Olbrannon wrote:Well I frankly think d'Antoni took it out of the teams hands and put Stat and Felton as team captains. Declaring the teams personality. They don't fit. Would it be better f they had chosen their captains ...doubt it. The leadership starts at the top and the Knicks appear to have a stuck rudder. No changes in course.

Amar'e is not at his best in iso. He shouldn't be in that situation.

But the team seems to have lost belief in themselves and the coach. It's not a team but a bunch of players with no cohesion and no clear leader. If your two co-captains are not on the same page.... how can anyone else be?

That is why I said Gallo and Chandler should be the captains. They are the longest tenured Knicks and it lets them know they are part of the future. Instead they handed the keys to Amare who doesn't need the motivation to speak up and Felton who has proven very little in the league.

crzymdups wrote:

sidsanders wrote:

Uptown wrote:

sidsanders wrote:the next 6 games include only 2 teams with a winning record. its a road trip, however if they cant beat some of these teams...

4 of our last 5 losses are to teams with losing records.

indeed... thats why on one hand this ***shouldnt*** be a make/break trip, and its lame to think the clips might crap on this team to end their own streak. some of these games have let other teams who have been playing just as bad off the hook. they need to get some nuts and put a stop to this real quick on this trip.

i could actually see the clippers running roughshod over us.

what answer do we have for blake griffin? or eric gordon?

Uptown wrote:I think we are already broken judging by our body language. Definitely agree with benching Douglas. Even when he was scoring well during the first few games, he was taking and making some very tough shots.

similar to last season, when some folks wondered why mike left him on the bench.

Unfortunately JW44, it is not simply the system. This set of Knicks players have not been running the same thing together. The roles are uncertain and the trust is simply not there. Individually, Felton struggles to lead and Amar'e struggles to follow. Mozgov is struggling with a new language and new set of refs. Between starting and playing sixth man, The Mayor is struggling with adjusting and appropriate shot selection.

Fundamentally, the Knicks are undermanned at center, even WITH Turiaf, who is better suited to play forward.

Can anyone here play with their back to the basket?

CrushAlot wrote:

oohah wrote:

misterearl wrote:

Bench Toney Douglas for hoisting three's

Why should Toney Douglas be benched for hoisting three pointers? That is the game plan. That is what the coach wants the players to do.

oohah

Young players are around to be screamed at and scape goated by this coach. Fields, Douglas, and Randolph are the current guys who get to experience the raised voice of D'Antoni.

You mean like when he stopped practice to yell at TD in SL for passing up an open shot?

misterearl wrote:Everybody Loves Raymond

"We got an opportunity to make this a special trip," Stoudemire said. "We're starting to get our momentum and swagger. We're learning what it takes to win down the stretch."

"We have to go back to New York with these three wins," Gallinari said.

"We don't want to jack up threes early in the shot clock," D'Antoni said yesterday at the morning shootaround. "There's a difference. If you're wide open and we get it down and they get you on the numbers, go ahead. Why find a worst shot if it's a good shot. We don't want you coming down, maybe off the dribble, and you're shooting 25 percent and jack it up."

The game shot chart illustrated Knicks took shots closer to the rim

it ain't that deep

it's never that deep. it's always the same story. apparently mda either forgets to tell his players this, doesn’t have control of his team, or just doesn’t know how to communicate.

i mean it is truly ridiculous. every season with him, regardless of the personnel,. we have to go through various streaks where the team violates everything he says above and goes on losing jags. then somehow they "remember' for a while, rein in the 3's, then go on winning streaks. i guarantee we'll see more of these streaks back and forth throughout this season.

the players don’t go from dumb to smart to dumb to smart.

the coach isn’t focused and isn’t running the team effectively.

Marv wrote:

misterearl wrote:Everybody Loves Raymond

"We got an opportunity to make this a special trip," Stoudemire said. "We're starting to get our momentum and swagger. We're learning what it takes to win down the stretch."

"We have to go back to New York with these three wins," Gallinari said.

"We don't want to jack up threes early in the shot clock," D'Antoni said yesterday at the morning shootaround. "There's a difference. If you're wide open and we get it down and they get you on the numbers, go ahead. Why find a worst shot if it's a good shot. We don't want you coming down, maybe off the dribble, and you're shooting 25 percent and jack it up."

The game shot chart illustrated Knicks took shots closer to the rim

it ain't that deep

it's never that deep. it's always the same story. apparently mda either forgets to tell his players this, doesn’t have control of his team, or just doesn’t know how to communicate.

i mean it is truly ridiculous. every season with him, regardless of the personnel,. we have to go through various streaks where the team violates everything he says above and goes on losing jags. then somehow they "remember' for a while, rein in the 3's, then go on winning streaks. i guarantee we'll see more of these streaks back and forth throughout this season.

the players don’t go from dumb to smart to dumb to smart.

the coach isn’t focused and isn’t running the team effectively.

I have to disagree with this. When the layers are told what to do and the understand that they need to retain that understanding. I don't expect any head coach to tell his players before every game not to go and jack up bad 3 point shots. They don't go from smart to dumb they go from smart to lazy.

Marv wrote:

misterearl wrote:Everybody Loves Raymond

"We got an opportunity to make this a special trip," Stoudemire said. "We're starting to get our momentum and swagger. We're learning what it takes to win down the stretch."

"We have to go back to New York with these three wins," Gallinari said.

"We don't want to jack up threes early in the shot clock," D'Antoni said yesterday at the morning shootaround. "There's a difference. If you're wide open and we get it down and they get you on the numbers, go ahead. Why find a worst shot if it's a good shot. We don't want you coming down, maybe off the dribble, and you're shooting 25 percent and jack it up."

The game shot chart illustrated Knicks took shots closer to the rim

it ain't that deep

it's never that deep. it's always the same story. apparently mda either forgets to tell his players this, doesn’t have control of his team, or just doesn’t know how to communicate.

i mean it is truly ridiculous. every season with him, regardless of the personnel,. we have to go through various streaks where the team violates everything he says above and goes on losing jags. then somehow they "remember' for a while, rein in the 3's, then go on winning streaks. i guarantee we'll see more of these streaks back and forth throughout this season.

the players don’t go from dumb to smart to dumb to smart.

the coach isn’t focused and isn’t running the team effectively.

Well said.

Ira wrote:When I first saw this thread, I thought the road trip would break the team, but here we are. Gallo getting hot makes a difference.

I wouldn't say it's just Gallo getting hot. It's Gallo telling the fans and the media to back off of him with all this star stuff. Now he's playing without those high expectations on his shoulders. Less pressure on Gallo (and other young knickerbockers) is the key to early career success.

Playing at home, at the Garden....Takes a special personality and confidence. I doubt this team plays good at home in front of booing Knick fans, ready to chop your head off for every missed 3!

The Garden is a tough place to play, for a young Knick team. I wont be surprised if we get BLOWN OUT! NY Media and Knick fans are known for pushing their players over the limit. School of Hard Knocks!

misterearl wrote:franco, since you are simply looking at numbers on a page, here is an alternate take on last night

Blake Griffin played the most dominant game against the Knicks since Jordan's 55 in The Garden. It may have been more physically dominant because Griffin was soaring into the lane with such malice and force that he rendered images of Chocolate Thunder obsolete. Despite that, the Knicks had an answer for every jam, slam, poster-time, tomahawk, "in-yo-face disgrace" and "spine chiller supreme", just in case you don't remember the artistry that was Darryl Dawkins.

The Knicks had an answer that David Lee could never supply, even in his wildest fantasies. ( and I useta love David Lee) His name is Amar'e Stoudemire.

There were three amigos (Stat, Gallo and Felton) starting to gain some cohesion.

Ray Felton stayed with the orange joints and not only made the shots that needed to be made, he continued to set the (up)tempo. In the process he dropped timely threes, managed the floor like any excellent floor manager would... and played defense by being the pugnacious pest that he is.

Gallo played with swagger and verve. He was patient with his shot and selected the perfect moments to remind the opponent why he must be checked closely at all times. Hear me now and believe me later, Gallinari attempted only 11 field goals, but scored 31 points. How could that be, you ask? He took it to the hoop and made every one of his free throws. Clyde might say, "When the Knicks needed the knack, Gallo had their back." Maybe it's just The Answer Man, but he swears Gallo and Amar'e have bonded. The communication is evidenced in their on-camera dialogue on Friday night.

Landry Fields was unspectacular but solid once again. Back in the day, "So-lid" was THE word.

One more thing, The Clippers announcers gushed over how The Mayor has improved every season in the league.

I did watch the other two games.

The only number that matters from the clipper game is they have one win on the season. They suck, big time.

This is a game we should win. Yes, years past we lose 2 or 3 more on this kind of trip.

The fact is, we won't be playing teams like the clippers all year.

Lets see what we do with the next five- all teams we should beat- Charlotte, Detroit & the Nyets, with the Hawks the really only winning team.

3 & 2 and we stand a chance of getting to 500.