<div align="center"> vs. <font color="orange">New York Knicks 17-22</font> vs. <font color="blue">Washington Wizards(21-16)</font> Date: January 17th, 2007 Time: 7:00 P.M. Eastern TV: CSN and MSG Place: Verizon Center</div> [div=50%]<div align="center"><font color="blue"><font size="3">Wizards Starting Lineup</font></font> <font size="1">(G. Arenas, D. Stevenson, C. Butler, A. Jamison, B. Haywood)</font></div> <font color="blue">2006-07 Wizards Stats</font> Leading Scorer: Gilbert Arenas - 30.2 PPG Leading Rebounder: Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler - 8.2 RPG Leading Assist Man: Gilbert Arenas - 6.3 APG Points Per Game: 107.3 Field Goal Percentage: 45.9% 3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 37.3% Rebounds Per Game: 40.8 Assists Per Game: 19.9 <font size="3">Backcourt</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/gilbert_arenas.jpg[/imgl]<font color="blue">Gilbert Arenas</font> PPG: 30.2, RPG: 4.3, APG: 6.3 [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/deshawn_stevenson.jpg[/imgl]<font color="blue">Deshawn Stevenson </font> PPG: 9.8, RPG: 2.6 APG: 2.5 <font size="3">Frontcourt</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/caron_butler.jpg[/imgl]<font color="blue">Caron Butler</font> PPG: 20.8, RPG: 8.2, APG: 3.8 [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/antawn_jamison.jpg[/imgl]<font color="blue">Antawn Jamison</font> PPG: 18.7, RPG: 8.2, APG: 1.8 [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/brendan_haywood.jpg[/imgl]<font color="blue">Brendan Haywood</font> PPG: 6.7, RPG: 6.7, APG: 0.7[/div]<font size="3"><div align="center"><font color="orange">Knicks Starting Lineups</font></div></font> <div align="center"> <font size="1">(S. Marbury, Q. Richardson, J. Jeffries, C. Frye, E. Curry )</font></div> <font color="orange">2006-07 Knicks Stats</font> Leading Scorer: Eddy Curry - 19.1 PPG Leading Rebounder: David Lee - 10.3 RPG Leading Assist Man: Stephon Marbury - 5.4 APG Points Per Game: 99.9 Field Goal Percentage: 45.7% 3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 32.5% Rebounds Per Game: 44.7 Assists Per Game: 19.1 <font size="3">Backcourt</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/stephon_marbury.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">Stephon Marbury</font> PPG: 14.6, RPG: 2.8, APG: 5.4 [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/quentin_richardson.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">Quentin Richardson</font> PPG: 13.3 RPG: 7.0, APG: 2.3 <font size="3">Frontcourt</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/jared_jeffries.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">Jared Jeffries</font> PPG: 5.6, RPG: 5.4, APG: 1.2 [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/channing_frye.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">Channing Frye</font> PPG: 10.6, RPG: 5.8, APG: 0.6 [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/eddy_curry.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">Eddy Curry</font> PPG: 19.1, RPG: 7.3, APG: 0.7 <div align="center"><font size="3"><u>Keys To The Game</u></font><ul></div>[*]<font color="orange">Bench Production</font> ? The Knicks are gonna be out and hustling all 48 minutes here, and guys like Renaldo Balkman and David Lee will need to come out and crash the boards like they did in the first meeting to combine for 22 rebounds. You have to expect the big three to be tired somewhat in the second half, therefore the perfect time for guys like Lee and Balkman to pounce off the bench.[*]<font color="orange">Jeffries Enough For Arenas?</font> ? Coach Isiah Thomas will start off putting Starbury on Arenas, but soon enough have Jeffries and Balkman individually guard Arenas. If Jeffries can eliminate the lanes to drive and force him to pull up, Jared should force Arenas off his rhythm with his wingspan, force him to do things and keep him guessing. Jeffries comes off a Monday night performance keeping Artest 4-15 on the floor and blocking 2 of his shots. [*]<font color="orange">Ball Movement</font> ? It's important for the Knicks move the ball around for open 3 point looks, and backdoor cuts in the paint for Eddy Curry, if they want to take advantage of this weak Wizards defense. In the first meeting, the Knicks dished out 23 assists leading up to more high percentage baskets for Balkman and Richardson. Doing so can kill the Wizards in crunch time. [*]<font color="blue">Box Out And Bound</font> ? The Knicks are the second best team in the league when it comes to rebounding, while the Wizards are one of the worst giving up a lot of them. This game though, the Wizards need to look to slow down and have guys like Butler and Stevenson help out on the boards, if they want to keep the Knicks to one shot per possession.[*]<font color="blue">Shoot From Downtown</font> ? In the last game between these two teams, Jamison and Arenas took over this game leading this team to 14-20 from downtown. With Gilbert Arenas coming off a 51 point performance along with 7 three-pointers, the Wizards are going to need to exploit the perimeter if they want to beat this team point-for-point. [*]<font color="blue">Slow The Knicks Down On Offense</font>The Knicks like to run on offense just like the Wizards do and they do a great job at it with a lot of fresh legs. Washington must be able to disrupt the passing lanes, keep them out of the paint and force them to shoot bad shots, or the Knicks will have it their way on offense. The Wizards are currently 5th in the league in steals with 8.2 a game, while the Knicks are second in the league in turnovers giving up 17.0 a game.[/list]
I dunno about this game for New York. The Wizards have a good home record and their perimeter defense is awful. I just hope Arenas scores less than 40. We need to keep Arenas in check which is all 29 teams' game plan, really. Either way it's not looking good for New York.
The Wizards are going to have to switch back on their players or guys like Jeffries(who's not even a consistent shooter) and Richardson are just going shoot lights out all night. The Knicks played good defense early out, but the technicals on Starbury and Isiah ruined their lead and momentum they had, so they're going to go back to forcing the Wizards to shoot late in the shot clock and containing Gilbert Arenas.
The demise of the Knicks is always due to their defense. That open Caron dunk was just terrible defense, especially after those two shots by Crawford and Marbury. We could have had that and I'm pissed, quite frankly. I haven't felt that way in a while.
I have to give big props to the Knicks for containing Gilbert Arenas throughout the whole game, and it's sucks to see that being overlooked by one mistake on defense leaving Caron Butler wide open for the dunk. I was pretty worried with Jamison driving through trying to look for a open shot, but I jumped out of my chair when Caron got the pass.
