Observations
- i LOVED the defense. it was intense. guys theyre VERY VERY VOCAL on the floor. they "ICE ICE", they "SWITCH", they "RECOVER". constantly talking and communicating. that lead to easy transition buckets. The defense in the 1st qtr gave us a 19-4 lead in the fourth. that took the air out of the building.

- wasnt impressed with randle or russell. i know im supposed to be talking about the knicks but they must have had a million turnovers. looked LOST out there.

- i love grant! always composed! a true extension of his coach. galloway also has a calm demeanor.

- The French guy Louie was a physical presence and the crowd booed him constantly. he was a pest and he often instigated near fights.

- I liked what i saw from Captain Kirk - nice mid range jumper! I also liked NDour- played Randle on the physical end

- there was a post about lack of athleticism and after watching this game - i can at least say thats not the case for this team. between ledo, thanasis and cle, they were making spectacular plays. simply running them off the court. and this was a team featuring russell, clarkson and randle.

- I ran into Chris Herring and he said hes going to write an article about the new Triangle offense. its like a hybrid offense where they initiate the triangle by dribbling into it. more PNR opportunities. i mentioned this from the previous game

- KP looked out of his element today. he simply isnt strong enough and this physical lakers frontline slowed him down. on one play randle simply stopped his post position/penetration with his ONE forearm. he simply needs to add strength. right now he's too finesse

- Lastly, during a quiet stop in action with the whole building silent, my friend yells "WE LOVE THE MOVES YOU HAVE MADE WITH THIS ROSTER PHIL, THANK YOU THANK YOU"! it was hilarious, he gave us the thumbs up (by the way, phil has completely outkicked his coverage...jeanie buss is way out of his league. lol). btw dolan was at the game sitting next to affalo and mills. we also thanked affalo and welcomed him to ny.

- like i said, the beauty of this league is seeing all these star players sitting up close and personal. LJ was sitting 2 rows ahead of me. i sat behind billy king and coach hollins in the previous game. after the game, i was trying to leave the arena but this big 7fter was in my way blocking the door. it was upshaw complaining on his cel phone that hes not getting playing time. his parents had to console him. seems like a hot head. i gave hollis-jefferson a pound after the game, but i told him hes on the wrong team. lol

thats all i can think of for now. you all saw the game, but stood out to me on the court was the TALKING DEFENSE and athleticism of the knicks

franco12 wrote:we need this to carry over to the regular season - never really does - and that has been the case for several years where I thought our summer league roster would outplay the regular squad.

Well this time a LOT of these guys are going to be in the rotation this year. The other vets are of a similar character which is Phil's brilliance to build a team full of tough hustle players who sacrifice for the team. I fully expect the same kind of effort in the regular season. It's just the nature of the players Phil has brought in. This is how they play all the time. No one has to convince them to play hard.

The team D seems much better. Hope that carries over to the big team.