With that being said, I admit that I am a sucker for good stories and this year's Knicks has just that. Regardless of race and all the cultural stuff, what the Knicks have this year is the modern day Rudy Ruettiger story with the drama of improving role players, big egos of the star players, and a team that severely lacks chemistry due to having too much talent on one team. Hollywood cannot write a story better than this and I am fascinated to see if this can work. As a basketball junkie all my life, I am a fan.

I have been reading the discussions on this board and to me, the Knicks have such great potential to be a true contender as NBA champs, but there is one glaring issue in my opinion that I have not seen most on this board talk about. Nobody on this team wants to play defense.

Watching the Miami game, despite losing that game badly, what got me was the amount of open shots Miami had.....in particular Chris Bosh who was wide open for many of his mid-range shots.

I think many of you already know this, but what this team needs is to really address the defensive issues more than anything else. If that can happen, that is when NY will really begin to put together longer winning streaks and get a half way decent seed in the playoff.

At any rate, I just wanted to introduce myself. I am a new fan and am looking forward to discussing bball with Knicks fans.

Yea, Miami had some open looks but you know what? Tonight we slap the Cavs around and WE'LL SEE THOSE BUMS FROM SOUTH BEACH IN THE PLAYOFFS!

Lin baby, all he do is WIN, BABY!

sdsucwsl wrote:New to this board and I must admit that growing up as a Lakers fan in LA, I have never rooted for the Knicks my entire life. In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself not only rooting against the Lakers, but also rooting for the Knicks. To be honest, in the last couple of years, I have strayed away from the NBA in general but this year's Knicks have brought me back.

With that being said, I admit that I am a sucker for good stories and this year's Knicks has just that. Regardless of race and all the cultural stuff, what the Knicks have this year is the modern day Rudy Ruettiger story with the drama of improving role players, big egos of the star players, and a team that severely lacks chemistry due to having too much talent on one team. Hollywood cannot write a story better than this and I am fascinated to see if this can work. As a basketball junkie all my life, I am a fan.

I have been reading the discussions on this board and to me, the Knicks have such great potential to be a true contender as NBA champs, but there is one glaring issue in my opinion that I have not seen most on this board talk about. Nobody on this team wants to play defense.

Watching the Miami game, despite losing that game badly, what got me was the amount of open shots Miami had.....in particular Chris Bosh who was wide open for many of his mid-range shots.

I think many of you already know this, but what this team needs is to really address the defensive issues more than anything else. If that can happen, that is when NY will really begin to put together longer winning streaks and get a half way decent seed in the playoff.

At any rate, I just wanted to introduce myself. I am a new fan and am looking forward to discussing bball with Knicks fans.

First off, welcome to the board. Second, you must not have been watching the Knicks this year. If anything the Knicks defense, is ahead of it's offense, despite the recent Linsanity. In fact, the Knicks team defensive efficiency went from 21st last year to 7th this year to quote our good friend Hollinger:

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats/_/sort/defensiveEff/order/false

There have been numerous lengthy discussions about the lack of defense on the Knicks over the past few years. This is actually the first season they DO give a shyte about playing D. Tyson, Shump, Landry, et al are great defenders. The problem is Amare and Melo don't step up and play hard D, especially Stat. It grinds on my nerves when he backs up as his guy takes it hard to the rim. Reminds me of David Lee, and it's what Clyde refers to as "matador D". And it won't fly in the playoffs.

Hopefully Stat can turn it around, because we will not contend until he does. Oakley needs to give him some lessons in SACKage.