Orlando is a much improved team, but I think the Knicks match up well against them, except at the 3, but it's been that way all season.

PG Marb v Francis
SG Craw v Mobley/Stevenson
SF TT v Hill
PF KT v Howard
C Nazr v Kato

Bench v Bench

Posted by martin:

Orlando is a much improved team, but I think the Knicks match up well against them, except at the 3, but it's been that way all season.

PG Marb v Francis
SG Craw v Mobley/Stevenson
SF TT v Hill
PF KT v Howard
C Nazr v Kato

Bench v Bench

Should be a great matchup. We may have to put JYD or Ariza in on Grant Hill if TT struggles.

I do like this matchup. I think we can split the series this season, so I'm gonna say we win this one since it's at the Garden.
Knicks win 95-89.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by martin:

Orlando is a much improved team, but I think the Knicks match up well against them, except at the 3, but it's been that way all season.

PG Marb v Francis
SG Craw v Mobley/Stevenson
SF TT v Hill
PF KT v Howard
C Nazr v Kato

Bench v Bench

Should be a great matchup. We may have to put JYD or Ariza in on Grant Hill if TT struggles.

lol. "if TT struggles". good optimism Bonn. i say give ariza about 20-25mins, see what happens. he's avg'ing over a steal per in less time than TT, and is'nt avg'ing that much less point wise for the minutes he gets. keep it like that until TT can get his head straight.

Knicks 101-91

i really fear howard and his impact on rebounding. I mean, our frontline is fool's gold and have a lot of troubles playing against athletic bigs.

marb must avoid at all price to duel francis, otherwise we're toasted.

lenny is doing well right now, hope he'll play the youngs.

Rotate TT-ariza-JYD on grant hill and tire him to death.

yea me too... I'm a little nervous because I cant handle our guys having a lemon, but I think we can do ok. Defense early.. they are too explosive to let them get a quick start.

This should be a good early test to see where we are as a team and if this latest win streak is legit.

Orlando is one of the better teams in the East. Grant Hill seems be back to his mid-90's days as a triple-double threat. Steve Francis has always given Stephon Marbury problems but I expect Jamal Crawford to get that defensive assignment. Dwight Howard and Kelvin Cato are monsters on the glass. And Hedo Turkoglu averages 16 ppg off the bench. This Magic team is really good. They can score in bunches and have excellent rebounders. We really need to bring our 'A+' effort on D. If I'm Lenny Wilkens, I play a deep Zone D to help the bigs on the glass and disallow the Magic perimeter scorers from penetrating.

I don't understand how we get better odds. Orlanod is def. a stronger team right now with a healthy Hill and the emergence of Howard as a force at the 4.

Marbury vs. Francis is always fun to watch, Marbs better pick up his usually lazy D. Francis is not all that great of a defender either thouh. I think Marbury will outscore and out assist Francis slightly but will be outrebounded handily. Steals can go eithe way. I just think Marbury is a better player in general, so I'll give the Knicks the edge in this matchup.

Craw vs Mobley, Craw is just plain better. Boith are chuckers right now, but Craw's game is a lot more exposive and Cat is coming of an injury, plus in this matchup, Craw is actually bigger. Def edge to the Knicks. If there other 2 starts, its even a bigger edge to the Knicks.

TT vs Hill, HUGE egde to the Magic.

KT vs. Howard, right now its an even matchup, but not for long, sorry KT.

Cato vs Mohammed, Cato blocks a lot more shots, but Mohammed is a better srorer and rebounder. Since this will be an offensive game, I'll give an edge to Mohammed.

Bench gets a big egde to the Magic, Turk alone gets 16 a game, and they are very very deep in general.

Knicks have a chance, due to there startes being theoritcally better, but I was optimistic when I did the comparison. Ohnestly, given our pooer D, Magic an easily fun us up for another 129 pts.

Posted by BigAppleStar3:

This should be a good early test to see where we are as a team and if this latest win streak is legit.

Very much so, I am excited about the prospect.

Steve Francis has always given Stephon Marbury problems but I expect Jamal Crawford to get that defensive assignment.

I have noticed the opposite. Whenever there is a strong 2-guard, Marbury always gets the tougher defensive assignment. LAC: Maggette, Houston: JJ, Toronto: Carter. Otherwise, it's PG-PG, SG-SG straight up.

i agree fish...craw is too weak to play bigger, more physical guys...he's better on the perimeter playing passing lanes & using his length to frustrate ballhandlers.