but b-ball is never about one player: the bigger issue is the defensive intensity was matched: when the hornets ratcheted the pressure the knicks did the same. that's coaching!!! knicks are starting to gel, play with each other, even starting to play FOR each other. triangle is becoming more natural and fluid, too. and yes, fisher is still tinkering, as in more seraphin, zero o'quinn, and keeping melo and kp in there during the first substitution pattern for a couple of minutes before thomas and williams.

melo 6-18 shooting? bfd. two bad shots but but but he defended and he rebounded and he got 5 ASSISTS. i'll take that in the regular season. very paul pierce/dirk like which is HUGE. melo is playing like a complete player AND he likes to play with kp. kudos to melo. they could be a formidable duo. i'm loving it. i'll take this melo over the melo we have seen every damned time.

afflalo he, like lopez has an ugly beautiful game. he was gassed the last 5 minutes of is minutes. great news to see him coming around.

thomas i like him but man he just doesn't square those feet!

seraphin surprisingly deft passer like diaw. i thought o'quinn was lime diaw but seraphin has a bit of diaw too.

kp again, knicks are blessed. tonight we saw a potentially great knickerbocker... and this is his 12th game.

ChuckBuck wrote:Good analysis, just forgot to mention Galloway's D and deadly 3 point stroke.

yes outside of melo and kp, galloway is the most important player on the knicks. clutch momentum-swinging shooter, defender. makes timely passes too, like to calderon tonight.

Anthony said: “I want him [Porzingis] to succeed. He puts in the work.”

just an awesome job last night by melo. he keeps this up the knicks make the playoffs, maybe even some noise in the playoffs.

dk7th wrote:

Sangfroid wrote:We are getting KILLED by PG penetration. Possible solution? Early as a SG, defensive stopper. Good height, decent defender.

he is not going to get playing time. things are coming into focus and he isn't part of the picture. that said, the knicks will have to try to figure out westbrook-- not that anybody has figured him out.

My guess is that Afflalo will be on him at the start.

Nalod wrote:Lopez played 17 min and we won. He boxed out so others can get rebounds.
Seraphin opened things up for Zing inside.
Jose had 2 shots that were "good missed", they were in and out.
Lopez off game, but Zing big big coming out game. the bar is higher than we thought.
Lopez limited minutes. Seraphin in. KO not even step on the court. Fish adapting.
Affalo looking good!
Melo getting assists and diving for balls.

Zing good instincts! Caught a tough ball behind him and goes in for the layup!!!

Dwill is the opposite, everything he tried was crap. Dude is seriously looking awful the more structured the knicks are. the old saying "let the game come to him" rings true. He is obviously pressing and wanting to make things happen. His career is in jeopardy.

Ebb and flow. Knicks are .500 after 12 games. Earlier than I thought. Hope it continues. WE are on respectable street.

Great post game analysis.

mreinman wrote:one thing that is really started to alarm me is how many long 2's the knicks take (between 10-23 feet. 16-23 footer are awful. 10-16 are pretty bad too. The knicks are leading the league in 10-16 and are up there in 16-23.

I don't want to hear that its the players because its not.

Melo, I could care less about 6-18, he is playing great team ball. Still can use some more passing but he has taken a giant leap forward.

As long as there are Al Jefferson's in the league, there will be a need for Rolo's.

Can we agree that Dwil should not be playing? Glad no koq tonight.

Galloway is not only hitting the big shots but he is not turning the ball over. 5 assists -> 1 turnover is fabulous.

Don't care for Afflalo and his flat shot. Don't think that he will be efficient in this system.

He had the highest +/- of everyone on the team last night, if you're into that kind of thing.

jrodmc wrote:

dk7th wrote:you wanna see what a team leader does: melo had a 25.7% usage rate and a 22.7 assist rate for a 1.13:1 ratio. this is an elite facilitating number, and is usually associated with the shooting guard position in the nba. the sort of numbers that paul pierce and paul george put up.

just an awesome job last night by melo. he keeps this up the knicks make the playoffs, maybe even some noise in the playoffs.

Can I get a witness! Amen, brother! Amen! We are blessed!!!

tell tkf to come back!! all is forgiven! Splat!??? where are you???

5 fuuuuuhuckkinnnnnnnnn assists!!!! 2 blocks!!! 11 boards!!! And Me70 loves the little 7'3" brother!

I'm so happy!

I actually like this version Melo. "Robin" Melo is the best kind. Being a willing distributor is all the "mad hatters" ever wanted.

KP should get plenty of touches and be the focal point in a non obvious sort of way. He put up 17 shots and I didn't know he took 17 shots...all within the flow and non forced for the most part.

We definitely have to get away from the 4th quarter stagnant garbage offense somehow...I'm sure Fish will work on that in practice after this hellish road trip.

The Melo-KP 2 man game if used properly could be unstoppable.