Vs <font color=""DarkOrange"">New York Knicks </font>(3-3) vs. <font color=""Blue"">New Jersey Nets </font>(4-3) Date: Friday, October 28, 2005 Time: 7:30pm EST Location: Madison Square Garden, New York TV: ESPN <font size=""4""><font color=""DarkOrange"">Knicks Starting Lineup</font></font> -All statistics are from preseason <font size=""4""><font color=""DarkOrange"">Knicks Starters:</font></font> C: Eddy Curry: 16.7 MPG l 11.8 PPG l 4.0 RPG l 0.67 BPG l FG: .657% PF: Antonio Davis: 0.0 MPG l 0.0 PPG l 0.0 RPG l 0.0 BPG l FG:0.0 SF: Trevor Ariza: 25.2 MPG l 9.0 PPG l 5.0 RPG l 1.5 APG l FG: .529% SG: Jamal Crawford: 30.0 MPG l 10.7 PPG l 3.20 RPG l 4.0 APG l FG: .462% PG: Stephon Marbury: 23.2 MPG l 9.2 PPG l 2.6 RPG l 3.4 APG l FG: .429% <font size=""4""><font color=""DarkOrange"">Key Bench Players</font></font> C Jackie Butler 14.5 MPG 5.8 PPG 3.7 RPG 1.17BPG F/C Channing Frye 19.2 MPG 11.2 PPG 4.5 RPG 1.0 APG G Nate Robinson 25.0 MPG 10.2 PPG 4.5 RPG 3.0 APG F David Lee 19.8 MPG 7.8 PPG 5.4 RPG 1.4 APG <font size=""4""><font color=""Blue"">Nets Starting Lineup</font></font> - All statistics are from Preseason. <font size=""4""><font color=""Blue"">Nets Starters</font></font> C: Nenad Kristic: 25.8 MPG l 12.3 PPG l 5.3 RPG l 0.50 BPG l FG: .548% PF: Cliff Robinson: 19.4 MPG l 5.4 PPG l 4.3 RPG l 0.43 BPG l FG: .341% SF: Richard Jefferson: 24.0 MPG l 13.0 PPG l 3.3 RPG l 3.0 APG l FG: .415% SG:Vince Carter: 22.7 MPG l 13.6 PPG l 4.3 RPG l 2.1 APG l FG: .547% PG:Jason Kidd: 23.3 MPG l 5.3 PPG l 6.3 RPG l 4.3 APG l FG: .367% <font size=""4""><font color=""Blue"">Key Bench Players</font></font> C/F: Marc Jackson 26.5 MPG 14.8 PPG 4.7 RPG .50 BPG G: Zoran Planinic 18.5 MPG 9.8 PPG 2.3 RPG 1.0 APG F: Lamond Murray 19.0 MPG 7.7 PPG 3.1 RPG 1.3 APG <font size=""4""><font color=""Red"">KEY MATCHUP</font></font> VS. Marbury VS Kidd One of the biggest PG rivalry in the NBA. Both PG's are having a solid preseason and look to win the last game heading to the season. Both will involve their team in the game and play good defense against eachother. Marbury has the advantage in offense and Kidd has the advantage in passing. Its going 2 be work for each player to contain one another. Lets see who the best PG really is. <font size=""4""><font color=""Red"">GAME OUTLOOK AND PREDICTION</font></font> The Nets win the battle of the Positions and seem to be having a better preseason then the knicks are. The Knicks can't let the Nets run wild in their fastbreak style. They have to play good defense on the Nets main scorers, RJ and VC. They also have to control the boards and limit their struggles in offensive turnovers. The Nets have to control marbury's penetration, Crawfords scoring ability, and Curry's downlow game. NJ has to force turnovers and run their fastbreak offense. They also have to get the ball to VC, RJ, and Kristic. My prediction is that The Knicks win it 102-94. As long as the knicks have the lead into the half, our bench is better and will score more points. NJ's bench doesnt have the versitility and skill that the Knicks have.
I think with us at home we'll win the game, but Jersey will be a challenge and the way we perform against the trio will be especially important. If we can keep Jersey in a low scoring affair than that could possibly be a sign of a vastly improved defense. We also need to cutback on turnovers. If we kept turnovers to a minimum, we could've blown out Philly on Tuesday. Keeping up the defensive pressure and cutting down on turnovers will be key to a Knick victory. Btw, very nice preview, Gotskillz. Hopefully we'll see more previews from you in the regular season.
Half-Time Update: Well Curry started off on fire. He dominated the paint and the middle including a rejection of VC. Marbury barely shot the ball and crawford had some really nice shots. His shot selection has improved. Barnes has impressed also. He's knocked down those critical shots. TO's still hurt the knicks but they picked it uo on defense to come within 10 in halftime. Hopefully, they'll limit the turnovers and grab more rebounds.
This was a good game overall. We had our opportunities to get back in it, we just couldn't capitaliza. Turnovers are why we lost the game. Plain and simple. Btw, did anyone agree the officiating was terrible? They od'ed with the foul calls and that really slowed down the tempo. Box Score l Highlights
I was at the game last night. Noticed a lot of things, but I don't have time to point them all out. I'll just mention two things: 1. Frye's defense made Marc Jackson look like Shawn Kemp in his prime. Frye is an awful defender, whoever he went up against took total advantage of him. He's dreadfully soft. 2. Malik Rose's rear-end seriously grew in size. Lazy bum gained weight, when you go to a game I guarantee you'll notice it, it's VERY hard not to.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Knicks Analyst:</div><div class="quote_post">I was at the game last night. Noticed a lot of things, but I don't have time to point them all out. I'll just mention two things: 1. Frye's defense made Marc Jackson look like Shawn Kemp in his prime. Frye is an awful defender, whoever he went up against took total advantage of him. He's dreadfully soft. </div> He is too thin to deal with somebody like Jax over a long period of time in the post. Jax was able to seal him in the paint every trip down the floor when Frye was trying to cover him...so he kept Frye on his hip and got to the line pretty easy every trip. Anyway, I dont know if it was just because of the preseason...but it seems that Larry Brown was making the full effort to have Crawford and Marbury not be on the floor at the same time for most of the night. I guess he notices how bad that combination is together as well. The problem is that he is forced to play Robinson as a ball handler and decsion maker...and that isnt the strongest point of his game either. I think that if the Knicks can get something from Penny Hardaway this year, it will make a big difference in the out look of the team....cause Penny can provide some of that ball-handling and veteran decision making that the team lacks right now. Thats why you see 30 turnovers in a game like the Knicks had last night. I think if the Knicks can get minutes from Hardaway where he can handle the ball and make decisions from that 2/3 spot it will allow Crawford and Marbury to be more of scorers without the pressure of making plays all night long. But I dont know if Penny has a somewhat productive 15-20 mpg season left in him.
Frye did look very soft. He's not an aggressive rebounder and is always around the perimeter.Im not liking what i see from him. I dont think David Lee played last night. Any reasons for it? Penny had a good game, he made good decisions and dropped the open shots. I think LB will try combos with Penny and Marbury and Penny and Crawford. Like you said Penny is an experienced ballhandler and that can limit the turnover's.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">But I dont know if Penny has a somewhat productive 15-20 mpg season left in him.</div> In my opinion he definitely does not. He wasn't all that alert last night, he didn't look interested in playing for Larry...he didn't even look interested in playing basketball. You see the faces on the other Knicks faces, they all seem pretty excited and they all look determined at at least one point in the game. Penny looked bored by the whole thing. He didn't pick up the screens or any of the Nets' plays on defense. I thought he looked terrible. I hope he doesn't get anymore than 12 MPG.
