some quick hits from the game...

- your celebrities of choice...lindsey lohan...all decked out in jet black outfit and jet black hair...AND getting booed in the process. oh lindsey, how far have they fallen?

- marbury got a very nice cheer during introductions. i didn't really hear anyone booing for him.

- crowd was sparse as there were many empty seats but sort of loud considering it's the jazz. i attribute that to the "one-timers". (first time/only time at the garden this year). ALOT of college kids around as they are all home for the holidays combined with the 40% ticket discount.

- on utah's first offensive possession, they took a wide open shot and then we didn't box out and they got the ball back. the time on the clock...11:06 in the first quarter...the boo birds begin AND loudly. oh boy, this is going to be a long game...

- jerome james came to play. there were a few times where steph had an easy shot in the lane but dumped it down to the big game instead. very impressive and imho, the EXACT way we should be using curry for the time being. make him the souped up nazr and let him get his points off guard penetration.

- LOUD applause when frye walks up to the scorer's table. kind of reminded me when starks and mason used to do that back in the day. but alas, twas not frye's night (nor any big) as foul trouble plagued him. we can all agree frye's defense is less than stellar, and our recent losing skid has taken place in conjunction with frye inserted into the starting lineup. but i have also noticed that he's not getting as many touches offensively as he used to. what happened to those 10 to 15 jumpers he had per game? all of the sudden, they're diminishing. i'm not sure why but they are.

- with our bigs having a bad night, it was up to steph and jamal to carry us...and they did. jamal was the key piece in our resurgence while steph just played a heady pg position. and they swapped roles effectively throughout the game. lb has to realize that our guards are too good to just play "dump it down to curry". (on a side note, do mo or jerome EVER pass out of the post? i mean two, three defenders to converge on them yet they still try to take the shot. amazing.) the guards need to be allowed to spread their creative wings from time to time. tonight was a great opportunity for them but it has to continue. with that said, their defense is pretty atrocious. i mean, ridiculously atrocious. they ALWAYS get beat off the dribble, not to mention away from the ball. they may have a play or two where they stop their guy but it's usually the exception to the rule.

- a little scary moment as steph asked to be pulled after hurting his hand. he looked in big time pain but returned shortly thereafter. he's a pitbull.

- q1 (that's quentin, q2=qyntel) is just having an awful season. this is tim thomas redux. again, we have a guy in the lineup who just isn't giving us anything and other guys have to compensate for it. and it's tougher since crawford isn't out there to start as well. that's why we get into so many early holes. he can not play in our half court system. there were times were he just waited out there for the 3 and after missing a few, passed up OPEN 3's in the 4th. he did drive and drew fouls but that's not why he's here. it's time to ship him out to a more open court team (usual suspects - the wiz or denver).

- crowd got SUPER pumped for that crawford/marbury full court exchange. the players on the bench were going crazy throughout, especially for the big game dunk in the 2nd half. they all jumped out their seats like a bunch of kids.

- and speaking of kids, you notice who finished the bulk of the 4th quarter? steph, jamal, q/rose, AD, and mo. no kids in sight.

- q2 is a nice little player. good find and he looks like he may stick.

- in conclusion, we were lucky to play the jazz, especially without ak47. they really are a VERY bad team and we didn't really play special at all. very imbalanced scoring attack and ONLY 14 assists. i'm happy we got the win...and much NEEDED win but at the end of the day, this is probably not how lb wanted it. but i digress as any win at this point should be applauded and we have to take advantage of the schedule. my enthusiasm is tempered tho as they have to now build on this a face the red hot nets who pretty much make us their <female dogs>.



and as a special gift to all of you, my faithful readers, a pic taken by a friend of the dj to encapsulate the best part of the knicks/jazz game...enjoy:

NIce report dj, I really wish I could go to the games, even though they haven't been playing very well, but it was a much needed win, despite how ugly it was, now we have the Nets who are red hot as you say, this is one game that could be a much needed confidence booster for our beloved Knicks if they could pull off a win. I do miss going to MSG and NYC!.

NTW: Nice photo, it's good to see that one has his priorities straight!.

[Edited by - attaboy2005 on 12-24-2005 05:10 AM]

Posted by djsunyc:

- jerome james came to play. there were a few times where steph had an easy shot in the lane but dumped it down to the big game instead. very impressive and imho, the EXACT way we should be using curry for the time being. make him the souped up nazr and let him get his points off guard penetration.

his best game so far, and I agree about Curry, but he should get some dump downs as well, just not so many.

- LOUD applause when frye walks up to the scorer's table. kind of reminded me when starks and mason used to do that back in the day. but alas, twas not frye's night (nor any big) as foul trouble plagued him. we can all agree frye's defense is less than stellar, and our recent losing skid has taken place in conjunction with frye inserted into the starting lineup. but i have also noticed that he's not getting as many touches offensively as he used to. what happened to those 10 to 15 jumpers he had per game? all of the sudden, they're diminishing. i'm not sure why but they are.

- with our bigs having a bad night, it was up to steph and jamal to carry us...and they did. jamal was the key piece in our resurgence while steph just played a heady pg position. and they swapped roles effectively throughout the game. lb has to realize that our guards are too good to just play "dump it down to curry". (on a side note, do mo or jerome EVER pass out of the post? i mean two, three defenders to converge on them yet they still try to take the shot. amazing.) the guards need to be allowed to spread their creative wings from time to time. tonight was a great opportunity for them but it has to continue. with that said, their defense is pretty atrocious. i mean, ridiculously atrocious. they ALWAYS get beat off the dribble, not to mention away from the ball. they may have a play or two where they stop their guy but it's usually the exception to the rule.

totally on point. If only Crawford could show some sembelence of consistancy we would be a much better team. I am now conditioned to expect 8 points from him against NJ.

- q1 (that's quentin, q2=qyntel) is just having an awful season. this is tim thomas redux. again, we have a guy in the lineup who just isn't giving us anything and other guys have to compensate for it. and it's tougher since crawford isn't out there to start as well. that's why we get into so many early holes. he can not play in our half court system. there were times were he just waited out there for the 3 and after missing a few, passed up OPEN 3's in the 4th. he did drive and drew fouls but that's not why he's here. it's time to ship him out to a more open court team (usual suspects - the wiz or denver).

if only it were that simple to ship him out. He is hurting us. No offense, no defense, just rebounds. Why? What is going on? He has not had 1 big game all season.

i think crawford not starting has a lot to do with rotation rather than who deserves it. JC is the only person, other than steph, that we can put at PG. if they both started, and both had to come out, who do you have play the point? JC may not be starting, but he is still getting several more minutes than Q1

There is one important thing are big men don't know how to do is pass when they have their back to the basket, other teams big guys have someone slashing to the basket to pass to, which makes for easy baskets. This is one thing I hope LB and staff teach these guys how to do that, it creates more motion, gives more options our big men to do, either pass, make a move to the basket, a shot a jump shot, etc.
I suppose alot this has to do with our big men not being trained by their previous teams do these things or maybe they are unable do so, which I hope isn't the case.

Posted by gunsnewing:

give Crawford a chance to start so he can prove himself, everyone else got a chance. He's a different player this year. Remember how 70% of his shots last year where from 3 and shooting off balanced? You rarely see that from him these days

crawford was given a chance to start in seattle but he declined

Great camera work playboy!!!