Poor 'D' forces Crawford to sit
Monday, November 07, 2005
BY DAVID WALDSTEIN

NEW YORK -- Jamal Crawford had another troublesome game trying to figure out where to fit in Larry Brown's universe. Crawford scored just two points on 1-for-5 from the floor in the Knicks' 83-81 loss to the Warriors. Worse, he had as many turnovers as assists, three, and had trouble defending.

A former starting two-guard who is switching back to the point, Crawford is obviously struggling to grasp his role. Switching back to point guard is hard enough, even if he played it most of his life. But he's trying to do so under the scrutiny of one of the most demanding point guard coaches in history.

Stephon Marbury said this isn't the real Crawford.

"Look how he's playing," Marbury said. "He's not playing like he did last year. I think Coach wants him to be the point guard and run the team, as opposed to being the guy who comes off the pick-and-roll and is looking for his shot, as far as playing the two-guard position. Now he's being asked to play the point guard position."

Crawford also wasn't in the game when the Knicks were down six with under a minute to play and in need of 3-point shooting. Brown made it clear it was because of his defense.

"I think we need to find ways to stop people first," he said. "I always figured if you guard people, you don't have to score as much."

Crawford acknowledged his struggles, but said he would stick to it.

"It's tough in some ways because it's an adjustment changing to a totally different style of play," he said. "But I'll have to adjust and hopefully it will translate into wins. My role now is to be as good as I can defensively and get guys going offensively."

Maurice Taylor joined Penny Hardaway on the inactive list while rookie David Lee was given his first minutes of the season. That means the Knicks had a combined $24 million watching in street clothes. Taylor wasn't pleased with the change, but said he had no choice but to go along. "I'm not ecstatic about it," he said. "But decisions are made and I have to live with it."

Jerome James was a surprise starter instead of Antonio Davis, who was "banged up" according to Brown on Saturday. But once again James got into foul trouble -- he had three in seven minutes -- and Davis played four times as long as James. Brown, obviously, wasn't pleased with James's fouls.

The Knicks were 0-for-13 from the 3-point line, and had another horrid game at the foul line, shooting 13-for-25 for 52 percent. Marbury, career 79-percent free-throw shooter, was 3-for-6 and is shooting 54 percent on the season. As a team, the Knicks are shooting 58 percent

This is going to get ugly.

Posted by eViL:

Posted by Knight:

This is going to get ugly.

No its not.

There have been so many reports on how Larry and Steph clashed in Athens and will clash again before the season started, and now it's coming true. If Steph believed in Larry he would offer some praise for what he's doing...all we get is silence and guarded criticism. This relationship won't work out.

I actually agree with Steph on Craw, but still give LB the benefit of the doubt. This system has turned 17 ppg scorer into a 5.7 ppg scorer.

He has turned Marbury from a 20 and 8 guy into a 18 and 5 guy who plays MUCH MUCH better defense.

BUT, we are not winning games. Its too early to tell, but it is hard tom imagine me being them and not being frustrated, especially Crawford. But his defense really does suck. Marbury always could play D, hu just chose not to. Craw is seeming incapable.

[Edited by - killa4luv on 11-07-2005 11:08 AM]

Step does believe in Brown, what he said about Crawford is true, it can be seem in his play. we do need to utilize him on offense a bit more, with good shot selection, i am looking for a reggie miller/rip hamilton type of SG playing, where he moves and cust and gets open looks, and we can mix that up with Quentin. As long as they stick to Brown's plans and don't cause any issues they will be fine. And in this new tenure and losing streak the media and as well as some fans will spin any and every thing in a negative

I will say, bench Malik Rose

this is shock and awe right now for craw. He is going to have to learn to play the game right. this is for his benefit and the benefit of the knicks.. last year we stunk with he and steph basically playing how they wanted, yea they had good stats but the main numbers, wins and losses stunk...

Buck up and get it right craw, you can do it!!

I was watching the rebroadcast of the Iverson on SAR and he mentioned that while he may have had arguments here and there with LB, how could he not listen to him.

I think this marbs larry thing is being blown waaay out of proportion. Just like it was blown out of proportion that Iverson was a problem in philly.

in the end, as long as craw continues to say the right things in the press, he'll be ok, but my worry is Crawford may be the one that wants out. I mean, he went from 16 points a game and crowd favorite to 2pts a game and bench warmer.

[Edited by - rvhoss on 11-07-2005 12:27 PM]