mreinman wrote:

bigbasketballs wrote:

mreinman wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Who cares what his ast totals are when people don't care about his total when it doesn't fit there agenda. It's about ast attempts how he moves the ball. To me Melo didn't pass as much in the 4th as he did through the 1st 3 qtrs. Despite that I seem to remember a pass to Calderon who took his time on a corner 3 that was blk by Johnson, a cross court pass to Gallo for a 3pta, and a pocket pass to Lopez who missed. I also remember a pass to Lopez on the one that was a to when he thought Lopez was rolling but instead he popped.

I would Give Melo a C+ to B-. He made some big steals after his mistakes that helped mitigate some of his bed offensive blunders.

Very nice. People just look past the fact that Melo could have had another 4/5 assists if the players he made good passes to just made their shots. You can't get a assist if the guy you pass to doesn't make the shot.

excuse is beyond old.

Somehow good players/passers rack up assists on bad teams.

You can say for a specific game that players are not hitting shots off passes but over the long run, the stats don't lie.

Why is it that Melo can always rack up first half assists with his crappy teammates?

It was only a few years ago Lebron James had a rep for passing big moments up and/or coming up small in the 4th quarter.

There is instinct involved. Melo has been asked to carry teams on his shoulders probably since he was in high school. That continued into the pros. Arguably over the last few years he's been surrounded by less talent and not more.

That is not a defense of hero ball and NOT advocating Melo not trying to improve and evolve.

It's just advocating understanding it for what it is, having an open mind 8 games in, and leaving the fixated, hyperbolic hate where it belongs.

you are not accusing me of hate, right?

I don't honestly know. I don't have individual reads on most people other than a couple of obvious ones.

But that said my post was half responding to your 4th quarter thing and half a general point.

Melo is not going to change overnight. Benching him is not the answer. Those again, are general points.

I'm also saying progress often isn't linear. It's two steps forwards and steps back. Peaks and valleys.

I'm not saying don't identify the valleys, just to keep them in perspective.

A guy who doesn't have the instinct to take over games might not have single-handedly kept the Knicks in the 2nd quarter.

yellowboy90 wrote:

ChuckBuck wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Who cares what his ast totals are when people don't care about his total when it doesn't fit there agenda. It's about ast attempts how he moves the ball. To me Melo didn't pass as much in the 4th as he did through the 1st 3 qtrs. Despite that I seem to remember a pass to Calderon who took his time on a corner 3 that was blk by Johnson, a cross court pass to Gallo for a 3pta, and a pocket pass to Lopez who missed. I also remember a pass to Lopez on the one that was a to when he thought Lopez was rolling but instead he popped.

I would Give Melo a C+ to B-. He made some big steals after his mistakes that helped mitigate some of his bed offensive blunders.

C- is more accurate, I think he was 0-7 in the quarter.

RoLo and LT bailed him and the Knicks out, big time.

Dang, your C- = to an unbias B+ maybe I have to watch the game again. Also, he was 1-6

Yea he was 1-6, not 0-7, but C- is accurate. He had a key layup attempt rejected in his face, and another shot, that RoLo had to clean up for his rushed chuck.

Below average performance for him, so C- is right, he doesn't get a B just because his teammates lifted up his near goat(the opposite of hero goat) performance.

Won't even mention the out of bounds missed call by Melo that almost costed the Knicks the game...