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Knicks still worst team in league
Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 2 hours ago
There was plenty at stake on Friday as the Knicks visited the Raptors \ was New York, indeed, the worst team in the league?
Prior to Friday's action, the post-expansion Charlotte club had only 11 wins, but one of those came at the expense of the Knicks in their only meeting thus far. The Hawks had 13 wins, one less than the Knicks' total. But Atlanta had taken two of three from New York, including a 19-point butt-whipping just a week before. Toronto had 16 on the plus side, and had stomped the Knicks by 26 in mid-January.
What exactly is going on with this latest and most pitiful edition of the Nix?
Are they the right players in the wrong situation, or vice versa? Are they overachieving? Underachieving? Or not achieving at all? Is the continuing season-long disaster Larry Brown's responsibility? Isiah Thomas'? Spike Lee's? And what, if anything, can be done to fix the Nix?
A close-up investigation of the Raptors' convincing 104-90 victory provided the following answers:
The Knicks are by far the worst passing/ball-handling outfit in the NBA. By halftime, they'd committed 12 turnovers that directly led to 20 of the Raptors' points. Jamal Crawford and Qyntel Woods led the miscue parade with four each, and the Knicks finished with 19 overall.
They began the game so pass-conscious that they ignored several open shots and instead tried to force the ball into closed passing-lanes. Larry Brown's game plan was to plug the ball into the pivot \ variously manned by Eddy Curry, Maurice Taylor, Channing Frye, and Jackie Butler (who received the ball inside only once and proceeded to get whistled for a charge). In their half-court sets, the Knicks did manage to feed the low post a total of 32 times, a strategy that generated 26 points. Given that NBA teams usually average 1.1 points per possession, this interior production wasn't nearly up to snuff.
Indeed, early in the second quarter the players were so frustrated and confused that there ensued a great deal of pointing, directing, and commanding as everybody tried to figure out who was supposed to be where. By the end of the same quarter, the Knicks' offense had degenerated into one-on-one play \ mostly by Nate Robinson and Crawford. Only a quartet of treys by Quentin Richardson kept the New Yorkers in the game.
As erratic and discombobulated as their offense was, the Knicks' defense was even worse. Not only was their perimeter defense soft and inattentive, none of the guards could keep their Toronto counterparts from driving into the paint \ a rare parlay of defensive ineptitude. Except for a brief stretch late in the fourth quarter (when Curry got most of his five blocks), the Knicks' defensive rotations were either late or non-existent. (Their help on baseline penetration was worse still.)
Also, the Knicks' screen/roll defense was likewise ineffective. Especially in covering the roller. Any quick reversal pass made by the Raptors found an unguarded shot.
Boxing out seemed to be a skill with which none of the Knicks' bigs were familiar. The Raptors came into the game as the worst-rated rebounding team in the league, yet they garnered 15 offensive rebounds (to the Knicks' six), and out-rebounded the visitors 43-34.
In addition to their general incompetence, the Knicks committed a series of plays that were either extremely embarrassing or just plain dumb:
# Curry worked the right box against a tight double-team and, as he tossed up a hard-angled layup, he shouted, "And one!" Unfortunately, he wasn't fouled and his shot failed to touch the rim.
# Curry rotated to deny the basket to a driving Mike James, but he took his stand directly under the basket and was in no position to challenge the shot.
# Curry was guarding Chris Bosh two steps above the foul line. For some reason, the big man leaned forward and reached for the ball while it was still in Bosh's hands. In a flash, Bosh drove to the hoop and the best Curry could do was foul him from behind.
# Nate Robinson started a drive to the basket and tripped over the foul line. For an eternal second he lay sprawled on the floor wishing he had a place to hide. But Violet Palmer (considered by most coaches to be one of the worst refs in the league) bailed out the rookie by inventing a tripping foul.
# Channing Frye was defending Bosh on the perimeter, and mindful of Bosh's quick first step was playing a safe five feet away. But a slick jab-step right literally faked Channing to the floor. The rookie was lucky that he didn't break an ankle.
# Under minimal defensive pressure, Richardson decided to jump into the ozone to make an otherwise simple entry pass into Curry that was easily intercepted.
# And one play was symbolic of the Knicks' game and also of their entire season. Richardson buried a long 3-ball that was whistled off because Taylor bowled over Bosh in his eagerness to get to the glass.
# The Knicks were holding the ball to take the last shot of the third quarter, but Robinson shot way too soon. His long-ball hit the top of the backboard, was rebounded by the Raptors, and Mo Peterson had enough time to dribble toward the time-line and hoist up (and make) a 3-pointer.
For sure, there were also several high spots in the Knicks' performance:
# Curry's inside scoring \ 5-of-8 for 17 points.
# Richardson's long-ball shooting \ 4-of-4 from beyond the arc for a total of 13 points. Too bad Richardson stepped on Malik Rose's foot as he tried to curl around a screen, thereby spraining his ankle and forcing him to miss the entire second half.
# About seven minutes of early-fourth-quarter intense defense played by the quintet of Trevor Ariza, Eddy Curry, Frye, Crawford/Robinson, and David Lee.
# For the first time in the last two games, the Knicks didn't go belly up.
Actually, Lee was the Knicks' best player. He set a timber-shivering screen that led to his scoring a bucket. He also made a complicated driving layup in a crowd, a high-jumping tip-in, and another drive-left-shoot-right layup in traffic. He played aces defense in riding Charlie Villanueva out of bounds on a baseline drive, and making swift and appropriate rotations. Lee always made the extra pass on offense. He also showed remarkable strength when Matt Bonner tried to box him out on the free throw line and Lee simply bulldozed Bonner over the endline.
Lee did make two mistakes: Throwing a poorly-angled entry pass that was stolen and later allowing Villanueva beat him with a baseline ball-cut that cost the Knicks two points. Lee's line included 4-of-5 from the field, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 10 points. This rookie has to play at least 30 minutes per game if the Knicks are to have a viable future.
So where is this team and who's to blame?
These are the players that Zeke brought into the fold: Curry, a superb interior scorer, who can't rebound, pass, defend, hang on to the ball, or get himself into game-shape. Crawford, who is talented but too wild to be trusted. Richardson, a terrific player when he's healthy \ which he hasn't been in recent memory. Mo Taylor, good O, no D. James Jones, an overweight, overpaid Frankenstein. Trevor Ariza, a runner who's useless when the game slows down, but who thinks he's an All-Star. Malik Rose, a battle-scarred warrior well past his prime. Jackie Butler, a CBA-level player who's too slow to compete with the big boys. And a trio of promising rookies \ Robinson, Frye and Lee.
Who has Brown brought in? Woods, a highly talented air-head who just might turn out to be a real player.
Do the math, and it's clear that the onus for the mess at MSG mostly belongs to Zeke.
Can the trade for Jalen Rose help?
Sure. Rose knows how to put points on the board, and should become the Knicks' go-to guy. But he can't defend \ and when he played in Indiana for Brown, the two didn't get along. Why not? Because Rose didn't/couldn't guard a fire hydrant, wanted to play point guard (where his lack of D becomes downright embarrassing), and routinely aborted Brown's carefully crafted plays. It's a sign of just how bad and how desperate the Knicks are that a seriously flawed player like Jalen Rose (at age 32!) is their latest savior.
What else could help?
Well, completing the long-rumored deals for Theo Ratliff and Ruben Patterson \ so long as none of the rookies are involved would help. As would giving Zeke the boot. By the way, the Knicks latest loss coupled with the Bobcats win over the Lakers indubitably sends the Noo Yawkiz to the bottom of the league.
Charley Rosen is FOXSports.com's NBA analyst and author of 13 books about hoops, the current one being "The pivotal season \ How the 1971-72 L.A. Lakers changed the NBA."
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2/4/2006 10:06 AM
