Posted by djsunyc:
New York Knicks- New Jersey Nets
Final Score: Knicks 86 New Jersey 74
Halftime Score: New York Knicks- New Jersey Nets
Knicks
Jonathan Givony
David Lee- The Knicks are playing Lee at the small forward position, probably because they have so many quality big guys on their roster. He was being extremely aggressive right from the get go, taking the ball strong to the basket off the dribble as he’s been doing all along in the summer league so far, getting to the line again and again and knocking down his free throws. He showed great body control to spin off his man and score with either his left or his right hand, or keep his composure and kind the open man with one of his trademark passes even when he’s on the move. In the first half he finished with 13 points on 3-4 shooting from the field and 7-8 from the line.
David Lee had a fantastic game here, even though he was playing out of position at the three spot. He got to the line relentlessly and played tough, even sometimes dirty, defense. That’s exactly what Isiah and co. are going to want him to do in New York in order to get minutes. You can tell that Lee has already developed great chemistry with his new teammates and fellow first round picks Channing Frye and Nate Robinson.
First, I love the fact that they are experimenting on playing him at small forward, and the best thing is that he seems to play very well at it. It could be such a great bonus to be able to do this. Lee had yet another good game, especially on the boards. But you gotta love how his defense was described. On a team so challenged on defense, guys like him are SO imnportant. If he can play D this good he could surprisingly have significant playing time next season.
Channing Frye- Seemed to be hell bent on proving that he’s not soft once again, picking up 4 fouls in the first two minutes. He was more effective in the first half than he’s been all summer league, making strong moves and showing nice footwork in the paint before finishing with a jump hook. Frye also did a nice job cleaning up the glass. He picked up his 7th foul with 5:47 left to go in the 2nd quarter, meaning that the other team got a technical foul shot from that point on every time he committed a foul. He finished the half with an unbelievable 9 fouls in 18 minutes to compliment his 6 points and 5 rebounds.
Channing completed a triple double in the fourth quarter by coming up a few rebounds in garbage time. He hit the mark in points and fouls as well to accomplish the rare summer league feat.
Ok, first of all, lol at the triple double. I loved the fact that he got 11 rebounds, 4 offensively, along with a good offensive night with 16 pts. Those 10 fouls were definitely not good, well, one has to consider that these games are terribly called so who knows how many he really got. Anyway, there were two great things about it: first, he was very active out there, and on him thats a good sign; second is that he only got one foul in the second half. The double-double was very encouraging for me, as I hope it is to Frye-haters.
Nate Robinson- Nate started right where he left off, pushing the temp, getting everyone involved and still finding some time to score points by himself. He had no problem playing off the ball either, coming off a strong curl to knock down the three pointer. He got to the basket again and again, picking up fouls and points all along the way. Nate is definitely the most exciting player to watch here in Las Vegas, and the crowd loves him for it. When he started getting into it with Sharrod Ford and got T’d up in the process, who do you think the fans here sided with?
One respected European coach, Avner Yeor who was with Hapoel Jerusalem the past two years, came up to me in the first half and asked “how in hell did little Nate fall to 21?” When I told him that a lot of people actually thought that was a reach because of his height and the fact that he played shooting guard in college, he could only shake his head. As he correctly pointed out, Robinson is a terrific passer to compliment his fantastic basketball instincts. “He is a basketball player, period.”
He is a flashy guy, but also knows how to make the right play and get his teammates the ball exactly where they like it. Nate was definitely the best player on the floor once again today. The “statisticians” only gave him one assist, but he was a lot closer to 6-7 with all the awesome passes he made here. If Robinson wasn’t playing in this late game here, I’d be shocked if more than 50 people would have stayed. With him playing and dunking on people left and right, there were a good 300 people here or more all waiting for Robinson to do something.
"Nate the Great" I can't wait to really see this kid, especially in a Knicks Uniform. Everything written about him is just as great as his play.
Trevor Ariza- The garbage man, Ariza is perfectly content picking up the scraps and doing the little things for his team as the 4th or 5th option. His skill set is very limited at this point, but he is effective at finishing around the hoop, getting in the passing lane, rebounding and rotating for help defense thanks to his length, size and athletic ability.
I didn't like that, but I hope Ariza is working harder and harder to improve his game...
