O'Neal will be big test for Curry
BY ALAN HAHN
Newsday Staff Writer

December 15, 2006
It's measure-up time again for the Knicks, most especially Eddy Curry. After dominating a line of teams without bona fide big men, Curry goes up against a strong Pacers frontcourt tonight in Indiana. Curry takes a streak of 11 games with 20 or more points up against three-time all-star Jermaine O'Neal, who is averaging 18.3 points and 10.1 rebounds.

"I'm definitely looking forward to the game," Curry said after he scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a 92-84 win over the Hawks on Wednesday. "Any time I can play against a player of Jermaine O'Neal's caliber, I definitely try to gauge myself as to where I am and how far I have to go to get where I want to be."

Curry's recent emergence for the Knicks (9-15) as a dominant and consistent scorer on the low blocks has started to draw a lot of attention. In a 97-90 loss to Boston on Monday, the Celtics sent two and three defenders at the 6-11, 300-pound Curry when he caught the ball on the post. Atlanta almost always double-teamed him. Both teams also tried to get Curry into a physical battle. Celtics center Al Jefferson banged with Curry all night long. After the game, he rubbed his sore chest and said, "Man, Curry's a beast."

Curry says he welcomes the attention.

"I don't take it personal when somebody hits me hard," he said. "It definitely fires me up. And it's kind of flattering that they feel they have to do that to try to take me off my game."

The Pacers (12-12) will most likely try to engage Curry throughout by putting 6-11, 250-pound Jeff Foster on him once in a while. But it's on the defensive end that the Pacers might be able to wear Curry down or get him in foul trouble. He'll likely have to guard O'Neal, who is an excellent post player. Jared Jeffries will come on the help-out, but he also has to keep his attention on 6-9, 245-pound forward Al Harrington.

Knicks assistant Mark Aguirre has worked with both O'Neal and Curry. He says O'Neal is a better shooter, but Curry "might be a better position guy." Curry was able to make adjustments against double-teams against the Hawks by setting up closer to the basket and powering up over his defender before the double could come.

The Knicks guards still have to get more in synch with feeding Curry. Several times in the first half on Wednesday, Curry had his defender pinned on one hip and was calling for the ball. But the pass into the post was often to the defender's side instead of Curry's open hand, where he could have spun for easy baskets.

But at least they're looking to get him the ball. Stephon Marbury's transformation from a scoring guard to a passing guard is clearly underway. His first step was to accept Curry as the team's first option.

"He's playing like an all-star and he's carrying us right now," Marbury said. "I'm just trying to adjust my game to fit around how Eddy is playing."

If it continues with success, it may be Isiah Thomas' greatest achievement as coach.

don't be surprised if they use big snacks tonight. to keep eddy out of foul trouble. i think they should also use the big lineup more often in this game with curry, jeffries, lee, richardson and crawford.

Curry can't guard O'Neal on the perimeter and O'Neal shouldn't be able to guard Curry in the low post.

Jeffries will be matched up on O'neil. Curry will face whatever C Indiana starts now.

Posted by efw:

Jeffries will be matched up on O'neil. Curry will face whatever C Indiana starts now.

The Pacers don't start another center, they start Al Harrington............... JJ will be a big part of a win or lost tonite guarding AL!!!!

if curry can play well tonight..it will speak volumes

Uh Oh Benard is this a No No? Not another Curry thread by you. It appears you have doubled me up on starting Curry threads.

Posted by SugarRayRichardson:

Posted by SeatsBlue:

Uh Oh Benard is this a No No? Not another Curry thread by you. It appears you have doubled me up on starting Curry threads.

Not taking your baiting. Sorry. :)

Swim away Benard you are getting to close!

I don't look too deeply at individual matchups. Most all-star type big men (with the exception of Garnett) don't actually spend much time guarding other star big men. It's really not worth the risk of fouls.

The test really is to see how Curry can perform against this defensive-oriented, Carlyle Pacers team. I don't think any of the Pacer big men are exceptional defenders-- but they bring a lot of size to the table.

Posted by SugarRayRichardson:

At some point the test will be on the rest of the knicks since Curry is attracting double and triple teams

This is a good point. Since Curry's level of play has risen to the point where he's dominating inside, what the team needs to do is learn to burn the other team when they double and triple team him. The first part of that equation is Curry's making a good crisp pass. The second part involves the other players hitting open j's and cutting to the hoop.

If Curry scores 20+ against Foster and JO, and plays good enuff defense and rebounds well, I'll be thoroughly happy, b/c it'll show that he's able to play in big games just as well as little ones.

Let's be real -- most of the teams in the past 11 games have been against sub .500 teams...