The stubs got a HUGE heart

1. If Brandon Rush and Bogut weren't injured, GS might be able to compete in the West. I was expecting GS to be interesting this year but I wasn't expecting Jack and Laundry to be so efficient, Thompson to learn some defense, or Harrison Barnes to contribute much at all. I figured the team needed more experience and some talent upgrades before they could compete.

2. Curry's role, PG or SG, is still a little iffy but his pacing/efficiency and general control of the game and of his teammate's game has improved significantly. Also, Curry can play smart team defense and he's drawing tougher defensive assignments. He doesn't always shutdown other stars but he can take them out of their game. Assuming his ankle holds up, in a year or two, he should be one of the top PGs in the league. Tonight wasn't the best example because GS had to change their game to deal with David Lee's suspension but on a usual night, Curry does all the smart stuff that, say, Paul and Rose and Nash do to manage their teammates, control the tempo, make adjustments, set up plays, and so on. Yeah, Curry can shoot the ball and play smart but it was unclear until recently if he could be da man and run a team. He can run a team. He's going to get better if the talent around him gets better.

3. Mark Jackson can coach. I tend to think half of Jackson's coaching is "What Steph said." and I'm usually suspicious of preacher-type coaches (and if you watched Jackson closely, you've seen that most of what he says in the huddle is "Believe!") and Jackson has been a little iffy with end game coaching but . . . he's been brilliant coaching the players he has to work with. He's developed younger players and generally expected smarter play from all of his players. He focuses on very fundamental basketball skills--he's no strategist like Popovich or MDA--and he maximizes the talents of his players and lets players, like Curry and Jack, make decisions on the fly. I didn't think I'd like Jackson as a coach but I think he's probably going to be coaching for a while and, if surrounded by the right assistants, he might end up a very good coach.

VCoug wrote:So, what's the takeaway after these two wins? Both Philly and GS were on the second night of a back to back, GS was missing their starting front court, and we barely beat them. It's nice to be winning again but I'm not gaining much confidence that we'll be seeing much postseason success.

you know what the "takeaway" is?.....Knicks won.

Knicks have been missing a part of their front court all season...we dont allow any excuses there, do we?

we saw more flashes of knick ball movement last night that we need to see more of. it also appears that shumpert is starting to regain a little more shumperocity which is a great sign. six steals is nothing to sneeze at.

it's a shame lee was out tonight. as doris burke pointed out-- i really enjoy her color commentary-- you have to wonder how his rebounding and scoring would have affected the game... not just his 19 points but the fact that he would have been drawing chandler out on jumpshots away from rebounding position and that he would have contested chandler's rebounding prowess too.

what made last night unique was not just curry's game for the ages, it was also melo's usage and assist rate. usage was 37% which is an abomination but guess what he had an assist rate of 39.7%! this really made a difference in the course of the game even if the warrior turnovers were their undoing in crunch time. the only factor that tempers melo's generosity is that pesky TS% of his which was right about at his career average of 53.7%. he won't have playoff success putting up this sort of number.

you take the win no doubt but without rasheed and a fading kidd it still leaves looming issues come second round playoff time.

Bonn1997 wrote:I think that I would pick Tyson Chandler over Josh Smith

I'd take Tyson from last night over almost any big man. He just has to bring it every night. You can just tell when the effort is there and when it is not. I think rather than set the energy tone for his team he feeds off of the collective unit. He and Melo need the effort they had last night every night. Everyone else will follow.

MSG3 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:I think that I would pick Tyson Chandler over Josh Smith

I'd take Tyson from last night over almost any big man. He just has to bring it every night. You can just tell when the effort is there and when it is not. I think rather than set the energy tone for his team he feeds off of the collective unit. He and Melo need the effort they had last night every night. Everyone else will follow.

jrodmc wrote:Melo goes to the line 15 times. Golden State goes to the line 21 times.
Melo goes to the line 18 times. Philly goes to the line 20 times.

Does anyone think that might bode well come playoff time?

Definitely. Don't have any numbers to back it up but it looks like Melo is driving and posting more often and shooting from 15+ feet out less lately. That should be a big positive going forward. Still, unless some of our role players start playing better than hot trash it's not going to mean much in the long run.

fishmike wrote:

jrodmc wrote:Melo goes to the line 15 times. Golden State goes to the line 21 times.
Melo goes to the line 18 times. Philly goes to the line 20 times.

Does anyone think that might bode well come playoff time?

not if its backed up by 10-28 shooting no. But it will be good enough for him to score his 28 points and for you to blame Novak vanishing or Sheed's injury for another first round exit. So you have that to cuddle with.

If he's shooting over 50% from the field, why would he be going to the line 15 - 18 times a game?
So in your world, he shoots lights out from the field AND goes to the line alot too. AND gets 10 rebounds, not just 8 or 9. AND gets more than 6-8 assists. AND has more patches on his warmup jacket. AND cures cancer. AND lands on Mars.

Reasonable, rational expectations. Very cuddly.

fishmike wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

fishmike wrote:

jrodmc wrote:Melo goes to the line 15 times. Golden State goes to the line 21 times.
Melo goes to the line 18 times. Philly goes to the line 20 times.

Does anyone think that might bode well come playoff time?

not if its backed up by 10-28 shooting no. But it will be good enough for him to score his 28 points and for you to blame Novak vanishing or Sheed's injury for another first round exit. So you have that to cuddle with.

If he's shooting over 50% from the field, why would he be going to the line 15 - 18 times a game?
So in your world, he shoots lights out from the field AND goes to the line alot too. AND gets 10 rebounds, not just 8 or 9. AND gets more than 6-8 assists. AND has more patches on his warmup jacket. AND cures cancer. AND lands on Mars.

Reasonable, rational expectations. Very cuddly.

never said any of that. Please dont wish bodily harm on me.

Knicks arent going to win if their leading scoring is shooting his usual 41% playoff shooting %, especially when the guy takes almost 30 shots a game. He gets to the line 8 times a game. Its a good. Not good enough for a deep playoff run. The guy is totally inconsistant game to game. Sure, cover that fact with your cute sayings but the truth is simple. Melo dominates the ball, jacks shots and 41% shooting is good enough for a 16-36 (.308) career record.

Im sure this year will be different.

All I'm looking for is some good to take away from the game. Yes, it's cute that it's only two games in a row, but high volume shooters have been known to make it deep into the playoffs, since his pathetic playoff career includes a run to the WCF, right? So we know Melochucker can at least get past the first round, anyway.

This year sure has been different already, hasn't it?

Once again, nothing but health and buckets of money to you and yours.

Bonn1997 wrote:

MSG3 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:I think that I would pick Tyson Chandler over Josh Smith

I'd take Tyson from last night over almost any big man. He just has to bring it every night. You can just tell when the effort is there and when it is not. I think rather than set the energy tone for his team he feeds off of the collective unit. He and Melo need the effort they had last night every night. Everyone else will follow.

Very few players can do that. He's grabbed at least 7 rebounds (and usually much more) in all but two games since mid November, though. Smith is certainly not more consistent than Tyson! Neither is Melo or anyone else on our team.

I don't know about that statement. I think all of our players have been inconsistent this year. JR is just inconsistent in general. Tyson should have 7 rebounds per game fall into his lap. But I agree, for the last month he's really been bringing it. You can see the difference in his rebounding and shot blocking. It's difficult to anchor a defense that has weak perimeter D, but he's doing his best which is why he's valuable. Performances like last night make me bite my tongue on saying he's overrated.

MSG3 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

MSG3 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:I think that I would pick Tyson Chandler over Josh Smith

I'd take Tyson from last night over almost any big man. He just has to bring it every night. You can just tell when the effort is there and when it is not. I think rather than set the energy tone for his team he feeds off of the collective unit. He and Melo need the effort they had last night every night. Everyone else will follow.

Very few players can do that. He's grabbed at least 7 rebounds (and usually much more) in all but two games since mid November, though. Smith is certainly not more consistent than Tyson! Neither is Melo or anyone else on our team.

I don't know about that statement. I think all of our players have been inconsistent this year. JR is just inconsistent in general. Tyson should have 7 rebounds per game fall into his lap. But I agree, for the last month he's really been bringing it. You can see the difference in his rebounding and shot blocking. It's difficult to anchor a defense that has weak perimeter D, but he's doing his best which is why he's valuable. Performances like last night make me bite my tongue on saying he's overrated.