Melo shot 3/11 from the restricted area. He took a higher % of shots in the paint vs outside compared to his average % in the regular season. He took more "good shots" but Hibbert did a GREAT job of contesting them. Copeland hit a 3, he also lost his man 3-4 times on 5 possession defensively and was out of place on simple handoff plays and screen and rolls. I would like to see him more, but he needs to be out there with more defenders. He gets lost way too easily causing extra rotations and of course open shots. Agree on shump. Disagree on going small. Our best lineups all year have been with 2 PGs. We should have Prig/Felton out there a lot. What needs to happen is Chandler/Kmart HAVE to win their battles. When Hibbert goes to block Melo/JR/Felton, Chandler/Kmart have to fill that void and scoop up any misses. Defensively they need to actually grab rebounds and box out the right way. Tgether KMART and Chandler had 6 rebounds, 3 each. Shump had 4, Melo had 11, JR had 5, Kidd had 2, Felton had 2. Stephenson had 13!, Hibbert 8, Hill 7, George 5, West 4, Hansborough 4. 9 players had more rebounds than Chandler or KMART. 18 players played (not including Camby).
I agree that our best lineup has been with 2 PGs, but I just don't think Melo should be at the 4 Covering West. Maybe I should have stated that earlier to clear things up. IMHO, game 2 starting lineup should be: Tyson, KMart, Melo, Shump, Felton -- work in JR, Kidd, Copeland, and Prigioni. The Pacers are much bigger than us. I do also agree that Chandler has to play better. He was absolutely atrocious yesterday.
I wouldn't mind that lineup if Amare was healthy. I like alternating the 2 as they're our only 2 big guys. We can't risk both getting in foul trouble quickly. I like Melo on David West defensively, it isn't that bad. KMART actually got burnt worse than Melo yesterday with West. I think we need to go to Shump more when West is on him, Shump can shoot that 3 and drive past him. It will be interesting to see how the Knicks adjust tomorrow. I want to see Hibbert be put into the pick and roll. Get him moving and he's not as effective as being allowed to stand still
Their spacing on offense. They lived all season on having two guys down low on the 3 point line on either side with the center coming to the foul line and setting up the pick with 4 viable options. Kick it to either side...kick it to the center for the pick and roll..or kick it back out to Anthony/Smith. They are too locked into to the paint now. The 3's are not there anymore. The biggest problem right now is with how bad both Smith and Anthony are shooting...the Pacers didnt even double team much. Thats the reason Felton is going off each game. He has played very well.
Oh and I agree DF...there is no reason they cant get the Pacers into foul trouble..that will happen guaranteed tomorrow. If you look at last game...Hibbard/West/George were not even in foul trouble going into the 4th quarter before the refs started calling the game. By the end of the game, George was gone and Hibbard had 5. They were in the penalty with over 8 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. But you have to spread the court and drive to get their bigs moving/running and defending..not just have them under the basket so you hear the bullshit "they go straight up thats why they call no fouls" crap. Have to get them moving..its a must.
JR denies he was partying http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/e...nies-on-twitter-he-was-clubbing-before-game-1 also he somehow didn't get fined for flopping. Fisher and Evans got 5k each for flopping, and Marco Belinelli got 15k for an obscene gesture after making a shot.
They aren't doubling Carmelo. They are doing it when he's in paint or not at all. It means the Knicks have to get more creative. You nail it though, Novak is a guy you can't cheat off of even a little bit. Felton played well, hit the majority of his paint shots. JR and Melo didn't hit most of their paint shots which will lead us to lose most of the time. They either have to get smarter (JR and Melo) and take the floaters and stop short of Hibbert, or they need just start trying to dunk on Hibbert instead of initiating the contact. Hibbert is jumping backwards trying to avoid contact and it worked most of game 1. I mean he got to hit Melo in the face on a dunk and didn't get called for a foul. He also got an offensive foul on Melo where Melo didn't do anything. Hibbert got the respect of the refs. Yep. Put Hibbert in the pick and roll, make either come up and defend Melo outside the paint (good luck with that) or he can drop into the paint and give Melo the OPEN elbow jumper which Melo should take 100/100 times JR gonna JR. Maybe if he elbows someone it will reverse his first elbow and get good JR again?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (see tweet below) @alanhahn: FWIW: Joey Crawford, Sean Corbin and Derrick Stafford are the officiating crew for tonight's Game 2 #KnicksvsPacers. Maybe Crawford can give Hibbert 2 techs for laughing on the bench so we don't have to deal with him
Zach Lowe breaking down our small ball, potentially Amare, and etc. Read the other teams too here http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...son-size-major-factor-remaining-playoff-teams
Reggie Miller just said the Knicks want the game officiated more loosely. No, they want it officiated more tightly, actually.
I heard that and was confused. I'm surprised they let Reggie announce these games. Would have rathered gotten Chris Webber
One way to beat Hibbert and draw him out of the paint, have KMART/Chandler pass into the paint like on that JR dunk. Knicks running a LOT of different stuff we haven't seen before. Let's hope they keep it up
Iman Shumpert with a GREAT putback dunk there. Oh man nice to see getting more and more comfortable each game
Charles Barkley hating on the Knicks again, shocking. He just said the Knicks have no shot to win the series, and the best they can do is win a game or two. Then again, he said last night that the Bulls had no chance to win Game 1. He probably doesn't know the meaning of 'loose'. Reggie with words is like Barkley with numbers.
lets see how this works out with over coaching by the Pacers..they take their first lead...the then stop the knicks..he then calls a time out with the Pacers up 64-62...dumbest timeout ever. Lets see how that works out.
lol...24-2 since he called a time out. The Knicks were dead...the only thing I can think of is he calls a time out to tell his team ok..lets bury them now? I turned to my son and said...huh? They are about to bury them.
30-2 since the timeout...I think 0 field goals yet. Btw, they be CHANTIN PABLO!!! what a game. He needs to play more oh and
