It don't look good.

4th Qtr 1:52
NYK 84 ATL 99

In March 2011 we win this game.

I think I've been one of the more vocal supporters of Gallo around here, but I don't understand what is going on with his game, and especially his shot, and I'm getting a little annoyed. I was glad to see MDA take him out a few times because of his terrible play.

He, and the Knicks in general, played with the kind of energy you expect a team to play with in the second game of a back to back game situation.

Gallo had no shot- again, was back to standing around and not cutting without the ball or driving to the hoop when he did have it, and his D was less than inspiring, IMO. To be honest, it looked like he had nothing in the tank, today, despite a few days rest.

In his defense I'll say that he did not have one open jump shot attempt in this game- the kind of shot Atlanta killed us with today- if I remember correctly, but by now he should know that he has to show better movement without the ball in order to get the kind of shots Fields is getting and making.

Lets face it, if you had never seen Gallo or Fields before today, you would have thought that Fields was the 3 year vet and Gallo the neophyte.

Maybe, as some have suggested, he should come off the bench for a few games...maybe it will light a fire under his arse.

AnubisADL wrote:Gallo needs a mid range pull jumper to take his game to the next level.

Yup.

1) The coaching staff's defensive strategy of doubling Joe Johnson. Why double a 6'8 guard who's known to be a good passer but inefficient scorer? He's going to find the open man...Just defend him 1-on-1 and let him brick up shots as he's done all season. I'd say nearly 50% of Atlanta's easy buckets came as a result of a broken defensive rotation whenever we doubled Joe Johnson.

2) Two-faced Gallo reverting to the passive player we saw early in the season. Hardly got involved or moved off-the-ball on offense, which might have to do with the fact that he was getting exhausted/beat on the opposite end of the court chasing the Hawks off curls. Also, when teams don't bail out Gallo with reach-in fouls or other ticky tacky contact, and just ride along with him on his drives, he's a horribly inefficient scorer when not going to the line. Needs to try and convert rather than look to the ref for the whistle.

3) Day game after Thanksgiving...not surprised by the Knicks' lack of effort. Would've hoped that Atlanta at least would be just as fat and lazy from Thanksgiving, but unfortunately, they had a game on Thursday night, and came here ready to take care of business.

nixluva wrote:I'd like to see some screens set for Gallo rather than have him just start every play at the 3pt line. It's very important to have Gallo get touches and IMO since the start of the year i've never been totally satisfied with his number of touches. They often never pass to him unless it's last minute desperation shots. We need him to be involved in the play much more often. I can understand why he's used the way he is, but it would be nice to give him some different looks.

The Defense was just lazy. It wasn't about the doubles, it was about the lack of closeouts and rotations. The Knicks just played lazy D. You have to get in the face of Hawks shooters at all times and make them put the ball on the floor. The Hawks wanna jack shots all day. They were taking relaxed jumpers all game. That should've ever happen even if you double someone, once the ball is passed you're rotations should be quick enough to at least get out to the next guy. The Knicks just stood and watched the Hawks pass to the open shooter. We haven't seen them doing that. This was just one of those games where the team lost it's focus and the chemistry they'd been playing with. Let's see if they can get back on the horse next game.

I agree with the screens, but he showed much more aggressiveness in recent games as far as getting out on breaks and moving without the ball. The only jumper he hit today was one he created for himself off the dribble. This is not acceptable.

I will also say that he has made no attempt to battle down low for position and post up his defender, and the post-up game he was allegedly working on in the off season has not been seen at all this year.

I said this earlier in the year. This is his third season (yes, the 1st was truncated)in the league, and up to this point, I have not seen the maturation in his game which I was expecting to see. Ironically, Gallo's weaknesses as a player have been magnified by the play of Fields, who for me, is much more of a prototypical SF than Gallo is.

As for the Knicks and this game in genera, this was an early "benchmark" game for us, and to be honest, we tripped over the bench.

It will be interesting to see how we come out tomorrow. Hopefully MDA ripped into them after the game today.

Olbrannon wrote:DEFENSE...uhh where's the D in _'Antoni? there isn't one... They made adjustments in the half It was over by then I'm tired of this pathetic crap. I've never seen so many wide open shooters WTF is this coach thinking??? Is he?

This is likely not going to be a shutdown defensive team, but they certainly can defend better than they showed today. I don't care what kind of coach you have there should never be that many wide open shots. We haven't done that much this year, so clearly this team can and has played much better defense. Today the rotations were slow or non-existent. They didn't close out on shooters and when they doubled they didn't recover. Those are all EFFORT plays. If they do the same thing tomorrow then i'd be really concerned.

nixluva wrote:

Olbrannon wrote:DEFENSE...uhh where's the D in _'Antoni? there isn't one... They made adjustments in the half It was over by then I'm tired of this pathetic crap. I've never seen so many wide open shooters WTF is this coach thinking??? Is he?

You're mistaken if you think that's what Mike wanted the D to look like. Just watch the team when they're doing the right things on D. Watch the perfect rotations and switches. guys forcing their man towards help and the help coming on que. That kind of thing takes practice to get right. Don't believe the hype that this team doesn't work on D. They need to give the effort both physically and mentally. Today they came out lethargic and by the time they put in more effort it was too late. Mike got on Nate for not fighting over the pick and now TD has been doing it. Now do you think Mike is teaching him to go behind the pick and then yelling at him for doing it?

This is likely not going to be a shutdown defensive team, but they certainly can defend better than they showed today. I don't care what kind of coach you have there should never be that many wide open shots. We haven't done that much this year, so clearly this team can and has played much better defense. Today the rotations were slow or non-existent. They didn't close out on shooters and when they doubled they didn't recover. Those are all EFFORT plays. If they do the same thing tomorrow then i'd be really concerned.

Man, do you understand what you're saying?

Good coaches get their players to play hard on both sides of the ball. Coaches who emphasize the importance of defense tell their players that they will either play defense or sit on the bench.

D'Antoni makes no such ultimatums. It's all about scoring for him.