Shumpert who was out immediately started yesterday while Amare still has not done so. It looks like Woodson will bring Amare off the bench the whole year, hopefully he does unless we play some of the teasm who have two legit big men
so by that definition, if I say I am abstaining from shellfish and peanuts, I can say I'm fasting. People can use whatever words they want but the commonly understood meaning for 'fasting' is not eating food at all. The reason the Carmelo thing created such a stir is because of the word he used. If he said he was going on a vegan diet, it wouldn't have been a big deal. But people thought it meant he wasn't eating.
Been a quiet week, we begin an important week now. Games against BK, BOS, and PHI I believe. All Atlantic division games, all with Shump and Amare, ehh.
All those turnovers for Brooklyn and they shot the 3 like crazy...Im upset we lost a close game, but not really mad as we stunk with our shooting
Felton was the main reason they lost the first matchup. You can't use injuries as an excuse when half the roster is in their late 30s. It's expected.
Felton is more crucial to our new found (early season) success than anybody else this year. Our record with and without him speaks for itself. We need him back badly. The ball movement just isn't the same. Also we saw some good things today with Melo & Stat working together and opening each other up. I'm confident Amare will be starting within a month or so. When we get everybody back and up to full strength, I firmly believe we're one of the top teams in the league. We lost this game because he was out, plus Amare and SHump are still getting their rhythm back and missing shots they normally make. I'm not worried at all.
Entetaining game yesterday.......I think the teams are really even. Knicks can't rebound, Nets can't hold onto the ball. I think Felton's absence is really hurting the Knicks right now, no ball movement.....most of thie offense was just Carmelo going one on one with everyone else standing around. If Stat and Kidd hit free throws the Knicks would have won an imperfect game. i'm a bandwagon Knick fan admittedly, but I'm starting to appreciate the way the Nets play.......which is hard......although I can't stand watching Humphries coming down with offensive boards one after the next.
You can when Shump and Felton are your injured guys. Camby/Sheed is expected. I think they help when they come back, but Melo's knee, Felton's hands, and Shumps knee were all unexpected injuries this year, not due to age.The Knicks are treading water and Felton comes back this weekend, at least that is his plan. I'm not sure when Shump gets off his minutes limit. What Felton does that is key is he can beat the pressure of opposing point guards. You see with Prig in the game, Melo or Smith brings the ball up. The key is, like Miami did last year to J Lin, only Felton can beat the pressure on the team. The thing that undermines us with Felton is when he gets shot happy. I also think Shump is very important once 100%. That makes our closing lineup Felton, Shump, Smith, Melo, and Chandler. All average defenders at worst, but they can get out and run and we can protect the perimeter with Shump and the paint with Chandler. Melo looking for Amare is great. Good signs and MElo is a willing passer now. I think Amare is off the bench the whole year which is fine by me. He will be great on the second unit with shooters around him and running the PnR. The offense with Felton is usually Melo in the post. From there, you saw teams double Melo or rush his side of the court. From here that's why Melo was finding a cutting Amare very easily. With Felton, it opens up more things because Melo can miss the cutter, hit Felton who can collapse the paint and kick it back to Melo, to the big man, or out to a shooter. This team is very close to getting all 5 starters back! We haven't had that all season yet, get excited
Extremely important games coming up. Celtics tonight - Melo to face off again with KG in hostile environment. And then we have the Sixers. Need to win both to keep the NETS off our backs. FYI once again we saw the uselessness of Novak against the Nets. Also Forbes lists the New York Knicks as the most valuable NBA franchise, ahead of the LA Lakers.
BTW, for the first time ever, we saw continuity between Melo and Stat. Melo was looking for Stat often against the Nets. That is what we NEED. Melo is going to get his points no matter what. But we need him to involve STAT, who is still a good finisher.
