what is wrong with this team?

i didn't expect them to beat the spurs but i can't even remember teams under chaney this bad defensively. there's usually some sort of run when they get down in the 3rd quarter but not tonight.

there is absolutely no type of identity with this team. none.

are we a running team?
half court?
defensive?
pick and roll?
work it through the post?

seriously, what is this team about. it's very early but there is absolutely nothing positive coming out of this season outside of ariza and seeing how sweetney CAN be a impact player if he gets the opportunity. outside of those two, there is nothing else i can think of that has improved from the last 3 years.

why?
why can't they give sweetney the ball more?
why do they go in these offensive sequences where they have no clue what type of play they're running?
why do they make sloppy passes?
why are they getting blown out every other game?
why does it look like they're giving up?
why?

this is very frustrating. i'm one of the more positive thinkers and posters on this board concerning this team but at this point, i have nothing but questions. nothing has been answered and i'm seeing nothing positive so far.

i keep saying to myself "it's early, it's early". "give it time, they'll come around" but it's apparently clear that the expiration date for those excuses are coming up.

i thought we could survive without h20 for a while. could we?
i thought tim was ready to make a serious impact. could he?
i thought they would feature sweetney alot more. would they?

nazr plays hard, he's just not good enough.
kurt plays hard and gets so much respect from me, but he's not being utilized like he should.
marbury is really trying to be a leader and become a pass first guy.
tim...what can i say about tim that hasn't been said already?

so many questions.
it hurts man watching this team.
so frustrating.

it's early. it's early. give it time, they'll come around...
it's early. it's early. give it time, they'll come around...
it's early. it's early. give it time, they'll come around...

The most frustrating thing so far...we don't know how hard our guys are going to play night in and night out. If we can atleast assemble a team that I KNOW is going to give it 110% everynight, losses won't seem too bad.

Posted by simrud:

Tim Thomas

In a word: yes.

i think marbury deserves just as much blame for tonight's game

To me it just seems like a badly assembled team... like some sort of Frankenstein monster haphazardly put together, without any direction, identity or guidance. Of course, that's really what Detroit was like, a team made up of misfits and odds-and-ends, but now that they've won a championship they're considered the best team around.

My answer therefore is: Lenny. An inspired coach would figure out what to do with this bunch, but obviously Lenny doesn't have a clue.

Posted by Rich:

The Knicks need to be a defense first team and they're not. Lenny is the wrong coach for this team.

dude, I was thinking the exact same thing. I am pretty frustrated right now.

i don't think there is potential for them to be a good defense team. There's no Ben Wallace, Oakley or Artest on this team. Don't say say Ariza because we still don't know for sure if he's ready this year or Sweetney for that matter. Jerome's defense may be good but I don't think it's groundbreaking since he's not a complete player and another liability on offense. Isiah deserves some of the blame too for putting this mess together but in the long run we have a better team now then the team we had under Layden. But we will not get past the first round unless changes are made. Bring in defense and a better coach. Lenny is too old to motivate players anymore.

it will get better once we start playing the brilliant East

Posted by Vmart:

They are just an average team.

below average

http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/34324.htm

KNICK LOSS ALARMS MARBURY

By MARC BERMAN

November 17, 2004 -- SAN ANTONIO — Tim Duncan did not kill the Knicks last night. The Knicks offense killed the Knicks.

The Knicks did a pretty good job on Duncan, holding him to a quiet 17 points. But they shot 38.7 percent amidst a disorganized offensive effort that had Stephon Marbury deeply concerned afterward.

The Knicks competed for the first 21/2 quarters and were still blown out in the opening game of their trip to the Texas Triangle, a 99-81 loss to the Spurs at SBC Center.

Tim Thomas' unsightly season continued with a 5-of-15, five-turnover outing, and Jamal Crawford (15 points) scored just four second-half points. A spate of Knick third-quarter turnovers led to a series of Spurs' fastbreaks that broke open a close game in which the Knicks trailed by two points with 8:01 left in the third. In fact, the Knicks held the lead for the game's first 14 minutes.

"We weren't executing," said Marbury, who shot just 4 of 12 for 13 points, his mindset on distributing the ball.

"We weren't going all the way through our plays. I don't understand it, how you can break a play when you're scoring when you do run a play? We don't play to our third and fourth option."

Marbury said when one player breaks the play "it totally destroys the offense, whether I do it, Tim does it or Jamal does it."

The Knicks wasted a spirited defensive first half as they ran out of gas, got nothing from the bench and got beat badly in transition in the second half (24 transition points total).

"Our transition defense was horrendous," Marbury said.

The 2-4 Knicks next face the Jeff Van Gundy's Rockets tomorrow in Houston, the only winnable game of this four-game trip. The Rockets lost last night to the horrible Hawks and will be playing their third game in four nights. No matter how great a coach Van Gundy is considered and even with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, the Rockets do have Charlie Ward as their starting point guard.

The Knicks made Duncan look mortal in the first half, held the lead for the entire first quarter but still trailed 50-44 at the half.

The Knicks would've led at halftime had Thomas made some buckets. His shooting slump has become alarming. Trying to take advantage of his matchup against the smaller Bruce Bowen, Thomas got good looks but did more bricking than hitting.

Thomas, who entered the game shooting 35 percent, was 3 of 12 in the first half. At one juncture, he lofted 11 shots in 11 minutes.

While many were open shots, Thomas showed selfishness late in the first quarter. He had the ball on the left wing with center Nazr Mohammed wide open by the basket. Thomas eschewed the pass, drove to the hole and blew a runner.

Lenny Wilkens said Thomas is "trying too hard."

Said Marbury, "The best way to get out of a slump is to continue to play hard on both ends of the court. When you're out there playing hard and playing to exhaustion, it makes you get focused. Defense creates your offense."

The Knicks played the half with defensive passion before the Spurs opened it up midway through the third quarter. San Antonio scored two consecutive transition baskets, one after a desperation 32-footer by Michael Sweetney that allowed Tony Parker to go coast to coast for a layup. Then Marbury rushed a perimeter shot, and Duncan went the other way for a fastbreak jam, giving the Spurs a 67-56 lead.

In the first half, Duncan was held to eight points, barely touched the ball in the opening six minutes. He was 3 of 7 from the field in the half.

3 observations

1 - It's still early. None of us thought this team would be as good in November as in April. Also, we've played 3 of the very top teams in the league on the road. Even if we were playing well, I wouldn't have expected W's out of any of these games. Realistically, we've only lost 1 more game than we could have hoped (Boston at home) at this point in the season.

2 - But they do look very bad -- on defense against everybody. Lack of transition D last night is the kind of thing that gets a coach fired. If I have to watch any more of Tim Thomas droop his shoulders, smile sardonically, and barely even jog back after another of his turnovers or missed chippies, I'm going to have a broken tv. Sit that mf down if he can't hustle back on d to at least try to make up for his endless mistakes.

3 - Team is not playing like it has a coach, much less a good one. Not taking advantage of our mismatches and not doing anything to cover up for opponents mismatches. Yes, it's early, but Lenny watch is about to dominate the tabloids if they don't show more.

Also, Sweets, Craw and Ariza have a lot of maturing to do as ball players. We all said we knew this, but it's still tough to watch them be so inconsistent. They all have have been exposed playing against top flight competition, which shouldn't be surprising. Let's hope they start to respond.