i'm 1/2 way around the globe and STILL making posts...i got issues
Summary
I started off my night by standing behind Channing Frye's dad on line when I was picking up my tickets at the "Will Call" box office. I was surprised to see Channy's dad was only an inch or two taller than me and I'm only 5'11". I was thinking "how'd Frye turn out to be 6'11"???
It was good to finally get to see this completely rebuilt team Isiah Thomas has assembled. JC, Penny, Q, Rose and Curry started things off for us. However, that unit looked a step slow, a bit lethargic and were quite happy to hoist jumpers from the perimeter...particularly Q in the early going. Eddy had the game's first tip in but after that it was really all Nets in the 1st qtr. I must say that Jamal was the only one to do a good job of not forcing things offensively and he really played a heady pg from start ! to finish. He set up Curry for a nice couple of dunks early on that kept us in the game and prevented the Nets from getting too far away. However, the unit that won the game for us was the ALL ENERGY TEAM of N8, JC, Lee, Frye and Trevor.
Notables
Malik Rose
Had a nice game board-wise with 6 in 16 mins but really wasn't an impact player tonight
Quentin Richardson
Horrible game. Hoisted quite a few bad shots from the perimeter and had an overall bad shooting night (1-12). He was way off from 3pt range (1-4) and wasn't effective on numerous post-up attempts when Larry ran plays for him down low in the 3rd quarter with Jefferson guarding him. He drew one foul while posting up on the low block and ended up missing both free throws. He did help out on the boards with 4 in 20 minutes and I'll cut him some slack and attribute his ineffectiveness to being rusty from missing so many practices in camp
Eddy Curry
Nice efficient debut for Curr! y by leading the team with 16 pts in 13 mins and shooting 5-7 from the field while getting to the charity stripe 8 times connecting on four. Curry wasn't really featured on the low block with his back to the basket. He got most of his points by being on the receiving end of some lovely alley-oop passes from JC, N8 and Ariza. He is money from close range however. No Charles Smith here!!! The kid is huge with BIG soft hands. He also did pretty good on the boards with 4 rebounds in 13 minutes. He crashed the offensive boards well and cleaned up. He also had an emphatic blocked shot in the fourth quarter. One negative thing I did notice was that Curry moves much quicker energy-wise on the offensive end of the floor as opposed to the defensive end where he tends to rest. Hopefully Larry will break this bad habit. Otherwise a stellar debut by our new franchise center
Penny Hardaway
Plain and simpe...this man needs to go. He is old, ineffective and he makes bonehead mistakes that a veteran of his tenure shouldn't be making. He threw away ! two inbounds passes. I will admit he did spread the ball around, made nice touch passes and didn't force shot like last season. But there is no room for this guy on the team. He will onlly cut into much better, younger players time like Ariza and Lee who had great games
Jamal Crawford
Had the best game of any player on the floor on our team. The kid looks like he will benefit the most from Larry's teachings and he was an absolute floor general tonight. He has really matured and seems focused on playing the role Larry wants him to play as our lead point guard. Crawford had an efficient game with 8 pts, (3-5 fg) 3 asts, 1 stl, 1-2 treys and set the tone early by actually with his forays into the lane drawing defenders and dishing off to Curry for easy layups, dunks and alley-oops. He never forced a single shot, he played Kidd great on defense and played 26 mins and stabilized us offensively. I think we may have found our new pg and our leader by example.
N! ate Robinson
An early steal attempted had the crowd at the edge of their seats when he broke away with Jefferson trailing and I thought I'd see the first dunk of his Knicks career. N8 tried to throw it off the glass but was fouled hard crashed to the floor holding his elbow in pain. My heart was in my ass as he lay there for a few seconds. But Larry came over, they helped him up and put his ass on the bench. From that point on, N8 was great. He mostly played off the ball tonight as a dimunitive shooting guard and he did well causing havoc behind the defense. They couldn't locate him and he only scored 4 pts but his drives into the lane resulted in breaking down the defense and led to 3 asts and even that was deceiving cuz he often would find Frye or Butler who would then make the extra pass to another guy to get a score. This isn't hockey but if they counted 2 tiers of passes for assists he would have had many more. He did have this one high-flying nifty reverse layup in traffic but more importantly he played controlled and let the game co! me to him. The kid will stick in our rotation and when he came in the game it wasn't a coincedence that is when we made both our runs in the 2nd and 4th quarters respectively.
Channing Frye
This man is NOT SOFT! He contests every damn shot and even though he didn't record any blocks the amount of shots he alters is more important to our team defense. The kid is active around the hoop on offense and had about three weakside dunks off of drive and dish plays by our guards. He knocked down one nice midrange jumper and the kid sets some nice screens. He is very skilled and mature and I do not regret the pick of him over Bynum or Green. Frye will help us immediately and I would not be surprised if Larry starts him over our resident midget (Rose) at PF. Frye is a mix of Camby defensively and KT on offense. He is the perfect PF to compliment Curry and play the high post. He posted up numerous times with a nice big frame to receive the ball in the post but he never got ! the pass. It will come soon enough. He tried this one beautiful banksh ot from midrange a la Tim Duncan but it rimmed out. I like the kids game and as soon as he stops contesting EVERY SHOT like a man possesed he will see an increase in his defensive rebounding numbers. He is also a good passer in the post and he makes the extra pass which becomes contagious. Oh yeah, Frye's jumphook is money!
Matt Barnes
Good defense, efficient scoring (8 pts, 3-5 fgs) good rebounding (3 in 12 mins) and good energy. Barnes better make this team. He reminds me of a SF version of Doug Christie the way he looks on the floor and does the little things and provides the intangibles. At this point Barnes > Penny
Trevor Ariza
Second best game out of our guys behind Jamal. Played hell-bent defensively and owned the passing lanes. Attacked the boards with a vendetta and attacked the hoop on offense. Played most minutes on the team with 29 and Larry seems to already love him. He outplayed Q by far at SF and had 13 pts, 4-6 fgs, 5-6 fts, 6 rebs ! (2 offensive putbacks), 4 asts and always made the right pass. He is really great at finding the bigs underneath for easy buckets once he draws attention on the baseline. He is a master at using his athleticism to go up for rebounds and just flat out out-jump bigger players for the ball for putbacks and defensive rebounds. I don't think we realize how good this guy will become once he gets 30 minutes a game. When he gets a jumper he will be almost unstoppable. He even brought the ball upcourt a few times to break down the Nets fullcourt press and showed improved ballhandling. He did not take any jumpers so I'm guessing he's still not that confident in his "j". But he didn't need to since his improved first step got him into the lane whenever he pleased. Q better get his **** together
David Lee
Energy, energy and more energy. This kid is a high IQ ballplayer that is also hardnosed and skilled which is really rare to see in one guy. He showed his high IQ by making! some nice passes and he really kept the ball moving on offense. He sh owed his grit by diving on the floor and coming up with 2 steals. He showed his skill with some nifty handles with the rock and he had a nice dunk early on. 8 pts, 4-5 fgs, 4 rebs, in 18 mins. The kid can play...Isiah definitely made the right pick at #30 by selecting Lee over enigmas such as Blatche and Taft
Jackie Butler
Last but certainly not the least...the player I was pleasantly surprised the most by tonight was Jackie Butler. I started a thread friday mentioning him as our "enforcer of the future". My reasoning was I didn't see him as a major post presence offensively, or skilled in any facet of the game. I thought his ceiling maxed out as a rebounder/banger/enforcer. Boy was I wrong. Jackie Butler can pass out of the post!!!! I was shocked at some of the passes he made. He was only credited with 2 assists but he made other that led to eventual scores after his man swinged it to another. Jackie showed skill tonight guys. In the post he had this one beautif! ul spin move inside for a score after getting the ball with his back to the basket. He had another nice jumphook. He rebounded well too. He has soft hands and doesn't fumble passes. He is a high percentage shooter down low. In all the numbers don't tell the story: 7pts, 3-6 fgs, 4 rebs, 2 asts in 17 mins. He was Larry's first guy off the bench when Curry went out in the 1st with two fouls. Jerome James didn't play so Butler got some daylight and opened some eyes. At this point I'm completely comfortable if Antonio Davis gets suspended indefinitely. Jackie can play right now with the way the league is bigman starved. He plays smarter than he looks and he is a brute inside that is hard to move. He even showed that enforcer style when he got in Marc Jackson's face after fouling Jackson and baited Jackson into getting a tech when he got frustrated with Butler's physicality and shoved him. They better not cut Jackie!!!
10/16/2005 3:38 PM