SupremeCommander wrote:I believe that Toney Douglas is the longest tenured Knick. But you know what, it feels like the old stink is finally washed out. I root for whatever's best for the brand and this what's best

that was Eddie leaving the building.

raven wrote:I really feel numb, I loved Gallo and will certainly also watch the denver nuggets from now.
Weird times.

Nuggets at Blazers tomorrow at 10:30PM EST on ESPN.

Nalod wrote:Suffice to say he is a finisher and that does come in handly the last two minutes of the game.

Indeed.

Everyone should reflect on how many games, even games between opponents of wildly different levels of qualities, come down to the last few minutes.

NBA basketball is a game of runs and more often than not, for teams of respectable quality, who has the answers in the final minutes is the difference.

Amare's offensive fouls remind me of the Dominique Wilkins forced shot variety. No more spinning blindly into the lane please. There is no need to force shots against a double team. This is not an individual competition. Clyde talked about Earl Monroe's willingness to sacrifice his game. Amare needs to sacrifice his ego and the pouting, which is an individual move.

Carmelo has the low block thing patented. His greatest adjustment is to NOT hold on to the ball. Ball movement should be paramount. Mike D'Antoni's job is to keep the iso's to a bare minimum. Standing around is what the Atlanta Hawks do.

Chauncey Billups is the Duke Ellington of the jazz band. Like The Duke, he will need to pick his spots and let the soloists shine for selective moments. He is good for 30-32 minutes.

Landry Fields, the second most efficient shooter had one attempt in the first half. One. Don't defer young man. The bond between Fields and Billups is as important as the bond between the two forwards.

I miss Danilo Gallinari.

Not only was he a Knick but @ 22 was one of our brightest young talents EVER!!

I see him filling Melo's role in Denver with huge numbers.

That being said he is not as good as Melo

Thats just a fact!

Nor is he as good as Billups

Being a Knick fan I have seen Ewing traded

I seen homegrown and drafted Marky J get traded.

I seen Strickland again homegrown get traded.

I seen Bernard King let go after injury.

I seen Sprewell let go after helping us get to finals...... Camby traded for nothing.

I can can go on and on and on.....

But this is the first time in My life born in 73 that we ever got the BEST player available.

We got a top 10 player to go along another top 10 player.

This is History for our Franchise.........

I will always thank Gallo for being GOOD ENOUGH to get us a SUPERSTAR player.
I will continue to rock his Jersey...... Root for him to play well.
Root for him to return to NY and our beloved Knicks!

But I am and ALWAYS will be a Knick fan first!!

And as a Knick fan I feel it was a great start to our new History!!!

Billups makes it all the more sweet BTW!

Nalod wrote:Good thread.

The hype was to be expected. Fans actually bid up prices for that game?

The fanboy pep rally with legions of kids wearing "Melo" jersey's was pretty sad.

Garden just had a homer kool aid vibe that you just don't feel.

IT was an ugly game.

I was watching it and like others felt numb. The ball movement was missing, and as Melo said it was just a scrimmage game for them. Landry was nowhere in the flow.

Its not any ones fault, its not a good trade or a bad trade to say after one game.

I had it on DVR and was assleep by the two minute mark when I turned it on at 9pm. Saw three quarters.

AMare offensive fouls reminded me of first 10 games of season and Melo was playing Melo ball in isolation.

Clyde called them out on it but we all know it has to change. If they adapt to MDA ball it will get pretty again. Might not even happen this season.

Thats ok, I gave our yoots two more years to work it out and I will give this time also.

We have the same or more holes than we did last week. Melo creates but thats not what MDA ball is about.

Suffice to say he is a finisher and that does come in handly the last two minutes of the game.

Just remember all thos glorious moments when chicago broke our hearts or the hearts of others. Pippen and MJ were huge but lots of role players came up big in moments to execute a big finish.

We have stars but still have needs. Give it time.

What you saw from Melo last night is what you will see from him on a nightly basis- and I've looked at enough Denver games the past few days to know this.

His offensive game last night is the exact same game he showed in Denver. He posts up low on the right (as you face the basket) and he likes to face up from midrange and operate from the same side. You will also see him do one of those Lebron-type walks from the top of the key where he does some ball handling and attempts to penetrate up the middle, on occasion.

Saw some nice outlet passes from him yesterday, which was good to see.

As to his defensive rebounding- try to check out where he usually ends up on D. He seems to stay too close to the paint area when his man is on the weak-side. He did this in every game I saw Denver play the past few days. Means he will pick up rebounds, but also get burned by a team which can move the ball around the perimeter quickly. Gallo used to get caught in this situation, but his quickness and length saved him at times (not always, though). Melo doesn't recover well in those situations from what I have seen.

If MDA does not adjust his game plan on offense, I don't think he will be coaching this team too much longer, IMO. He made changes based on Felton and Amare, and has allowed Amare more latitude on isolation plays, but Melo plays the same way as Amare (Melo is a move versatile scorer.)and I don't know how MDA is going to run the offense he wants with both of these guys getting 40-50 shots a game from similar spots on the floor.

SupremeCommander wrote:...But you know what, it feels like the old stink is finally washed out....

There's still a whiff of rotting fish in the air. And you know what that means...

BasketballJones wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:...But you know what, it feels like the old stink is finally washed out....

There's still a whiff of rotting fish in the air. And you know what that means...

Yeah, I forgot to throw out the old cat food.