I wanted Carter over Balkman but we got both. I'm happy this guy is here. Certainly he is nothing special and he's 35 years old but he is a good defender and a better point guard than Toney. I think we found our backup PG and I hope he continues to play as many minutes as he did last night.

http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=38168

http://nbaplaybook.com/2010/12/29/knicks-adjust-their-offense-stay-competitive-with-the-heat/

When you think of the New York Knicks, you think of a high octane offense that likes to run an effective pick and roll in the halfcourt, and that is the reality. After early struggles with the PNR, Raymond Felton and Amar’e Stoudemire have developed a nice chemistry and the PNR is back to being an effective tool for the Knicks. Overall, the Knicks are one of the best when it comes to running the pick and roll, and they use that to their advantage. According to Synergy, the Knicks run the pick and roll 17.1% of their possessions, while scoring .96 PPP (They are first in Roll Man PPP, 9th in Ball Handler PPP – according to Synergy).

So during their first match up against the Heat, they tried to go to their bread and butter, but it was far from successful. The Knicks ran the pick and roll 15.5% of the time, but the Heat’s hard shows on defense held the Knicks to just 0.59 PPP on Pick and Roll plays. The Heat defense also baited the Knicks into way too many ISO sets, they ran those plays 16.4% of the time, scoring just 4 points out of it (0.33 PPP) on 12.5% shooting. Looking at these numbers, it was no surprise that the Heat ended up blowing out the Knicks.

So when the Knicks went up against the Heat the second time, they decided to switch some things around. They still had trouble with the pick and roll (UPDATE: Gian Casimiro over at the Knicks’ blog Posting And Toasting does a great job breaking this down – definitely a must read), posting a low 0.50 PPP, with the only basket for the roll man came off of Stoudemire’s slipped screen/big dunk on LeBron (something the astute commenters here mentioned would work against the Heat):

The key is that the Knicks ran the pick and roll much less than the first game, only 11% of total possessions, understanding that they struggle with the Heat’s PNR defense. They were also able to limit their ISO sets, running those just 7.8% of their possessions. So what did the Knicks do with all of these extra possessions? Well, they ran sets that resulted in Spot-Up opportunities. According to Synergy, the Knicks run Spot-Ups 20% of the time on the season (for a PPP of 1.03), however against the Heat last night, they ran it 29.4% of their total possessions with success, posting a PPP of 1.13 on 44.4% shooting.

Why was this more successful? Well, spot-ups indicate set offenses with players moving off of the basketball and a lot of passing rather than a lot of dribbling (which happens in PNR and ISO sets), forcing the defense to move around, and resulting in catch and shoot opportunities, and open looks:

Here, as Danilo Gallinari starts his dribble, Ronny Turiaf cuts through the lane to the block. He gets the ball, a double occurs, and after he kicks it out to Gallinari, the skip pass to Toney Douglas opens up. Player movement (Turiaf’s cut) and quick ball movement (Turiaf’s pass out of the double, the skip pass to Douglas) results in a wide open look.

Again, you have quick ball movement here as the ball gets passed to Fields in the corner. Wilson Chandler flashes to the basketball, and after the catch he pump fakes, and attacks the lane for a dunk.

Finally here, the Knicks try to run their Felton-Stoudemire PNR, but Joel Anthony’s hard show throws everything off and nothing comes of it. The Knicks reset and get the basketball to Stoudemire at the top of the key. He passes to Douglas, who drives and kicks to a wide open Raymond Felton (who does a nice job of spotting up in the open area), who knocks down the three.

—

When people talk about the New York Knicks, they like to say that they run a wide open offense, and I don’t know how much credit Coach D’Antoni gets (you often hear that he lets his players play, rather than people talking about his Xs & Os ability). However, D’Antoni tweaking the offense, steering it away from PNR and to Spot-Up sets shows that he knows what he is doing. The Knicks didn’t win the game, but they were able to stay competitive (which is something they were unable to do their first game with the Heat) and prove to Miami that they are a legitimate threat against them.

Also, expect to see this happen when most teams go up against the Heat. With the Heat now playing very strong PNR defense, teams will start to get away from it and try to find other holes in their defense.

rp wrote:

i for one cant wait

Pavvy wrote:mozgov finally started and played 29 minutes- partly because the other center Kaun was probably injured- - although mozgov started out great he went a bit sluggish-- he had some silly turnovers but thats wat u would expect from a 7footer!!

all his 5 fouls were worth it - as he contested each shot that he can- its just that the refs have not been consistent with their calls!!

but the most important thing was that he was evidently the difference maker in the game- it was pretty close throughout the game until mozgov got fouled out with 3:40 left in the 4th with the russians down only by 5 points!! well the result was the russians lost by 12 after the argentinians were pounding the ball inside easily after mozgov fouled out!!1

hey man, thanks as always for the videos! Awesome work!

you can see that he can flop as well :) not the best actor though

Highlights vs Ivory Coast August 31

Pavvy wrote:hey guys these are mozgovs nice highlights from last nights game vs powerhouse greece in which russia beat them and move on to the knockout phase vs new zealand and if they win they play USA!!!

mozgov had 18 points in this one and simply outplayed the greek center Schortsianitis

dont forget that this is the russian national team so mozgov cant play the whole game and shares playing time with the other center Kaun - he scored those 18 points in like 18-20 minutes!!

http://www.theknicksblog.com/2010/09/03/video-mozov-vs-greece/#comments

still not understanding why you just dont post the vid instead of a link to the comment section of where a tiny version of the vid exists.

Like this man:

Pavvy wrote:unlike Amare- mozgovs contract will be insured if injured during the World Championships starting Aug28 till Sep12 - so that should be a relief

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/arti.asp?newsid=42254

announcement to go along with some nice highlights
http://www.theknicksblog.com/2010/08/20/mozgovs-contract-insured-for-wc/#comments

dude, why not just post the video directly?