some quick hits from the arena last night
- your celebrities of choice...the new york rangers (malik, jagr, and two other white dudes
)
- upper tier was kind of empty throughout the night. before the game, at the entrance to the garden, brandon tierney does the pre-game tailgate show for 1050 espn radio with jyd. so if you get tickets to the game, you can get there about 1/2 hour early and watch the show and may even get on camera.
- it wasn't really mentioned before we played like absolute CRAP in the first half...on both ends of the ball. we gave up 58 points and allowed the bulls to shoot 50%. again, as we try to find ourselves as a team, we can not continue to get into these holes in the first half b/c on the road...you're not coming back to win.
- i want mo taylor GONE. hasn't really done jack for the past 2 weeks. he looks slow and lethargic and really just wants to shoot the ball. ad is really an old bastard yet he helped us in the 4th. pretty soon that will be curry so i'm not that worried.
- channing frye is a stud. nuff said.
- nate in the starting lineup brings us something different - energy, on the ball defense, and intensity. something we needed. problem is, he can't start everynight and i'm not sure how many minutes he can get vs. detroit as their backcourt is pretty big. when nate subbed out in the first quarter, larry brown put his hands on his face (like the godfather), and said something to the effect like "good job kid" and gave him a pat on the butt. he gives lb agita but i think lb is a HUGE fan of his and gets excited when nate plays "the right way."
- we play best with multiple ball handlers, that's why our 3 guard is working so nicely. really opens up the court and allows for bail outs as the shot clock winds down. throw in frye and now the opposition can't double up on anyone. again, not sure if we can go 3 guard vs. the pistons b/c of their length.
- marbury had a good game. key was that he was not the main focus on offense, made the EARLY first pass (around 18 on the shot clock), and got to the line. there were a few times down the stretch he kind of put his head down and went for his but that's cool - he's been really steady for us the past few games and pretty much the player we wanted him to be. key thing for steph was that he was still getting to the line and HITTING his ft's.
- in the 3rd quarter, there was one play where nate had the ball up by the 3 point line running the point. steph came off a screen on the base line and popped out asking for the ball. nate didn't pass it to him. steph was VISIBLY upset as he threw his arms up in disgust. nate then drove and got fouled. as nate made his way to the line, steph came up to him lecturing him and jamal kind of stepped in the middle to break it up. i'm not sure if the cameras caught this.
- crawford had an amazing game and was clearly pumped up for the bulls. he just needs to stay aggressive. they need to keep setting up those curl plays as that mid-range shot is really starting to fall with consistency. enough of those runners (like lb said), and concentrate on getting to the line or taking a pull up jumper.
- my only concern is when curry comes back. i hope we don't just dump it to him and stand around. we are best when the ball moves around. i would like curry to play the nazr on roids role for us. let the guards set him up for easy baskets. the dump it down and get out of the way offense should be used sparingly for the time being.
- crowd was JACKED for the ariza dunk. jagr jumped out of his seat and was cheering from the baseline. it was pretty cool to see.
- don't get it twisted, jamal picked up the offensive slack, frye was solid, but we won that game b/c of our defense. we just seemed to turn it on in the 2nd half. hey, a win is a win is a win but we have to STOP getting into an early hole. we can't climb out of those on the road...but i guess it's all a part of our development process.
- what's q's role here now? 2nd unit with crawford? ariza's backup? or trade bait?
- good win. big game friday that could end up being a "right of passage".
12/1/2005 10:18 AM
