Felton, Pablo, Iman, all look physically quicker/faster with more explosiveness in their games to finish, in addition to their DEF by harassing/putting pressure on Buck's lack of legit PG's/lack of playmakers/facilitators, and playing the passing lanes extremely well
I am not sure if we should credit the Knick's DEF more or Buck's making many poor decisions/spacing

Iman's shot is much improved but still has to work on his mid range game and ability to finish with contact in the rim, he is on his way to changing his scouting reports on him as a 2nd/3rd option
His athleticism, speed/quickness, is almost back to what we expected of him when he was drafted, and he should be much better this year, taking a huge leap after recovering from his injury as a 3rd year player
I hope Iman stays as a Knick, as he has the killer instinct, in addition to the tough defensive mind set, unfortunately he is eligible for an extension in 2015 summer where we can retool with the FA's
However, with Melo eligible for an huge extension that would hinder our abilities to find a LEGIT ALL STAR to pair with, in addition to the contracts and player options of JR Smith, Felton, Iman, we likely would need a Kevin Love type of player to pair with Melo and the rest of the team

Melo and Woodson seem to willing to allow rest of the team take a bigger role on the Offense and not constantly go 1v1 with Melo
Yes, Melo still wants to be the hero but he is our most talented Offensive player but just isn't a good facilitator

I was very pleased with Felton's/Chandler using the PnR with Tyson Chandler instead of force feeding Melo in the final seconds where he was struggling with the rest of the team
Chandler saved our let down in the 2nd half with his DEF, Alley Hoops with Felton, and the final OFFENSIVE putback from Anthony, in addition to Melo's put back off his own miss that should have been a AND 1 but the REF's let the game go with the aggressive play with many BS calls on traveling on both sides

It is very important that we continue to build on Chandler to establish himself as it will not only effect his play on DEF but on OFF and confidence as well
From what I say, I would say he has a chance to be a DPOY candidate again, reminding us why we decided to use our amnesty and overpay for his DEF and leadership
We have to continue to also establish and build on our role players confidence so Melo can learn to trust his team mates, so they can continue to look to get open and ready to make plays

We need a better rotation of our BIG's, especially if AB continues to struggle as he gets back in NBA shape and regains confidence in his shot
Kmart played very well and is a big part of our BIG man rotation with his limited minutes on DEF and continues to make great cuts, with good PnR, sometimes faking the pick and rolling to the rim to finish instead

MWP didn't seem to happy to me in the post game interview, I think he thought he was going to play a much bigger role than he did yesterday, especially with AB NOT starting
He isn't the same player or lock down DEFENDER he once was, but his leadership and mind set is very important to this team
I think we should consider cutting Chris Smith for either a SF/PF like James Johnson that plays a Ronnie Brewer/Shawnee Williams role or an athletic PF/C with the health concerns of STAT, Kmart, and a struggling AB with ex Twolves, Chris Johnson or the young PF/C cut by Houston

Rest of our role players....
Tim Hardway JR could SHOOT, although we have 3 SG's that are undersized at SF, but we also play 2 PG's because we simply play better with more ball handlers and players looking to move the ball to the open man
Pablo looked a bit winded in the end, I was very happy to see his pressure DEF and looking to penetrate to the rim much more
Udrih is very crafty off the dribble and looks like he has to work himself in the better shape to be able to play PG/SG with speed/quickness and strength

We played a weak DEF team yesterday that loss 2 of their PG's facilitators in Ridnour and ex Detroit combo guard, but we have a much tougher team in the Bulls today that just seems to have our number with their size/defense/ and hustle play, with many good wing DEFENDERS in addition to a healthy Derrick Rose
Hope we can continue to build on our Win streak, and correct some of the sloppy mistakes we made the let a 25 point turn around, come back to take the lead in 1 quarter

Let's go KNICKS!

tkf wrote:

bernard wrote:My main takeaway: Thank god we don't live in Milwaukee. That is one weak-ass team. Might struggle to win 20 games.

Knicks were erratic. Early season game, so that's not surprising. Hard for me to take to much out of it, but I agree with those giving props to ray ray and tyson. Both looked really good. And we just need 81 more wins for a perfect regular season.

they will be better than you think. They lost their starting PG during the first minute of the game and erased a 25 point deficit with their rookie PG. who is not even their backup.. ridnour is..

tkf wrote:

bernard wrote:Yeah ... it's true that we made them look respectable. But I think that took some doing on our part. Who's on that team? They don't have one guy who is a clear starter on any of the real good teams in this league, much less who is a borderline all star. I'll kind of root for them (after the Knicks, of course). I like the city and they sure are an underdog. But I think it'll be a long winter in Wisconsin.

tkf wrote:

bernard wrote:My main takeaway: Thank god we don't live in Milwaukee. That is one weak-ass team. Might struggle to win 20 games.

Knicks were erratic. Early season game, so that's not surprising. Hard for me to take to much out of it, but I agree with those giving props to ray ray and tyson. Both looked really good. And we just need 81 more wins for a perfect regular season.

they will be better than you think. They lost their starting PG during the first minute of the game and erased a 25 point deficit with their rookie PG. who is not even their backup.. ridnour is..

sanders would start on a lot of teams, as would Knight, their PG who got injured early in the game...OJ mayo can start on most teams. Luke ridnour can start on ours.... they have some talent on that team.. and that rookie PG last night looked good..

We can make ourselves feel better and say they've got a few decent pieces, and they do, but come on man -- we made them look 10x better than they really were last night. 20x...Down Ridnour, Knight for much of the game and Sanders late with foul trouble (Sanders wasn't even that effective when he did play). No more Jennings, no more Ellis, no Dunleavy (who always killed us) and no Carlos Delfino (who always played Melo tough)...No excuses -- we gave up on that game mentally and were lucky to pull out the win...Same thing happen recently with another subpar team in the pre-season finale (Charlotte) and we lost that one..At home.. We took our foot off the proverbial gas pedal way to early last night and let them back in it. Even down the stretch when they took the lead, the Bucks were still making mistakes (Butler travelled how many times down the stretch?) instead of dealing us a knockout blow. Even Breen commented that he couldn't recall seeing such a Jekyll & Hyde act. So true -- me neither. It was pathetic... Hopefully we regroup and come out angry and hungry tonight and decide to finally play hard for all 48 mins.

tkf wrote:This is going to be a long season..

Ray and chandler are still our best two man combo

Beno looks shot

Bargs looks like he wants no part of basketball anymore

I like THJ, nice shooter..

shumpert shows flashes, but in spots, needs more consistency.. would like to see him closer to Lance stephenson type of play..

If felton can stay in shape and if chandler can stay aggressive, knicks will be less predictable on offense...

But there just isn't enough all around talent and size on this team to be a contender... but 43-46 wins is still my prediction.

I watched a lot of games last night and I don't see many teams at this point that we have more talent than...

Ha, and you criticised my post on Durant because it was only one game! Can I ask an honest question- do you actually enjoy it when the Knicks win? You always seem to vanish when we are doing well and only post when we're not. With Melo on the team do you actually get any enjoyment from following the team? Or do you hope that we lose and do badly?

smackeddog wrote:

tkf wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

tkf wrote:This is going to be a long season..

Ray and chandler are still our best two man combo

Beno looks shot

Bargs looks like he wants no part of basketball anymore

I like THJ, nice shooter..

shumpert shows flashes, but in spots, needs more consistency.. would like to see him closer to Lance stephenson type of play..

If felton can stay in shape and if chandler can stay aggressive, knicks will be less predictable on offense...

But there just isn't enough all around talent and size on this team to be a contender... but 43-46 wins is still my prediction.

I watched a lot of games last night and I don't see many teams at this point that we have more talent than...

Ha, and you criticised my post on Durant because it was only one game! Can I ask an honest question- do you actually enjoy it when the Knicks win? You always seem to vanish when we are doing well and only post when we're not. With Melo on the team do you actually get any enjoyment from following the team? Or do you hope that we lose and do badly?

well i guess we haven't had the chance to actually test that?

But where is your proof, or are you just projecting?

I criticized your post on durant because it is ridiculous.. History proves that durant has less games like he has had last night..

I mean this thread is about the knicks after one game.. right? what else am I supposed to do? give a 82 game review before we play them?

The Durant post was tongue in cheek (because it's one game!)- I expect him to be less efficient, but not as low on shooting % and assists as he was last night. It does irk me though that he gets foul calls if players invade his personal space. He's a great player- he does need that degree of special treatment.

I think what people forget is that the true superstars allow other players to be the best they can be.. Durant allows westbrook to be westbrook. Not sure outside of lebron if westbrook could have developed this way. Durant has evolved into an efficient player over the years and I can only attribute that to hard work on his part.. it is nice having good teamates, but the role of guys like durant is to help everyone on his team be more effective.. he has done a good job so far.. he isn't perfect, but he is great...