Any overall playing style, if executed well enough, is capable of winning, provided that there is an appropriate division of labor on the court. Along the way, we seem to have forgotten that. Bottom line - we don't run plays. Zach and Marbury should afford us an excellent 2-man game. David Lee's size at the 3 + Randolph's ability to hit an 18 footer should allow us to consistently use off-the-ball screens to create switches. Curry should be able to post with deep position easily if we move the ball from post (Zach) to post (Eddy) - this is a unique advantage of our team. But, instead, we seem intent on clearing out for David Lee's next parade to the hoop. Its entertaining, I concede, but not effective.

This is my favorite poem. Bill Parcells used to read it to his players. I would love to read it to this current Knicks team:




The Guy in the Glass


When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that guy has to say.

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the guy staring back from the glass.
He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear up to the end,
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum,
And think you're a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

Dale Wimbrow 1895-1954

Better they get these blowouts out in the preseason than during the regular season. I'm not going to say these games don't matter, because they do. I want them to win every game, it has nothing to do with scheduling, they just had their ass handed to them tonight. Am I worried ? No, one blowout loss to the celtics doesnt really tell me much about the teams performance or how they will be during the season. What it does tell me is that they didn't come ready to play, and couldn't hit any shots, then once the lead grew, they gave up. There will be games where we get blown out, it's just life in the nba. No one should looks at tonights game and point the finger , which is what many of you are doing. Let's give them the first month before we point the finger. Last year was lets give them till the all-star break. This year they have a much shorter time to get it right. Is that not fair ?

Posted by djsunyc:

Precious!!!!

Nix and other lovers, get real. There are no "exuses" for this. There are "Reasons".

This is a losing team. They suck. When they start winning they won't be. Very simple. No exuses just reasons.

The thing is with this team there are no winners. They don't know how to champion themselves. They are a collection of selfish overpaid talents who really don't mind losing because they are rich. Dlee came from a good program, and the other rookies are hungrey but they play to not embarass themselves and don't crave on court success.

I hope they can become winners, but even Isiah, who used to be a winner is now a loser. Dolan is a a loser, mills is a loser. Management can't get on the players cuz they are not criminals, so now you might have a bad situation where the players are the moral compass of the franchise.

Oh boy!

This team needs an enima!

“We just didn’t play New York basketball, period," Q said. "Offensively, defensively, period. We didn’t play our type of basketball. I don’t know why, I hope it’s not because of those three guys. Right now, I’m just looking at this as a throw-away game. Throw it away and get it out of our system . . . We’ll see them again.”

All players on the Knicks know in their heart that this team is not sustainable.
They know that the time is short and Knicks organization as it is will be dismantled.
They are inside this mess, and they know...
It is like working for Enron before the hell break lose.
You are just dragging you days and max you can do is to improve your resume, talk the phones, and look for your personal future.
The collective future of this group is dead. It is just a matter of time.

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by nixluva:

This team just needs to keep working. No need to explain losses. Just get back to work and correct the problems until they get it right. I hate blowouts cuz you really don't learn much from them. Sure you can use it to try and blast the team about coming ready to play and max effort, but in terms of real BB lessons you don't get much. It's like getting a knockout in a boxing match. Neither fighter really learns from it. The Celts have to know that they aren't really that good and NY knows they're not that bad.

Not for nothing but I don't remember there being many back to back games in preseason, what's up with this one and then NJ like this. I think Isiah called off the dogs due to the back to back. He likely would have th team fight harder and longer in the regular season.

This is why your credibility is shot. You want to use the injury excuse last yr yet several NBA teams had equal or more significant injuries and now you're teetering on blaming back-to-back scheduling in Pre-Season as a potential cause to a team not giving full effort. UnFNreal! Check the Pre-Season schedule out Luvaboy other teams started with back-to backs early like Toronto, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Clippers, Charlotte. But I'm sure you're going to find a way to state our back-to-back will be tougher than those other teams back-to-back. Here's what I find interesting you said early when the Celtics made the trades, they have to prove to you that they are for real and that their moves don't necessarily impress you and there are plenty other detractors like you who said/are saying saying the same things. And what have the Celtics done so far in Pre-Season, prove the naysayers wrong early, granted it's Pre-Season but it shows what their mentality from the get go is like. You can tell they want so bad to prove the doubters wrong but what about our team what do we do get blown out in Pre-Season showing the same poor Ass effort like in real games early last yr.

[Edited by - TrueBlue on 10-17-2007 10:17 PM]

WHo said anything about an excuse? I was asking about the back to backs, cuz I didn't recall that kind of schedule before in the preseason. It could easily have slipped my memory, but it just seems odd to do that when teams are trying to work out the kinks and time between games would be beneficial for teaching.

As for my comment about Isiah calling off the dogs, it wasn't some excuse, only an observation. I read a boxscore last night that was incorrect and it had our starters playing short minutes. I just looked at the boxscore again today and saw the correct information.

TrueBlue, you really need to get over this idea that all i'm going to look to do is provide excuses. That's not my goal in every post. I'm only looking for this team to make improvement and that's it. You're also one of those guys that says we shouldn't pay attention to preseason and yet you can't wait to use it against the Knicks when it goes bad. I just want to see this team find it's way and work out the kinks. I want them to do what they have to do, to improve defensively and to find a rhythm on offense. We've got 4 more games to do that and I hope they will. SURELY you feel the same way about the team you love? Let's not make this entire season into some battle between lovers and haters. If we all truly love this team then we should all want to see this team succeed. Let's see how they do tonight. If they win or lose, I want to see a good performance and effort level.

Posted by nixluva:

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by nixluva:

This team just needs to keep working. No need to explain losses. Just get back to work and correct the problems until they get it right. I hate blowouts cuz you really don't learn much from them. Sure you can use it to try and blast the team about coming ready to play and max effort, but in terms of real BB lessons you don't get much. It's like getting a knockout in a boxing match. Neither fighter really learns from it. The Celts have to know that they aren't really that good and NY knows they're not that bad.

Not for nothing but I don't remember there being many back to back games in preseason, what's up with this one and then NJ like this. I think Isiah called off the dogs due to the back to back. He likely would have th team fight harder and longer in the regular season.

This is why your credibility is shot. You want to use the injury excuse last yr yet several NBA teams had equal or more significant injuries and now you're teetering on blaming back-to-back scheduling in Pre-Season as a potential cause to a team not giving full effort. UnFNreal! Check the Pre-Season schedule out Luvaboy other teams started with back-to backs early like Toronto, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Clippers, Charlotte. But I'm sure you're going to find a way to state our back-to-back will be tougher than those other teams back-to-back. Here's what I find interesting you said early when the Celtics made the trades, they have to prove to you that they are for real and that their moves don't necessarily impress you and there are plenty other detractors like you who said/are saying saying the same things. And what have the Celtics done so far in Pre-Season, prove the naysayers wrong early, granted it's Pre-Season but it shows what their mentality from the get go is like. You can tell they want so bad to prove the doubters wrong but what about our team what do we do get blown out in Pre-Season showing the same poor Ass effort like in real games early last yr.

[Edited by - TrueBlue on 10-17-2007 10:17 PM]

WHo said anything about an excuse? I was asking about the back to backs, cuz I didn't recall that kind of schedule before in the preseason. It could easily have slipped my memory, but it just seems odd to do that when teams are trying to work out the kinks and time between games would be beneficial for teaching.

As for my comment about Isiah calling off the dogs, it wasn't some excuse, only an observation. I read a boxscore last night that was incorrect and it had our starters playing short minutes. I just looked at the boxscore again today and saw the correct information.

TrueBlue, you really need to get over this idea that all i'm going to look to do is provide excuses. That's not my goal in every post. I'm only looking for this team to make improvement and that's it. You're also one of those guys that says we shouldn't pay attention to preseason and yet you can't wait to use it against the Knicks when it goes bad. I just want to see this team find it's way and work out the kinks. I want them to do what they have to do, to improve defensively and to find a rhythm on offense. We've got 4 more games to do that and I hope they will. SURELY you feel the same way about the team you love? Let's not make this entire season into some battle between lovers and haters. If we all truly love this team then we should all want to see this team succeed. Let's see how they do tonight. If they win or lose, I want to see a good performance and effort level.

The only reason I'm ranting is because of what transpired from Summer League play game-to-game to it's finality. I tried to show why get all giddy over those games and Nate's play because those games didn't matter and teams really weren't trying to win at all. Nate along with other players were getting credit for their apparent effort and hustle yada yada, which should be a given BTW anytime a player steps on the court for competition. Now of course the W's don't matter as much but anytime a team can get them sure get it done. Go back and check the board at the time Luva it was glazed thick with premature fan ejaculation. Now it's Pre-Season and yes the games don't matter but one thing that should always be there is effort. Boston wasn't even giving us their best shot yet they blew us out by 40pts. If I would have told you before the game was played that the C's big 3 would play less than 30min individually and 15 of their players would get respectable burn and would proceed to blow us out by 40pts you would have told me to go Fly A Kite. And right back atcha like you tired to come at me for being hasty looking at the boxscores drawing the conclusion you did, now you look equally foolish as you said I did 2weeks ago.

You should be pissed at this team more than you are.

The back to back thing is asinine. We were down 20 and playing no defense well before any non rotation guys got into the game. This is the type of effort we are trying to eliminate from our system.

We can't just come back and give a great effort against NJ. We must turn around and give a great effort forever.

Who the hell even ever heard of losing because it was the FIRST of back-to-back games?!