I think it's time to start talking about depth and the Knicks. Last week, KP couldn't hit anything and Rose was sitting out with back spasms but Melo and KOQ of all people punched in and did work with the help of role player contributions to handle things. Last night, Melo's shot vanished on him but KP and Rose were back to shoulder the load while BJ and Willy showed out along with some role players to lock things up. Players are stepping up on a nightly basis and defenses have been forced to pick their poison on most nights. This team is finding ways to win and a lot of that falls on the fact that when somebody struggles, there are two guys in the wings to step up for him.
Rose: Came back and put those fresh legs to use early; the one man fast break was huge early on and Rose's attacks were consistently devastating to the Lakers momentum. 12-16; 25 points, just 2 assists but he every time he shot the net would burst into flames and a voice would yell "he's on fire" so the tunnel vision was warranted. It was a game of momentum swings, but whenever the Knicks went cold, he wasn't far from a drive or mid range move that heated things up.
Lee: 4 for 6 and 16 points produced on those 6 attempts. Courtney Lee was hype efficient as a scorer, getting hot from three right when we needed it but it should be pointed out that this was one of his weaker defensive performances. There was a period where the D did pick though with him and Holiday out there together. Either way, another game and another "that was solid" from me.
Melo: Let's hope it's not a trend where Melo drops 30+ and then shoots like trash to bring his efficiency numbers back to the mean. 4-16 from the field for just 13 points but dear lord did he do some of everything else. The Lakers made a concerted effort to keep Melo from killing them as a scorer, so he killed them as a passer to the tune of 7 assists. He chased boards for 8 overall. I thought cheating off Deng made sense even though it backfired and Melo managed 3 steals with a visible impact coming from his deflections and passing lane play. So 13, 7 and 8...low efficiency, still a good overall game which is what we need.
KP: So I guess the nagging injuries weren't so bad after all. KP started making moves a bit closer to the rim and by the end of the game his range was pretty much unlimited. The 26 points on 8-15 wasn't even the highlight of his performance though. This guy was an absolute animal on the interior defensive front. He grabbed 12 boards, blocked 7 shots and interrupted many more. On a night when the perimeter defense was pretty awful, KP menaced the interior and gave the Knicks just what they needed. It was the first game since that shooting slump where he had everything working and his effort on D and the boards stayed where it had gotten to when he needed new ways to contribute.
Noah: 4 assists and a couple of cuts and drives into the lane that actually took advantage of the mass of space Centers have been giving him. His game is moving from "not good at all" to "solid but not great" and with the back-ups he's got...that's enough. He also did a really nice job against Mozgov, forcing dude to use an insane amount of pivot moves just to get the ball up at the rim.
BJ: This dude has been one of our most consistent performers (the good and the bad to be fair). He logged 4 assists and seemed oddly tame on the breaks, but still had moments of beauty zipping passes and chaining ball fakes along with his handle. His shot selection was similar to Rose, not the greatest but you could see that he was in the zone so it didn't matter. 19, 4 and 3 boards too off of the bench and in just 23 minutes; his clutch scoring was huge!
Holiday: Not gonna rehash it again, this guy goes in and makes plays. He'll go from shaking out his bad shoulder to snatching a rebound and making a big shot as if he was just kidding when he spent 30 seconds wincing. The best defense of the game happened when he paired with Lee on the wing defense. 9 points, 3 boards in 16 mins and he was 50% from the field.
Lance: Last year, I had this running observation that when Lance wasn't getting open looks, he couldn't produce anything on the stat sheet that would let you know he had a pulse. This season, I feel like his defense has dropped a notch even though that still makes him one of our better defensive players tbh. Either way, last night was one of those games...dude didn't score, assist or rebound the ball in 16 minutes. He had two steals and ALMOST grabbed a rebound once though. Even Sasha Vujacic was probably thinking "I cold do better than that"
Willy: 6 points, 12 boards and 2 blocks in 20 minutes. This guy was stuck in DNP hell thanks to the emergence of KOQ, but when KOQ couldn't play, Willy said "don't worry I'm ready" and handled his business. I'm not sure what to think of his recent up tick in three point attempts, it's still a rare occurence and he made one of 'em a couple games back but I'd love for him to just knocked down the 16 footer before he attempts to extend the range. Either way, he's still a work in progress defensively but the combination of high IQ, excellent footwork and rapid motor make this kid an impact player really often.
Hornacek: I've been trying to come up with wordplay for this dude's name from day one and still got nothing outside or horny jokes and some sort of "check yourself" ish. Anyway; the tighter rotation, like most of his decisions lately, worked. Decisions to go small ball and two PG's late worked; as did the Lee/Holiday wing tandem. I'd like to get Kuz some minutes and see more rest for Melo and KP but stars are gonna have to be out there for any team if you want wins. The Suns are up next and if he can coach this team to that win, he'll have already turned this West Coast road trip (the bane of a typical Knicks season) into a success. I can't say much more about how he's turned a bench full of question marks into a productive unit even while having to switch up his rotations because of injuries or needs btw.
Random: D'Angelo Russell's eyebrows remind me of that time Boozer showed up with a fresh coat of black spray paint on his head. Dude's got Drake brows with black hole darkness to them, no light escapes the bushy mess. Anthony Davis' eyebrow takes notes from those things.
I think the Lakers would do good to move Clarkson...he's good and should bring back assets but I feel like a lot his best traits aren't useful when Lou Williams is just going beast mode this season.
Just gotta stay out of that 8th seed. 
Anything else is gravy imo. 
on wishing injuries breh, we don't need that coming back on us.
even if its a loss.
