We didn't learn anything new last night, we just got more confirmation of the same. On the second nights of back to backs and just in general, our older guys need periodic breaks. You can talk about willpower and blame effort or you can blame tired legs, either way it's time to make certain guys take nights off once in awhile. It will preserve their health and give a shot to the pieces we're trying to develop. The real question is, why doesn't Jeff give more opportunities to the guys who HAVE shown effort. Kuz has been more successful with the second unit than Lance even if his defense leaves something to be desired. Ron is up to three straight games where he comes in and sparks a run going back to PHX where he ran out of gas but did similar things to the past two nights. Willy filled in for KOQ and showed that he can give good minutes. There's no reason to cling to the vets as if these kids can't fill in once in a while. Matter of fact, even Stubby Plumlee has given us good showings when he's gotten opportunities. The fears about Thibs running players into the ground and not trusting young cats...seems like they're being realized with Jeff somewhat except we don't have a nice defense to show for it.
Rose: Rose went 6-12 and 14 points marking the second time in 7 games that he's scored more points than he's attempted field goals. Unfortunately in 26 minutes he didn't give much else, 3 assists at PG isn't enough and 2 boards plus 2 steals doesn't make up for the lack of playmaking outside of screen and roll situations. Teague really outplayed him too. The promising sign was better finishing around the basket, but he's still not giving the Knicks what they need.
Lee: 9 pts, 4 boards but an inefficient 3-9 from the field and defensively he wasn't anything above average. In the first with the Knicks leading, his responsibilities dropped three straight buckets including 2 three's to spark an Indy 8-0 run. Indy defended him well and he struggled to get around Myles Turner screens most times. Just a lackluster game.
Melo: 27 minutes and surprisingly he was one make away from a 50% shooting game. 6-14 for 17 points and chipped in 5 assists to no TO's. He also held his own pretty well against a soft assignment in Robinson. With his shoulder jacked up, he's not even a reliable catch and shoot guy right anymore. He's missing shots he makes with his eyes closed normally. So now he's only really effective at the elbow post up and he's REALLY effective there, but you can't call that number all game. 17, 5, 2 is nice but not from your star. He needs to take a breather and let the chips fall where they may.
KP: The guy makes 4 threes for 16 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks but it somehow was really quiet. He was getting doubled when he tried to handle the rock and that translated to 5 TO's; normally we see that when Melo isn't playing but this was a first time that it happened with Melo out there. The doubles really made KP a bit hesitant; even in the fourth quarter where he was the only starter, KP didn't demand the ball or assert himself. This was a "oh yeah, he's barely old enough to drink" type of game. The talent is so high that the statline is still impressive, but you watch and can see that he's got growing to do. The rebounding is concerning but the entire Knicks had that same problem.
Noah: 4, 6 and 3 in 21 minutes...honestly, that's not awful, but the Knicks got WORKED on the boards. His energy wasn't the same, his heart was there but he just didn't have IT..."It" being that energy and effort we'd seen in quite a few of his recent performances. With the man screaming in pain at the ends of games and always vanishing on second nights in a row, he needs to be benched for these games.
BJ: 17 points, 4 assists, 3 boards to 2 TO's but pretty much all of the good came in the fourth quarter. He was once again the floor general during a complete collapse where Indy punched up something like 14 points unanswered which buried the team in a deficit they had no hope of recovering from. The fourth quarter gives some hope though, that was the BJ from earlier on. He had nothing to lose and became aggressive and it paid off. He found his shooting stroke, he got inside, he got to the line and he moved the ball well. You hope that maybe that snapped something out of him. I'll take BJ getting into stupid altercations but also giving us punch than BJ playing shy ball; granted beef BJ is frustrating in his own right, but at least he's productive.
Holiday: Only got 8 minutes again, was part of the collapse crew again and didn't get opportunities with any other unit to show anything else. So a bad game.
Lance: Also part of team "let's bury ourselves" last night. 16 minutes, 3 points, 2 assists and 1 board except his defense was closer to the Magic game than the Bucks games. He wasn't good defensively, he was 1 for 3 and the one positive was that he actually had his head up when he had the ball instead of locked on the rim. He managed a couple of a nice passes which was good to see but other than that, it was another trash game. I don't care if his defense is a plus when the team looks worse with him out there.
KOQ: Only got 11 minutes out there where he was 2 for 2 to score 5 pts but only had 2 boards and his only memorable moment was a nice block where his man was using his body as a shield on a turn around from the post. He's been running into big bodies lately and while the weight loss has helped him be mobile and absolutely boosted his game, he's gotten bodied up a bit by the bigger back-ups. That could still be the flu's impact though, he did fine earlier in the season, but it's notably happened in three straight.
Willy: 8 pts, 4 boards, 2 blocks but an inefficient 3-9. The efficiency improves if he doesn't force a couple of three's when the kids are trying to make a big comeback in the fourth though. Willy was the best C for the Knicks last night. His energy and effort was better, his rotations were smarter and even his interior presence was more respectable although none of the three bigs did so well here. His chemistry with KP on both ends has always been obvious and in that fourth, you saw it again. He's made KOQ expendable.
Ron Baker: 12 mins, 0-1 for 1 point with 2 assists, 2 boards and a steal. But his impact was more than his stat-line yet again. It really comes down to the simple fact that he plays aggressive, physical defense that our other guards don't. He was matched up with Monta Ellis who can score, but Baker really got after him. You'll see Baker get beat off the dribble with more minutes, but you'll also see him ride the hip and trail his man into help on those plays which is what helped Rose early in the season but what's missing lately. Baker also makes wise rotations and is a great help defender. He's smart, makes the most effective play and plays defense...he needs to be in the rotation for better or worse.
Kuz: While you can argue depth with Willy and Baker; I think Kuz has really made the best case for himself that he belongs in the rotation. That's mainly because Lance has been ineffective most nights and played inconsistent defense. Kuz struggled from 3 hitting 1-4 but was 5-8 overall with 13 points, 2 assists and 3 boards in 15 minutes. When he's missing shots, he makes hard cuts and he can handle the rock well enough to beat overzealous defenders. His offensive variety helps everyone else, motion breeds chaos for defenders and being our most willing shooter means spacing is helped. Will he make defensive mistakes? Yes, but nobody on the team is playing flawless defense and at least this guy is giving more to the overall rhythm of the team because he's putting up harder effort than just about anyone.
Jeff: Ron Baker ended the Bucks game a hero and the Knicks headed into the second of a back to back with starters that were aching; Rose's back kept him out a few weeks back, KP just sat for his achilles, Noah and Melo are both playing through shoulder injuries...but the starters still got big minutes and Ron Baker somehow didn't see the floor until the lead was 26 points in the fourth quarter. Horny didn't change the rotation at all in spite of his own admission about how bad the Knicks have been on back to backs. So that's enough to fail this dude on the game.
The guy talks defense but benches Baker; complains about effort but doesn't reward Kuz for his effort. If he wants to send a message to the team that sticks, he can't bench Rose and BJ for a fourth quarter in desperation and then immediately go back to what was failing. Those dudes need to actually feel threatened at their positions. The defense hasn't improved, the effort hasn't improved and there's nothing to suggest that Hornacek and his staff have any clue how to affect it...even though a rotation change would be a clear attempt to address these flaws.
Breh if you gon give me rep don't post wild mango shyt.
Wild mango? "Hi handsome" isn't gay. Especially since I put 
