Last night, under control, played defense, different Nate.

D smiled a few times after nate's antics.

I suggest you guys watch the games.

Go Nate. The benching is what created this.

He still back to the bench and will ONLY be called on when the team needs energy or bench scoring.

He's not our new starting point.

Enjoy it while it lasts. Hawks had their full team, a ton of second chance baskets and the knicks gutted out a win with lee and duhon having off nights.

Btw. Is it me or since lee mentioned the all star game he's been out played?

babyKnicks wrote:...

Btw. Is it me or since lee mentioned the all star game he's been out played?

It's you. He has had several awesome games since being mentioned as a possible all-star.

i liken this situation to the anthony mason one. some players are going to consistently get under a coach’s skin to the point where they can't take it anymore. riley sent mason off the bench during a game, told him to just get the f out of here. gave major consideration to leaving him off the playoff roster. traded him, at a time when he was playing at an all-star level, for a guy with a massive contract and a wrecked back. and then mason encouraged so much love in charlotte that the coach hoisted him up against a wall in the lockerroom and begged him to fight him.

i think nate similarly wore down d'antoni and there was just so much of it he could take, talent or no talent.

TMS wrote:Nate did nothing different tonight than what he's done since he's been here... he was a sparkplug off the bench & he provided instant offense... he's taken over games like this before... he was playing 1 on 5 down the stretch... this wasn't the way MDA wants him to play, so y'all need to stop saying it was... MDA's system is predicated on sharing the ball, not on 1 on 5 play... benching Nate did nothing but prevent us from having Nate at our disposal in those games he missed.

I think that right there is why he was benched and will be benched again. The coach made the decisons that having his sparplug offense in those games was less valuable than having the negative effects of disruptig a team that was in the act of solidifying. I really don't get what all this other hoopla is about.

It's funny how Nate has become such a huge topic.

List of players making more $ than Nate this season:

Larry Hughes $13 M
Eddy Curry $10.5 M
Al Harrington $10 M
Mobley $9.5
Darko $7.5
DLee $7
Jared Jefferies $6.5
Chris Duhon $6
Nate $4

Nate can get a bit out of control. He does stupid crap like preening after a dunk instead of getting back on D when we've been playing from behind all game.

Pro athletes aren't all generally well adjusted people when they come into the league as they've spent a good chunk (or every single minute of their lives) focusing on playing a GAME.

But Nate has never come into camp out of shape for his entire career (Curry AND Duhon) or bitched to the media about playing time (Darko). Al has arguably crappier shot selection and still has tunnel vision when he's driving to the bucket. We have a point guard who at least in the games I've watched this season has failed to really push the ball on a fast break. Am I the only one who gets frustrated to watch him pull it back every time? This same starting PG blows layups regularly, can't seem to create beyond a pick and roll with one other player on the team, and takes random pull up 3s all the time.

This wasn't meant to be a "Duhon is the problem" btchfest but all of the above mentioned players make a lot more than Nate. Darko, Curry, and Hughes make 2-3 times what Nate does. Think about that.

I don't think Nate by any stretch of the imagination is anywhere close to being the biggest issue on this team. Take the SIXTY THREE MILLION going to Hughes/Curry/Harrington/Mobley/Darko/Jefferies/Duhon and leave Lee and Nate on the team at their current salaries and we are doing much better. We love Nate as the first guy off the bench to provide a spark and the first to get his butt glued back to the bench as a gentle reminder to scale it back when he gets a bit out of control.

Nate is not a model citizen/perfect player but $4 Million for a guy who can do what he did last night is fine by me. I'm rooting for the guy to keep on improving his understanding of what the team needs.

Shoot I even hope that all those guys making more $ than Nate keep their heads up regardless of how much PT they get and when they do get in the game help us win. I'm not rooting against any of them.

I think this long long stretch of being perennial cellar dwellers in Ws and leaders in $alary has made a lot of us fans just really bitter, petty, etc. We sound like a bunch of grumpy old farts talking about how all the kids these days suck.

How many of us didn't do off the charts dumb things occasionally as 26 year olds?

I was as excited as anyone on UK as I was watching the game last night, and very lucky that the girlfriend was napping and didn't force me to put on Momma Mia, or some such trash, but I am not foolish enough to think that what Nate did last night can be duplicated on a regular basis.

The rest of the team seems to shut down and defer to Nate when he is controlling the ball like he did last night, and we all know that Nate is not always going to be able to shoot and drive like he did in Atlanta.

The real issue with Nate has to do with how he plays against teams that don't let him do the things Atlanta allowed him to do last night. He had a few forced shots, but in general, he was taking shots that were relatively reasonable to take. He was also getting to the basket at will, with little interior defense to stop him.

Can he actually direct the team or have value on the court as a PG when he is having an off-night shooting wise? Does he do enough things besides scoring to keep him on the court in such a situation?

Hopefully Nate had some kind of epiphany while he was on the bench. You can't help but be impressed by the fact that he kept himself in great shape while he was not playing. You also have to be impressed by the fact that he has not mouthed off while living in MDA's version of Purgatory, and has continue to be a good cheerleader on the bench.

Hopefully he and MDA can find some kind of middle ground where he can play enough to contribute the rest of the year.

Great Game for Nate. He made it clear that he is who he is and D'Antoni can't change him. I think he will act a little different if he is on the bench and they are loosing, but Nate is Nate a free spirite person. A week ago half of this blog thought he wasn't worth 2 cents and wanted to give him away.Do you still want to give him away? If you do you have a problem. Let me say one thing. Nate is very popular with players around the league.
You could see on D'Antoni's face that he wished that Nate would fail.
I don't know what part Alan Houston played in this but Nate thanked him. D'Antoni was told to play Nate. If Nate stays in New York I bet D'Antoni will be gone and Patrick Ewing will be back in New York.

there is nobody that can tell me nate ran the offense the final 10 mins of that game. he went 1 on 1 and did his thing...and dominated b/c the guy has that ability. and d'antoni went with it b/c he had to. the smirk on his face during that timeout said it all.

nate is a baller and can help a team win. whether it's the knicks or not is up to donnie walsh.

nixluva wrote:NO ONE wants Nate to change who ge is!!! MDA only wants him to act like a pro! Play winning ball, team ball, means executing your assignment on D and supporting your teammates. Nate did that. He can always do that if he wants to. He can't get lost in his enthusiasm so much that he forgets to get back or fails to see his teammates open on the floor. All of these things are under Nate's control if he wants to be a great teammate.

U need to take some air between the huge swigs of koolaid ur drinking...