Big factor in today's game: Carmelo's second half defense.

[ManUp]

TP, Nickagneta.

I thought I was the only one who noticed. And you want to know how he did it? It wasn't with speed Carmelo doesn't have great lateral quickness. He simply didn't let Green go right and totally overplayed that hand. I was pointing this out in the Game chat, but no one was paying me any mind. Green can't go hard left the way he does right. After losing the ability to drive he looked rattled the rest of the way.

[krook]

TP, Nickagneta.

I thought I was the only one who noticed. And you want to know how he did it? It wasn't with speed Carmelo doesn't have great lateral quickness. He simply didn't let Green go right and totally overplayed that hand. I was pointing this out in the Game chat, but no one was paying me any mind. Green can't go hard left the way he does right. After losing the ability to drive he looked rattled the rest of the way.

i don't rely on one person running our offense
look at the knicks bench novak smith k-mart and prigioni is coming back to play next game 2

i don't go for starters should score more than the knicks
how about our bench players?
terry? crawford? t-will?
i was thinking of putting pierce 1st on melo, and green coming in fresh for melo

our bench is really weak...so i rely on our big man to help us somehow low post scoring and some rebounds
wilcox shavlik bass kg
and balance the bench line-up
bradley for j.r. smith
green and bass maybe
i don't think a blowout will ever happen here
with knicks hitting those 3's
if terry and crawford sucks at the bench
green and bradley and bass maybe can do it

if ever tyson was healthy,.....we have a problem

[SparzWizard]

The last time we beat the New York Knicks, we had Rajon Rondo.

Yeeeeah. 

[Cman]

Yes and no.

I'd say the biggest factor was the Knicks hustle down the stretch. They played with more passion, hustle and nasty. They were the better team. Today.

That said, Melo did play good D on Green. But I'm not convinced the answer is to go to Pierce more. When the Cs did that late in the fourth I think it made them one dimensional and predictable. I actually think we need *less* Pierce. Instead, get everyone involved.

[bfrombleacher]

JG didn't take ill advised contested jumpers, unlike his counterpart. I'd say JG did a great job (so did Bass) on D.

If you don't take 'em, you can't make 'em. And I'd rather JG didn't take 'em and pray they go in more often than not.

If anything Green should be catching the ball inside and wrecking havoc. When Melo wants to, he can play decent defense, at least man to man (he has the physical tools at least).

But you also have to factor in the minutes Green's been playing and the fact that his stamina is lacking.

Scorer's take ill advised shots and make them. Its what they do. Just ask Paul Pierce.

True. Green alone isn't going to do it.

But I don't think it's solely because Melo shut him down, though. I think JG was gassed. 45+ minutes of basketball after heart surgery.

Still, props to Melo for taking it upon himself, perhaps he's becoming more mature (which means we'll have an even harder time).

Otherwise, his physique makes him pretty hard to stop (especially without Chandler) even for a guy who also also has pretty good physical tools in Melo.

I'm getting increasingly bullish on Green. A couple years ago he wouldn't even have been in the same conversation with Melo. Green doesn't look 100% as far as stamina goes either. It's a nice bright spot.

That said Melo's definitely better, not going to argue with that. But JG's efficiency and efficiency is something I really adore, especially when juxtaposed with Melo's game.

Right now it's all speculation. We'll see next game.

[BballTim]

JG didn't take ill advised contested jumpers, unlike his counterpart. I'd say JG did a great job (so did Bass) on D.

If you don't take 'em, you can't make 'em. And I'd rather JG didn't take 'em and pray they go in more often than not.

If anything Green should be catching the ball inside and wrecking havoc. When Melo wants to, he can play decent defense, at least man to man (he has the physical tools at least).

But you also have to factor in the minutes Green's been playing and the fact that his stamina is lacking.

Scorer's take ill advised shots and make them. Its what they do. Just ask Paul Pierce.

  Scorers miss a lot more of those shots than they make. That's why they're referred to as "ill advised".

[CelticConcourse]

I'd say the biggest factor was the Knicks hustle down the stretch. They played with more passion, hustle and nasty.

That sums up our loss. We need to declare next game a must-win and play like it too.

[chambers]

His D was good, that's true. He worked well with his wing players to trap Green and double him early. Green didn't get any calls going to the hoop, a few of which would have been great for us to slow the game down and stop them getting momentum.

Regarding Melo's offense- Melo has not destroyed us. today he took 29 shots and made 13. The Majority of these were outside the key. That's good defense and it's what you want. If you can absorb the majority of shots through one player that's great.
It stops the other team members from getting into a groove and means the opposing team will not score many points.

Melo, Smith and Felton took 61 of their 79 shots.
That's a good thing. It's why we stopped them scoring their usual 110-120 points.

Unfortunately we also gave them easy points with unforced turnovers. We also couldn't create enough spacing or ball movement in the 4th quarter when it mattered. The entire starting unit out there looked exhausted. I'm not sure if it was emotion and nerves or just mental fatigue but we need to keep gas in the tank for the 4th.

This Knicks team is without Amare, and their 2nd go to guy is JR Smith-third guy is Raymond fat boy Felton. PLEASE!
 Chandler is questionable now too.
We have an EXCELLENT shot at beating them. We have multiple match up advantages and we have seen how we can easily control the speed and flow of the game to suit our style with our defense.

We just need a better effort from the bench with fewer turnovers.
We need to put more pressure on Melo and draw fouls on him earlier. His first foul came in the third quarter!?

[nickagneta]

JG didn't take ill advised contested jumpers, unlike his counterpart. I'd say JG did a great job (so did Bass) on D.

If you don't take 'em, you can't make 'em. And I'd rather JG didn't take 'em and pray they go in more often than not.

If anything Green should be catching the ball inside and wrecking havoc. When Melo wants to, he can play decent defense, at least man to man (he has the physical tools at least).

But you also have to factor in the minutes Green's been playing and the fact that his stamina is lacking.

Scorer's take ill advised shots and make them. Its what they do. Just ask Paul Pierce.

  Scorers miss a lot more of those shots than they make. That's why they're referred to as "ill advised".

But they also make a bunch and some at the most clutch time.

[eugen]

Is not only Carmelo factor today. At 4qrt NYK played a terrible defence and they look more fresh. Our bench players are poor. The fact is that our bench players did not made points from active plays...

[kgainez]

I think Jeff has poor in game adjustments.
This happened in one game in the regular season. Good first, then 2nd half, they hung on his right, kinda went quiet. (though I want to add, Jeff's defense was still great).

Anywho, the next game, he figured it out and went left several times. He has the moves (I use that term loosely), I just think in-game, he doesn't make much of an adjustment. And I think Doc has to learn how to adjust to the adjustment as well. He shoulda known they were going to focus more on Jeff.