skeng wrote:he's been playing worse in almost every category - FG%, 3PT%, turnovers etc.

I'm not sure if Billups is that motivated here, but who knows. He did speak negatively about being traded away from Denver back before the trade took shape

I know Denver can not keep both felton and lawson and billups would love to go back to denver...any chance??

And it seems like he can't turn the corner on a PnR... he looks worse than Toney.

Just shocked.

martin wrote:

@bandwagonknick: Knicks 1-5 since Billups return from injury. Billups in 4th Q of losses: 2-8 on three pointers, 8 turnovers.

martin wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:You guys know this system will not work unless the pg is on his AAAA game...point blank, you could have 4 all stars on this squad and a crack head playing pg and the team will suffer.

Billups very rearly looks off melo even if he's in a fck up position(just cuase he can create his own shot) to recieve the ball, if he does, he's shooting.
He looks for melo and amare and if thats not there his taking it..no if ands or buts. In the 4th qtrs, he stagnets the offense by waiting til amare are melo fights for positon for 12 seconds, mean while the rest of the team scrambles around aimlessly trying to get out the way, or standing there in the conners while he gets bottled up and forces a stupid ass pass to the defender.

I agree it takes time in this system, thats why MDA should play Billups off the ball, but you can't do that cuase him or melo don't like coming off screens..MDA really has his work cut out for him, and it's really not fair to him by a long shot.

Counter-example: Chris Duhon who was prob halfway through a 5th for the start of every game.

I kid of course, sort of.

LOL

martin wrote:not only is Billups playing old, he is playing stupid. I still am flabbergasted with that one pass that went directly to Ray Allen.

And it seems like he can't turn the corner on a PnR... he looks worse than Toney.

Just shocked.

Shocking indeed.

At first it looked like the best part of the trade was bringing Billups to this team. He would bring stability and make us serious playoff contenders. That hasn't been the same since coming back.

Is it the injury?

Is it that he can't get a groove on the system?

I don't understand but right now its Murphy's Law with this team.

fishmike wrote:

Vmart wrote:Knicks need to go into attack mode, they play right into the hands of the opponent at the end of the games with jumpers. With Amare there there is no way a shot should be take out side of ten feet towards the end of games. When opponent turn up the defense Knicks seem to panic and throw up really pathetic looking shots. The best way to get rid of panic is to attack the basket in a good way not always looking to finish but to set up a teammate for easy baskets. To much dancing and prancing on the perimeter.

its called being great defensively. We got pushed around in the paint. We couldnt get position, it was denied. Rondo denied all penetration. Thier star players BEAT our stars down the stretch. Point bank.

Rondo bottle up Billups
Pierce schooled Melo
KG took it to Amare

There were no schemes. Nobody was out coached. There were no terrible calls. Their guys acted like champs. They locked us down. Those jumpers were because there was nothing else. They beat us. They are the best defensive team in the league.

Its been so long since we saw good defense, but thats how the KNicks of the 90s were. We dominated the paint, forced you into jumpers and controlled the glass.

We were in attack mode. They were simply better and pushed us around

The one thing that stands out to me is that we're nowhere close to as good as we can be in executing on offense. When you see the amount of TO's that Billups has been committing in critical 4th qtrs it just shows you that we're not getting the kind of execution we should yet. The second that CB improves at running the team, then we'll see a HUGE improvement in how this team functions. We all know how critical the PG spot is and it's been proven over and over. Felton was awful at 1st and then when he was in a groove we were killing teams.

It's similar for Melo. He has to surrender to the offense and learn how to use it to become a better player. He's resisting right now and that's why he still puts up bad shots from time to time. When the D gets tough, he wouldn't have to force shots if he actually uses the system. That I believe will come in time.