Paladin55 wrote:

nyk4ever wrote:

Nalod wrote:Melo stated after the game he thought if he played hard on defense the team would follow suit.

ITs a leadership statement. Can't say if Karl ever made such demands on him in denver (would assume so) but its very telling.

The "D" Amare is playing is consistent with his career. Not a surprise. We'll have to address this with a roster addition in the off season. Turiaf is missed and we never replaced Moz.

Keep the game close, trade baskets, put on a good show and a few stops down the stretch is "Winning".

Its not championship caliber, but that is not what we are about yet.

that is exactly what myself, martin and fish have been saying since this team started it's tailspin. whether the coach preaches it or not, it's up to the players to put in the EFFORT to play defensively. when the top-dogs on the team do something, the rest follow.

Yup- the best teams always have a "coach on the floor" type player or motivator.

I've been a coach (not BB)for 20 years+, and there is no substitute for good player leadership, whether that leadership comes from setting an example on the floor or in practice, or getting in someone's face.

What do you coach, the debate team?

But you are on the cash money bling with this. I touched on this a little in my thread, "the folly of our rebuild, mike and a point", which you can find here http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=38733.

MDA relies on a strong, selfless leader on the floor in the point guard position. Without that, we are lost. What we need is a true point and all else falls into place.

nykshaknbake wrote:Just happy we didn't lose to NJ. Mda being unprepared and wide open shots, drives and dunks by the other team, scoring records achieved by the other team is something that has always been since he's been coach.

islesfan wrote:

martin wrote:GameNotes:

- If Melo plays like he has over the past 2 games - even without the 40 point output, say just 25 - I'd def call him a top 10 player easily. But he gotta give that defensive effort every game.

- Amare is worse on D than Melo. Zero ball recognition.

- Billups may have the nickname BigShot, but I am beginning to think that it's just a factor of him shooting so much/too much with the game on the line rather than something else. Couple of not so good decisions that a better team would have been able to recover from, Nets just sucked.

- Sheldon plays with poise, or perhaps with just little expression. Never rushed, mostly does the simple things. Don't mind him as 3rd big off bench.

- Amare played without leg sleeves and knee pads for the first time in about 20-30 games.

- Anyone notice that when guys were on bench they were all wrapped in blue towels instead of the normal white Gatorade logo variety?

- My god Knicks' bench is thin. MDA is forced to play like 5 guys who are normally 10th guy or lower on bench.

No thoughts on Antoni failing to get his team prepared and coming out flat which led to giving up an embarrassing 68 points at halftime?

what adjustments did you see in second half?

jimimou wrote:

martin wrote:

nykshaknbake wrote:Just happy we didn't lose to NJ. Mda being unprepared and wide open shots, drives and dunks by the other team, scoring records achieved by the other team is something that has always been since he's been coach.

islesfan wrote:

martin wrote:GameNotes:

- If Melo plays like he has over the past 2 games - even without the 40 point output, say just 25 - I'd def call him a top 10 player easily. But he gotta give that defensive effort every game.

- Amare is worse on D than Melo. Zero ball recognition.

- Billups may have the nickname BigShot, but I am beginning to think that it's just a factor of him shooting so much/too much with the game on the line rather than something else. Couple of not so good decisions that a better team would have been able to recover from, Nets just sucked.

- Sheldon plays with poise, or perhaps with just little expression. Never rushed, mostly does the simple things. Don't mind him as 3rd big off bench.

- Amare played without leg sleeves and knee pads for the first time in about 20-30 games.

- Anyone notice that when guys were on bench they were all wrapped in blue towels instead of the normal white Gatorade logo variety?

- My god Knicks' bench is thin. MDA is forced to play like 5 guys who are normally 10th guy or lower on bench.

No thoughts on Antoni failing to get his team prepared and coming out flat which led to giving up an embarrassing 68 points at halftime?

what adjustments did you see in second half?

EFFORT

without a doubt. Both individual defense and gang rebounding.

Here were the tactics: Lopez, Morrow, and rebounding KILLED the Knicks in the first half.

Lopez hit shot after shot and most were from initial post ups and long range. MDA started JJ instead of Sheldon and JJ crowded Lopez on faceups much better and forced him off post in general, and his length helped.

Our wonderful rookie Fields just kept getting burned by Morrow on the perimeter. I could be wrong, but within the opening sequence of 2nd half, Morrow got rebound and hit 3point shot all in one or two dribbles. Fields didn't see much playing time after that and AC, TD, Billups all played better perimeter defense than Fields.

The other biggest adjustment was flat out limiting Humpries on the boards. That was Amare and the team.

nykshaknbake wrote:Honestly they tried to play some D and boxed out a bit more. The Nets stopped going to Lopez inexplicably and made some bad turnovers. They still seemed able get inside and dunk when they weren't jacking up shots, but our defensive intesity did increase. The Knicks did seem to be more active, especially Melo on the offensive end too, where as it was more lackadasical in the 1st half.

martin wrote:

nykshaknbake wrote:Just happy we didn't lose to NJ. Mda being unprepared and wide open shots, drives and dunks by the other team, scoring records achieved by the other team is something that has always been since he's been coach.

islesfan wrote:

martin wrote:GameNotes:

- If Melo plays like he has over the past 2 games - even without the 40 point output, say just 25 - I'd def call him a top 10 player easily. But he gotta give that defensive effort every game.

- Amare is worse on D than Melo. Zero ball recognition.

- Billups may have the nickname BigShot, but I am beginning to think that it's just a factor of him shooting so much/too much with the game on the line rather than something else. Couple of not so good decisions that a better team would have been able to recover from, Nets just sucked.

- Sheldon plays with poise, or perhaps with just little expression. Never rushed, mostly does the simple things. Don't mind him as 3rd big off bench.

- Amare played without leg sleeves and knee pads for the first time in about 20-30 games.

- Anyone notice that when guys were on bench they were all wrapped in blue towels instead of the normal white Gatorade logo variety?

- My god Knicks' bench is thin. MDA is forced to play like 5 guys who are normally 10th guy or lower on bench.

No thoughts on Antoni failing to get his team prepared and coming out flat which led to giving up an embarrassing 68 points at halftime?

what adjustments did you see in second half?

I guess, kinda vague. How about these other adjustments or stuff that happened in 3rd:

- Amare getting his 4th foul near the 7 minute mark left in 3rd quarters actually helps the Knicks, more boxing out occurs by his replace Shawne Williams.
- Ball gets to Melo more cause Amare is out. Knicks do more cross-screening where Lopez ends up on Melo and it's almost an automatic score. Brook also picks up his 4th foul.
- Usually TD comes in for Fields at the 6 minute mark of 1st quarter and 3rd quarter. Not this game: Fields is pulled cause he is constantly leaving Morrow open and AC comes in to run offense while leaving Chauncey in game for defense.

Childs2Dudley wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

matt wrote:We need to clinch that spot asap so amare can rest.. He looks so different

Carrying a team on your back for 50 games will do that to a guy.

That's funny. LeBron did that with Cleveland and he didn't get 1 rebound and play no defense.

Are you seriously comparing STAT to Lebron?

Do you understand what I am saying? Clearly you don't. I am comparing their competitive spirit. It's obvious Amar'e only has one on the offensive end.

1 rebound is unacceptbale but he blocked a few shots. It's not like he didn't try to play D, he's just not very good at it.

He doesn't try. The "not being very good at it" thing is a lame excuse. He has all the physical tools. He just doesn't put them to use.