And you can run and tell THAT, King1!

Childs2Dudley wrote:Yes.

And you can run and tell THAT, King1!

Hey, the fans here in AZ are wondering where the real STAT go? He wasn't doing this in AZ.

nixluva wrote:Amar'e is having fun again on the defensive end. He's back to how he was when he 1st came into the league. He used to block more shots and for some reason he stopped. Now he's going hard and it could be due to Turiaf. Ronny has a way of rubbing off on everyone with his ferocious style of play.

I think it's also cause Knicks are #1 in blocks in the NBA. I'm sure our players know that statistic and there's a sense of team pride that goes a long with it. So everyone's getting in on the block party.

nixluva wrote:Amar'e is having fun again on the defensive end. He's back to how he was when he 1st came into the league. He used to block more shots and for some reason he stopped. Now he's going hard and it could be due to Turiaf. Ronny has a way of rubbing off on everyone with his ferocious style of play.

I've never been a fan who gets too excited about a dunk, unless it comes at an important part of the game and it involves some drama/real passion (Starks v the Bulls is still the "greatest" I've ever seen), so I have to admit that I was never the biggest fan of Amare- whose signature skill has been finishing with a thunderous jam.

I'll say this, though, I would gladly trade all his dunks for kind of shot blocking he gave us yesterday. My girlfriend, who is totally indifferent to sports, kept on wondering why I kept on saying holy shyte and laughing maniacally during the game- and it all came from watching Amare, and in one or two instances, Mosguv, make emphatic blocks. Who would think that D can be so fun to watch.

Maybe Turiaf is the spark, here. We all knew coming into the season that he was a glue/team chemistry type guy, but it is surprising to me how he has established himself as a kind of inspirational leader in his first year on the team, who also does a lot on the floor. Maybe the fact that we have so many new players allowed him to establish himself in a way that he might not be able to do on a veteran team, but we now have a team with 3 guys who can be considered leaders in one way or another- Amare, Felton, and Turiaf, and I think you can see the difference from last year, when you can honestly say that we had no true leaders on the team.

Hopefully our renaissance continues, but for now, I have to get together with the family and gain some weight.

nixluva wrote:It goes back to DW. He really made sure to address all the issues that he could in the offseason. Size, Athleticism, BB IQ, Defense, PG and more shooters. Not everything has panned out, but most of it has. The Defense can get even better to support the shotblocking. We could rebound better which would make the blocks stand up more. I just love the mentality tho. You can see guys on the perimeter getting up on their man more cuz they know they've got help behind them.

I actually don't like that. It's fine for 3 quarters, but in the 4th, when we already have a big lead, I'd rather dare the team into making midrange jumpers than allowing them the lane. Shotblocking is nice, but several teams start to adapt and either pumpfake our shotblocker into the air or dish off to the open man (since the shotblocker has to rotate to help). I mean every other team starts clogging up the paint in the 4th, which suffocates our offense, yet we do the exact opposite.