tyson Chandler, and allows Melo to move back to his natural small forward position.

Coach Woodson put all that to rest by stating Martin will be off the bench when Chandler returns. I understand his reasoning. Our frontcourt depth has been ruined by injuries and with Martin also being an older player, he wants to make sure he’s fresh for the playoffs. If Martin were to start, the only true big we’d have off the bench is Marcus Camby (who’s been injury-prone this season).

It’s so frustrating when you think of how formidable this team could be with everyone healthy.

The Knicks get a few days of deserved rest before a big road game on Tuesday  against a hated division rival in the Celtics. I’m sure I speak for all Knicks fans when I say I want that game badly.

[youtube http://youtu.be/EbzXCtHMCJM]

Melo and Martin Lead Knicks Past Raptors, Clinch Playoff Berth

Martin

Playoffs, here we come! Tonight, the Knicks not only clenched a playoff berth, but enacted a little bit of revenge on the Toronto Raptors, who previously beat the Knicks twice in embarrassing losses. It was an overall uneven performance (especially defensively and at the free throw line), but a high scoring output from Carmelo Anthony and a phenomenal effort from Kenyon Martin kept NY in front for nearly the entire contest.

 

KNICKS  START SOLID: After the Raptors took what would be their largest lead of the game at 6-2, the Knicks warmed up to the game behind some potent outside shooting. Iman Shumper and Raymond Felton had treys, but the best sequence of the opening quarter came courtesy of Pablo Prigioni, who got starting duties at point. Prigioni nailed a 17-foot scoop shot, then promptly stole the inbound pass and found Melo camped out for a three-pointer. The Knicks would take a 10 point lead (25-15), but a quick 7-0 Raptors run made the Knicks settle for a 25-22 lead after one.

 

2ND QUARTER BRILLIANCE: The Knicks clicked on all cylinders here and got a bit of luck with the Raptors’ best player Rudy Gay being forced to sit with back spasms (he wouldn’t return). Marcus Camby was a strong defensive presence inside, drawing offensive fouls and getting a nice block. The Raptors came out shooting 1-12 in the quarter. With six minutes left, the Knicks had outscored them 12-3 behind Steve Novak’s three-point shooting and JR Smith continuing his recent trend of attacking the rim. JR even drew a charge of his own in the paint. And Melo got to feast with the overmatched Landry Fields attempting to guard him in the paint. When the smoke cleared, the Knicks had a comfortable 50-37 halftime lead.

 

KENYON MARTIN LIFTS KNICKS OVER SECOND HALF STRUGGLES: The third quarter was a classic Knicks disaster. I don’t know if someone on the Knicks did him wrong in a past life, but Raptors bench player Alan Anderson has had it out for NY every game. He light them up again from the perimeter by draining threes and getting superstar treatment from the refs on fouls. Anderson scored a ridiculous 20 points in the quarter and his team would outscore the Knicks 34-27. The man even got a 4-point play on, guess who, JR Smith.

Although the Raptors would go on to outscore the Knicks 57-49 over the second half, Kenyon Martin was our great equalizer. The man was an animal on the boards (11 rebounds) and a huge physical presence inside that had guards like Kyle Lowry second-guessing their drives. Sure, Martin picked up a few dumb fouls, but it was well worth it because his effort was relentless. Martin had multiple putback slams and when the defense sagged off him, he rolled right to the basket for two key layups in the fourth quarter. Melo put up the big scoring numbers, but the game ball goes to K-Martin for his impressive, well-rounded stat line of 19 points (9/10 shooting), 11 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.

 

MOMENTUM PLAY: The Raptors were very close to taking over this game after a Demar Derozan three-point play brought them within two points (84-82) with less than six minutes remaining. The two teams had been trading baskets and it would be the Raptors who blinked first, courtesy of an open jumper Derozan missed. Melo would promptly get a three-point play inside, followed by two Martin layups and a Felton trey with the shot clock winding down that pushed the lead to 94-84 with under four minutes remaining. The game should have been iced, but the horrid free throw shooting made this one have a little drama in the final minute.

 

FREE THROWS: The performance tonight at the line was inexcusable. The Knicks had three different chances to close this one out at the line and each time the player either split the shots (Melo, Kidd) or bricked both (JR). For the game, the Knicks shot a putrid 54% (13/24). This needs to be reigned in as much as possible because this recurrent flaw is highly detrimental to this important stretch for better playoff seeding.

 

MELO: Normally, Melo hoisting 31 shots is a sign our offense is stagnant. That wasn’t the case tonight. Melo had a very slow start to the game, being 3/10 at one stretch and 5/14 in the first half. But in the second half, he really came alive inside via the abuse he put on Landry Fields and even Alan Anderson at times. And it wasn’t just offense — Melo had six rebounds and two blocks (one being a nice perimeter rejection to stifle Terrence Ross). We needed every bit of his 37 points tonight and the team still shot over 50%.

 

The Knicks will meet the Raptors one last time on Saturday night to close out the season series. If Rudy Gay remains sidelined and the Knicks, particularly Martin, can bring this same effort, I see no reason why the Knickstape don’t emerge with another victory.

[youtube http://youtu.be/XL_-e1kM008]

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGeWsP8U9mQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

[Video] Carmelo Anthony’s Game of Thrones Season 3 Promo

You know nothing, Carmelo Anthony –Ygritte

Melo_GOT

I now bring before you Lord Carmelo Anthony of House Knickerbocker! As if the anticipation for season 3 of the critically-acclaimed hit series Game of Thrones isn’t high enough, HBO has linked up with the NBA for some cross-promotion. If you get a chance to check out the Youtube comments, you’ll see there’s a bunch of irate Game of Thrones purists (read — NERDS), who are highly upset at seeing the series “sullied” (wink wink to Daenerys’ special soldiers) by Melo’s appearance. Well, if you’re a Game of Thrones AND Knicks nerd like myself, you love this.

Game of Thrones has its season three premiere on March 31.

Melo Returns, Knicks Breeze By Magic 106-94

Melo_Magic

It’s been a long time since this squad had an “easy win.” Tonight, the Knicks got their best player in Carmelo Anthony back in the lineup, moved the ball around and played solid defense throughout to complete a season sweep of the Orlando Magic. Sure, the Magic are one of the worst teams in the league and were on the end of a back to back, but a win is a win, and the Knicks need plenty of them over the next month if they hope to hold off Brooklyn and win the Atlantic Division. With Knicks legends Patrick Ewing and John Starks in the house tonight, the Knicks are slowly bouncing back from that atrocious West Coast road trip.

EXCELLENT SHOOTING: The Knicks came out strong in shooting 58% in the first quarter (5-8 from downtown). With the bigs from both sides banged up, the Magic went with a three guard lineup while the Knicks inserted Kenyon Martin at center. Melo had 7 points in the opener and moved the ball quickly out of double teams to find guys like JR Smith (22 points) and Chris Copeland (9 points). The Knicks had a nice 10-0 run in the quarter and held a 26-15 lead after one.

THE ONE BAD QUARTER: The Knicks were outscored 31-25 in the second and a lot of that fell on lax defense and get outhustled to rebounds. Still, the three-point shooting remained strong with Melo and Shump draining treys to help keep the Magic on the wrong side of 51-46 score going into halftime.

3RD QUARTER DOMINANCE: The Magic really gave it a go, but the Knicks pushed back every run they attempted. JR Smith was aggressive in going to the rim, which either forced a foul or resulted in a layup. Pablo Prigioni kept up the ball movement (finding Kenyon Martin on a nice pick n’ roll to the basket), and the Knicks ran through the Magic defense to the tune of a 32-19 quarter and 76-60 lead.

STARTERS REST IN 4TH, SECOND UNIT CLOSES THE SHOW: Coach Woodson remained true to his word in trying to lower Carmelo Anthony’s minutes. He did so by only playing him 33 minutes and letting him sit for the fourth. Melo was efficient with his time of the floor in scoring 21 points on 7-14 shooting (3-5 from downtown). Most importantly, he looked healthy — Melo’s lift and first step looked the best they have in weeks. Iman Shumpert had 7 points but sat for the fourth as a precaution due to stiffness in his knee. Let’s pray that’s all it is.

Jason Kidd and JR Smith were two of the more important pieces that ensured the game remained out of reach for the Magic. Kidd’s stat line shows 3 steals, but he caused numerous deflections and had the Magic offense sputtering. JR didn’t go the rim as much in the final 12 minutes, but his jumper became deadly.

There was a few minutes towards the end where the players got lazy and the Magic pulled to within nine (95-86), but a Novak trey that pushed it to 101-88 pretty muched iced the game with under two minutes. Speaking of Novak, he contributed 11 points and nailed some nice momentum threes.

Is there any way we can just play the Magic for the rest of the season? Our next game is “Friday Night Knicks” against the Raptors, who we have the dubious distinction of losing twice to. If the Knicks bring the effort they did tonight, especially when it comes to the shooting, they’ll emerge victorious. But as we already know with this team, that’s a big if.

[youtube http://youtu.be/ABK04QhabF4]

Hallejuah! Knicks End 4-Game Skid with Grind Out Win Over Jazz 90-83

Felton_jazz

Hooray, the West Coast trip from Hell has ended! Thank God for the Jazz. They were the team we last won against over a week ago, and the Knicks got some welcomed relief facing them again last night and grinding out a 90-83 victory in Utah. Without Melo or Tyson, it didn’t come easy, but the Knicks fought through their offensive droughts and won this game on the defensive end.

SOLID DEFENSE, SUBPAR OFFENSE IN THE FIRST HALF: One of the trends on this road trip has been the Knicks coming out fighting hard, only to start slowly falling apart due to the offense having no one being able to consistently get their own shots.

With last night’s game, the Knicks were able to hang tough due to their defense and the sloppy play of the Jazz, who had 5 turnovers in the first quarter. That, coupled with Raymond Felton (9 points) and Chris Copeland (7 points) contributing, allowed the Knicks to have a small 23-21 lead.

The second quarter saw the age of the Knicks frontcourt working against them with Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin picking up a lot of early fouls. The Jazz were inconsistent at the line, but the Knicks shooting dipped to 42% and buckets were hard to come by in the final minutes. A few too many iso Chris Copeland plays lead to the Jazz going on a 8-0 run punctuated by an buzzer-beating jumper by Mo Williams to get them a halftime 44-42 lead.

TOOTH N’ NAIL 3RD: The Knicks really fought hard in the third quarter. This was great to see aS this West Coast losing streak has displayed bad thirds. JR Smith had a great quarter with 10 points and Jazz bigs like Derrick Favors did the Knicks a solid by bricking free throws. It was up and down, but for the Knicks to have a 66-63 lead going into the fourth was massive progress.

KURT THOMAS AND FELTON CLOSE THE SHOW: When you look at Kurt Thomas’s stat line (6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks), it doesn’t begin to show how important he was last night. Old man Kurt gave the Jazz bigs fits, causing deflections and being able to hold his ground and keep them from truly taking advantage of the size and youth mismatches. In addition, Thomas gave good screens on offense that lead to a key JR Smith trey to extend the Knicks lead to 78-72.

Felton stepped up his game too by being aggressive taking it to the rim and hitting outside jumpers. He had 7 points in the quarter and even found Kurt Thomas rolling to the rim for an easy layup.

The Jazz refused to go away (Mo Williams had 5 straight points to get the Jazz to within 81-84), but the Knicks met every run with either a key basket or free throws.

In other needed good news, Carmelo Anthony’s knee is feeling better and Tyson Chandler is also on the mend. If all goes well, we should have both back by the end of the week. And in the meantime, the schedule is less taxing in the coming days. Next up, the Knicks go for another sweep when they face the Magic on Wednesday.

[youtube http://youtu.be/p9gnZ43TOjo]

Knicks Fight, But Falter Down the Stretch to Blazers 105-90

Felton

Well, at least we didn’t get blown out by 20-plus points. The Knicks’s losing streak has extended to three as they remain winless on this five-game West Coast swing. JR Smith urged the team to find their hearts after getting drubbed by the Nuggets on Wednesday. While the team did fight, there were some key bad stretches to put this game out of reach.

IT STARTED OFF WELL: The Knicks came out with lots of energy and ball movement courtesy of an inspired Raymond Felton, who was returning to Portland for the first time and got greeted with boos every time he touched the ball. He penetrated often and Kenyon Martin was the main recipient in notching 8 first quarter points. The isolation plays that did happen were for Chris Copeland, who made sure to take it to the rim. He had 6 points and the Knicks nursed a 30-22 lead after one stanza on 62% shooting.

The big bright spot for the Blazers was Damian Lillard, who had a few three-pointers to keep his team in it. The Knicks’s second unit did a strong job with Pablo Prigioni working the pick and roll to perfection with Marcus Camby, who got about four easy layups inside. In addition, Camby crashed home a putback dunk that had me checking the calender, as it was straight out of his ’99 form.

NO ADJUSTMENTS: Unfortunately for New York, once Portland stepped up their defense and clamped down on the pick and roll, the Knicks offense degraded into shambles. The Knicks led by as much as 13 (41-28), but Portland went on a 8-1 run to get back in it, and then a crushing 13-0 burst to close the quarter and go up 51-48 at halftime.

The Knicks spent way too much time on the perimeter during this stretch and there were costly turnovers. Coach Woodson, for whatever reason, kept Copeland on the bench which hurt our opportunities to score with Steve Novak completely off from three-point land.

3RD QUARTER OFFERS NO RELIEF: Over this losing streak, the Knicks have had at least one quarter where nothing goes right. I have no qualms with anyone picking the second, but for me it was the third. The Blazers outhustled them badly for rebounds and loose balls. There was zero guard penetration for the Knicks and the Blazers reeled off another game-changing run (11-2) while the Knicks’s shooting dipped to 42%. Overall, the Blazers outscored the Knicks 27-14 in the quarter and took a big 78-62 lead into the fourth.

THE LAST STAND:  You can’t say the Knicks didn’t make a go of it. Copeland hit a three followed by two more from JR Smith and a layup that brought the deficit to 80-73. Prigioni’s energy was essential during this climb back — he made two key steals, one of which was converted into another Smith three to bring the Knicks within 4 (80-76) with about seven minutes left.

Prigioni’s decisions weren’t all good — he had a fast break on the first steal but opted to reset on the perimeter with the defense closing in, and had a turnover on a bad pass. But Woodson made a mistake pulling him, since as soon as Felton came back in, Lillard burned him for a three-pointer.

Felton, much like he did in the games against Jeremy Lin, got caught up in trying to prove himself and his decision-making lead to more turnovers. The ball movement relied on long jumpers which were cold while the Blazers sizzled behind the arc with the likes of Nicolas Batum going off. By the time the barrage ended, the Knicks were down 78-95 with just four minutes remaining.

As a fitting conclusion, Felton bricked a three-pointer for the Knicks’s last possession.

ANOTHER INJURY:  As if matters couldn’t get any worse, Kenyon Martin left the game with what was later diagnosed as a bone contusion in one of his knees. No word yet on if he’ll miss any time.

Right now I’ll say the Knicks are at the lowest point they’ve had all season. There is no identity on defense or offense, and the team’s confidence is suffering for it. We can only hope they’ll focus on the good play they had in the first quarter and early part of the second for the next game (Clippers in LA on Sunday).

[youtube http://youtu.be/puIKJE-89Jg]

Where Is Melo??? Nuggets Run Knicks Off the Court 117-94

Melo_nuggets_gallo

You give a garbage effort, you get garbage results. This has been the case in the last two pathetic games: first the Warriors embarrassed the Knicks with a 30-point blowout, and the Nuggets added to the misery of Melo’s homecoming with a 117-94 defeat last night. It was a horrible game in all facets, including more serious injuries to two of our best players. When it rains it pours…

 

BLOOD IN THE WATER: Even though the Knicks were only down 5 points (26-31) at the end of the first quarter, the writing was on the wall. The defense was very porous with the Nuggets being able to outrun the Knicks in transition to get repeated layups. The Knicks repeated their folly the entire quarter — after every made basket, they were slow to get back as the Nuggets pushed the ball down their throats. The Knicks made a few treys to keep it close, but the energy level was alarmingly high in the Nuggets’ favor with the Knicks looking every bit like the older, banged up bunch they are.

 

2ND QUARTER MASSACRE: Nuggets coach George Karl told his team regarding their uptempo style that, “We run them, they don’t run us.” With Melo resting on the bench, the offense attempted to go through JR Smith to disastrous results. Smith missed a bunch of long jumpers and coughed the ball up several times. The stagnant offense was mirrored on the defensive end with the Nuggets going on a back-breaking 16-0 run. Novak couldn’t hit anything from downtown, and Wilson Chandler outran him down the court repeatedly for layups and dunks.

The Nuggets run extended to 21-1 and when the smoke cleared, The Knicks were looking at a 64-42 halftime deficit. To make matters worse, Tyson Chandler had to be carried off the court after banging his left knee on Corey Brewer and suffering a left knee contusion.

 

MELO CALLS IT A NIGHT: Melo’s right knee wasn’t much better than the previous game against the Warriors. He could only muster 9 points on 3-12 shooting before he headed back to the locker room. The rest of the team look bewildered at him leaving, and I’m sure that did nothing for their moral. The Denver crowd had booed Melo every time he touched the ball and have a great time even in his absence with chants of “Where is Melo?” and “Who needs Melo?”

[youtube http://youtu.be/9mtDxKoWDto]

 

COMPLETE AND UTTER FAILURE: Melo can be criticized in a  few areas this season like taking nights off on defense and being erratic with his shot selection. But these recent games are a collective failure. Our guards can’t keep anyone out the paint and our defensive rotations are horrible. Our best paint defender in Tyson Chandler constantly finds himself switched out onto the perimeter. The offense consists heavily of isolation plays with lots of standing around. The accountability is not there. Just last night, JR Smith appeared to have free reign while Iman Shumpert, who had his best game since returning from ACL surgery (20 points, 8-10 shooting), was seen getting chastised by Woodson after one bad three-point shot.

 

We are in trouble, guys. With Melo possibly out for a game or two and Chandler for God knows how long, it would not be a surprise to go through this road trip 1-4 or 0-5. We could find ourselves in the fourth seed and out of the Atlantic division lead by the time we make it back to Madison Square Garden to face the Magic on March 20.

[youtube http://youtu.be/8pxAuUqxrp8]

Stoudemire’s Season Ends with Second Knee Surgery

Stat

Amar’e Stoudemire’s productive comeback to the 2012-2013 season is now over with the confirmation that he will miss at least six weeks to have another knee debridement surgery.

Stoudemire missed the first two months of the season following the November 1 procedure on his left knee for a burst cyst. The pending surgery will be on his right knee and was discovered when Stoudemire complained of soreness in both knees following the Knicks’s 95-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Stoudemire has come off the bench since his January 1 return, but saw a marked increase in minutes after Carmelo Anthony went down with a sore knee in a March 4 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Stoudemire had been on a 30-minute playing cap per his last surgery.

Stoudemire was averaging 14 points and 5 rebounds while shooting 57% from the field.

At press time, the Knicks are expected to open the rotation back up to include additional role players like Chris Copeland.

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Absolutely devastating. Per the tentative timeline, Stoudemire could be back in the playoffs by the end of the first or sometime in the second round if the Knicks get that far. But do we really want to risk playing Stoudemire fresh out of surgery in the grueling, physical atmosphere of the playoffs? This news pretty much declares to me he’s done for the year.

This puts all of the scoring load back on Melo and JR. When they’re hot, it will be thrilling stuff. When they’re not, it’ll be like watching a cat playing with a mouse (ie. a slow death). That goes for the rest of our squad — we are truly living and dying by the three-point shot for the rest of the year. This is the second player we’ve lost to injury (Rasheed Wallace being the first), and our star player in Carmelo Anthony has already missed 10 games from the wear and tear of heavy minutes and playing at power forward for most of the year. Coach Woodson said he planned on trying to get Melo’s minutes down to 35. For that to happen, someone has to step up big and I mean Linsanity-like big.

The Knicks front office have some tough decisions to make this off-season.