Game Recrap: Bobcats 118, Knicks 110

The season is still young, but these are the games that make a difference in playoff seeding, or even whether the Knicks will dance in the second season or be watching ping pong balls on behalf of the Rockets (thank you Jared Jeffries salary dump) come spring. In an embarrassing showing, the Knicks yielded 118 points to the previously clawless Bobcats, losing 118-110 at the Garden. Combined with losing on the road to a Steph Curry-less Warriors team and Monday at home to the Craptors, this is the Knicks 3rd loss that a team with as much talent as the Knicks CANNOT lose, regardless of how banged up the team is or how little time they have had to “gel." It just can’t happen.

The game started off perfectly for the Knicks. Tyson had a great oop from Melo 5 seconds into the action, Amar’e actually corralled a rebound and TD and Chandler had a great pick and roll for the early flush. Then, it kinda got really ugly. The defense was horrendous all night, as the rotations weren’t there or totally puzzling in execution. The Woodson plan apparently involves switching on every pick and roll (ya know, because Tyson Chandler and Toney Douglas are basically interchangeable as far as who they can guard), help never came for a majority of the night and Bobcats had more contested jumpers in warm-ups. The lines for the ‘Cats mediocre cast of characters was alarming: 12-15 for 27 from Boris Diaw, 10-13 for 24 from Gerald Henderson, 5-8 from DJ White for 10 and 6-8 for 16 from Byron “Don’t Call Me BJ” Mullens. Just an absolutely traumatic defensive performance, especially by the front court.

For Mullens’ part, that was a head scratcher if I ever saw one. This is the same guy that was described upon leaving for the draft after his freshman year (where he averaged under 10 ppg at Ohio State) as unable to create his own shot and lacking any perimeter game, but he seemed to be reborn as a shooter against the Knicks porous front line. This leads me to one of three conclusions: 1) dropping the BJ from his name made him an elite shooter 2) his time in the NBDL, Greece and prison league ball really refined his perimeter game or 3) the Knicks defense is a complete and utter failure. Considering the evidence would indicate the BJ moniker led BJ Armstrong to be one of the best shooters of my lifetime, it was either the pick up games in cell block 6 that led to Mullens’ amazing growth, or the NYK defense is really that bad. While it may be worth it to send D12 to a few West Orlando Juvenile detention games (because if Howard developed a perimeter game like Mullens showed last night he’d be the greatest player in the history of man), I’m going to point the finger at the Knicks huge embarrassing failure of interior D here. The perimeter D was no better, as the Bobcats shot 55.3% in all, with 63.6% from 3. Good stuff. In an unrelated note, I have no idea how Corey Maggette was never an Isiah era Knick. He’s selfish, a terrible team player, extremely overrated and overpaid. Zeke really dropped the ball on that one.

Offensively, things were a little more encouraging for the Knicks (how could they be worse?), particularly in light of the defense and what we have seen offensively in recent games. Amar’e had his best game of the young season and actually ventured inside, putting his quest to become the league's biggest 2 guards on hold for the time being and getting over the kryptonite effect the paint has had on him early this year. This team really needs Amar’e to be a big time scorer, even more so than Melo, simply because Amar’e is so much more efficient. Melo is who he is, and there is a place on this team for a high volume elite scorer, but it certainly helps to be flanked by another elite scorer who does so efficiently. Amar’e also rebounded tonight to the tune of 12 boards to compliment his 25 points. Nice performance coming off the injury from STAT.

Chandler didn’t miss a shot, but outside of the first few minutes, he was almost non existent all night, ending up 4-4 with 11 points and 6 boards in 40 minutes. Way to show the ‘Cats they made a poor decision to salary dump you. Melo poured in 32, which was deceptively impressive, as he dropped 22 in the 4th to simply keep the Knicks within shouting distance. He experienced foul trouble all night, and has had better performances. Still, Melo finished with a line of 32 points, 6 rebs, 5 assists and 3 steals, so it’s hard to point the finger at his performance as the killer here. For his part, Toney had a few decent looks for his teammates, but shot terribly, including 1-6 from deep. Again, some encouraging signs offensively as a whole, but given that the paint was prominently defended by Boris Diaw and DJ White, that should be a given.

Shumpert, in his first game since the season opener, provided a ton of energy and effort on both sides of the ball, and sparked the worst bench in the league so far this season with 18 impressive points. He displayed his world class athleticism on both ends, an impressive shooting stroke and tremendous confidence for a rookie. Best of all, he did exactly what we have been missing all year from our SSOL approach: he pushed the ball relentlessly off misses and changes in possession. That set up opportunities for himself and others, which has been sorely missed in the Knick attack. Additionally, his return relegated the aforeblogged-about Mike Bibby to the bench all game with a DNP – Corpse with a Headband. On a semi related note, I just crammed in the first season of Homeland (tremendous show) over the holidays, and I haven’t been able to look at Bibby without thinking “A Knicks Point Guard has been turned!” and wondering whether he’s actually still assisting the Heat by taking us down from the inside. If you’ve seen the series, you get the reference. If not, keep moving, nothing to read here.

The rest of the bench was terrible, and Landry Fields may be joining them shortly. He once again looked lost, posting a horrendous -21 +/- in 25 minutes. Shump Shump may be hunting that starting spot soon. Cult hero Jorts barely got in the game, which is too bad, because in terms of skill set, he could have learned a lot from the clinic Boris Diaw put on against Amar’e. Balkman and Bully Walker both got a bit of burn with Melo in foul trouble. Bully was ok in limited minutes; Balkman was, well, Balkman… completely forgettable and useless.

Ultimately, while the Bockers played with a lot of heart towards the end of the game to try and climb back in it, they were never able to overcome the 14 point lead the Bobcats got out to in the first half, in part due to the complete inability to get a defensive stop or swing momentum at any point. The Bobcats scored around 30 points like clockwork each quarter, and regardless of what NBA retread was taking the shots, the Knicks had no answer defensively. The effort isn’t there, their schemes are lacking and the entire effort looks disjointed. At this point, maybe Melo can teach the rest of the team the Syracuse zone, because I can’t watch another game where so many pick and rolls resulted in a big trying to defend on the perimeter or a guard getting posted inside.

Now the Knicks must go on the road and right the ship against the 0-6 Wizards. A 4th loss in the first 7 games to a team they have no business losing to would be a huge blow. I mentioned after the Lakers game that the Bockers needed to make some headway in this, the easiest part of their schedule, and thus far, it hasn’t been a great start. After the Wiz they have the Pistons on Saturday, followed by a rematch with the Bobcats on Monday. Hopefully the Knick defense scores an invite to that matchup.

Too Little, Too Late: Raptors 90 Knicks 85

The Knicks lost tonight's game in the 2nd quarter, getting outscored 29-11 in the period by the Toronto Raptors. Despite making several runs and cutting the lead to one point with less than a minute to play, the Raptors' 17 point halftime lead proved to be insurmountable for New York.

Leading by one after the 1st quarter, the Knicks were lethargic on offense in the 2nd, failing to score in the first four minutes. The Knicks only mustered 11 points on 3 made field goals in the entire period. As has been their wont this season, the Bockers were content to hoist up ill-advised jump shots. When they didn't fall, the Raptors were able to capitalize, relying on sharp shooting nights from Rasual Butler (13 points, 5-12 FG, 3-7 3PT) and DeMar DeRozan (21 points 7-13 FG, 2-2 3PT). Overall, the Knicks attempted 19 shots from behind the arc in the first half, making only 5 and shot a dismal 28% from the floor.

In the second half, the Knicks were able to chip away at the lead by picking up their defensive intensity, making the Raptors look completely out of sorts on offense. Toney Douglas (22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) began to pressure Jose Calderon, who struggles with more athletic guards, and Tyson Chandler (11 points, 10 rebounds, 5 personal fouls) started trapping the Spaniard just over the half court line. This led to two turnovers from Calderon and forced the Raptors to get into their sets much later in the shot clock, leading to several disjointed possessions. Spurred by his excellent defensive work, Douglas' offense picked up in the 3rd period, where he scored 12 points by knocking down 3 shots from deep, including an electrifying 4-point play. The last 3-pointer from Douglas cut the lead to 5 with 4:24 left to play, and the Knicks whittled the difference down to 3 when Josh Harrellson sunk two free throws a few possessions later.

With 1:59 left in the period and the Knicks down 6, Mike Bibby and Bill Walker checked in and the Knicks' momentum screeched to a halt. Unable to stay in front of a one-legged toddler at this point in his career, on back-to-back plays Bibby fouled Leandro Barbosa to set up a three point play and sent Jose Calderon to the line, a man who once made 151 of 154 free throw attempts for an NBA single-season record of 98%. Bibby also bricked a three to close out the quarter and was utterly incapable of achieving any semblance of penetration, meaning the Knicks offense degenerated into half-assed high pick and rolls and lazily passing the ball around the perimeter until someone jacked up a jumper like a game with the middle-aged lawyers at your local YMCA. In related news, Mike Bibby found a nice warm seat on the bench for the rest of the game.

In the final period, the Knicks hung tough, cutting the lead to 3 several times and then to 1 after a Carmelo Anthony (31 inefficient points on 13-31 FG) basket with 1:04 left in the game. However, the Knicks were unable to get over the hump, plagued by some inopportune misses at the charity stripe (Douglas, Chandler and Fields were the culprits) and an inability to recapture the defensive success that held the Raptors to 16 points in the 3rd quarter. For some reason, Mike D'Antoni abandoned the game plan that had allowed the Knicks scrape their way back into the game, putting Fields on Calderon and Douglas on Butler for most of the period. Butler was able to convert a key jumper over the much shorter Douglas with 3:18 left in the game and Fields struggled to defend the pick and roll between Calderon and Andrea Bargnani, with the former first-round pick tallying a 17-foot jumper over Fields on the switch with 45 seconds remaining and then drawing a foul with 17 seconds on the ensuing possession, crucially extending the Raptors' lead to 3 on both plays.

This was a disappointing loss for the Knicks who hoped to get above .500, even without star Power Forward Amar'e Stoudemire. This season's Raptors return many of the same players from a disastrous 22-win 2010-2011 campaign and the Knicks simply should not be losing to teams like this at home. The blame for this loss can be squarely placed on poor shooting, a terrible bench and the injury bug. As with their other losses this season, the Knicks couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat, shooting 28% (10-35) from deep and 36% (28-78) from the field. This is going to be a recurring theme all year, as the Knicks seem to live and die with the three-ball, but lack the consistent shooters to maintain any semblance of regular success doing so. The bench played an extremely weak game, scoring only 10 points and getting trodden upon by the Raptors every time Steve Novak (-10 +/-), Bill Walker (-13 +/-) and Mike Bibby (-18 +/-) stepped foot on the floor. However, part of this can be explained by the string of injuries the Bockers have suffered in this young season. A healthy Stoudemire means Jorts goes back to the bench and Steve Novak assumes the Inaugural Andy Rautins Business Casual Shooter Who Can't Do Anything Else role. Shump Shump's return and Baron Davis' debut probably mean we never have to watching the shambling undead that is Mike Bibby for more than the most sparing minutes (please God, let that be soon). Finally, when Jared Jeffries comes back we will no longer be exposed to Jerome Jordan's impression of a person who has never played basketball before.

Until the Knicks are healthy though, it's probably best to avoid getting too overwrought about losing to crappy teams like this. This is going to be a topsy-turvy lockout-shortened season. Making the playoffs is paramount, but once a spot in the postseason is secured it's going to be crapshoot. Knicks fans don't need to be reminded that the 1999 vintage of the Bockers made the NBA Finals as an 8 seed. Up next, the Knicks will host the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night and hope to bounce back from tonight's loss against another unimpressive opponent.

Game Recap: Knicks 114 Kings 92

The Knicks took care of business tonight.

The big takeway from tonight's game is that the Kings are a bad team. Just really bad. Like I cannot understand how that team beat the Lakers last week. They are all gunners. I do not think they ran a single play all game.

The Knicks on other hand moved the ball well and looked for the open shot. They took an early lead thanks to making 8 of their first 11 three pointers. Even Renaldo Balkman got into the three point action...and missed.

Melo did not score a field goal in the first quarter however his presence tonight cannot be overstated. Any time the Kings gained some momentum, Melo slowed it down by getting to the line or making a 15 footer. He finished with 23 points, 7 boards, 5 assists, and 0 turnovers. The lack of turnovers reflects how little Melo had to force the issue tonight. This is because Toney, Jorts, Chandler, and Fields were extremely active tonight. Chandler shook off early foul trouble (dude you gotta stop that) and played his best game so far as a Knick, scoring 22 points in just 24 minutes. Chandler really is a fantastic finisher - Toney forced a few lobs to him that still ended up netting two points. A career 62% free throw shooter, Chandler is 21 for his last 24 from the charity stripe (88%).

Amar'e who? Big Jorts55 was the MAN tonight. Before the shootaround D'Antoni told reporters that he felt very comfortable starting Jorts tonight because of his size and "feel for the game." Coach D failed to mention that Jorts is literally the best three point shooter of all time. He finished 4-6 from beyond the arc (banked one in) tonight. He is also really difficult to move on the block which translated to some second chance point opportunities and solid post defense. He certainly gave Cousins all he could handle as Cousins simply could not get deep enough to do any damage. Big Jorts certainly earned himself Jared Jeffries' minutes tonight. All of Jared Jeffries' minutes. For the rest of Jeffries' career, please?

All in all, it was a well-played game so I won't expound upon the negatives (rebounding, rebounding, rebounding).

Happy New Year - On to Toronto!

PS: Marcus Thornton or Demarcus Cousins (either one) can give Vince Carter a run for his money for the NBA's Worst Body Language Award.

Lakers 99 Knicks 82: To Live and Die in LA (mostly die)

Coming into the game, there was reason for optimism that this would be an opportunity for the Knicks to get themselves a big early season road win. Andrew Bynum was still serving his suspension for clubbing JJ Barea in the playoffs, and the Lakers starting lineup featured Josh McRoberts and Devin Ebanks at forward opposite the Knicks’ stars. The hope was that the previous night against Golden State was simply a trap game, with the Knicks looking past a Warriors team without Steph Curry to their higher profile match up with the Lakers. Unfortunately, those hopes were quickly and repeatedly dashed throughout the evening, as the Knicks turned in a subpar performance, losing to the Lakers 99-82, in a game that never really seemed in doubt from the opening minutes.

What went wrong? More like what didn’t? The Knicks allowed the Lakers to score 31 points in the 1^st on 63% from the floor, including 16 points in the paint on the Knicks' refurbished frontline to take a 7 point lead into the 2^nd. I would love to tell you the Knicks defense improved from their 1st quarter struggles, but the Knicks barely forced a miss in the 2^nd quarter, with the Lakers extending their halftime lead to 12, 63-51. The Lakers shot a robust 72% for the half, their most prolific shooting half since they shot 77.1% against Orlando in 1999. While the Knicks made a run to open the 3^rd, with their improved defense holding the Lakers to 17 points in the quarter, they were never able to really swing momentum. 13 of those 17 came from an impressive scoring binge from Kobe Bryant, including a 4 point play when he was fouled by Renaldo Balkman in the act… 30 feet from the hoop… with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. It was that kind of evening.

The Knicks trimmed the deficit to 8 to start the 4^th, but a 17-3 Lakers run to start the quarter put the game out of reach, with the Knicks' first hoop from the floor finally coming half way through the period on a Carmelo Anthony drive. The Knicks have now lost to Kobe and the Lakers 9 times in row, dating back to February 2007 and, according to Shaq, this was the worst Knicks shooting performance in 4 years, at 31.3% from the floor. Not a lot of positives to take away, other than the game is over.

In terms of individual performances, I want to focus on the Knicks, but I’d be remiss in not mentioning the efficient performances by the two Lakers stars. Kobe went for 28 points on just 17 shots, and Pau Gasol added 16 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks in similarly efficient fashion on just 12 shots. Additionally, the Artist Formerly Known as Ron Artest, Metta World Peace, gave the Knicks no peace, as he harassed half the Knicks team at one point or another, leading to an impressive +20 +/- for the game in just 25 minutes. The Lakers scored 44 points in the paint, shot 52.1% when it was all said and done, including 9 of 16 from deep.

For the Knicks, a bright spot was Carmelo Anthony, who put up 27 points on just 14 shots, and added 7 rebounds, 5 assists and was generally the only functional part of the offense (more on that in another post). He was aggressive all night long, getting to the line repeatedly, although his 5 turnovers were the portrait of a man trying to force the action towards the end of the evening when his teammates had really seemed to abandon him.

Tyson Chandler had the best game of his young Knicks career, as he played aggressively and with purpose, turning in a 13 point/11 rebound double-double, adding 3 steals, 2 blocks and getting himself to the line 14 times. An encouraging performance by Chandler. The Knicks ability to get to the stripe was really the only team positive to take away from the performance, as they shot 41 free throws and knocked down 34 of them, a 20 point advantage at the line over the Lakers. I shudder to think how badly this outcome would have looked if that advantage didn’t exist.

Amar’e Stoudemire turned in a performance that was unblemished by success, save for the nice corner 3 he swished for the 3^rd time this season. STAT went 4-17 from the floor for 15 points, turned the ball over 4 times, didn’t manage a single assist (typical) and only registered 2 boards (sadly, even more typical). To make matters worse, he turned his ankle in the 4^th quarter, headed to the locker room, and appears to be questionable for the NYE game against the Kings. That’ll put a bow on that performance.

The starting backcourt of Fields and Douglas combined for 8 assists, which itself is not an impressive number from a starting backcourt, but combined with Melo’s 5, the starting 1 through 3 men accounted for 13 of the Knicks' 15 assists. Although they both struggled to score, they played well at times and the team seemed much more effective on both ends when they were out there together, much like last year, as Toney posted a -6 +/- (impressive for a 19 point loss) and Fields played the Lakers to a draw at a 0 +/-.

For the bench, I was always told if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. In trying to find any rays of hope on the pine, here’s all I’ve got: Novak showed the stroke the Knicks are hoping he provides from deep, knocking down 2 of his 3 3pt attempts. Balkman played hard and was active in his brief 10 minute stint, although a little too active on the 4 point play he handed Kobe at a key point for momentum in the 3^rd. Finally, Billy Walker showed a lot of hustle in diving for loose balls, coming up with 3 impressive steals, but outside of that effort, he managed to only contribute a stat of line 1 point, 1 assist and no rebounds in 17 minutes on the floor. Save for his 5 personal foul, it would have been easy to forget he was out there.

All in all, it was a tale of two halves; unfortunately, there was nothing positive about either. The first half featured an epically bad defensive performance, and while the defense tightened noticeably in the 2^nd half, the offense completely disappeared at its expense. There was little to no ball movement after the crisp first few minutes of the game, no transition game to speak of, and although the help defense was impressive at times, the help to the help was nonexistent, leading to easy after easy hoop off the pick and roll. The defense was so bad that D’Antoni said he thought about rolling out a zone defense in the 2^nd half, despite the fact that he had not had an opportunity to install the scheme in practice. I’ll just let that statement sink in for its alarming indictment on the Knicks' man to man defense, as well as their lack of preparation as a team.

It’s difficult to not be alarmed by this second straight subpar performance, but it is important to keep in perspective that it often takes a team a while to gel with new pieces to start the season. Still, with potentially the softest part of the Knicks schedule coming in the next 10 days, the Bockers really need to right some of their wrongs sooner rather than later and get on the same page against a slew of lottery bound teams that can’t match their talent level. Hopefully the turnaround starts Saturday against the Kings.

Warriors 92 Knicks 78: Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword

On Christmas Day, Carmelo Anthony was able to bail the Knicks out of a wilting 3rd quarter performance with late game heroics. Last night, against the normally defensively-challenged Golden State Warriors, Anthony could only muster one point in the 4th quarter as the Knicks' fragile six-point lead evaporated. I bring this up not to excoriate Anthony for not being "clutch" (a term that my sabermetrically-inclined baseball mind cringes at), but to point out the more troubling trend that the Knicks offense in the past two games has lacked any semblance of motion, fluidity or vision.

A look at last night's 4th quarter shot chart tells much of the story of why the Knicks struggled so much on offense, mustering a measley 14 points and only 8 points in the first 9 minutes of the period. The first shot in the paint came from a garbage time put-back from Jerome Jordan with 3:47 left to play and the game already out of hand. When the Knicks needed a bucket as the Warriors started their barrage, the offense consisted of: 1) pass the ball to Amar'e Stoudemire or Anthony, 2) jab step (repeat as needed), 3) hoist up a 12-20 foot jump shot. When they weren't doing that, they were turning the ball over while attempting to run this "play." It worked brillaintly on Sunday because Anthony worked his magic and reminded us what a gifted scorer he is. That said, it's not a viable way to win games over the course of a grueling regular season.

The truly troubling part of this is that the Warriors are not a team with an intimidating interior defense. We all lived through the David Lee era in New York and know that opposing teams should be able to score inside at will against a team where he is masquerading as a center. Kwame Brown, who was the other Warriors big on the floor during crunch time, is a washed up never-was who a team with competent forwards should be able to score against at will. The Knicks will need to find some consistency out of their point guard play, whether it is Toney Douglas maturing into a viable point guard (unlikely), some necromancer rising Mike Bibby from the dead (impossible), or hoping the Baron Davis can tap back into the desire and talent that made him so electrifying in the 2007 season (wouldn't bet on it). Unless that happens, the Knicks will continue to be susceptible to these scoring droughts, despite having two of the best scorers in the game, because there is no one to right the ship when things get out of hand and make sure that Anthony and Stoudemire get the ball where they need it, not 20 feet out with their backs to the basket.

It would be easy to blame the defense for this loss, but that's not fair. If you had told me before the game that the Knicks would hold the Warriors to 92 points, I would have wagered good money that the Knicks would have cruised to victory. The way this team is constructed, it should be able to score over 92 points per night, particularly against the Warriors. That said, I'd like to have the airing of grievances about Tyson Chandler. The first post on this blog was supposed to be me railing against the Chandler signing, but that's a stale story, so I'll hit the main points here. The idea that Tyson Chandler is a Defensive Stallwart, Amazing Teammate, and Leader of Men is simply the narrative du jour and not indicative of the type of player he has been his whole career or who we can expect him to be going forward. He went from draft bust, to guy who could catch passes from Chris Paul, to guy with bad feet who got a trade rescinded, to guy with bad feet who misses lots of games for a mediocre Charlotte Bobcats team, to salary dump, to gritty defensive center for a championship team. The guy has been in the league since 2001 and was never considered a marquee. Late bloomers exist, but I think we had a sufficient sample size from Tyson Chandler to have a good idea of the type of limited player he is. Tyson Chandler is a useful player and a solid starting center in the NBA, but he is not the missing piece the Knicks needed to put them over the top and by signing him the Knicks have foreclosed themselves from the possibility of adding that piece.

There's nothing worse than paying a guy for a career year, unless you're paying that guy for a career year that is based on intangibles. This is James Posey 2.0. What I saw last night was a center who got stupid, ticky-tack fouls, got frustrated, and then acted the fool by taking a technical foul late in the game. Mind you, this is the second time that he's been hit with a late technical foul. Chandler was supposed to bring maturity, focus, and teamwork to this team. None of these things have been apparent in the first two games of the season. If they wanted a center with limited offensive ability who tried really hard on defense and talked a lot, why didn't the Knicks just keep Ronnie Turiaf? He cost a hell of a lot less and they wouldn't have been stuck with him for the next four years. Now the Knicks go into a game against the Lakers tonight, the second night of a West Coast back-to-back, and it looks like when the dust settles they'll be one Carmelo Anthony miracle away from starting the season 0-3.

P.S. Maybe that Christmas Day win wasn't so impressive on further review? The Celtics got smoked by a Hornets team that did not have Eric Gordon last night. Yikes.