Knicks Round Up: December 10, 2009

After all this time, who would have thought that all the New York Knicks needed to do was read? http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/11434/knicks-book-club-pays-off

Nate Robinson on the trading block. Say it ain’t so. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/New-York-Knicks-trading-Nate-Robinson-?urn=nba,207579

Where does Donnie Walsh get off blaming somebody else for what is ultimately his responsibility? http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2009/12/10/2009-12-10_walsh_scouts_for_excuses.html?r=sports/basketball/knicks&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+nydnrss/sports/basketball/knicks+(Sports/Basketball/Knicks)&utm_content=Twitter

Frank Isola thinks that the benching of Nate and Curry is why the Knicks have started to win. I’m not so sure about that, but… http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/knicks/2009/12/dantonis-moves-starting-to-pay.html

Speaking of benching and trading him, exactly how does Nate Robinson feel about his currently situation? http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/nate_gate_benching_hasn_broken_robinson_HU5iDcimG0WZjGTj9iKbIL

I definitely made a bad decision not attend this game; I could’ve gotten some autographs…if I was interested in that kind of thing. http://www.lovebscott.com/2009/12/08/celebs-attend-new-york-knicks-game/

The Knicks have lost a little value during the nation-wide recession. No surprise there. One has to wonder how they avoided the in-arena recession when no one was showing up for games. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4729043

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Where Does He Rank: Al Harrington

How good is Al Harrington?

Better than you think.

The 29-year old, forward is having his best season ever in his 11th year as an NBA player. He was recently moved from the bench to the starting lineup, and his numbers are just getting better and better.

But we know Harrington is carrying the New York Knicks. The question is, where does he stack up against other players in the league?


Scoring
Al Harrington’s 156 field goals rank 17th in the NBA, while shooting a very respectable 46% from the field. That percentage is better than comparable players, such as Grant Hill, Ron Artest, Danny Granger and Caron Butler—this despite the fact that Harrington shoots his fair share of 3-pointers.

Harrington’s average of 19.8 points per game is the 17th best mark in the NBA. Harrington also has the same true-shooting percentage that Kobe Bryant had all last season.

Rebounding
Al Harrington does not have great rebounding numbers, but they are certainly pretty impressive for a guy who hasn’t been asked to rebound much during his career. He averages just 6.5 rebounds per game, but his rebound rate of 11.8 is better than LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, and power forwards Rashard Lewis, Charlie Villanueva, David West and Jeff Green.

Passing
There’s really no hope for Harrington in this category. Even among power forwards his assists ratio is laughable. 82games.com gives him a passing rating of 1.2, in comparison to that of say LeBron James who has an 8.3.

Overall
As a whole, and admittedly omitting his defensive woes, Harrington is having a very impressive season. His player efficiency rating of 19.37 is among the top 20 players in the NBA and is better than that of Tony Parker, Paul Pierce, Andre Iguodala, Deron Williams and Baron Davis. Among small forwards, Al Harrington’s PER is the 6th best in the NBA. And among power forwards, his PER is just outside of top 10 and better than Amare Stoudemire and Elton Brand.

While Harrington’s “value added” rating is on the 35th best in the NBA that is in part a reflection of being on a team that doesn’t win very many games. But if he keeps playing like this, we could see that ranking rise along with Al Harrington’s star.

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Knicks Need Not Sleep On the Player they Already Have

What do you think when you see numbers like this:

12/6: 24 points, 9 rebounds

12/4: 18 points, 17 rebounds

12/1: 24 points, 8 rebounds

11/29: 20 points, 12 rebounds

I know. Those are pretty eye-popping numbers. Kind of Tim Duncan-ish, right?

Well, those aren’t Tim Duncan’s numbers. Those are numbers being put up by David Lee of the New York Knicks. Those are the stats for 4 of Lee’s previous 5 games. I did omit a 9 point, 6-rebound blowout loss to the Magic on the heels of a game the night before, but even including that game, Lee has averaged 19 points and 10.4 rebounds over his past 5 games.

Someone is really going to have to show me just how badly the NBA was hurt by the collapse of the economy, because unless they were a few million away from filing for bankruptcy, I don’t understand how David Lee didn’t even get an offer during restricted free agency.

Lee is coming off a season in which he averaged 16 points and 11.8 rebounds, and yet he couldn’t get a long-term offer from another team. While that was great for Knicks fans who want to see Lee continue to be in New York, it’s unfathomable how the timing of Lee’s free agency affected his contract status. Now he’s with the Knicks on a 1-year deal worth $7 million, while his big-man counterparts have long-term deals for double-digit millions per year.

New York Knicks fans, consider yourselves very lucky.

How lucky?

Well, you don’t have to go back very far. Just look at the deals for two recent big men that entered restricted free agency; Emeka Okafor and Andrew Bogut.

During the summer of 2008, after a season in which Okafor averaged 13.8 points and 10.7 rebounds, Okafor got a contract extension for $72 million over 6 years. Granted, at 1.9 blocks per game, Okafor plays much better defense than David Lee, but to Lee’s credit, Okafor is more a liability against the pick-n-roll.

As for Bogut, he got a 5-year, $60 million extension after 2007-2008 season in which he averaged 11.7 points and 10.3 rebounds. He’s still a little bit better on defense than Lee, but he’s no Stallworth either. I’d be remiss to omit Bogut’s 2.5 assists per game, but Lee isn’t too bad passing the ball either at 1.5 assists per game.

Needless to say, it would seem to me that if those guys can get multi-year extensions after their rookie contracts, in what were at best, relatively equal seasons to Lee’s ’08-’09 averages of 16 and 12, then Lee should have been a very hot commodity and worth a big contract. But because the NBA showed little interest in Lee’s restricted free agency status, the Knicks were able to get Lee for the qualifying offer, although they gave him more money in good faith.

Hopefully, for Knicks fans, that good faith offer of $7 million will stick with Lee as he enters free agency in 2010. Of course, the Knicks future relies heavily on being able to lure in a very big name, but they better be careful in pursuing outside interests, as they could lose a very talented player that’s already in-house.

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Knicks Post Game Notes: Knicks Comeback to Beat Nets

That sound you heard was Knicks fans, including myself, letting their collective breaths go as the Knicks were able to avoid losing to the now 1-win New Jersey Nets. The Knicks were down early on, but managed a big 3rd quarter en route to a 106-97 win over the Nets to put the Knicks at 6-15. That was the Knicks second win over the Nets, which means that 33% of the Knicks wins come from defeating the worst team in the NBA.

Still, you have to happy with the win. Even though the Knicks were down by 8 points at half, and had a deficit as high as 13 points in the 2nd quarter, the Knicks showed some fortitude as they did their usual, saving their best effort the 2nd half. I guess there is just no way that the Knicks will ever become a team that plays all 48 minutes, which is surprising given coach D’Antoni’s past in Phoenix, but this is what they are. Luckily for them, Larry Hughes has a big enough 3rd quarter to spark the Knicks win.

Here are key things I took away from yesterday’s game:

-Larry Hughes deserves all of the playing time he can get. I know that means that Knick favorite Nate Robinson is more or less going to be left on the bench, but this is what’s better for the team. Larry can run the point. Nate cannot. Larry can get to the free throw line. Nate cannot. Larry can guard point guards, shooting guards and small forwards. Nate cannot. And Larry, more or less, makes good decisions on the court. Nate shoots the ball at his own basket. I will need to further think about how diminished playing time for Nate affects the Knicks future, but for now, it seems clear that the Knicks are better served with Hughes in the game and not Robinson.

-I’m not sure how the Knicks are going to continue to play such a short bench. There were really only 7 players in the rotation against the Nets yesterday, as the 8th man, Toney Douglas, saw the court for just 6 minutes. Playing with 7 guys just isn’t a long-term strategy for any team, even one as poor as New York. Somebody is going to have to emerge as the 8th man on this roster. The 8th spot really needs to go to a big man to complete the rotation, so we could see reemergence of Eddy Curry, Jordan Hill or maybe even Darko Milicic as the season progresses.

-Lastly, Chris Duhon is a serious disappointment right now. His shooting problems continued last night, as he shot just 2 of 12 from the floor, and made just 1 of his 4 3-point attempts. He managed only 5 assists in 39 minutes. Granted, Devin Harris is a great defender, but there are way too many opportunities in a D’Antoni offense for the Knicks starting point guard to finish with just 7 points and 5 assists.

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Knicks Beat Suns, Movement was Key

That’s what I’m talking about!

The New York Knicks played their best game of the season last night, beating the Phoenix Suns 126-99. And all it took was some ball movement and some effort on defense.

Before I go too crazy here, let’s not pretend as if the Suns played their best game of the season. There is no doubt that the Suns were off their game last night, and we have to recognize that last night’s game was the Suns 3rd straight road game and their second-straight game in the East.

Having said that, the Knicks played a hell of game. I had a ton of notes from this game, but I trashed them once the Knicks just started blowing them away, as my notes became useless with every passing 3-pointer. However, I did take 3 key things away from this game.

First, the Knicks can score, and there’s no doubting that. Certainly, the Suns are horrible on defense, but that’s really only when you slow them down and make them think and move around. But when team’s surrender to their pace, the Suns typically do a good job of playing defense, and the Knicks were able to score at their pace. Now that may be a function of their system fitting that type of up-tempo game, but against other teams that don’t play defense all that well, the Knicks should be able to continue to put the ball in the hole.

Secondly, the Knicks will probably never win a game because of their defense this year, but they can prevent themselves from losing on that end of the court every night if they just put forth the same kind of effort they did against the Suns last night throughout the rest of the regular season. I’m not saying that holding the Phoenix Suns to less than 100 points (for the first time this season no less) is the greatest accomplishment of all, but it is a very noteworthy achievement. The Knicks also had 7 blocks, including one of Danilo Gallinari’s 2 blocks in which he met a Suns forward at the rim. Someone please tell me the last time you saw Gallinari put forth that kind of effort on the defensive side of the ball.

Lastly, the Knicks just need to move around, as that was difference in last night’s game. When you watch the Knicks, dating all the way back to the Isiah Thomas days, there fatal flaw is that they grow stagnant on offense, even in Mike D’Antoni’s new system. But last night, they moved the ball around, no one hogged the ball all that much, and they had 31 assists on the night, proving that they are capable of passing the rock. But their movement on defense as key too. The Knicks aren’t big and don’t have a whole lot of defensive discipline, but they are athletic and when they use that athleticism to get into passing lanes and disrupt the flow of the opposing team’s offense, they’ll do something magical like create 12 steals, force 17 turnovers and hold the Suns (of all teams) to just 6 fast break points.

So it’s simple to me. While we can point to the Knicks energy, the Suns lack of it, or 45% shooting from 3-point land, the fact is that when it comes to the New York Knicks, and all basketball teams, movement is fundamental.

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Box Score Analysis: Knicks Fall to Magic, 114-102

Despite a great effort this past Friday, the New York Knicks failed to deliver a worthwhile performance against the Orlando Magic. After hanging with the Magic for the better part of 3 quarters, the Knicks fell a part in the 3rd, ultimately costing them a shot at their 4th win of the season. The Knicks are now 11 games below .500 with a record of 3-14.

Here is the box score analysis from last night’s game:

Dwight Howard Goes Off: Howard has gotten a lot of scrutiny for his unimpressive start to the 2009-2010 NBA season, but his 24 points and 16 rebounds were certainly a shot back at his critics. He was definitely the reason the Knicks lost this game, as his plus-minus ratio of +19 was the highest of any Magic player last night.

Rashard Lewis Equals Efficiency: Scoring 26 points on just 15 shot attempts, Lewis proved to be a problem for the Knicks. This was kind of surprising given that the Knicks are a pretty long team at 2 through 4 positions, but they failed to show any evidence of that one the defensive end.

Wait, the Defense Gets Even Worse: The Knicks let the Magic shoot 50.6% from the field, including 13 of 38 from 3-point land. Clearly, the Knicks aren’t going to win games when the other team shoots this well, as the Knicks are quite incapable of shooting at a rate considerable higher than 50%, which is what they would need to do in order to beat anybody that they allow to shoot the ball so efficiently.

Al Harrington Played Just 28 Minutes: Harrington had his fair share of fouls, but I still don’t like that he only played 28 minutes yesterday. His minutes were cut back in part because of the minutes Nate Robinson got en route to his 24 point effort, but the Knicks aren’t going to win games in which Harrington scores just 9 points and has only 10 shot attempts.

Speaking of Nate Robinson: In an effort to prove he knows which basket the Knicks are supposed to shoot at, Robinson put up 24 points on 11 of 17 shooting. He also had 3 assists in what was a good all around effort the Nate. I don’t like that he had 0 steals, but that may be more of a coaching issue than anything else.

Danilo Gallinari Looked Nice: Just when I was about to get off the Gallinari bandwagon, he goes out and scores 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting against the Orlando Magic. I can’t scoff at that, especially when he had 6 rebounds to go with it. Granted, 4 of his field goals came from 3-point land, but that’s the type of outside shooting the Knicks have lacked for sometime now.

David Lee Does It Again: How Lee is still a New York Knick is beyond me. All he does is get double-digit points off hustling and grabs 10+ rebounds every night. Yesterday, he had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and he even threw in 3 assists. He also didn’t commit a single turnover and shot 50% from the field. If the Knicks can’t afford a second max-player this off-season, they might want to go ahead and re-up David Lee early on in the free agent process.

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Knicks Post-Game Notes: ‘Melo Scores 50 in Denver Win

The New York Knicks played a close game on the road against the Denver Nuggets, but in the end, Carmelo Anthony was just too much for the Knicks, as New York lost 128-125 in Denver. “Melo finished the game with 50 points, his first 50-point game of his career. He has been on quite a tear as of late, as he is the only player in the NBA who has scored 20 points in every game this season. Clearly, the New York Knicks did not get that memo. Here are my post-game notes:

--Obviously, I’m done with moral victories, but I will give the Knicks credit for playing a close game against a really good team. The Knicks never let this game get out of control, allowing the game to come down to the final possessions of the 4th quarter. But most impressive was the fact that they were never down by double-digits in this one, representing one of their most consistent efforts of the season.

--Al Harrington showed up big again, scoring 41 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Of course, he came off the bench to do that. I’m still on the fence about whether or not that’s a good idea anymore. I know he ended up playing the second-most minutes of anyone on the team, but even though the Knicks didn’t need him early on last night, it still seems that the Knicks could use some help at the start of games.

--The Knicks did a horrible job of guarding Carmelo Anthony. It’s not as if Carmelo was just unstoppable; the Knicks did a lot to help him score 50 points. They didn’t box him out, they didn’t throw people at him to mess up his rhythm, and they allowed him to get way too far into the paint. Don’t get me wrong, I know the Knicks have no one that can guard Carmelo, but giving up 50 points to any one player is always unacceptable.

--Ty Lawson destroyed the Knicks in just 16 minutes. Someone will have to explain to me how in such a short amount of time, Lawson, a rookie, managed 2 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds. I know there were a lot of possessions, but 6 assists? I was tearing my hair out! The Knicks have to do a better job of staying in front of point guards, especially inexperienced ones.

--Danillo Gallinari threw down a couple of dunks last night, including one that was the result of a powerful baseline move. I’m not saying that I expect him to turn into a inside-outside threat all of a sudden, but if he can bring that element to his game, especially off the baseline like he did on one of his dunks, I think he would be deserving of a lot more minutes than he’s used to getting at the moment.

--The Knicks only turned the ball over 8 times, which is very impressive in a game in which they had about 115 possessions. Their 29 assists to 8 turnovers perhaps is a sign of an offensive unit becoming a lot more disciplined and cohesive.

--At the end of the day, it was defense that did the New York Knicks in. The Nuggets shot 53.6% from the field, as well as 52% from 3-point land. No team can afford to do that, especially when they aren’t shooting at a comparable clip. But even with the bad defense all game, New York had a chance to win the game at the end, but they couldn’t get one stop and ultimately lost the game on the wrong end of the floor.

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Knicks Box Score Analysis: Lakers Dominate in the Paint

Don’t be fooled by the score. The game was nearly as close as the score of the Los Angles Lakers 100-90 victory would suggest. The Knicks were essentially dominated from start to finish until a late run in the 4th quarter made the game semi-competitive looking. But in all reality, this was just another glaring case of a New York Knicks team that saved its best ball for last, when the game was already out of contention.

Here’s the box score analysis from last night’s game in Los Angeles.

The Lakers Dominated the Paint - The Lakers scored 44 points in the paint—an outstanding number. Don’t get me wrong; I know the Knicks are an undersized squad, but at some point, you have to start doing something, whether it’s giving up the jump shot or hacking and fouling, but 44 points in the paint is unacceptable. Not to mention, they gave up 15 offensive rebounds in addition to the points in the paint.

Kobe Bryant Was Brilliant – Maybe that doesn’t get said enough, but Kobe was masterful last night. He scored 34 points on 14 of 20 shooting from the floor. The only thing to be happy about in regards to the Knicks defense on Kobe Bryant was that the game wasn’t in the Garden.

Ron Artest Was Way Too Difficult to Defend – The Knicks don’t have a lot of size, but they do have a lot of length, especially on the perimeter, which is why I am very disappointed with how they went about defending Ron Artest. Artest had 17 points, on 7 of 13 shooting, with 7 rebounds and 4 assists. With guys like Wilson Chandler, Al Harrington and Larry Hughes to throw at Artest, one might think we would have done a better job on him. I know most of those guys had to focus on defending Kobe, but they didn’t do that well, so they should have tried elsewhere, no?

Could We Shoot Any Worse? – The Knicks shot 38.9% from the field. That is egregious. Now you could say that was because they were on the road, or that it was the result of tough Lakers defense, but whatever it was, it was unacceptable.

Where Are the Quick Points – I know the Mike D’Antoni offense doesn’t necessarily increase a team’s fast break points, especially since the other team is always scoring on them, but it has to be better than this. The Knicks managed just 10 fast points last night, which is horrible given how small the Knicks play. Why is David Lee playing center if they aren’t going to get out and run with the ball?

Somebody Has to Talk to Chandler – Chandler continued his poor shot selection last night, shooting 5 of 20 from the field, in what is becoming a typical night for the young player shooting 39% on the season. I try to give Chandler a pass because he does so many other things for the team, including his 7 rebound, 2 assists and 2 blocks, but just because he excels in one area doesn’t mean he has to detract from another. That’s not the kind of balance the Knicks need.

Nate Robinson Shoots At Correct Basket – In an unprecedented move by Robinson, he actually took 11 shots last night, and none of them were at his own basket. He scored 15 points and was 4 of 5 from 3-point land. He also had 5 assists and was one of the few bright spots for the Knicks in a game with little light shed on it.

Darko Milicic Is Done? – The return of Eddy Curry seems to have booted Milicic from the game plan. In a game filled with garbage time, Milicic was the only Knick player not to come off the bench, while Eddy Curry received 6 minutes of supreme junk time on the floor. Kudos to me for thinking he might be somewhat of a difference maker this season.

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Why the Love for Eddy Curry?

After the New York Knicks game against the Indiana Pacers last week, I was one of the first to comment on Eddy Curry’s promising performance in the game. That was his first game back from a year of devastating injuries, family problems and financial issues. And in just 12 minutes of play, Curry scored 10 points and grabbed 4 rebounds, probably one of the more efficient nights of his NBA career.

But even after complimenting Curry on his first game back, I couldn’t have imagined the type of national response dedicated to a player that played a mere 12 minutes in a game between two not-so-good teams. Specifically, if you have ready ESPN.com between now and last Thursday, you would have seen that Eddy Curry was all over their NBA page. In fact, yesterday, the main part on their NBA page included a picture of Curry and 5 or 6 links to different stories detailing Curry and his return.

But why?

As nice as it was to see Curry back, does anyone really think that this changes the Knicks or the NBA scene all that much?

Of course it does.

If you read the comments on ESPN.com’s NBA page, as well as on each story about Curry, you will see the national resentment towards coverage of Eddy Curry given how irrelevant he has been on the national scene since—well, since forever. But what many people outside of New York (and quite frankly some within that boundary) fail to see in regards to why Curry is so important to teams other than the Knicks is that if Curry can get back to doing what he was doing in the 2006-2007, there is a chance that he will play a big role in terms of what happens in the NBA over the next 9 months.

In less than a week, Curry has already had one major impact on the national scent. Knicks President Donnie Walsh already rebuffed future Hall of Famer Allen Iverson because he was impressed by what he saw from Curry. Walsh didn’t want to take any minutes away from Curry’s continued development, so he decided to pass on A.I. in hopes that Curry’s growth would be a better long-term asset to the team. So instead of Iverson suiting up with the Knicks, he could land with any of a number of teams, which could end up impacting the NBA playoff picture as we know it.

As for how Curry will affect the league going forward, first, Curry could be traded this year. If all of a sudden Curry can prove that he can score 10-12 points in 15-20 minute spurts, as he has done in the past, then there are going to be a lot of teams in need of some low-post bench scoring that will be interested in Curry’s services. Yes, the price tag on Curry is expensive, but for a team looking for one more piece in the post, Curry could be the answer for a lot of teams, and Lord Knows the New York Knicks would welcome a trade in order to clear up some cap space for the Summer of LeBron (James).

Then again, the Knicks could keep Curry. And if Curry moves into the starting lineup, goes back to scoring the 20 points per night he averaged in 2007, and becomes more of a force on the boards as a result of all the lost weight, then perhaps the Knicks would be better off keeping when he’s playing at the level. Certainly, it’s quite plausible that Curry would benefit from being in the Mike D’Antoni system, operating as the Amare Stoudemire of team as Chris Duhon plays Steve Nash and sets Curry up for shots in the paint. Obviously, it won’t work to the same degree that it worked for Nash and Stoudemire, but even 75% of that is All-Star caliber stuff. And if Curry is playing at or just below All-Star levels, then who is to say that LeBron James wouldn’t be very interested in playing with Curry in New York under the direction of Mike D’Antoni?

Those are just 2 ways Curry’s potential development could affect the NBA landscape within the next year. I didn’t even mention the possibilities involving the Knicks trading him for a good player, or a sign and trade deal over the summer, which are both real possibilities. So if anyone tells you that being interested in Curry’s development over the next few months is a waste of time, you just show them espn.com/nba and perhaps then they will understand where you are coming from.

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Nate Robinson Shoots at Own Basket and Possibly Shot Himself in the Foot

Yes, the Knicks got the win over the New Jersey Nets this past weekend, but the thing everybody keeps talking about is Nate Robinson’s shot at his own basket.

What the hell was he thinking?

If you didn’t see it, Nate took a shot at his own rim as time winded down in the 1st quarter. No one is really sure if he thought time had expired already or what, but for some reason, this knee-jerk of a basketball player shot at his own hoop and made it!

While the shot was waived off because, ironically, Robinson did not get the ball off in time, Nate was subsequently benched for the rest of the game (although Mike D’Antoni claims it had nothing to do with Robinson’s shot). After the game, Robinson gave the media a “my bad” comment on the shot.

Look, I love Nate Robinson as a basketball player, and I was happy as all hell when I saw that he would continue to be a Knick for the 2009-2010 NBA season. But questions about Robinson’s maturity have always been there, and something like shooting at your own rim is proof positive of it. If David Lee did that, I would have very little to say on this situation, because I know the kind of work Lee puts in and the kind of focus he puts toward the craft of basketball. But Nate, who despite always showing up with plenty of effort, has always shown a lack of focus. And as much as we love to celebrate him for his effort, the lack of concentration is a detriment to the team—his recent “shot selection” not withstanding.

So I put this question to all New York Knicks fans. Is Nate Robinson someone you want around for the future?

Personally, I’m not sure, and it goes well beyond his maturity level. At 5’9”, Robinson isn’t really a point guard, and it’s hard to envision the Knicks becoming a playoff team with a starting shooting guard at that height. Thus, that makes Robinson a perennial bench player, but are the Knicks really going to pay Robinson his open-market value for him to be an undersized guard that doesn’t exactly shoot the lights out of the ball and comes off the bench? Not if they’re trying to win championships they won’t.

So when you add the questions of immaturity to the mix, then it really becomes hard to defend keeping Nate Robinson on the team. After all, bench players are supposed to be able to play a specific role and provide that night in and night out. While Robinson brings the effort needed to play such a role, rarely does he demonstrate the maturity to stay with in his bounds. To call Robinson’s shot at his own basket on Saturday poor shot selection is the understatement of the year, but to tell you the truth, it was one of the few shots he has taken this season that wasn’t forced.

So while I would love to see Robinson stick around, be a life-long Knick and be the reflection of every “little-guy” in New York out in Manhattan putting forth the effort to make it in this city, I won’t cry if he goes. The only way the Knicks need to keep him is if he cheap, and if he demonstrates some maturity before the rest of the season is over. Because as far as 5’9” basketball players go, they really are a dime a dozen. And even though Robinson is more talented than most players his size, he needs to remind himself that he’s still 5’9”, and that his athleticism alone will never make up for his size. Players of his height make in the NBA because of their minds, not their speed and vertical jumps. If Nate doesn’t figure that out before the 2009-2010 NBA season is over, then I think it’s time he continue his growth process with another team.

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Knicks Post-Game Notes: Knicks Beat Pacers, 110-103

Once again the New York Knicks started off horribly and made another attempt at a comeback. This time though, their comeback attempt was successful as the Knicks overcame a 3rd quarter, 18-point deficit and beat the Indiana Pacers in Indiana by a final score of 110-103.

Here are my post-game notes:

Knicks Start Slow
These slow starts are killing me, and I don’t understand why they are happening. The only thing I can point to is the starting lineup is all wrong—and the box score would agree with that sentiment. No starter for the Knicks had a positive plus-minus ratio, and 3 of the top 5 players with the most minutes last night came off the bench. So perhaps it is as easy as that. The bench players need to start the game. It’s not as if the Knicks bench doesn’t have players that can’t start either. Larry Hughes and Al Harrington can start the game. Thus it’s hard for me to understand why D’Antoni keeps going with this lineup, especially starting Toney Douglas over Hughes, albeit, Douglas had played well prior to tonight. But the Knicks can’t afford slow starts, because not every team is as bad or beaten up as the Pacers. If you ask me, the Knicks should go with Chris Duhon, Larry Hughes, Wilson Chandler, Al Harrington and David Lee. I know Danilo Gallinari is D’Antoni’s boy and all, but when he’s not hitting shots, he’s useless to the Knicks, and you can’t have that kind of 1-dimensional player starting at the forward position. A shooting guard, maybe, but last time I checked, Gallinari can’t dribble and can’t come off screens.

Love the 2nd Half Defense on Danny Granger
Danny Granger scored 30 points in the 1st half last night. I really thought this was going to be an ugly game and that Granger would put some ridiculous stat line on us when it was all said and done, but the Knicks actually showed some pride and played defense in the 2nd half. Granger wound up with just 33 points, which means he had just 3 points in the 2nd half and just 1 field goal. The Knicks did a great job of denying him the ball. And on the other end, they made Granger play defense, and he would ultimately foul out of the game when the Pacers still had a chance to win. So I give credit to the Knicks. If there’s one thing they can point at as the reason for their comeback last night, it was stopping Granger in the 2nd half.

How About Eddy Curry Doing Work – 10 points in 12 minutes
We can make fun of Eddy Curry all we want to, and Lord knows we well, but in his first game back, could you really have asked him to do anything more than he did? Okay, he could have done better than 4 of 8 from the free throw line, but so could Shaquille O’Neal. However, there was no complaining about Curry’s performance between the whistles, when he was 3 of 4 from the field, scoring 10 points in just 12 minutes with a plus-minus ratio of +9. You can’t hate on that, and who would want to? I’m most impressed by the 4 rebounds though. Do you realize that translates into 12 boards if Curry plays 36 minutes? I know it’s crazy to extrapolate anything in basketball, especially when it comes to Eddy Curry, but if you promise me that effectiveness in 12 minutes every night, I wouldn’t dare play him 13.

Overcame 13-point, 4th quarter Deficit
What can you say? The Knicks completed a comeback and they didn’t need a miracle to do it. It was really the guys off the bench that got it done. Hughes and Harrington especially, who combined for 48 points on 14 of 27 shooting from the field. They also combined for 15 rebounds, 4 steals and 7 assists (all of the assists coming from Larry). But more importantly than their numbers was their effort and leadership in the 4th quarter. Hughes made sure the ball was taken care of and was always back on defense to stop the Pacers fast break. And Harrington directed traffic on offense incredibly well—that is, until he got on fire and started hitting a barrage of 3-pointers. Hughes and Harrington deserve a pat on the back for not giving up and being influence behind the Knicks 4th quarter comeback.

Defense Led the Charge
While the offense was great last night, the Knicks defense was why they won this game. Anytime you hold a team to 17 points in the 3rd quarter and 17 points in the 4th quarter, you’re going to win the game 99.9% of the time. However, it wasn’t the usual suspects providing the defensive charge last night. Harrington, Curry and Jeffries were all very effective on defense, and even Duhon contributed to that side of the ball as well. I’m not depending on those guys to do that every night, but every once in a while will be enough for the Knicks to win more than 2 of 11 games.

Al Harrington Led the Charge As Well
Harrington was big last night, once again showing up in the 4th quarter, scoring 13 of his 26 points on the night the “Man’s Quarter.” His back to back 3-pointers that made it a 1-point game in the 4th quarter were huge, and he was about the only Knick who showed any kind of consistency from the free throw line. I’m not usually one to question D’Antoni’s system, but it would seem to me that leaving Harrington on the bench and limiting his minutes is not something he should continue to do.

Bench Mob
Larry Hughes, Al Harrington, Jared Jeffries and Eddy Curry. Guess what, New Yorkers? That’s your 2009 bench mob. Of course, Nate Robinson will probably join that mix once he gets healthy, but for now, those 4 guys are leading the charge, and yes, I included Eddy Curry in there. First, Larry Hughes was huge last night. Hughes had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, by far his most complete game since joining the Knicks; not to mention, he did a great job defensively, as he usually does. I already spoke of Harrington, and as you know Curry was very efficient. But how about Jared Jeffries? The man only scored 5 points, but he was great defensively and he made his free throws when they counted. If he can keep bringing that energy, the Knicks will have a very effective bench. By the way, all 4 of these guys had plus-minus ratios of 9 or more, and Hughes and Harrington were both over 20 with their ratios. On the other hand, the starters did not have one player with a positive plus-minus ratio—once again, why is Harrington coming off the bench?

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Allen Iverson to New York? No Thank You

Originally, the prospect of bringing Allen Iverson, who was released by Memphis and is now a free agent, to the New York Knicks was very intriguing to me. I love Allen Iverson’s game, what he can do on the court and I respect how he fills up the basket despite often being the smallest guy on the floor.

However, as good as Allen Iverson is, there’s just no room on this team for him. The Knicks have a point guard and they have an energy guy off the bench. So I really don’t see how he would fit.

Don’t get me wrong. If you can tell me how the Knicks can get Iverson to fit in this offense and get in the rotation, than I am all for this move. Because I honestly believe that he would probably be the 2nd or 3rd best player on this team, if not the best player on the New York Knicks.

Nevertheless, the Knicks do run an offense, and it is not one that suits the traits of Iverson. At best, Iverson could play point guard, but for the purposes of this offense, the point guard has to be a “pass-first” guy, and that’s not who Allen Iverson is. He can do it, but he hasn’t shown any interests in doing that, and we saw that when he was running point for the Nuggets a couple of years ago.

So the question is, if the Knicks were to get Allen Iverson, would Coach Mike D’Antoni be content with letting his point guard take more shots, ultimately leaving the rest of the team less involved?

I don’t think he would. This man has an offensive system that has led him to some pretty impressive seasons, wins and a high ranking among NBA coaches, and he’s not going to abandon that for a guy on the other side of his career on a team that isn’t going to make the playoffs.

And if that is the case, and D’Antoni won’t let A.I. be A.I. then there is no need for him on this team. I would be okay if the Knicks signed him though, after all, we don’t have much to lose. But I would much rather prefer that we put the ball in the hands of Nate Robinson and whomever else the Knicks plan on keeping around for 2010 and have them get better at running this D’Antoni’s offense, so that perhaps they know what the heck they’re doing before I get too old.

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