The Knicks were off except for Al Harrington, Nate and Wilson who you can't rely on. Thats the game to me...Duhon is regressing or should I say coming back to earth and the rest of the team just didn't come to play. If Duhon hit at least 35-40% from the floor tonight and David Lee hit his usual over 50% then the Knicks win.

btw, Orlando is a boring team to watch.

Posted by EnySpree:

The Knicks were off except for Al Harrington, Nate and Wilson who you can't rely on. Thats the game to me...Duhon is regressing or should I say coming back to earth and the rest of the team just didn't come to play. If Duhon hit at least 35-40% from the floor tonight andDavid Lee hit his usual over 50% then the Knicks win.

btw, Orlando is a boring team to watch.

Wait- David Lee isn't going to hit 50% against someone as big and dominant as Howard, when Lee is having to match up with him.

I think this is part of Briggs point- and I agree with him. We haven't had a center since Ewing, and maybe Camby, but he was always hurt.

We don't need a Ewing or Shaq type center- just someone who can hold his own. My kingdom for a Kendrick Perkins!

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by Rookie:

I disagree. They forced us to play their game. We couldn't get the perimeter game going and had to take it inside and play to their strength. If we weren't shooting bricks, it would have been different. Also, we needed to push the ball more and exploit Howard's weakness in transition and we didn't. MDA's said we needed to get down the floor before their defense sets. Duhon's really slowed down, we played low energy, we shot a pathetic FG%, we played lousy defense, we lost

Then you are saying we need to rely on the outside game--Well that has never one one championship. You will never shoot a consistent % shooting 23 footers. Howard isnt weak in transition by the way.
He stopped our inside game and penetration and seemed to do what he wanted on offense until he apparently tired out a bit.

i think that was MDA's plan, for Howard to get tired in the transition game and to attack before their defense set. We just didn't execute the game plan very well. What did we shoot, something like 29% in the first half. Maybe we rely on the outside game too much, but we're not a post up team. I'd love an athletic big man, but look at MDA's 06/07 roster with Diaw and Stoudemire playing F/C. I can't really say that trading Marion for Shaq really helped them get closer to wining a championship.

Posted by jazz74:

Posted by BRIGGS:

I watched the game later in the night because Uconn was on and I watched it slowly. Orlando was on the end of a back to back and CLEARLY stopped playing in the 4th Q--so I was not fooled by any actions of that 4th Q. What I concentrated on was how we were physically manhandled inside from minute 1 on both sides which also opened up their shooters and slashers. If you accept your team as small--then you will never win a championship and that is my only goal. The NY Knicks need to think REALLY hard about what they want at C--and WE NEED a C or we will be a second tier team no matter what

so what are you saying? we should tank the rest of the year and try our luck with thabeet?

Start Gallinari and either make the playoffs with this infusion of youth, or die trying and hope to strike it big with Thabeet in the draft.

We lost because we did not push the ball up. This is on Duhon and Nate. One way to eliminate an opposing big man is to make him do things out of the norm as they are most likely not able to adapt. D'Antoni did this by taking out DLee and putting in Harrington and Gallo as the bigs with Chandler to take Dwight out of the paint. We can beat the MA's if we run on them.

Posted by jazz74:

Posted by BRIGGS:

I watched the game later in the night because Uconn was on and I watched it slowly. Orlando was on the end of a back to back and CLEARLY stopped playing in the 4th Q--so I was not fooled by any actions of that 4th Q. What I concentrated on was how we were physically manhandled inside from minute 1 on both sides which also opened up their shooters and slashers. If you accept your team as small--then you will never win a championship and that is my only goal. The NY Knicks need to think REALLY hard about what they want at C--and WE NEED a C or we will be a second tier team no matter what

so what are you saying? we should tank the rest of the year and try our luck with thabeet?

We need to do what it takes to get a big man. I don't see us having pick 2 under any circumstance and Thabeet is going to go pick 2. What I would be willing to do is see if we can promise BJ Mullens a pick and see if we can move up a bit. There is no tank--we just don't have enough hogs to get the job done. I want to see us work hard to get Mullens and see what we can do to add Odom--that would give us 7-1 275 and 6-10 245 to help out Lee. I think it is very possible to buy another pick in the draft and there will be a slew of good guards available all the way down into round 2. This is NOT a bad team but a team that doesnt have enough in a very bad division.

We have Chandler Nate Lee Harrington Duhon Gallinari--we need a 7 footer a true PF to help Lee and another guard who can shoot.

Let's say for instance we do get the players I think we can get

that would put us at

C-Lee
F-Odom
F-Harrington
G Chandler
G_Duhon
C-Mullens
F Wilocx
F Gallinari
G Nate

rest of roster
Jefferies
Curry
Hughes
Rookie guard
Additional young BPA

d'antoni doesn't work well with *traditional* centers. i think he'd much rather go with the two PF lineup.

Posted by nyk4ever:

I don't remember the Pistons having much of an inside game..

the key is, sheed and ben controlled the paint and can match dwights physical play,

Posted by tkf:

Posted by fishmike:

I agree with Briggs for the most part. We dont have a center or anything resembling one right now aside from Wilcox who is rusty to say the least. I think DW knows its a need which is why he traded for Wilcox in the first place. not saying Wilcox is the answer there, but I dont think its a mystery that we have a huge need at that position.

It doesnt help that Howard is the best frontcourt player in the league.

Size in the middle is an issue. Short term having Chandler and Harrington at the 2/3 helps on the boards but until we get a center playing decent basketball its going to be a weakness most nights.

Is this going to morph into a "we need BJ" thread?

which is why I like amare. He is versatile, physical and big... although people rag his defense, he can play with a guy like dwight in the paint, whereas lee was just manhandled... I do agree with briggs here.. we need a big in the middle, and just not any big..

which leads to this question.. if gallo is projected as our future starting PF, what happens to lee? unless we plan to play gallo at the 3 and chandler at the 2.

I don't see a prob with Gallo and Lee. Took Lee 4 years just to get where he is now and probably take Gallo the same amount of time or more where he is fully developed. We are talking a good 3 years down the line.