With AR's length, quickness and defensive prowess I really doubt the game would have been close. Note - Mos didn't even play. AR could really help to bring down the minutes of the starting unit since he can play all over the court.

Just- on defense, stick with Bargs- deny the ball, prevent him from getting an open look.

On offense, go stand in the corner, wait there.

I mean, that is what much of the offense is- go on the wing, wait for the ball, swing to the open man.

Give him 4 minutes and see if he can do ok.

Andrew wrote:

orangeblobman wrote:You can't use AR on anyone because he doesn't 'get it'. He doesn't understand what he needs to do to fit in the team, he's a selfish bum, he's a scumbag right now. He needs an attitude shift, he needs to grow up and not be a little boy.

Come on blob. You get another chance to post here and this is how you are using it? I hope you can change so you can stick around longer than 1 week.

It was just a figure of speech. I hear you though, man. He just has a lot of growing up to do to crack that rotation. It's not all about AR, it's all about the Knicks.

They would have left AR all alone in the corner and if he sniffed the ball he would have thought to shoot, but has no confidence then tried baseline until he got an offensive foul on him. Meanwhile there are three guys wide open playing with their Gameboys while he is trying to jump over half the shifting defense. MDA then goes nuts and his expressionless low IQ ass goes off to the bench.

AR is being torn apart and when he gets it back together they will let him play. But to "see how he does" is not what we are about.

MDA has got his rotation and winning.

bargnani - 41-7 and 6
kevin love - 33pts 15 boards
amir johnson - 22 and 16
brook lopez - 36pts
tayshaun prince - 31-8 and 7
blake griffin - 44-15 and 7
kevin love again - 31-31

Amar'e is not horrendous defensively. he's never going to be mistaken for Duncan but he's not David Lee either. the thing is he still fouls at a fairly high rate, not Mozgov bad, but still fairly high. when he gets any fouls he goes into passive mode, like picking up an early foul in the first quarter, he's not going to challenge hard for the rest of the quarter. or if he has 2 fouls in the 2nd and so forth. this might not be his fault, he's so important to the offense that keeping him out there for as long as possible is worth it.

What's also common amongst these guys is that Chandler has huge issues with big bodied guys. some of them are tough to handle for anyone but Chandler is undersized and Turiaf does not have the quickness to keep up or he was just not playing due to injury. when help defense with Amar'e is not challenging for fear of getting into foul trouble or is in foul trouble then something like this is going to happen.

i'm not sure what solutions there are. getting Carmelo may help as Amar'e might not feel pressure to help on D. a defensive frontcourt mate who can hold his own offensively would be ideal but guys like that do not grow on trees.

at the moment we're just going to have to deal with it and i'm pretty sure Amar'e can win most matchups if we're going to play the trading baskets game. not sure how much AR helps but having someone else in the frontcourt to rotate in who's not named Mozgov wouldn't hurt.

FistOfOakley wrote:it's really not just bargnani. we usually have someone in the opposing team's frontcourt goes off and not just off, these are some monster games.

bargnani - 41-7 and 6
kevin love - 33pts 15 boards
amir johnson - 22 and 16
brook lopez - 36pts
tayshaun prince - 31-8 and 7
blake griffin - 44-15 and 7
kevin love again - 31-31

Amar'e is not horrendous defensively. he's never going to be mistaken for Duncan but he's not David Lee either. the thing is he still fouls at a fairly high rate, not Mozgov bad, but still fairly high. when he gets any fouls he goes into passive mode, like picking up an early foul in the first quarter, he's not going to challenge hard for the rest of the quarter. or if he has 2 fouls in the 2nd and so forth. this might not be his fault, he's so important to the offense that keeping him out there for as long as possible is worth it.

What's also common amongst these guys is that Chandler has huge issues with big bodied guys. some of them are tough to handle for anyone but Chandler is undersized and Turiaf does not have the quickness to keep up or he was just not playing due to injury. when help defense with Amar'e is not challenging for fear of getting into foul trouble or is in foul trouble then something like this is going to happen.

i'm not sure what solutions there are. getting Carmelo may help as Amar'e might not feel pressure to help on D. a defensive frontcourt mate who can hold his own offensively would be ideal but guys like that do not grow on trees.

at the moment we're just going to have to deal with it and i'm pretty sure Amar'e can win most matchups if we're going to play the trading baskets game. not sure how much AR helps but having someone else in the frontcourt to rotate in who's not named Mozgov wouldn't hurt.

This is a give and take situation with the Knicks.

Amare is the Knicks' best player. Everyone knows it. Without him the offense slows a tad or is not as effective. Amare knows this so he is not as aggressive defensively under certain circumstances: 2 fouls in the first half, 3-4 fouls in the srd quarter, 4 fouls early in the 4th, etc.

And this is why the Knicks NEED someone like Gallo to pick up the offense or carry the offense for 5-10 minutes or more at a time when Amare is on the bench or so that he can be a better (more aggressive?) defender in those situations.

Right now the Knicks are gobbling up wins against weaker teams, getting wins when they are possible so that later in the year when playoffs loom they can grab an invite.

Time will tell how this plays out.

martin wrote:This is a give and take situation with the Knicks.

Amare is the Knicks' best player. Everyone knows it. Without him the offense slows a tad or is not as effective. Amare knows this so he is not as aggressive defensively under certain circumstances: 2 fouls in the first half, 3-4 fouls in the srd quarter, 4 fouls early in the 4th, etc.

And this is why the Knicks NEED someone like Gallo to pick up the offense or carry the offense for 5-10 minutes or more at a time when Amare is on the bench or so that he can be a better (more aggressive?) defender in those situations.

Right now the Knicks are gobbling up wins against weaker teams, getting wins when they are possible so that later in the year when playoffs loom they can grab an invite.

Time will tell how this plays out.

this is why gallo becoming a dependable scorer is so important. it's a coinflip on whether or not he can step up on game by game basis. thank god for wilson chandler.

but i don't think that alone will help us take that next step. it'll be part of it for sure but there's really no one on the roster that can deal with the pau gasols, dwight howards, kevin garnetts or even the kevin love's. there's not that many guys out there who can stop them but someone who can match up better and not give up 40 pts or 30/30s. when the celtics, lakers, magic and spurs are at their best, these games against the twolves and raptors are usually won going away by double digits. we're not putting these guys away because of our defense.

if we're going to compete on a high level that's really the missing piece imo. i don't think AR is the answer to solve that problem becauase for all his talents, he's still rail thin, so i think it's going to have to come via trade or free agency.