dk7th wrote:should be an interesting, litmus test sort of game. here's what i will be watching for with our squad:1)handling mismatches and cross matching among artest, gasol, and melo
2)defensive intensity
3)maintaining poise and playing under control, drawing fouls
4)moving the ball to find the player with the best look
5)do we outrebound or get outrebounded
6)does felton take fewer than 13 shots and does melo take fewer than 18 shots
if the knicks get blown out they have some soul-searching to do.
if they win, even if not convincingly, it will be a huge lift and momentum provider.
difficult game to learn anything from. the knicks did not get blown out, did not win convincingly, and managed to lose by just enough to scratch your head.
that said,
2)their defensive intensity was not where it needs to be to win a game on the road
3)they did not play with poise and did not get to the line enough. melo needed to get to the line another 3 or 4 times-- he can do that by incorporating more head and ball fakes, which he did not really utilize today. felton: 0 FTA
4)20 assists is misleading-- the offense looked disjointed for most of the game and i attribute this to too many shots taken by 3 players in a seven to eight man rotation. they took 73% of the shot attempts. can't have that. that's on the coach too.
5)we got outrebounded but that is essentially a wash.
6)see point (4). we can argue this point ad infinitum because it can reduce itself to a chicken or egg argument. there is no justification for your ostensible point guard to chuck up 19 shots. 26TS% OMG. meanwhile what do you do with anthony? great TS% but only 3 assists and those assists erased by 3 turnovers. if he could cut back on 5-6 bad shots and keep the ball moving instead, trying to involve others-- wouldn't that be better? i am not even talking playmaking or another 3 assists a game-- just try to work the ball more.
6a)it is clear that melo does much better shooting off screens, staggered screens, in motion and where he receives a pass in rhythm. he shoots better moving to his left. his little dribbling routine where he launches after 5-6 low dribbles is where he errs. his bad shots are when he rushes, and he will helo his team when he relaxes and takes his time. the less thinking he does the better because frankly he is just not that smart. but when he is on he can be impressive.
1)the mismatch issue worked in our favor early when d'antoni put that kid on melo. obviously you put artest on melo. and then the endgame with melo on gasol was a big deal.
knicks win 38-43 games in 16-17. rose MUST shoot no more than 14 shots per game, defer to kp6 + melo, and have a usage rate of less than 25%
