Childs2Dudley wrote:Good game? This is the same old franchise. Same old **** except they have some guys who block shots now. There is no difference in play. There is no offensive system whatseover. This team is not good and will continue to lose games if they play offense like they did today - particularly in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter.

I was there in section 225. I had a close centercourt seat to the live action and saw it all. I've been there in the past too. Today didn't seem different to me. Didn't seem like D'Antoni has any idea how to call plays for the team. Really getting tired of him and his damn accent and nonchalant approach to games. I am close to my limit with this coach.

What else is there to say? This is not a playoff team. Insult me and say I'm jumping the gun after 3 games. Right now this is not a playoff team. I know hat I've been seeing the past 2 games and what I saw tonight. I didn't see a playoff team.

I am sick and tired of the Knicks. I am sicked and tired of losing. I am sick and tired of the Knicks losing.

There are no more moral victories for me. We should've won that game. We didn't. That ****ing sucked.

Childs2Dudley wrote:Good game? This is the same old franchise. Same old **** except they have some guys who block shots now. There is no difference in play. There is no offensive system whatseover. This team is not good and will continue to lose games if they play offense like they did today - particularly in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter.

I was there in section 225. I had a close centercourt seat to the live action and saw it all. I've been there in the past too. Today didn't seem different to me. Didn't seem like D'Antoni has any idea how to call plays for the team. Really getting tired of him and his damn accent and nonchalant approach to games. I am close to my limit with this coach.

What else is there to say? This is not a playoff team. Insult me and say I'm jumping the gun after 3 games. Right now this is not a playoff team. I know hat I've been seeing the past 2 games and what I saw tonight. I didn't see a playoff team.

I am sick and tired of the Knicks. I am sicked and tired of losing. I am sick and tired of the Knicks losing.

There are no more moral victories for me. We should've won that game. We didn't. That ****ing sucked.

What do you expect? Look who Amare is surrounded by. Obviously Amare needs CONSISTENT help. Hopefully that help is Carmelo Anthony.

In the mean time Im happy with not getting blown out.

nixluva wrote:

ramtour420 wrote:Felton needs to learn to look to dish even after commiting to driving it to the hole, Amare is still a much better finisher in the paint. It was hard to tell at which point exactly Amare became open on that last play of ours, down by 1, single posession game. The play where he cut into paint like a razor, only to be met by both aldridge and camby at the hoop. Thats when Amare became open. Once he starts passing it off to him, and others, in situations like that- he'll be an all-star. Think of it as a pick-and-roll that ends up with Felton penetrating until double team comes, then he'd be dishing it off to an open man in the paint. I really hope that last possesion for the win will get dissected and our pick and roll attack will get better.

EXCELLENT POST!!! This is what i've been saying. If you watch the plays, they would be successful if the PG would draw the defender and kick, but Felton didn't do that. He had Amar'e right there and didn't drop it off to him for the finish. Man until our PG's get better and recognizing when to hit Amar'e they're just wasting his ability to finish.

Papabear Says

This game wasn't lost because of the Pick and roll. It was lost because the other team had easy shots and we didn't defend the long 3 point ball.

nixluva wrote:Crushalot and Childs2Dudley I think you guys need to keep in mind the fact that this is early in the season and this is a completely new team. You both talk as if this is a finished product that should be running perfectly right now, including the coach. The players are trying to learn each other and the coach's system. The coach is trying to learn his players and set rotations. Overall MOST of the things we need to happen are happening, but you can't expect perfection at this point.

Given that there are still lapses on D, there are MORE good and consistent defensive plays than bad. You can't try to make it seem like any good that the team is doing has nothing to do with Mike and all the bad is directly associated with his poor coaching. This team looks remarkably good early on and that's a testament to Mike getting these guys prepared. Answer me this, based on how the team looked in preseason did any of you expect them to look this good and competitive against 2 of the better teams in the league right off the bat? The Blazers aren't scrubs they're a very good team that is undefeated so far. The Celts we know how good they are.

Childs2Dudley you can't say this is the same ole team and that we suck when you know we would've been blown out in both games last year!!! We actually should've won this game and the reasons we lost are correctable. Try to be a bit more reasonable in your assessment of the team so you don't lose all credibility.

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:Crushalot and Childs2Dudley I think you guys need to keep in mind the fact that this is early in the season and this is a completely new team. You both talk as if this is a finished product that should be running perfectly right now, including the coach. The players are trying to learn each other and the coach's system. The coach is trying to learn his players and set rotations. Overall MOST of the things we need to happen are happening, but you can't expect perfection at this point.

Given that there are still lapses on D, there are MORE good and consistent defensive plays than bad. You can't try to make it seem like any good that the team is doing has nothing to do with Mike and all the bad is directly associated with his poor coaching. This team looks remarkably good early on and that's a testament to Mike getting these guys prepared. Answer me this, based on how the team looked in preseason did any of you expect them to look this good and competitive against 2 of the better teams in the league right off the bat? The Blazers aren't scrubs they're a very good team that is undefeated so far. The Celts we know how good they are.

Childs2Dudley you can't say this is the same ole team and that we suck when you know we would've been blown out in both games last year!!! We actually should've won this game and the reasons we lost are correctable. Try to be a bit more reasonable in your assessment of the team so you don't lose all credibility.

I am not sure if you are reading what I have written. I like this team a lot and I have been pleased with their effort on both ends of the court. I reacted to your saying that the coach is drawing up plays but the players are not executing them or not seeing opportunities that the defense presents that more talented players might see. I think the void in player leadership has been filled. I think there is a team in place that acts and operates as a team. My concern is with the coach. I think the team needs to have some plays that it practices for coming out of time outs. I think the team needs to be prepared to adjust when a team plays zone. Those things are on the coach. The team is much improved. Many of the faults that the team still has lie with the coach. If you are going to write stuff about players not being able to execute the plays the coach draws up because they don't see things when the last two plays of the game went the way they did you have to be prepared to get the Nash crap. I wrote a lot about the problems that I see and I think you are just trying to sweep away real problems with this coach and his staff. Please reread what I wrote with an open mind without disregarding it. I may just trash D'antoni sometimes but I really like this team and he needs to be able to work with the guys he has and give them the best chance to win in a tight game. They are committed and competitive but not good enough to win if they can't get help executing down the stretch from their coach.

Just know this, Mike D'Antoni has forgotten more about offensive basketball than you or I know. You're not giving credit to the head coach that had to pull together a team with 10 new players, determine who should play in the rotation. Get the team to have a good scheme on D, that so far is showing that they have a good sense of proper rotations on D. He had to teach them his offensive system and get them to jell as much as possible in a short period of time.

This team looks like a good team due to his coaching, not in spite of it. You can't just throw a bunch of guys together and have them come out playing like this without good coaching. You're not being reasonable in that regard. You realize that we're playing two ROOKIES in our starting lineup and you think our coach isn't doing a good enough job?

Ask yourself, does Mike somehow not know something about offensive basketball that would lead to successful plays or could it be the players like TD and Felton don't know how to play the position to the degree that they should to take advantage of all the options available? It's not enough to draw up great plays, the players have to execute and also be ready to deal with what the defense does. The Celts and Blazers are very good defensive teams, so you're not just gonna be able to run your set and score on them with the 1st option. We shut down the Blazers and Celts 1st options, but they kept going until they finally cracked our D.

We need for our PLAYERS to respond better to what the defense does. Plays were there and they missed them.

How the players respond has to be taught. You can't practice running and shooting in a free/unstructured manner to have the opposing team adjust to you and leave out practicing for situations that come up in a game. That is not on the players. Watch the Nets who have similar talent. They were down in the 4th in both of their games and came back. Billy King said that he is so impressed with how prepared Avery has his team prepared for every situation. He didn't say his players aren't cerebral enough for his system or that they are missing opportunities the defense offers. He said they were prepared. D'Antoni needs to prepare his players. Preperation is more than practicing executing your offense better in the free flow of the game.

There is obviously a lot of improvement, but I like that the team hasn't quit. Before everyone on the court and bench would've shrugged and been like, "hey, we're gonna lose anyway--is McDonald's open?"

No excuses, they have to do better, deliver a better work product, but I think if these guys can grind out some wins in November and December and tread water, there will be some building momentum. All I really care about is seeing the attitude remain constant.

nixluva wrote:It's so early and really I didn't expect the team to be playing this well so soon. But it is still very early and they aren't all the way there in every facet yet. I just don't wanna hear how a coach that OTHER coaches ask for help with offense, can't draw up a play. PLEASE! Go read SSOL and look at the plays and you'll see that we're still not using most of what the guy tries to run. We need more time to allow this team to absorb all of this stuff.

There's no reason that Felton should stink so bad at PnR except that he's not comfortable playing in traffic. He seems to avoid getting into the teeth of the defense unless he's barreling to the hoop. And when he does he's not looking for teammates or simply can't see them. He's only 6' tall and seems to have a problem seeing the court when he gets in the middle of the bigs. I just don't think he has a natural feel for what you need to do in a PnR offense, but he's got to learn.

Excellent analysis as always. You're right, we gotta give this a little more time before it gets better..But I agree about Felton. He seems to be able to pull off some amazing things (that baseline drive with the 360 spin and finish underneath was awesome -- when's the last time we had a PG who could do something like that?) but then he struggles with less difficult things -- delivering the ball on the P&R, improvising quickly when option #1 is taken away (swing the damn ball if you can't get it to Amar'e, don't shoehorn it in or waste 10-15 secs. waiting for it to develop--if it's not there, it's not there), utililizing all his teammates, etc..TD's guilty of the same things...I'm confident it'll improve though. At least 2 big things I see that are correctable:

1 - Can Amar'e put it on the deck and get to the rim from 20' out? Yes he can and not many bigs 6'10" & over can but as we've seen now after a couple of games, it's pretty risky. Amar'e awesome and plays very hard but he's gotta cut down on these turnovers. Part of it isn't his fault --- Felton or TD can't simply give him the ball on the run 25' from the basket in traffic and expect the guy to do something with it there. There's hitting a guy on the break in transition for a layup or dunk and then there's giving up your dribble way too early as if the rock's a hot potato and giving the ball to your main big way too far out with little or no chance he'll be able to execute from there. Amar'e's had a ton of TOs so far but some of those I put on Felton & TD. They should begin to see what works with Amar'e and what really doesn't. He needs it in better position. Giving it to him way out on the perimeter 20-25' out where he'll have to take 5-6 dribbles to get to the basket is asking a lot -- STAT needs to be taking 1 or 2 dribble before a shot attempt. This should improve once they look at tape in practice and adjustments are made.

2 - Swing the ball if option 1 isn't there and get other teammates involved. Specifically I wanna see Fields getting more shot attempts. At least more touches because you know this kid will do the right thing with the ball if the shot isn't there for himself..He's gone for double figures in every game so far and I'm telling ya, he could've went for 20 every game if he only got the damn ball more. Easily..I know he's a rookie but I like everything I see so far in ever facet of the game. Bottom line is I trust him completely and I wanna see us feature him much more..It was a good decision to start him -- in his limited time he's shown me that he should be able to handle a little more of the scoring load -- yet Felton and TD aren't looking for him nearly enough. He's a weapon at our disposal that's been way underutilized so far..Right now until AR gets back and Gallo figures it out on offense, they gotta give the ball to Fields more and let him operate. Much more stuff should be running through Fields and I think it will as time goes on..Too much offensive ability from this kid that we can definitely use right now that's being ignored. I actually wouldn't mind Fields taking 15 shots a game right now.

BRIGGS wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

nixluva wrote:It's so early and really I didn't expect the team to be playing this well so soon. But it is still very early and they aren't all the way there in every facet yet. I just don't wanna hear how a coach that OTHER coaches ask for help with offense, can't draw up a play. PLEASE! Go read SSOL and look at the plays and you'll see that we're still not using most of what the guy tries to run. We need more time to allow this team to absorb all of this stuff.

There's no reason that Felton should stink so bad at PnR except that he's not comfortable playing in traffic. He seems to avoid getting into the teeth of the defense unless he's barreling to the hoop. And when he does he's not looking for teammates or simply can't see them. He's only 6' tall and seems to have a problem seeing the court when he gets in the middle of the bigs. I just don't think he has a natural feel for what you need to do in a PnR offense, but he's got to learn.

Excellent analysis as always. You're right, we gotta give this a little more time before it gets better..But I agree about Felton. He seems to be able to pull off some amazing things (that baseline drive with the 360 spin and finish underneath was awesome -- when's the last time we had a PG who could do something like that?) but then he struggles with less difficult things -- delivering the ball on the P&R, improvising quickly when option #1 is taken away (swing the damn ball if you can't get it to Amar'e, don't shoehorn it in or waste 10-15 secs. waiting for it to develop--if it's not there, it's not there), utililizing all his teammates, etc..TD's guilty of the same things...I'm confident it'll improve though. At least 2 big things I see that are correctable:

1 - Can Amar'e put it on the deck and get to the rim from 20' out? Yes he can and not many bigs 6'10" & over can but as we've seen now after a couple of games, it's pretty risky. Amar'e awesome and plays very hard but he's gotta cut down on these turnovers. Part of it isn't his fault --- Felton or TD can't simply give him the ball on the run 25' from the basket in traffic and expect the guy to do something with it there. There's hitting a guy on the break in transition for a layup or dunk and then there's giving up your dribble way too early as if the rock's a hot potato and giving the ball to your main big way too far out with little or no chance he'll be able to execute from there. Amar'e's had a ton of TOs so far but some of those I put on Felton & TD. They should begin to see what works with Amar'e and what really doesn't. He needs it in better position. Giving it to him way out on the perimeter 20-25' out where he'll have to take 5-6 dribbles to get to the basket is asking a lot -- STAT needs to be taking 1 or 2 dribble before a shot attempt. This should improve once they look at tape in practice and adjustments are made.

2 - Swing the ball if option 1 isn't there and get other teammates involved. Specifically I wanna see Fields getting more shot attempts. At least more touches because you know this kid will do the right thing with the ball if the shot isn't there for himself..He's gone for double figures in every game so far and I'm telling ya, he could've went for 20 every game if he only got the damn ball more. Easily..I know he's a rookie but I like everything I see so far in ever facet of the game. It was a good decision to start him -- in his limited time he's shown me that he should be able to handle a little more of the scoring load -- yet Felton and TD aren't looking for him nearly enough. He's a weapon at our disposal that's been way underutilized so far..Right now until AR gets back and Gallo figures it out on offense, they gotta give the ball to Fields more and let him operate. Much more stuff should be running through Fields and I think it will as time goes on..Too much offensive ability from this kid that we can definitely use right now that's being ignored. I actually wouldn't mind Fields taking 15 shots a game right now.

Amare was really never the main guy and he was able to take that ball from the FT line and dunk it almost every time. Now its a pull up or a finesse shot. I hate to say this but that loss was on him last night:(

Yeah, he wasn't great last night, but I don't think he was getting the ball in the best of position either. I don't really wanna see him in a position where he's given the ball 25' out and asked to make something happen. He's not Kobe Bryant -- he's a 6'10" 250 lb. PF/C...They should look to Landry Fields more for that and continue to look for Chandler for that. Think back to when STAT really took it to Duncan & the Spurs a few years back in the playoffs -- even last year when he lit up the Lakers for 40 --- he was operating in close, getting good high % shots and scoring the ball at will, never given the ball 25' from the basket and asked to make something happen..An adjustment needs to be made here and I'm confident it will.

Finestrg wrote:

nixluva wrote:It's so early and really I didn't expect the team to be playing this well so soon. But it is still very early and they aren't all the way there in every facet yet. I just don't wanna hear how a coach that OTHER coaches ask for help with offense, can't draw up a play. PLEASE! Go read SSOL and look at the plays and you'll see that we're still not using most of what the guy tries to run. We need more time to allow this team to absorb all of this stuff.

There's no reason that Felton should stink so bad at PnR except that he's not comfortable playing in traffic. He seems to avoid getting into the teeth of the defense unless he's barreling to the hoop. And when he does he's not looking for teammates or simply can't see them. He's only 6' tall and seems to have a problem seeing the court when he gets in the middle of the bigs. I just don't think he has a natural feel for what you need to do in a PnR offense, but he's got to learn.

Excellent analysis as always. You're right, we gotta give this a little more time before it gets better..But I agree about Felton. He seems to be able to pull off some amazing things (that baseline drive with the 360 spin and finish underneath was awesome -- when's the last time we had a PG who could do something like that?) but then he struggles with less difficult things -- delivering the ball on the P&R, improvising quickly when option #1 is taken away (swing the damn ball if you can't get it to Amar'e, don't shoehorn it in or waste 10-15 secs. waiting for it to develop--if it's not there, it's not there), utililizing all his teammates, etc..TD's guilty of the same things...I'm confident it'll improve though. At least 2 big things I see that are correctable:

1 - Can Amar'e put it on the deck and get to the rim from 20' out? Yes he can and not many bigs 6'10" & over can but as we've seen now after a couple of games, it's pretty risky. Amar'e awesome and plays very hard but he's gotta cut down on these turnovers. Part of it isn't his fault --- Felton or TD can't simply give him the ball on the run 25' from the basket in traffic and expect the guy to do something with it there. There's hitting a guy on the break in transition for a layup or dunk and then there's giving up your dribble way too early as if the rock's a hot potato and giving the ball to your main big way too far out with little or no chance he'll be able to execute from there. Amar'e's had a ton of TOs so far but some of those I put on Felton & TD. They should begin to see what works with Amar'e and what really doesn't. He needs it in better position. Giving it to him way out on the perimeter 20-25' out where he'll have to take 5-6 dribbles to get to the basket is asking a lot -- STAT needs to be taking 1 or 2 dribble before a shot attempt. This should improve once they look at tape in practice and adjustments are made.

2 - Swing the ball if option 1 isn't there and get other teammates involved. Specifically I wanna see Fields getting more shot attempts. At least more touches because you know this kid will do the right thing with the ball if the shot isn't there for himself..He's gone for double figures in every game so far and I'm telling ya, he could've went for 20 every game if he only got the damn ball more. Easily..I know he's a rookie but I like everything I see so far in ever facet of the game. Bottom line is I trust him completely and I wanna see us feature him much more..It was a good decision to start him -- in his limited time he's shown me that he should be able to handle a little more of the scoring load -- yet Felton and TD aren't looking for him nearly enough. He's a weapon at our disposal that's been way underutilized so far..Right now until AR gets back and Gallo figures it out on offense, they gotta give the ball to Fields more and let him operate. Much more stuff should be running through Fields and I think it will as time goes on..Too much offensive ability from this kid that we can definitely use right now that's being ignored. I actually wouldn't mind Fields taking 15 shots a game right now.

What it comes down to with Felton is he either has limited court vision, or is too hesitant to thread the needle with a pass. I mean, he's done a great job penetrating, against some of the better interior defenses in the league, and against ZONE defenses...yet when Felton drives, he's looking to score, he doesn't look to dish off.