storyteller
Veteran
There's a fairly alarming issue where this team starts off every game trying to establish its scorers with a lot of isolations and not much motion. This has seen them in the hole early damn consistently and as much as we complain about the bench...the bench typically has players come in that move more, pass more and help everyone settle in (it helps that the bench replaces one or two of the scorers and allows a more singular focal point for the offense to run through). Poor rebounding fundamentals are also something to watch for, because these dudes just aren't boxing out enough. But there's also the good, KP is moving closer to being an unstoppable offensive force with his rebounding coming back around as well. When Melo is hot, everything starts to sync up and the team starts looking high caliber. The bench also has some emerging talent; specifically Willy whose rebounding is a difference maker, BJ who even on a low assist night helps ball movement and Holiday who has aggression that everyone wants to play with.
Rose: His scoring wasn't there last night and contributed big time to early struggles and he didn't establish ball movement. But after foul trouble got him an extended rest, he came in and focused on orchestrating. His defense was better in this one, he forced JJ Barea to make a lot of tough baskets and he tallied another 5 assists. The promise here is that he didn't have his offense going and didn't force it. Just 6 FGAs but plenty of nice passes.
Lee: The guy's pretty reliable. He makes the open ones pretty much anywhere on the court and he plays an aggressive brand of defense. This was a quiet game for him but you'll take 7, 2 and 2 from your best wing defender when he's an outlet and swing option rather than a focal point.
Melo: Tale of two Melo's but really his play didn't change all that much. In the first half, he forced isolations and missed everything; got in his head which led to more mental errors and took offensive flow away from his own team. In the second half, he got better spacing for the isolations, but they were similar situations and he was converting. The flame thrower Melo created havoc for a defense that didn't have an answer for him other than letting other Knicks have good looks. The rhythm for Melo helped him mentally too and he started passing more, especially in two man games with KP including a really pretty dribble hand-off and screen for a KP three in the fourth when KP had established his scoring. Melo's been rebounding well and tallying 3 or more assists fairly often lately, but his scoring has been streaky with a saving grace that on most nights in the moments he doesn't have it, he doesn't force it (exception of fourth quarters) which has helped his efficiency numbers but last night he was full Welo. 24, 7 and 3 in a game where people had pitchforks and torches ready after two quarters.
KP: 24 and 11 with a block that looked like a big brother picking on the youngest kid in the family. The assortment of turn around J's out the post against little guys is looking more and more reliable even if I prefer up and overs to draw fouls. He really showed variety last night, off ball cutting, turn around jumping, the one leg Dirk special and a crossover into a pull up that looked Durant-esque at one point even. He got busy on the boards too and in extended minutes at Center; he became a better defensive presence.
Noah: Only played 15 minutes because the Mavs completely ignored him on the offensive end. The Knicks didn't have an effective way to take advantage of all that space and the Mavs running a pair of swing forwards meant KP was stuck in an awkward defensive assignment whenever he shared floor space with Noah. To be worth his contract, Noah has to find ways to be effective in these instances.
BJ: He promotes ball movement, period. He didn't put up any gaudy stats but he picked his spots to take the shot and he passed the ball and kept things going. He was okay last night, but that's it.
Holiday: He was the spark in this one; 16 pts, 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and a beauty of a block on Barnes (who was killing it). Holiday's defense is really fun to watch and the fact that he's a perpetual motion player meant that in the third quarter when he paired with Lee the floor was opened up wide for Melo to abused mismatches and KP to find comfortable locations to operate. He's had a couple of tough games but been really reliable for the majority of these games and really deserves minutes with the starters.
Willy: Dude grabs boards, hustles on defense and smart off ball decisions as an offensive player. He was contained in this one but that'll happen, he still grabbed 6 boards and made a visible difference when he was out there in 13 minutes.
Ndour: Makes the right cuts, hustles, plays hard defense and chases down boards...sounds pretty great right? But then there are his hands; which are laughably bad (like the WR in the Replacements who gets open but drops the ball every time). His hands are so bad that they ruin most of the good and cause TO's. BJ probably has double digit TO's attempting to throw the ball to this man alone and he can't help it because Ndour is so wide open at times. Also, Ndour's jumper is anywhere from UGLY to ehhhhhh. Dude is literally catching the ball away from being an alright piece to bring off the bench periodically.
Sasha: Got 12 mins and I wasn't impressed, but he worked hard...there's that.
Baker: Just give us ANYTHING so that you can take Sasha's minutes fam...and I don't mean shooting a three up double digits with 10 seconds on the clock (though screw the Mavs for full court pressing and getting mad about it...don't defend like it's still a game and get mad when the offense responds like so)
Kuz: 3 minutes out there...still finds a way to score.
KOQ: Wild to think he managed 3 FGAs in 3 mins but he somehow filled up his statsheet for such a limited time; 2 points, an assist, 2 boards and a block to boot. Willy took his spot, but he seems ready to be productive if Willy has rookie woes.
Lance "Why'd they Sign that guy again" Thomas: Didn't play, it had zero negative impact on the squad.
Jeff: Great half time adjustments are the story of his night. He wasn't afraid to bench Noah when it wasn't working and he also gave Melo extended bench time after the stagnant start for the squad was boosted by greedy Melo plays. Tough to overhype a win over such a depleted opponent but he came to coach, did his job and got the win without giving in to the pressures of big contracts meaning a guy HAS to play.
Random: Bogut annoys me...that's all.
Rose: His scoring wasn't there last night and contributed big time to early struggles and he didn't establish ball movement. But after foul trouble got him an extended rest, he came in and focused on orchestrating. His defense was better in this one, he forced JJ Barea to make a lot of tough baskets and he tallied another 5 assists. The promise here is that he didn't have his offense going and didn't force it. Just 6 FGAs but plenty of nice passes.
Lee: The guy's pretty reliable. He makes the open ones pretty much anywhere on the court and he plays an aggressive brand of defense. This was a quiet game for him but you'll take 7, 2 and 2 from your best wing defender when he's an outlet and swing option rather than a focal point.
Melo: Tale of two Melo's but really his play didn't change all that much. In the first half, he forced isolations and missed everything; got in his head which led to more mental errors and took offensive flow away from his own team. In the second half, he got better spacing for the isolations, but they were similar situations and he was converting. The flame thrower Melo created havoc for a defense that didn't have an answer for him other than letting other Knicks have good looks. The rhythm for Melo helped him mentally too and he started passing more, especially in two man games with KP including a really pretty dribble hand-off and screen for a KP three in the fourth when KP had established his scoring. Melo's been rebounding well and tallying 3 or more assists fairly often lately, but his scoring has been streaky with a saving grace that on most nights in the moments he doesn't have it, he doesn't force it (exception of fourth quarters) which has helped his efficiency numbers but last night he was full Welo. 24, 7 and 3 in a game where people had pitchforks and torches ready after two quarters.
KP: 24 and 11 with a block that looked like a big brother picking on the youngest kid in the family. The assortment of turn around J's out the post against little guys is looking more and more reliable even if I prefer up and overs to draw fouls. He really showed variety last night, off ball cutting, turn around jumping, the one leg Dirk special and a crossover into a pull up that looked Durant-esque at one point even. He got busy on the boards too and in extended minutes at Center; he became a better defensive presence.
Noah: Only played 15 minutes because the Mavs completely ignored him on the offensive end. The Knicks didn't have an effective way to take advantage of all that space and the Mavs running a pair of swing forwards meant KP was stuck in an awkward defensive assignment whenever he shared floor space with Noah. To be worth his contract, Noah has to find ways to be effective in these instances.
BJ: He promotes ball movement, period. He didn't put up any gaudy stats but he picked his spots to take the shot and he passed the ball and kept things going. He was okay last night, but that's it.
Holiday: He was the spark in this one; 16 pts, 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and a beauty of a block on Barnes (who was killing it). Holiday's defense is really fun to watch and the fact that he's a perpetual motion player meant that in the third quarter when he paired with Lee the floor was opened up wide for Melo to abused mismatches and KP to find comfortable locations to operate. He's had a couple of tough games but been really reliable for the majority of these games and really deserves minutes with the starters.
Willy: Dude grabs boards, hustles on defense and smart off ball decisions as an offensive player. He was contained in this one but that'll happen, he still grabbed 6 boards and made a visible difference when he was out there in 13 minutes.
Ndour: Makes the right cuts, hustles, plays hard defense and chases down boards...sounds pretty great right? But then there are his hands; which are laughably bad (like the WR in the Replacements who gets open but drops the ball every time). His hands are so bad that they ruin most of the good and cause TO's. BJ probably has double digit TO's attempting to throw the ball to this man alone and he can't help it because Ndour is so wide open at times. Also, Ndour's jumper is anywhere from UGLY to ehhhhhh. Dude is literally catching the ball away from being an alright piece to bring off the bench periodically.
Sasha: Got 12 mins and I wasn't impressed, but he worked hard...there's that.
Baker: Just give us ANYTHING so that you can take Sasha's minutes fam...and I don't mean shooting a three up double digits with 10 seconds on the clock (though screw the Mavs for full court pressing and getting mad about it...don't defend like it's still a game and get mad when the offense responds like so)
Kuz: 3 minutes out there...still finds a way to score.
KOQ: Wild to think he managed 3 FGAs in 3 mins but he somehow filled up his statsheet for such a limited time; 2 points, an assist, 2 boards and a block to boot. Willy took his spot, but he seems ready to be productive if Willy has rookie woes.
Lance "Why'd they Sign that guy again" Thomas: Didn't play, it had zero negative impact on the squad.
Jeff: Great half time adjustments are the story of his night. He wasn't afraid to bench Noah when it wasn't working and he also gave Melo extended bench time after the stagnant start for the squad was boosted by greedy Melo plays. Tough to overhype a win over such a depleted opponent but he came to coach, did his job and got the win without giving in to the pressures of big contracts meaning a guy HAS to play.
Random: Bogut annoys me...that's all.
