tkf wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

tkf wrote:For get our 8-1 stretch of wins, forget the wins... I want to ask, how did we look? again forget the fact that we were 8-1.. how did we look?

well I can answer that..

we defended

we hustled

we passed

we played together

guys played for and picked up one another

we played as one unit...

So forget the record or who we played.. why are we having such a hard time doing that now our star players are healthy....

forget blaming dantoni, or injuries, or lin, or fields.. why are we such a mess right now? why is there no identity? No leadership, no unity? when we had it for a 9-10 game stretch?

why?

Cause we played crappy teams on the road.

why ignore the question.... we played crappy teams before the streak and lost.. so please don't start using that lame excuse...

so what you are saying is that we played together, played as a unit, played for one another, defended, rebounded, because we played crappy teams on the road?

that is the most ridiculous thing I have read.....

again, how we play together has nothing to do with the other team...

there is friction from melo on offense - he doesn't like being in the corner. think about it - you know d'antoni must ask him to man the corner 3 sometimes, he always floats in and collapses the spacing. amar'e mentioned it again tonight. novak spaced the floor better. hell, even walker did.

amar'e kills the defense. jeffries got every loose ball, took 5 charges a game, rebounded like crazy, hustled. amar'e TRIES... but he doesn't take charges, he doesn't get loose balls, he barely rebounds.

it's just a different team with melo and amar'e on the floor. and hubie brown was right tonight - you have those guys on the floor, you got to go to them. that's the reason they're on the floor. you're gonna look them off on offense, it might as well be jeffries or novak, because at least those guys hustle or spread the floor.

this is about d'antoni being stubborn with melo and melo being stubborn with d'antoni. amar'e is a strong mda supporter, just not the player he used to be and was never a good defender. and amar'e and tyson haven't figured out their spacing too well either.

this team is trying, but when effort on D doesn't get stops or rebounds or turnovers, it is deflating. jeffries and shump were fantastic at forcing turnovers, effort on D was rewarded. amar'e was giving up second chance points all night long... wasted effort on D, deflating. etc

tkf wrote:

martin wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

tkf wrote:For get our 8-1 stretch of wins, forget the wins... I want to ask, how did we look? again forget the fact that we were 8-1.. how did we look?

well I can answer that..

we defended

we hustled

we passed

we played together

guys played for and picked up one another

we played as one unit...

So forget the record or who we played.. why are we having such a hard time doing that now our star players are healthy....

forget blaming dantoni, or injuries, or lin, or fields.. why are we such a mess right now? why is there no identity? No leadership, no unity? when we had it for a 9-10 game stretch?

why?

Cause we played crappy teams on the road.

I don't buy that. We started Chandler, JJ2, Billy, Fields, Lin. Shump, Bibby, Novak off the bench. That ain't a touch lineup either, but we matched our opponents and won. Some bad teams and some decent ones too.

we beat the lakers, dallas and utah during that stretch as well.. all good teams..

All at home big difference. Playing a tough road schedule starting with a brutal loss in boston threw us into a tail spin.

tkf wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

martin wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

tkf wrote:For get our 8-1 stretch of wins, forget the wins... I want to ask, how did we look? again forget the fact that we were 8-1.. how did we look?

well I can answer that..

we defended

we hustled

we passed

we played together

guys played for and picked up one another

we played as one unit...

So forget the record or who we played.. why are we having such a hard time doing that now our star players are healthy....

forget blaming dantoni, or injuries, or lin, or fields.. why are we such a mess right now? why is there no identity? No leadership, no unity? when we had it for a 9-10 game stretch?

why?

Cause we played crappy teams on the road.

I don't buy that. We started Chandler, JJ2, Billy, Fields, Lin. Shump, Bibby, Novak off the bench. That ain't a touch lineup either, but we matched our opponents and won. Some bad teams and some decent ones too.

We did not beat any good teams on the road. That has thrown us into a tailspin.

Its a combination of a number of things:

1. Playing a much tougher road schedule
2. The Boston game sucked a bit of like out of us
3. Teams are learning how to play Lin
4. Melo's shooting is just off
5. Stat getting killed on the glass and on the defensive end over all
6. Teams are figuring out that it is really easy to beat Lin of the dribble and the help D is weak
7, 8 and 9. We really miss JJ - how scary is that?
10. Killer road schedule - created domino effect

you are missing the point.. forget who we played or how many we won or lose... it was how we played as a team that mattered.. we played so much better, forget the opponent, you should be able to play well as a team, regardless of who you play... my question is, how is it that those guys played so well together, not much practice, or time to "gel"... and our "stars" need time? that is the excuse..

No. I got the point. You missed my 10 points. Lin is really good and teams were not ready for him. Its all closed now by traps. Thanks Miami for figuring that out.

Always, you seem to dismiss what a losing streak can do to a team and their collective confidence. Killer road schedule can do that. See MDA / Knicks team pre-melo.

Are you implying that we go back to that team its all peaches again?

crzymdups wrote:

tkf wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

tkf wrote:For get our 8-1 stretch of wins, forget the wins... I want to ask, how did we look? again forget the fact that we were 8-1.. how did we look?

well I can answer that..

we defended

we hustled

we passed

we played together

guys played for and picked up one another

we played as one unit...

So forget the record or who we played.. why are we having such a hard time doing that now our star players are healthy....

forget blaming dantoni, or injuries, or lin, or fields.. why are we such a mess right now? why is there no identity? No leadership, no unity? when we had it for a 9-10 game stretch?

why?

Cause we played crappy teams on the road.

why ignore the question.... we played crappy teams before the streak and lost.. so please don't start using that lame excuse...

so what you are saying is that we played together, played as a unit, played for one another, defended, rebounded, because we played crappy teams on the road?

that is the most ridiculous thing I have read.....

again, how we play together has nothing to do with the other team...

there is friction from melo on offense - he doesn't like being in the corner. think about it - you know d'antoni must ask him to man the corner 3 sometimes, he always floats in and collapses the spacing. amar'e mentioned it again tonight. novak spaced the floor better. hell, even walker did.

amar'e kills the defense. jeffries got every loose ball, took 5 charges a game, rebounded like crazy, hustled. amar'e TRIES... but he doesn't take charges, he doesn't get loose balls, he barely rebounds.

it's just a different team with melo and amar'e on the floor. and hubie brown was right tonight - you have those guys on the floor, you got to go to them. that's the reason they're on the floor. you're gonna look them off on offense, it might as well be jeffries or novak, because at least those guys hustle or spread the floor.

this is about d'antoni being stubborn with melo and melo being stubborn with d'antoni. amar'e is a strong mda supporter, just not the player he used to be and was never a good defender. and amar'e and tyson haven't figured out their spacing too well either.

this team is trying, but when effort on D doesn't get stops or rebounds or turnovers, it is deflating. jeffries and shump were fantastic at forcing turnovers, effort on D was rewarded. amar'e was giving up second chance points all night long... wasted effort on D, deflating. etc

which is why I am so upset with the trade... did the knicks not know that carmelo and this system would not work at all? if anything a coaching change should have been made at the end of last year..

so I guess the question is, who is it going to be? the system or melo? the sad thing is, I think this system can work , just not with players like melo.. I think you can work around amare to some degree.... I would like to get a guy like kevin martin on this team.. he can play SG a little SF, and he is the guy who can put up points without having to have and massage the ball all game.. he can catch, shoot, move catch and shoot and draw fouls.. ideal for this system...

I agree, the pieces just don't fit...

mrKnickShot wrote:

tkf wrote:

martin wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

tkf wrote:For get our 8-1 stretch of wins, forget the wins... I want to ask, how did we look? again forget the fact that we were 8-1.. how did we look?

well I can answer that..

we defended

we hustled

we passed

we played together

guys played for and picked up one another

we played as one unit...

So forget the record or who we played.. why are we having such a hard time doing that now our star players are healthy....

forget blaming dantoni, or injuries, or lin, or fields.. why are we such a mess right now? why is there no identity? No leadership, no unity? when we had it for a 9-10 game stretch?

why?

Cause we played crappy teams on the road.

I don't buy that. We started Chandler, JJ2, Billy, Fields, Lin. Shump, Bibby, Novak off the bench. That ain't a touch lineup either, but we matched our opponents and won. Some bad teams and some decent ones too.

we beat the lakers, dallas and utah during that stretch as well.. all good teams..

All at home big difference. Playing a tough road schedule starting with a brutal loss in boston threw us into a tail spin.

you act as if we were beating bad teams at home before this stretch.. that is the point, we were not beating teams at all.. good, bad, at home, on the road, on the moon, nowhere!

STAT really doesn't defend or rebound very consistently hard. Melo doesn't either and on top of that he's a bit of a ball stopper. Baron is a good PG, but still regaining his game. JR is a scorer, tho he can play some good D. JR's biggest problem is that his shot is broken right now and his shot selection is on par with Shump's. We're getting no scoring punch from JR and Shump, but that wouldn't matter if STAT and Melo weren't playing major minutes and very little defense.

We need Jared back BAD!!! Lin, Shump, Fields, Jared, Tyson, Novak were very key in our playing well. They had great chemistry together and just executed the system on both ends. When we get Jared back this team may just have a chance to get going!!! Then we can put our defensive unit back on the floor for key stretches. A big defensive stint can turn a game around and we don't get enough of that relying on STAT and Melo.

mrKnickShot wrote:

tkf wrote:

No. I got the point. You missed my 10 points. Lin is really good and teams were not ready for him. Its all closed now by traps. Thanks Miami for figuring that out.

Always, you seem to dismiss what a losing streak can do to a team and their collective confidence. Killer road schedule can do that. See MDA / Knicks team pre-melo.

Are you implying that we go back to that team its all peaches again?

NO YOU DON'T GET THE POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP TALKINGA BOUT WHO WE PLAYED... I am asking why did we play so well together.. it has nothing to do with miami!!! or any other teams we played..... I am asking why did guys like jeffries and walker and fields play like a great unit.. why did chandler have his best stretch as a knick, why did fields and shumpert seem to settle into roles and excel, why did guys seem to play for and back one another.. It has nothing to do with who they played!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! these guys were willing to run through a brick wall for one another.. why has that kind of play stop.. and please for the love of god, if you want to keep having this conversation, don't say another word about who we played!!!! it is irrelevant as to why these guys came together as a unit.....

Oh I get the point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beat you

I am not sure what you are implying being that this is some sort of guess who game. Are you implying that it's all Melo and Amare? I have no idea where you stand - I have not read your posts.

Melo and Amare have not played well. Stat sux and Melo is not cut out for this offense. Kobe would suck in this offense to and run MDA out of town.

It was a fun ride and wish it could have lasted longer. They went into a nice streak and played really well. Would it have lasted? I don't think so - but it was still special. The knicks last year had winning streaks that they looked like world beaters and losing streaks that made them look like bottom feeders. This was no different.

Lin hit a wall and teams have figured out his weaknesses. He must readjust. He is killing them now. See his bad decisions in the 4th quarter tonight. Melo taking 1 shot in the fourth quarter before the final flings? Getting benched yesterday when he was red hot? Stat not touching the ball when he was finally hitting shots?

JJ out is going under the radar of how important he was to this team.

So, was that the championship team that you envisioned? They were a second unit that overacheived and still can be very valuable.

Still have no idea where you stand. But, it sounds like an anti Melo position.

I blame them all. No passes. They all deserve it.

waves white flag...

good night....

I really do hope MDA just sits Melo to show what is really going on.

tkf wrote:we got beat by the three bozos.. ryan anderson, stankylu and reddick.. LOL.. what a joke..

Dantoni is mailing it in now.. they go to a zone and we dont' see novak or harrelson?

why not sit amare or chandler, I mean dwight was doing nothing plus he can't hit FT's... put in novak and shoot them out of the zone...

I never blame the coach.. today, I DO..

we still are a mess offensively... I feel bad for amare, just no rhythm...

I agree MDA has mailed it in.

Same sh1t different month.

We need a coach that even the most loyal of his supporters never questions. You know who that is.

Lin - saved the season...but is essentially a Rookie that was bound to come down to Earth. He is both a blessing and a curse. The Linsanity created unwarranted expectations and could only be temporary until Melo came back...and his style of play would be muted. Turnovers are an issue. Needs to attack the rim to create easy Offensive Rebounding opportunities and cause indecision of the long course of the game for the opposition.

Melo - Was a great scorer...but not this year. I think his various injuries during that one stretch f'd up his year. He tried to play through it to help the team but it hurt the Team instead. I commend him for trying to play through the injuries...but it just didn't work. He is NOT a SUPERSTAR...he can be a Super Scorer. SUPERSTARS do it on both ends of the floor and all the little things. IMO he also appears to not have the stamina of some of the great Superstars. He is not an on court leader either. His body language is not conducive to building team confidence.

Stat - A shell of his former self. Not as explosive, cannot move laterally, get outrebounded and is a Defensive liability. Like Melo...a great player overall...but NOT a SUPERSTAR...because he does not bring it at both ends of the floor.

Fields - Love the guys effort...but lets face it...he completely f'd up his shot this year. It just bewilders me to no end to see NBA players that do not know how to shoot. I have never seen a flatter shot in my life. Some of his free throw misses are horrendous. Another guy I cheer for...but I think he needs reduced minutes.

Chandler - Honestly, this guy gets an A in my book. The only bad thing I can say about him is that he gets too many technicals. We will probably find out the he has a torn ligament or a fractured wrist when the season is over. The guys is a warrior and give max effort. Leads by example.

Shump - The guy is a defensive beast and has huge upside...but he is a Rookie and jacks up terrible shots and frankly is not a good shooter right now.

Novak - Another guy that gets an A in my book, because he knows his role and peforms. Should start over Fields in my mind.

JR Smith - Never liked the trade. His best game was his first...it has been all down hill from there. On the plus side, he also gives max effort.

Baron Davis - Flashes of brilliance, but his shooting is terrible right now. Turns ball over as much as Lin. Still hopeful he will improve over the remaining games.

JJ - I cannot believe I actually now give this guy a high rating. Draws charges, get rebounds, brings energy, encourages team...just has no offensive game. Sorely missed right now.