matt wrote:The just can't beat bad teams

and we expect to beat the good ones?
gotta say, we better make the playoffs!

We are a .500 team post trade, realistically, I don't think many experts had us any different. The problem though, is that we are losing to bad teams and winning the other games. So that shows me guys are just slacking off.

Michael6835 wrote:

s3231 wrote:Not sure how D'Antoni gets the blame for this one.

What do you want him to do, bench Melo and Billups? Billups had 2 huge mistakes in 5 seconds with that awful 3 point shot and then by not getting back on D. Melo was just awful all night...

We had a good run going in the 4th and D'Antoni called timeouts as soon as Detroit started to cut into the lead. I don't think we lost tonight because of coaching.

no he called the timeouts once they took the lead.

most coaches sense momentum, MDA likes to think his team can play through it like they did in phoenix. This isn't the suns, we don't have those players.

Bad part is it didn't work with the Suns either..Suns were notorious of giving up 20+ pt leads like nothing. Just because they ended up winning doesn't mean it's a good habit to just let leads disappear like that. He takes leads and momentum for granted. It's sickening

Michael6835 wrote:

matt wrote:The just can't beat bad teams

and we expect to beat the good ones?
gotta say, we better make the playoffs!

We are a .500 team post trade, realistically, I don't think many experts had us any different. The problem though, is that we are losing to bad teams and winning the other games. So that shows me guys are just slacking off.

It's the players. They're taking the foot off the pedal when they see a bad team. That much is clear when you see how they play against good teams. This team just thinks it can win with a halfass effort. It's not like Mike is not saying they need to be focused and playing hard. NO COACH just gets off the bus and doesn't try to fire up his team in some way. I have to believe it's an attitude the players are taking on themselves. They think they're better than they are and that they can just turn it on. Let's hope they can one day soon learn their lesson and stop doing this. How many times are they gonna do this against bad teams before they as players say enough is enough? If i'm a player, it won't take a coach to make me get mad and get up for a bad team. I only know one way to play and that's hard. I've never gone into anything with less than a 110% game face and attitude.

FoeDiddy wrote:

s3231 wrote:Not sure how D'Antoni gets the blame for this one.

What do you want him to do, bench Melo and Billups? Billups had 2 huge mistakes in 5 seconds with that awful 3 point shot and then by not getting back on D. Melo was just awful all night...

We had a good run going in the 4th and D'Antoni called timeouts as soon as Detroit started to cut into the lead. I don't think we lost tonight because of coaching.

Lax Mindset...if this team works hard against teams like this it wouldn't even be close. Also I disagree..the last run they made when we were up 8...they brought it down to 2 points before bringing in Melo & Billups or calling a timeout to break momentum. Even just to tell the guys..listen Villanueva is hot don't leave him in the corner or to call a good offensive set. Just like teams sometimes have to grind out a win, a coach needs to as well.

If Melo was cold all game..why did they continue to go to him in the clutch..why not switch it up and post Amare up.

You are wrong about the timeout, check the play by play if you want. D'Antoni called a timeout with 9 minutes left after Detroit cut lead to 6.

How am I being lax? Our effort was there in the 3rd quarter and D'Antoni was clearly stressing defense. In the 4th, our PGs were doing a terrible job reading the pick and roll and Melo was playing his worst game as a Knick (see dumb fouls, bad decisions, off night shooting).

I mean seriously, it looked like we might pull away at one point. We did not lose this game on effort, we lost on stupid decision-making by two of our best players.

FoeDiddy wrote:

Michael6835 wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Where are the guys that were saying that D'Antoni's 236th game should conince people that he is the right coach for this team? The Pistons are a lost cause. The coach is done after this season. The players do not respect him and have revolted. The Knicks lost the sixth spot tonight against this team. Unbelievable.

when it rains, it pours. It would be hard for me to get rid of MDA this summer, it would be unfair to him as he never had a true team. You could argue that this was his first season with a decent squad who was playing well, then we just trade it away. It was like when they traded Zach Randolph and Crawford. Chemistry was developing and then they blew it up. Only way I get rid of MDA now is if I am brining in a Hall of Fame Coach to lead these guys. They need leadership, who that is? I don't know.

I'm not sure about that one...Both trade we speak of right before the trades the teams were lost or on a slump. We had great chemistry for a 14 game stretch..outside of that the team was pretty average. I'm not sure we would have a better record with the previous team either.

agreed, we probably would have the same record, but at least we would be ok with that. We have melo and billups,we're supposed to be killing it :)

s3231 wrote:

FoeDiddy wrote:

s3231 wrote:Not sure how D'Antoni gets the blame for this one.

What do you want him to do, bench Melo and Billups? Billups had 2 huge mistakes in 5 seconds with that awful 3 point shot and then by not getting back on D. Melo was just awful all night...

We had a good run going in the 4th and D'Antoni called timeouts as soon as Detroit started to cut into the lead. I don't think we lost tonight because of coaching.

Lax Mindset...if this team works hard against teams like this it wouldn't even be close. Also I disagree..the last run they made when we were up 8...they brought it down to 2 points before bringing in Melo & Billups or calling a timeout to break momentum. Even just to tell the guys..listen Villanueva is hot don't leave him in the corner or to call a good offensive set. Just like teams sometimes have to grind out a win, a coach needs to as well.

If Melo was cold all game..why did they continue to go to him in the clutch..why not switch it up and post Amare up.

You are wrong about the timeout, check the play by play if you want. D'Antoni called a timeout with 9 minutes left after Detroit cut lead to 6.

How am I being lax? Our effort was there in the 3rd quarter and D'Antoni was clearly stressing defense. In the 4th, our PGs were doing a terrible job reading the pick and roll and Melo was playing his worst game as a Knick (see dumb fouls, bad decisions, off night shooting).

I mean seriously, it looked like we might pull away at one point. We did not lose this game on effort, we lost on stupid decision-making by two of our best players.

grillco wrote:These home/road back-to-backs are freakin' ridiculous. But based on the box can I assume that one of Melo's arms fell off tonight? That's the game right there. If he gets another 3 shots to fall the Knicks win. Is he sick or something? Beating teams that are better than you doesn't carry much weight if you can't beat the teams that you are better than as well. Things don't look good for NY right now. And TD is coming off the bench for 20 and 11 diems...the most appropriate WTF ever posted on teh interwebs.

He looked tired, the whole team looks tired. They really need a break, unfortunately for them, they won't get one. Best case scenario is we stay playing .500 ball till we lock our spot in. Do we play philly again this year, that would be a pretty important game.

crzymdups wrote:for what it's worth - Pacers scored 115pts on the Bulls tonight and beat them. Tyler Hansbrough had 29pts. if only the bulls could play defense or had a center...

Knicks are learning on the fly. We just saw Game 8 of Billups/Melo/Amar'e all together... and it was ugly. I'm going to give it a little more time.

Obviously we need a center. But I still think THIS specific group can play better.

When Turiaf was on the floor tonight we looked real good. I wonder if he can give us 25min a night? And I watched the whole second half and I don't think I saw Jeffries once. What's up with that?

Yeah, shocking that the #1 defense in the league looked mortal for one game.

Our defense will never be as good as their defense. They will give up 115 points and be pissed off and have the next 20 teams under 90 points. We can get owned by the Pacers back-to-back. That wouldn't happen in Chicago. That's not our mentality and never will be under this coach. And it falls on the "superstars" we have too. Derrick Rose is the defensive leader on that team. That team was missing Noah for most of the season and they still had one of the best records in the NBA with Kurt Thomas at center. Why? Defense. How? Derrick Rose leading the defense with his actions on the defensive end. Plus having a great defensive coach doesn't hurt.

Knicks are still working it out. Patience will be necessary. And, obviously, in the summer more size will be necessary.