fishmike wrote:

jrodmc wrote:Oh, and I want to win tonight by 60 points.
And after the game, I want KP to jump up into the rafters, pull down the Cavs banner, and use it to wipe his azz.

that would be pretty good TV

Would probably delay the Cubs vs Indian game if he did.

Looking forward to both units establishing some consistency and chemistry. As the pre season is mostly to evaluate. Think it will take a few weeks to see the teams true potential. Think we may win this one as the Cavs will be on an emotional high and the Knicks will be motivated by seeing someone raising the banner.

LivingLegend wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Play 10-11 guys--have high confidence play good D share the ball take good shots and keep a running lead.

Good idea Briggs - get er done!

I like it. My thing -- take it right at these fools tonight. Come out super competitive, right from the opening tip.. We're gonna be all jacked up so shots may not fall at times but that's OK. Control what you can control -- be prepared to hit the deck, dive for loose balls, etc. That's what I wanna see. Close out HARD on their perimeter shooters (remember Kyle O'Quinn closing out hard on that Celtic shooter to end a quarter the other night in Boston? He mauled that guy!! I loved it!! Didn't even get called for a foul because the guy never even got the shot off in time. LOL. Get up into these guys. Play aggressive defensively. We have more than enough offense to compete--just bring it defensively--there's good depth here if we encounter early foul trouble. Let these guys know that we're no longer a push over and that they have legit competition from us this year.

LivingLegend wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:wouldn't we all, but we blew out the bucks in game 1 of last season and that turned out to be the best win of the season. I would like a nice 7-3 start

Was actually looking at 1st 10 games and was a tad worried TBH. Thought we could realistically maybe go 3-7 or 4-10 unless we come out playing better D / gel quickly.

Anything is possible in terms of W/L's early in the season. I know it's easy to look at the schedule and see some issues but those teams have to deal with the Knicks as well. It's not going to be a cakewalk dealing with the Knicks either. Some have a tendency to underestimate the strength of this roster relative to the rest of the league. I don't see the Knicks being at any significant disadvantage talent wise. We have to see how the team looks at full strength over the next 10 games, but I like the potential of this group.

TheGame wrote:

Vmart wrote:

TheGame wrote:Today's game is going to me a real test. The Knicks need to come out on a mission. Melo is too nice and is always laughing and joking with opponents. This team needs to come out with an edge and a determination that they are going to destroy all opponents. Not beat them, destroy them. I would like to see the Knicks beat Cleveland by 10 points. Cleveland is going to be on a high and probably will not be as focused. It is the perfect chance to stomp on them and show the league that our team is for real.

The first game is not a test. The test comes later in the year. In the beginning you want the the team to come together and build a solid foundation. Once the foundation has been established then the team should be able to handle tough opponents and beat them regularly. You guys recall the first year of Fisher they beat Cleveland and then it was tank city. I don't want to put to much importance into the first 10-15 games you want solid play see good defense and execution on the offense. They rest will take care of itself if the Knicks display these attributes.

The fact that Rose missed the entire preseason and Noah practically the same. Your not gonna get the full picture of the team yet. If they beat the Cavs it's mostly going to be an aberration. Let's not put to much into this first game. It going to be a build up where end result will be winning on a more consistent basis based on established fundamentals.

While I understand your point, I tend to disagree. I know the team will get better as the year goes forward. But my concern is the mentality. IMO, it don't matter who was not here during the preseason. Does not matter how much time we played together. The team's mentality has to be we are the best and we are coming to take what's ours. Thus, I will be looking to see what kind of attitude the team brings to the game tonight. Are the guys focused and determined. That may not translate into them winning tonight (even though I think they can), but what type of attitude do they bring to the table. The level of determination and focus has to go way up than what it has been in the past.

I believe we must start the season with a winning attitude showing the players and coaches are on the same-page, we also must establish coach Horn position as our winning head-coach whom have the ability/experience to keep games close for opportunities to win over superior teams like the championship Cavs.
Two years ago when we beat the dismantle Lebron Cavs at the start of the season we were a better athletic team than the Cavs at the start of the season. The Cavs made multiple trades n changes to their roster the first two to four months into the season with 3 teams to change the outlook in their backcourt Guards and in their frontcourt Big-man center to improve the team chemistry.

I'm hoping we start the first game focus mainly on a defensive-chemistry, plus im hoping for a lot of ball and players movement on offense to score team points rather than individual points.
As a team having 10 new players, I will not pay much attention to the turnovers the first 10 to 15 games when i see our new offensive system give 3 to 4 players touches before the shot clock reach 20 seconds.

nixluva wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:wouldn't we all, but we blew out the bucks in game 1 of last season and that turned out to be the best win of the season. I would like a nice 7-3 start

Was actually looking at 1st 10 games and was a tad worried TBH. Thought we could realistically maybe go 3-7 or 4-10 unless we come out playing better D / gel quickly.

Anything is possible in terms of W/L's early in the season. I know it's easy to look at the schedule and see some issues but those teams have to deal with the Knicks as well. It's not going to be a cakewalk dealing with the Knicks either. Some have a tendency to underestimate the strength of this roster relative to the rest of the league. I don't see the Knicks being at any significant disadvantage talent wise. We have to see how the team looks at full strength over the next 10 games, but I like the potential of this group.

Imagine the type of HYPE our players will have after a WIN tonight ....

fishmike wrote:

Knickoftime wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Knickoftime wrote:One regular season game never MEANS anything.

Not even the first one.

Biggest unicorn in sports - the regular season litmus test/statement game.

It's a myth.

Last year beat Bucks by 25 on the road.

Two years ago beat Cleveland on the road in game 2.

Neither meant a thing.

totally disagree man... every game means something. You just need context. Last year was a big win and it certainly meant a little more than that as we saw how bad Monroe was and how he made Lopez look like a star. 6-4 looks a lot better than 4-6 and every game you find a way to win means something. I hear you that it doesn't make sense to go too crazy over ANY game, but the real deal starts now and this is very important for the Knicks who are trying to find an identity. I think its important to compete and a win would be a huge confidence builder and take just a little pressure off everyone. If the Knicks lose 4 of the first 5 how long before guys start pressing and get tight? It all matters... there is always a bigger picture, context, perspective but this game means something. More to the Knicks than the Cavs I would say. Its ok to see how they come out and make some early observations.

Few things build chemistry faster than a few wins to start the season. Fingers crossed

Every game means something in the sense a win is a win and a loss is a loss and that's relevant and significant.

But over 82 games this year the team will have games where it looks awful. It'll have games where it'll look great. It'll have winning streaks and losing streaks. The team will blow a game in the final minutes and it'll mount an epic 4th quarter comeback.

The 1st game just have no indicative value. It won't tell us anything about the team any more than game 10, 23, 37, 45, 53, 69 and 80 will.

1-4 is not the same thing as 0-1.

sure... but you must acknowledge that early on that a bad stretch can be more damaging to start than if it happens later in the year.

I'm actually not at all certain of that assumption. Sure, some correlation to a strong or poor start kicks in eventually, but I'd like to see data as to when that actually occurs in NBA basketball. I don't know if a 1-4 start bearing is any more weighted than 1-4 stretch in January.

i'm open minded there may be, but I have my skepticism as well.

What I'm mostly referring to is the opening day bridge-jumping fan thing, which happens in every sport. People just put WAAAAAY too much weight and focus on 0-1 versus 1-0 (and vice versa).

Happy if they win tonight? Certainly.

Not pleased if they lose? Of course.

Draw any conclusions from whatever occurs? No way.

They might come out of the gate strong. Hard to predict what will happen with all these new players, and a new coach. The influx of talent might make up for the lack of PT together.

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