Knicksfan wrote:

holfresh wrote:Houston is terrible..I can't believe the praise Breen has been heaping on them all night..

Their record is impressive, Harden too and Mike D's decision to play him at PG is brilliant.

We try to outscore most teams with our disappearing defense. They actually do that better than us and win.

Knicks67 wrote:

Caseloads wrote:love the look of this team without melo

So true, we look so much better as of late when he has gone down regardless of whether we won or not

Kuz warmed up on offense, but still needs to get a better gauge of the athleticism in the NBA.

Would have liked to see more of Willy in the post on offense against this team.

Holiday has to understand that Harden is a lefty...got caught with that arm swing into a shot when he reached his right hand in to guard him...you can't get away doing that against that guy.

Knicksfan wrote:

Cartman718 wrote:no melo no kp no koq and no lee...come on now.

Excuses galore! We always have a good excuse to lose.

Caseloads wrote:

holfresh wrote:

Knicksfan wrote:

holfresh wrote:Houston is terrible..I can't believe the praise Breen has been heaping on them all night..

Their record is impressive, Harden too and Mike D's decision to play him at PG is brilliant.

We try to outscore most teams with our disappearing defense. They actually do that better than us and win.

Houston have 21 wins against losing teams..

Aren't you supposed to beat the teams worse than you?

Absolutely... but you have to have some.. Huston does. They are 4th best...

holfresh wrote:

Knicksfan wrote:

holfresh wrote:Houston is terrible..I can't believe the praise Breen has been heaping on them all night..

Their record is impressive, Harden too and Mike D's decision to play him at PG is brilliant.

We try to outscore most teams with our disappearing defense. They actually do that better than us and win.

Houston have 21 wins against losing teams..

What about us? We beat Memphis and thats it?

nixluva wrote:

Knicksfan wrote:

nixluva wrote:

Knicksfan wrote:

Cartman718 wrote:no melo no kp no koq and no lee...come on now.

Excuses galore! We always have a good excuse to lose.

Is that an excuse or just the truth??? I mean at some point you just have to accept that it was a tough game to win minus that much on a back to back. They played hard.

Well, teams always have to overcome adversity to get wins. We use them as excuses because lately someone has been missing in a game. But even when they have been all, they have continued to play bad so...

You have to keep things in perspective tho. This team was behind coming into the season then they surged and were ahead of the game. They still have a great shot to have a good season. On balance this could be a bump in the road. IMO there's no need to panic or be overly upset. Just let things play out and see how they respond.

If they come home and win then it's not the end of the world.

We are such a mystery that the glass can be seen half empty of half full and both be rights. No reason to be optimistic, not very pesimistic. I was excited about this team. They certainly have the talent to beat anyone. But nothing else. At this point, they should look like they are figuring things out. Instead, they look regressed and unfocused. Meh

holfresh wrote:It's not baffling at all..Melo and Rose played 40 and 38 mins last night..They aren't machines..That's how players get injured..Melo and Rose played 19 and 20 mins in the first half..

That is part of the NBA, every team goes through back to back games. The Rockets also played last night. Not sure how many minutes Harden played last night against the Clippers, but since he had a triple double against them, I am sure he put in some minutes.

Knicks67 wrote:

Caseloads wrote:love the look of this team without melo

So true, we look so much better as of late when he has gone down regardless of whether we won or not

holfresh wrote:

rickv3 wrote:

holfresh wrote:It's not baffling at all..Melo and Rose played 40 and 38 mins last night..They aren't machines..That's how players get injured..Melo and Rose played 19 and 20 mins in the first half..

That is part of the NBA, every team goes through back to back games. The Rockets also played last night. Not sure how many minutes Harden played last night against the Clippers, but since he had a triple double against them, I am sure he put in some minutes.

27 year old James Harden played 34 minutes last night and 32 year old Melo played 40 mins last night..

Yes true, still no excuse for the effort. Let's not forget Melo only played 15 mins against the Hawks on Wed, had a day off, then 40 mins Friday night, still no excuse for his lackadaisical effort. This team always plays terrible on the second night of the back to backs, excuses have to stop and IMHO, Melo the leader needs to step up.

arkrud wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

rickv3 wrote:

holfresh wrote:

rickv3 wrote:

holfresh wrote:It's not baffling at all..Melo and Rose played 40 and 38 mins last night..They aren't machines..That's how players get injured..Melo and Rose played 19 and 20 mins in the first half..

That is part of the NBA, every team goes through back to back games. The Rockets also played last night. Not sure how many minutes Harden played last night against the Clippers, but since he had a triple double against them, I am sure he put in some minutes.

27 year old James Harden played 34 minutes last night and 32 year old Melo played 40 mins last night..

Yes true, still no excuse for the effort. Let's not forget Melo only played 15 mins against the Hawks on Wed, had a day off, then 40 mins Friday night, still no excuse for his lackadaisical effort. This team always plays terrible on the second night of the back to backs, excuses have to stop and IMHO, Melo the leader needs to step up.

We had company so I couldn't watch like I normally would. Prior to the game I saw KP, Lee, KOQ out and Melo was going to play through a sore knee. Playing through might be seen as stepping up? He did bang the knee the night before and he also had knee surgery and guys were saying he would never be the same after that. If a guy tries to play through and says he can't should he continue to play to step up? Melo has been in NY for a long time. Do you think he takes nights off to not step up?

I am not sure why he is there. There is no reason for him or team.
I think he also start having difficult time to understand why he is still in NY..
He worked hard all his life to be a winner. Why he decided to cut himself off at the end?
Mindbogglingly...