1. Take care of the ball. Turnovers lead to fast breaks. Nobody does it better than the Nets, and once they get going, their confidence skyrockets. I was discouraged by how sloppy Knicks played against the Cavs. Hope that was just a "who cares" game.

2. Be patient on offense. Rushed shots lead to fast breaks... see #1.

3. Develop a defensive scheme to stop Jersey's back-door, alley oop offense. If you play solid defense against the Nets, staying in front of your man, and keep them in the half court, they are a mediocre team because their jump shooting is poor.

4. Tim Thomas. Jefferson's been playing extremely well since JKidd and Martin went down, filling up the stat sheet, going hard to the hole, and even hitting his J's. Thomas must play solid D, stay out of foul trouble, and provide enough offense to neutralize Jefferson. I don't like any of our back-up SF's against Jefferson.

5. Win the bench battle. I like our bench a lot more than Jersey's. Think it's our only clear advantage. We need to outscore them by 5-10 pts a game when the second units are in.

the above is well thought out.

I can only add one thing: Don't get into a running game with New Jersey. The Knicks will get killed if they try to match NJ fast-break for fast-break. That doesn't mean the Knicks shouldn't run when the chance manifests itself, but they have to do so judiciously.

Posted by BigSm00th:

I wonder if a 2-3 zone or something like that would work against NJ?

Knicks need to control the rebounds too, so the Nets fast break chances are limited there too.

Lenny tried to do that the last time th eKnicks played them but the Nets were making shots that they never make....remember Aaron Williams three pointer?

The Nets are trying to down play it but they love to beat the Knicks and they play extra hard against the Knicks.

Marbury has to have a great series....He's got to pull a Isiah Thomas type effort out there and take over the series. To me that's the whole Key of the series.

Knicks gotta win the battle in the pain and get the Nets into a more physical game. The Nets are beatable....The Knicks just have to comunicate and play hard.

Posted by gunsnewing:

if Steph plays like he did against San Antonio last year we will murder then Nets

and if TT plays the way he played against NJ last year we will murder the Nets even more

I forgot that those 2 guys really stepped up their games during the playoffs. I look forward to seeing it happen again.

Tim Thomas usually does well against Jefferson and actually plays him pretty well defensively. The last game was an anomaly. All Knicks stunk in that game. TT will deliver 20 a game in this series. KT is the one we have to worry about. He has done nothing and his finger can't be an excuse. Get some cortisone and get with it! Go Knicks!