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PresIke
Posts: 27671
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 7/26/2001
Member: #33
USA
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I'm not doing an entire report of the game like djsunyc but I'll say a few things.
First off on Curry and Lee. Curry was dominating. I missed the last game on TV but tonight he was a monster inside. As was Lee, and there is clearly reasons behind this that anyone can see. When the Knicks pass, running high screen and rolls, and swinging the ball around, ending with penetration by one of the guards and a dish (many nice ones tonight) to Curry or Lee, these guys are excellent finishers around the basket. Most of their points appeared to come in the paint (the Knicks DESTROYED Memphis inside) but often it was the result of penetration from Marbury and Francis (with 6 & 7 assists, respectively) while Robinson had one spectacular pass and Crawford I can't really recall making many good passes for scores. Q also played really well, although in less dramatic than the other two.
Therfore, Isiah's offensive gameplan should probably be indentified as right for the current team. I see why Isola wrote the other day why he thinks Isiah has done a decent job as coach (which I sort of doubted) because the offense as structured, and when followed by the guards ESPECIALLY is PERFECT for this roster. The problems only started to come when Curry fouled out quickly late (2 of the 3 fouls were quite light I thought) and when he left guys like Crawford started doing too much one on one dribbling until the shotclock was almost gone. We got bailed out twice in the last few minutes, once on a foul call, and the other when Marbury should have shot it and passed it with something like 2 seconds to Q who hit a lucky shot. At that point the Grizz were making a run and that effectively killed it.
What that also says to me is how much the Knicks need Curry and how he may becoming the real center piece of this team. All of you calling for him to be traded now that he has had a few good games on offense in a row are sounding more and more crazy to me. If he goes this team will be an absoulte disaster. We'd then be relying upon our guards to score, which probably means more of the one on one BS from the past few seasons. Sure they can penetrate, but when you have to take your man off the dribble and score the percentages go way down. Lee would still be here and guys like Balkman, but with Lee and Curry we have two HIGHLY prolific finishers who seem to compliment each other. Curry was also doing a MUCH better job on the boards than I had seen earlier in the season and was hustling. Q and Francis did a good job of instructing him to set picks, etc. and I liked the body language of the team overall.
This includes Marbury who I thought was doing a really good job tonight, especially in the first half. It was like the old Starbury for sure. That sequence with the two drives and finishes were VINTAGE Steph, and anyone who hated that stuff is also nuts. He also used his pentration to set up guys like Curry and Lee, and later started to take them outside, where he took most of his jumpshots in the flow of the offense. I can't recall one time he ran down the floor and pulled up for a bad jumper. He did pull up and shoot once, but I thought he resisted doing so on a few other occassions. I mean the dude was 6-10 from the field. What's to complain about?
Which leads to my last comments about the fans. I'm sorry DJ, but there are some fans at the game who are booing whenever Steph or Curry didn't do EXACTLY what they were suppossed to. 4 minutes into the game, seriously, I think Curry got booed for blowing a dunk or Marbury for making a mistake. The Knicks were winning and this was at the 8 or 9 minute mark. Later when either Steph made a mistake or Curry missed a dunk (I can't remember which came first) boos started coming from a few sections near where I was (in the 200s) behind the Grizz bench. And other times when Curry missed a shot -- I think there was one where he got stripped on the way up and wanted a foul and I heard boos -- or Steph didn't do the right thing I heard boos. They weren't overly loud, except for a few times, but this was in a game that we were not only winning from the start but blowing them out, and Curry and Marbury were playing very well. I thought to myself, imagine if the Knicks blew a lead or they had an off game. You could tell later in the 4th that there were fans getting uneasy, almost half heartedly booing.
I'm not saying it's everyone, but the problem is almost everyone else is pretty darn quiet. There are a lot of empty seats, but the crowd is not really into the game except after a nice play, but then it quicly died down. There was no sustained crowd noise unitl late, and even that seemed half-hearted. You can hear ANYONE who yells a phrase at the players during the game, like one time when Francis had the ball near the 3 point line and a guy meanly yelled, "Shoot it!" when I think that's exactly what the team should not be doing. And another time that same guy yelled "Your mother can Tsakalidis!" There are also clearly people who are not Knick fans, but just there for the experience, or are rooting for their countryman. I saw two Spanish flags in the crowd, although Gasol is still injured. I'm not necessarily blaming the fans, but it's not a very festive atmosphere. The crowd seems to get more revved up for the non-game festivities, like getting a t-shirt with a corporate logo on it than rooting. I know the team has done it to themselves, and the Grizz are not exaclty the best team in the NBA, but the crowd energy was pretty low for a game with so many exciting plays from Curry, Lee, Marbury, Q and one from Nate that stands out.
I'm looking forward to seeing what this team will do over the next few games. We still have defensive problems (including from the guys who played well tonight) and when we get away from the gameplan we struggle, but I think this season may not yet be lost if we see the development of Lee and Curry continue and the team believe in Isiah's offensive scheme.
Oh yeah...and earl and his 20 + assists theory are on the money again (25 assists tonight)
[Edited by - PresIke on 12-04-2006 11:18 PM]
[Edited by - PresIke on 12-04-2006 11:18 PM]
[Edited by - PresIke on 12-04-2006 11:23 PM]
Forum Po Po and #33 for a reason...
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12/4/2006 11:37 PM