<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Penny:</div><div class="quote_post">Despite how bad the New York Knicks played, I am really beginning to take a shine to Nazr Mohammed. He is playing very good basketball right now, even in today's blowout. (I am trying to take some kind of positive from this game.) Nazr Mohammad 14pts 11 rebs 2 blks NYK vs DM Boxscore Kurt Thomas 0/7 0pts 6rebs. </div> You think Nazr played well??? Take a look at the box score and see how many shots attempts it took for Nazr to get those points. And it's easy to get 11 rebounds when your team cant seem to find the basket. Now I've had time to digest this loss and process it to figure out exactly what went wrong and how did this happen. First off Isiah had JYD talk to the crowd(anyone else notice that whenever someone talks to the crowd we get blown out?). That was the first mistake and after that I had a bad feeling about the game. Another thing, why are we giving Nazr the ball when he's being guarded by Dampier??? The zone defense murdered us early on as well(dont ask me how when we have Houston on the bench). Then the other problem came along, Dirk. If you think about it were one of the better teams equipped to handle him. We have players that are tall enough and mobile enough to chase him around but we didnt use them soon enough. If you havent guessed by now I am blaming Wilkens for this debacle. I actually hoped before the game began that maybe Lenny would actually decide to bring his best coaching to the game today. I was wrong. I had hoped that he would pull Kurt and Crawford early and put in Houston and JYD so there wouldnt be a mismatch. Of course he didnt do that. Then he did something that astonished me. He actually played a zone defense while Dirk was on the floor!!! Now I know the game was getting crazy and out of hand but it hadnt gotten THAT out of hand to play a zone defense with that man on the floor. He of course shot us out of it. Then they had the nerve to play a zone defense while Houston was on the floor which was simply them adding insult to injury and somehow we didnt beat it. Go figure. Kurt Thomas was dismal and Crawford didnt catch fire. Another problem was that Dirk had been shooting poorly which meant he was going to have a strong game sooner or later. He chose sooner. mrj18, Bruno Sundov was the(Knick) player of the game not Ariza. I say Bruno Sundov should get his own spot in the rotation whenever the Knicks play at home. After playing the way he did last night he deserved his own little two minute stint whenever we're at home. He's a big man who can shoot the three!! One of the only other big men I know who can do that just happens to be one of the guys who cut our throats last night. In conclusion it was just one of those games. These kinds of games can be avoided if our coach would just make the proper substitutions so we cant be exploited at any one position. It would also help if the starting unit comes out with some "fire and desire" and if they dont come out with that hunger then bring in the 2nd and 3rd unit. I'm just hoping we can do the Celtics tonight like the Mavericks did to us last night.
Tribute to H2O I agree with you. I blamed Wilkens too and noted that zone defense. I believe Finley, Dirk and Terry were all on the floor at the same time and he still decided to play zone. Sundov played well but, I think Ariza really got them into things with that dunk. I also think he played good defense but, Bruno was a close second.
Now that I think of it. That loss meant nothing to us. Boston lost, so they're not any closer to the 1st place in the atlantic, plus we play them tonight and we can send them 2.5 games back.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Now, Tim Thomas was horrible in the 1st despite his stats. He had turnovers that were not marked or noted, broke up picks on offense, didn't set proper screens, passed too early or late, lost his man, missed scoring opportunities and took ill-advised shot all the while milking the clock - hurting our chances of mounting a 'comeback' through a spark or barrage of drained shots. Disgusting.</div> Well, I wouldn't say horrible if it weren't for TT, we might have lost by 40+. TT gave us a little scoring in as much as he might have had a couple of ill-advised shots, he was making them. It doesn't really matter if you take a bad shot but, you better make it. He had 10 points in the first quarter and even though, he might have been a bit detrimental in the pick breaking etc. no one was producing so it wasn't as bad as it looked. Overall I would say he had a horrible game but, first quarter I don't think so. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Now, you're all probably waiting for me to blame this on Wilkens - but I won't. I'm going to blame it on Isiah. He compiled a starting lineup with only one player of ability to shut someone down on defense - Kurt Thomas (Who he tried to trade!) This in combination with a poorly drawn offense (Compliments of Wilkens) killed us - we backfired. </div> I don't think this is Isiah's fault. He might have compiled a starting lineup of just offensive talent however, in addition to the Knicks leaving their games at home, the way the team was used was the reason we lost. Lenny Wilkens created favorable matchups for the Mavericks. I said in my preview that Kurt Thomas will have trouble against Dirk, and we will need JYD's services. We only played JYD for 19 minutes minus the 12 minutes of garbage time=5 minutes of real action. This team definitely has its flaws but, Isiah is not the culprit. It was Lenny and the Knicks. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">mrj18 - Your bias was bleeding in the preview. There really wasn't much of a chance of us winning this game. Try to study the other team before writing previews. Dallas has been outstanding on the road this year (especially in comaparison to last year). And of course, offensive-minded teams play their hearts out in the Garden.</div> I was not being bias. The Knicks could have won this game. They played well against the NBA champs, they had mommentum from that Philadelphia game, and Utah. I did study the Mavericks. I did write that they were 8-3. The Knicks did have a chance in winning this game. The Knicks are 8-3 at home themselves. That game was one of those occasions where no Knicks showed up. The game should never had been so lopsided as it was. I do have faith in my Knicks but, I am not bias.
