I'm going to this game, I'm leaving soon too so I can't write up a preview right now. I'll bring along a pad and pen to take some notes to pot later on. Let's discuss the game and the boxscore here.
first quarter update: Nowitzki leads the Mavs with a whopping 15 points, and J Howard has 6 points for them. for the knicks: Q leads the way with 10 points, and Barnes chipped in 7. Thus far Curry has 3 points, 2 boards and 2 fouls
50 - 42 Mavs....Starbury playin decently...on court right now; Marbury Robinson Ariza Lee Richardson Q just pulled hammy I think....timeout Knicks
Halftime <font size=""5""><div align="center">Halftime</div></font> Mavericks 61 / Knicks 57 <font color=""DarkOrange"">Knicks Leading Scorers:</font> Quentin Richardson
Rookies Frye, Robinson, and Lee all look good in the 2nd half. Defensive intensity stepping up with quick play of the rooks. Notable play ... drive by Robinson dish off the Lee for the driving dunk.
I must say that after watchin this preseason game I am hyped about this season. I love the energy these young guys have exhibited. I think the excitement is back in Ney York...and ohh yeah the score is now tied at 102 apiece with 7 seconds left AFTER Nate Robinson hit 2 clutch free throws. GO NY GO NY GO!!!
What a way to lose....Diop Despite the loss, there were plenty of positives to draw from this game. The first and obvious one is the play of the rookies. Channing Frye, Nate Robinson, and David Lee all played well. I was really impressed with Lee, though. He showed a high basketball IQ. Frye did well, too. 11/4 in only 18 minutes. Robinson got a little wild at times (sometimes to wild), but overall I liked his energy and the way he controlled the tempo. Btw, Van Horn traveled and the refs did nothing. It should've gone to OT.
Frye was terrible, MrJ. He was really very soft, he looked awful - we were better off using a Knicks city dancer on man-to-man defense. He swayed away from the basket when trying to tip it in, he was awful. If you looked closely he was weak as hell. Richardson got lost on defense a few times, got lost on screens and such - but he was a great source of offense in the first quarter, he looked good. David Lee looked really good, and so did Matt Barnes. Butler's stat line lies, he had a pretty good game overall. Butler made some good plays - he looked a bit lost, but who on the Knicks didn't? We looked out of it tonight overall, but the future showed its potential.
Who was on the bad end of all of Diop's blocks? He had 5 blocks in 18 minutes, and the game winning tip. That has to be a bad omen when Diop tips in the game winner. Who didn't box him out?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Who didn't box him out?</div> Nate Robinson. The kid can play, but that size is always going to serve as a backbreaker. Not being the biggest Knicks fan around, I have to say it was actually fun seeing them again. Frazier with the old school commentating i.e. "razzle and dazzle and finishing off with the good stuff" . Basketball is most def. in the air. As for the game, I have to say Knicks fan will are going to literally love Nate The Great and David Lee. These two guys are something very special. David Lee seems like the perfect Larry Brown player. Nate Robinson is a horse. Diving fore loose balls, having a tipping war with PF and C's and so on shows how much heart and passion this guy plays with. He played football early on so that's where he probably got the toughness from. Brown was being Brown, coaching to win even though it's preseason. Judging from that game alone(which is not much to judge from anyways) I'll admit that the Knicks MIGHT, just might be able to contend for the Atlantic Division crown. I honestly didn't expect much from this team at all, but I have a guy feeling that they might start opening some eyes. It's too early to tell but that game alone and the energy from MSG make it feels as if the Knicks might actually start doing something.
KA, I don't think Frye did that bad, actually. He was very aggressive and I was very impressed with his defense. He didn't get blocks or anything like that, but he was doing things like forcing turnovers, and putting a hand in the defender's face. I'll see the rewind today, but I still don't think he was that bad.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MrJ:</div><div class="quote_post">KA, I don't think Frye did that bad, actually. He was very aggressive and I was very impressed with his defense. He didn't get blocks or anything like that, but he was doing things like forcing turnovers, and putting a hand in the defender's face. I'll see the rewind today, but I still don't think he was that bad.</div> Aggresive? If you call shying away from contact on several ocassions "aggressive", then he was aggressive. I saw that he was found lost a bit, he didn't clog up the passing lanes like he should've on defense. I liked Butler more on defense, he made some nice moves and shifted pretty well. He was alert and impressed me to a certain extent. Frye's defense wasn't at the level of a lottery pick whose best feature coming out of college was his defense.
I was impressed with Frye's outside game. I liked when he knocked down those shots from the outside. He played good defense but it couldve been better. David Lee impressed me the most. He scored,passed, stealed, etc. He's an all around good player who gives it his all every night and 2nite it showed it. Nate Robinson and Barnes also impressed me. Nate showed some clutch at the end and some leadership. He passed the ball around but he did take some bad shots. Barnes played good D and got his points which also impressed me. Ariza stepped it up at the end and Butler played good. I didnt really care about the loss, i was more impressed at how hard the players worked like diving for balls and excelling in defense. It shouldve gone to OT though. CLyde pointed it out and I think we wouldve won since we had the momentum. The knicks rookies showed alot of character by staying in the game and tying the game up after they were down by 10 in the 4th.
fun game Nate Robinson looked LOST in the paint like a man in a forest of really big trees. He executed passes well though. his best bet is to be a passer, he is used to being a scorer in college I guess and he tried it last night and all I can say is Nate you're not Steve Francis or Tony Parker and even still this is Josh Howard and Van Horn and DeSagana you're driving through not J. O"neal foster and artest for example. He's a showman though, maybe he'll be able to emerge as a scoring option. I could see him being a hybrid between Franchise and Earl Boykins. The dude can JUMP though. David Lee looks REALLY promising. He has great hands. He's a very good passer. He's committed to D. He is a great shooter. And he's a fairly bulky 6'9". Frye was non-existent. Who is Frye? Is he a member of the New York Knicks? Other than that Steph made a couple of bonehead moves like a crossover that turned into a turnover, etc. Dallas's biggest hope for this season is Diop. he's the one guy they've been missing. At least on PAPER and in the physical form. Physically he looks like he could be dominant. Mental and skillwise remains to be seen. Christie looked fresh. I didn't know he was 35 - he's one of the very most athletic 35 year olds in the game I think.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting phunDamentalz:</div><div class="quote_post">Nate Robinson looked LOST in the paint like a man in a forest of really big trees. He executed passes well though. his best bet is to be a passer, he is used to being a scorer in college I guess and he tried it last night and all I can say is Nate you're not Steve Francis or Tony Parker and even still this is Josh Howard and Van Horn and DeSagana you're driving through not J. O"neal foster and artest for example. He's a showman though, maybe he'll be able to emerge as a scoring option. I could see him being a hybrid between Franchise and Earl Boykins. The dude can JUMP though. David Lee looks REALLY promising. He has great hands. He's a very good passer. He's committed to D. He is a great shooter. And he's a fairly bulky 6'9". Frye was non-existent. Who is Frye? Is he a member of the New York Knicks? Other than that Steph made a couple of bonehead moves like a crossover that turned into a turnover, etc. Dallas's biggest hope for this season is Diop. he's the one guy they've been missing. At least on PAPER and in the physical form. Physically he looks like he could be dominant. Mental and skillwise remains to be seen. Christie looked fresh. I didn't know he was 35 - he's one of the very most athletic 35 year olds in the game I think.</div> Excellent post. I feel the same way about Diop, he is the big body that Dallas needs, and if he can straighten himself out (I'm sure Avery will make it a point to get him to do so), he could prove to be very valuable to Dallas. Anyone else here notice how Malik was probably the smallest guy in the starting line-up? He was out PF, but everyone looked just as tall (or really rigth at his height) if not taller than him. Lee will start at the PF quite a bit this year. If Lee is truly committed to improving his game, he will become a great student of Larry Brown. I love the potential in Lee, I am more excited for him than any other rookie right now. Lee showed real heart out there, and he looks like he could really be good player for us.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting j0se:</div><div class="quote_post">Lee and Ariza will be our starters by mid season.</div> I don't know about Ariza starting, even though Q hasnt looked really good these past 2 games. Q is going 2 stay a starter until end of the season if he can stay healthy. I love Lee. So far he's outdone every rookie on the knicks and shows the most improvement. 6'9 230 i think is pretty good for a PF. Hopefully, he'll add some more mass and become a better rebounder. But I agree, Lee has a really good chance to outplay Rose and Taylor for the job.
