The Beat-Knicks

[j804]

Yeah not worried about them if we had you know a actual starting Center not knocking Semih, this thing isnt even close.

[celticinorlando]

i want the media talking heads to revist the Knicks come mid January. a whole new song will be played

[mgent]

If the Knicks play tomorrow like they played last night they will definitely murder the Heat.

[Chris]

I gotta say, I liked what I saw from the Knicks.  Felton has really bought into the system, and Amare has returned to where he was a few years ago when he was a superstar.  Gallinari also is a heck of a player, and is only going to get better. 

Now, they are not yet in the same league as the Celtics, but I can't help but like this team. 

Unfortunately, they seem deadset on getting Carmelo, and frankly, I am not sure he is what they need.  I think they would be better off finding a big man who can play with Amare, and building some legit NBA depth.  But they want the big name.

Going for Amare's big name (and contract) was a mistake, IMHO.

I don't think you can win a title with Amare as your best player.  Extremely soft defensive player and heavily dependent on his PG and match-up for efficient scoring.

Surround Amare with a defense-first center (say, Joakim Noah), a pass-first PG, and a good two-way scoring guard (say, Manu Ginobili), along with role players who play defense, and I think he'd have as much of a chance at a title as any player in the league.

Basically, I think most teams can get by having one guy who plays poor defense if the rest of the team can slow the opposing team down and make them work for their points.  The problem for Amare is that he's never played beside an elite defensive / rebounding center.  If he did, his weaknesses would be largely masked.

Well, it looks like they already have the PG.  Felton looked like he had never run a pick and roll before at the beginning of the season, but now that he has picked up on the system, he has been one of the best PG's in the league, and is every bit as important to the run they are on as Amare.

I also think Amare's defensive limitations are greatly overstated.  He is not KG, but he is a decent defender when he puts his mind to it.  Part of the problem is that he has played basically his whole career in a system that did not provide much help defensively to anyone. 

One thing is for sure though, he is a truly special offensive player.  At the moment, he is far and away the best offensive big man in the league, and I am not sure there is a ton of reason to think he is going to drop off that much.  This is basically where he looked like he was going a few years ago before the knee injury and eye injury slowed him down considerably.  Now he is completely healthy, and he seemed to pick up where he was headed.  While it would be great if he were a defensive force as well, those guys are incredibly hard to find.

Anyways, perhaps the best thing that could happen to the Knicks would be to have Carmelo go to the Nets and sign with them, so they could then throw money at Tyson Chandler.

[celticinorlando]

If the Knicks play tomorrow like they played last night they will definitely murder the Heat.

the heat by 10 plus..James is going to go for 30 plus IMO

[Q_FBE]

Looks like its not a rivalry until the other team wins once in a while.

So, Yankees-Red Sox wasn't a rivalry until 2004?

That rivalry has gone up exponentially since then in my opinion. The hot stove has been on fire back there since the World Series ended.

Getting back to the Beat-knicks, last nights game was basically a one hit wonder by them making every last shot (even the one that left Amare's hand .15 seconds after the red light came on after the buzzer and Stern's lackeys did not have time to cover that up from the camera crew.

Honestly, the refereeing appeared very crooked and the Knicks kept making lucky shot after lucky shot.

So I am of the opinion that the Knicks will flame out and fall back a bit in the EC until Melo walks through that door.

[LooseCannon]

Honestly, the refereeing appeared very crooked and the Knicks kept making lucky shot after lucky shot.

Go to a Knicks website and the fans seem convinced that bad reffing prevented New York from winning the game.

[Chris]

Honestly, the refereeing appeared very crooked and the Knicks kept making lucky shot after lucky shot.

Go to a Knicks website and the fans seem convinced that bad reffing prevented New York from winning the game.

Sounds familiar...

[Celtics4ever]

Totally unfounded though if you look at the FTAs though, I know they had shot five more than us last time I saw the game stats during the game.  They could have won if Amare shot quicker, he didn't.

[Chris]

Totally unfounded though if you look at the FTAs though, I know they had shot five more than us last time I saw the game stats during the game.  They could have won if Amare shot quicker, he didn't.

FTA tells us absolutely nothing. 

Personally, I think the C's benefitted greatly by the refs really swallowing their whistles down the stretch.  The C's are the more physical defensive team, and the refs allowed both teams to be basically as physical as they wanted down the stretch.

With that said, you are absolutely right, if they wanted to win, they should have gotten the shot off on time.  Or they could have taken advantage of Rondo limping around down the stretch, instead of allowing the C's to hide him.  Or they could have not left the best shooter in the NBA wide open in the corner for a 3. 

While calls may influence the outcome of games, generally they even themselves out.  Its the teams that win despite the bad calls going against them that are generally left standing when the season is over.

[fairweatherfan]

Honestly, the refereeing appeared very crooked and the Knicks kept making lucky shot after lucky shot.

Go to a Knicks website and the fans seem convinced that bad reffing prevented New York from winning the game.

The reffing was pretty bad all night, and the frenetic pace made for more opportunities to blow calls.  I thought we got shafted in the 2nd and 3rd, but the Knicks had more bad calls in the 4th, mostly no-calls on contact.  We took some hits that quarter too though. 

If they're complaining about not enough time on the clock at the end they're idiots, though.  That's not the refs' decision, that's the MSG scorekeeper.