Sunday, January 27, 2013

Coach Woodson's hard head

It certainly can be argued that the Knicks lost to the 76ers yesterday because they were looking past them to today's game against the Atlanta Hawks.

You could also say that there is a lot of rust on Felton who returned last night and Amar'e and Shumpert.

Those are good arguments but the reason for yesterday's loss in my opinion had less to do with rust and more to do with coach Woodson's hard head.

Like Toney Douglas last year once Woodson gets an idea in his head he is reluctant to change it until his team is on the brink of disaster.

This force fitting of Amar'e and Carmelo on the floor at the same time does not work and will not work but coach just can't get that through his thick head.

After Melo and JR Smith proved that they couldn't hit an elephant in the ass with a two by four Woodson should have immeditely allowed Felton and Amar'e to work on the court minus Smith and Anthony.

Amar'e was the only guy who showed up offensively yesterday and could have gotten 40 points on the slow footed big men of Philly but because he was on the floor with Melo and Smith his touches were limited and yet he still managed to get 20 points.

I am not saying that Amar'e should start in place of Anthony, not at all, but I am saying that once he agreed publicly to coming off the bench coach Woodson should have put an end to this ridiculous experiment.

Amar'e's role should be as the featured scorer on the second unit working with Raymond primarily at the point.

If not the Philly game will become more of the norm and less of the exception.

Knicks Lose Again, Philly 97 - Knicks 80

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

These teams will meet again

Some Knicks fans will argue that although they lost yesterday to the Nets they took them to the final seconds minus three important players.

The truth is only one of those missing players is asked to contribute much and that's Raymond Felton.

Anthony, Smith and Stoudemire played at full strength but the rest of the team is not deep enough to handle this Nets version 2.0 that has been on a tear since PJ Carlesimo replaced Avery Johnson.

Unfortunately the geniuses at the league office only scheduled two regular season games between these teams making it impossible to see these teams go at it at full strength anymore in the regular season.

I have a feeling that these teams will meet again in the playoffs with the same results as yesterday.

The Knicks Lose Again, Nets 88 - Knicks 85

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Deng Dong

Last night the Knicks scored 36 points total for the first half.

The game was over before the third quarter began, don't let the final score fool you.

The Knicks will be .500 in no time. I told you.

Knicks Lose Again, Bulls 108 - Knicks 101

Friday, January 11, 2013

Everybody loves Raymond, now.

The word around town today is that the Knicks lost last night's game because Carmelo was serving his one game suspension. That is true, I can't argue against it but let's be honest.

This team was having issues winning the past month even with Carmelo and for one very important reason and that is no Raymond Felton.

When the Knicks have faced teams with very quick guards without the help of Raymond, Jason Kidd and Prigioni simply look like statues and if their shots weren't falling the Knicks were certain to lose. The games that the Knicks were able to win Carmelo had to rack up 35 or 45 points.

The Knicks had some success without Felton because Anthony is a scoring juggernaut at times but when he is off his game only Raymond can orchestrate the point guard position well enough to get other players in position to score.

Amare Stoudemire is very rusty and looking like a shell of his former self but only because the current Knicks point guards don't handle the ball ferociously enough to keep defenses off balance which would allow for more space for Amar'e to operate.

The return of Iman Shumpert will certainly make the Knicks a better team on defense but this offense is not going to return to being the well oiled machine we witnessed early in the season until Raymond Felton returns to carry the load at the point.

Knicks Lose Again, Pacers 81 - Knicks 76


Monday, January 7, 2013

Beating them is quite simple

The Knicks are a very good team but the book on beating them is quite simple. Get underneath their skin and they will lose their composure, play offense out of revenge and they will argue with the referees leading to technical fouls.

The Celtics knew full well what to do to beat the Knicks tonight and now so does the rest of the league.

Anthony spent the bulk of the second half locked in yelling and shoving matches with Kevin Garnett and his shooting was affected negatively.

You would think that Anthony would have worked to get close shots at the rim since his jumper wasn't falling and Novack was a ghost but no. Anthony kept missing jumpers leading to the Knicks latest loss.

Let's see if Carmelo Anthony and his gang will take the next big step to become an elite team and that step is maturity.

Knicks Lose Again, Celtics 102 - Knicks 96

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

A bunch of slow old men

With Amare Stoudemire unable to shake of his rust, Prigioni constantly duped into going for steals and JR Smith being beaten off the dribble for easy layups the Knicks looked like a bunch of slow old men tonight against the Portland Trailblazers.

Again the Knicks played poorly on defense early in the game and fell into an insurmountable hole.

Carmelo Anthony got his 30, which he always does, but tonight the Knicks back court had no answer for the quickness and shooting ability of the Blazers.

By double teaming Anthony and forcing the Knicks to get scoring elsewhere the Blazers went on to have the victory despite a late mini run by the Knicks.

If the Knicks guards can't solve the give and go and cannot cease to be baited into failed steal attempts this team will quickly fall to .500. Raymond Felton was truly missed this evening.

Knicks Lose Again, Blazers 105 - Knicks 100