Posted by djsunyc:

what's the word that sums up that game for me...ENCOURAGING. why?

- we saw lb lift his reigns from his guards. steph and jamal were allowed to play a little looser and the offense really started with the guards instead of dumping it down and watching what happens. we played a little more looser and fluid in the 1st half MAINLY b/c we played crawford at the point alot of it. marbury did a good job but the ball movement started with crawford in the 1st half. the outlets went to him and the first pass came with 19 on the clock. and marbury was allowed to really do his thing offensively. that's what we need - craw to run the point and give marbs the green light.

- craw at the point is AWESOME. he's such a better passer within the flow of the offense. his game really has made tremendous improvements. the first 3 games, he was in a funk due to being pulled but you could see now that he's starting again, he's playing VERY solid. the biggest telling moment is when craw was open for a 3, but passed it up, dribbled in, and hit a midrange jumper...which, if you haven't noticed, is beggining to go down with consistency. yes, he may take one or two errand shots but he's clearly learning to become a more complete player. and when he dribble penetrates, he's passing out. AWESOME. defensively he's come a long long way. he still has a ways to go but he's staying with his man up the court and getting in passing lanes. but then our offense started stalling in the 2nd half, and it was b/c we stopped using crawford at the point. the ball started getting dominated by marbs again and the first pass came with 12 on the shot clock (i was paying attention to that). so it totally slowed up and took the fluidity out of the game. but that's ok...we're growing. and i don't know if you guys noticed this too but he likes taking big shots...and he hits them.

- marbs may have had his best game in a long long time. he played all out on both ends of the court. he was allowed to go for his and he took advantage. he rebounded like a monster. i said before the only way this could work is if steph is moved to the SG. it was a great statline and moving him to more of the SG role in the 1st half really had our offense clicking. it was when he started having the ball in his hands more in the 2nd half, did we start having problems. but otherwise, it was a really good game from our guards. i will say this also, after all the hate spewed forth to marbs yesterday, he really stepped up his game and in my eyes, played a great great game...maybe one of his best all around games as a knick. we just need to keep him in that SG role, he can seriously flourish there.

- i'm still trying to figure out Q's spot on the team. he's rebounding nicely tho. at the end there, he looked up at the clock instead of trying to secure that loose ball after jamal was stripped which pretty much sealed the game for us.

- as each game passes by, my thoughts on curry and frye become stronger and stronger. our post game should go to frye and not curry right now. frye is much more aggressive, polished, and smart. he's begging for the ball down low. he's taking shots within the flow of the offense AND he'll pass it out. soft? fellas, this guy is going to be a beast. curry has a LONG way to go. he will be most benefitted getting the ball off of guard penetration so he can get easy dunks. his hands are way too weak right now and he doesn't know how to position them. it's going to take time with him...frye is ready now.

- and speaking of frye...WTF was malik doing in there at the end of the game. that substitution pretty much cost it for us. the play of the game was the adonal foyle layup. he turned around and put it in without any problems b/c malik was guarding him from behind. frye should've been out there.

- it looks like it took lb 4 games to figure out what type of talent we have at the guard spot. they need freedom to do some things and craw needs to run the team more than playing off the ball. i almost look at it like this is the REAL 1st game of the season as it was a CLEAR building block for us. i'm not sure why he didn't call a time out there at the end. maybe he wanted to see them try to win a game if they didn't have a timeout in the first place...but damn if we didn't need a win tonight. i don't mind that craw tried to take that shot either. he was hitting big shots down the stretch. and malik rose needs to be permanently benched. there's nothing that he's bringing to the table that frye or lee or even mo can't.

- it's glaringly obvious that we need another guard that can handle the ball. Q can't do it. penny gave us a solid, heady 17 mins (took nate's minutes tonight). but steph CAN NOT go 40 mins a night this way...playing on both ends of the court. he's going to kill himself out there. we need to give him spells. craw is 25 and doesn't get beat up, but steph does so we need to help him out.

- our defense...i mean what do i say about our defense? it's not all world yet but it's pretty good seeing guys play that hard defensively. our backcourt may have had their best defensive showing EVER and you can see the chemistry between steph and craw.

- all in all, a pretty good game from us and a TRUE building block. we must now expand on this for the next game. we saw it worked with craw playing point more. the ball moved around alot better. we saw steph have a great game when he was allowed to go for his. our big men FED off our guards. frye keeps demanding the ball down low so hopefully he'll start getting it. curry hit his ft's and he's rebounding the ball. HE IS STARTING TO GET IT!!! a VERY encouraging game. it's like we played a TOTALLY different game offensively tonight. i'm not mad at the loss (although technically you can say lb, in his ways to find out what we are, may have cost us a shot at the game with the non-timeout). we now have to make up those first 4 losses somewhere down the road. and we have to carry this over to sacratomato.

[Edited by - djsunyc on 11-12-2005 09:27 AM]