I read the game recap thread when I got back from the game. Being there live... the defense is being executed at an all-time high considering the personnel we have on the floor. Hughes and Chandler are a huge part of that, they can guard anyone, anywhere on the floor and they do it with ease.

The offense is... its just not even being run. Its isolation plays with Al Jr and pick-and-roll plays with Lee and Duhon. Everyone else scores by accident. Gallo did what I've been writing that he can't do. He shrunk. He disappeared. He didn't demand the ball.

The pace of the game was maddening when I was watching it. Part of that was a stretch of foul calls in the third quarter that took away any rhythm that the Knicks had.

Our guard play is just horrendous. Hughes did the same thing as Gallo. Somehow he lost his aggressiveness. Just break someone down and get to the hole. Make something happen. That whole fourth quarter was a bunch of guys looking at eachother and standing around. Duhon slows down a team that's built for speed for one thing. Then... the telling play of the game for me was one point in the third when the Pacers switched and Duhon was on the perimeter against Hibbert. Any other PG in the league would have taken him off the dribble and drawn a quick foul right? Not Duhon. He stood there for a minute and passed the ball off. That was one of those "wow" moments when you know a player is just not good enough to take your team anywhere.

Its nice that Douglas is a hustler, but let's be honest... he's not an impact player. The Indiana guards were just better than ours through crunch time and that was the difference.

Al Jr is the best player out there right now. He was the only one doing anything in the fourth when the game was on the line. Al got to the line time after time trying to will the team to a victory and nobody was playing off of him in the post, or giving him good entry passes. He had to post and repost so many times to get the ball. Give the Pacers credit for making a string of contested jumpers on the other end to nullify everything Al was doing on offense.

If I'm Walsh, I'm on the phone trying to get a guard who can make plays right now. This team can do something if they have one more player who can initiate offense. There are tons of guys sitting on benches who can break down defenses. Just not on our bench.

If I'm MikeD I'm running a lot more offense where Gallo and Al are playing off of eachother on the elbow. They are bigs who can handle and pass. I've seen them get eachother easy baskets a couple of times, but its not being done enough. I'd try to get them to play more minutes too. There was too much time last night where we had no scorers on the floor. Mike should have called timeouts or whatever he needed to get Lee/Gallo/Al more rest, but they have to be on the floor for major minutes. Watching Jeffries try to be a scorer is painful live or on TV.

I thought when the Knicks fouled out Granger that they would have a run in them, but with no Nate, no Crawford, and Gallo not asserting himself there was nothing going on.

Very tough game to watch. One we should have had, but again it seems like you don't know what you can expect from key guys night in and night out and that makes it impossible to get any number of wins in a row.

Not sure we will have either this year, but it's still too early to tell.

JohnWallace44 wrote:

The offense is... its just not even being run. Its isolation plays with Al Jr and pick-and-roll plays with Lee and Duhon. Everyone else scores by accident. Gallo did what I've been writing that he can't do. He shrunk. He disappeared. He didn't demand the ball.

DrAlphaeus wrote:The Knicks City Dancers: the hardest working team in the Garden.

If I'm Walsh, I'm on the phone trying to get a guard who can make plays right now.

JohnW, you think a healthy Nate could have made that difference up last night?

Yeah, I thought about that. The Nate we saw last year certainly could have. The Pacers guards aren't huge, so the mismatches wouldn't have been bad on defense.

Its just not much to ask to get a sub two-guard from some team that doesn't even suit up who can be a factor in these kinds of situations. There are tons of guys riding pine in this league that can score in situations like the 4th quarter last night. Flip Murray types.

nixluva wrote:I just don't understand why Duhon is playing this way, when I could swear he looked a bit better last year running the point. He always had a tendency to slow things down, but it seems more pronounced this year. As for TD, it's still early for him so I can't say he'll never get to a point where he can be more effective for us. He's got the speed to be able to push it. He just needs for seasoning and development of his jumper. I tell you what tho, I can see a chance where TD could surpass Duhon if he ever gets his jumper going. He already does some important things better than Duhon in terms of D and the pace he plays at.

also, Duhon made some very bad pick-n-roll decisions but he and Lee and whomever can be very good at it too. TD is nowhere near ready for that type of play.

JohnWallace44 wrote:

martin wrote:

JohnWallace44 wrote:There were about a dozen instances last night when either Duhon or Douglas brought the ball up and just stopped and dribbled at the top of the key... and I'm thinking, if you take out Duhon/Douglas and insert Evans/Flynn/Rubio/Jennings/Holiday/Teague/Lawson/Beaubois/Sessions then those possessions would have ended up much better for the good guys.

i think you can play the above game with about any player and any instance. Sure those guys can break down a player better than Duhon, but can they run an MDA offense? Pick-n-roll? Sessions can't hit the side of a barn from 3 point land so defenses would clog the lane on him, etc.

Those guys aren't on the team.

I feel like the MDA offense is breaking down people from the PG position.

that's just Harrington's interpretation and execution of it.

NYKBocker wrote:

Moonangie wrote:Nice detailed recap. I didn't see the game as the World Series holds sway in my house over hoops. But now that it's over, I am eager to see some games. I think the guys are in a learning and building process, and as you alluded, they need a leader and a distributor who can break down defenses.

Not sure we will have either this year, but it's still too early to tell.

Man were the City Dancers great last night... whoo those girls can move.

You call that detailed?

You're right. Some pictures would have been nice.