First and foremost, we lost game 1 on the defensive side of the ball. Yes, the offense wasn't great, but the Pacers shot 50% from the field, scored 102 pts and outrebounded us by 14. During the season, the Pacers only shot 43% and score about 94 pts. We held the Celts to about 82 pts per for the series and I believe lead all playoff teams in Fg% defense.
Some adjustments for game 2:
Seems like the gameplan was to sag off the shooters and they made us pay. Augustine was the perhaps the most important player for the Pacers this afternoon because we were on the verge of going up by double figures in the 2nd Q, when Cope hit a 3 and Martin made 2 baskets. Augustine made 3 huge 3's and a drive to the basket that found Hansbrough (sp) for a layup). On all 3 of those shots, we sagged off and left him open. Its clear we have to press up a bit on Hill, Augustine, Stephenson and George. The Celts didn't get this many open Jays in the first series and its time we get back to our rugged, in your face defense like we displayed against the Celts. Also, Hill is not a pure pg, would like to see more fullcourt pressure on him as he brings the ball up....
We absolutely have to push the ball on every defensive rebound. Hibbert and West are brusiers, not runners. We have to up the tempo a bit which will nullify Hibberts presence in the paint. No way West and Hibbert can keep up with Tyson and Melo in a full court offensive set. When I say run, I dont necessarily mean fastbreak on every play, but just by pushing the ball, we'll catch them scrambling back and they will be out f position defensively since they have a lot of cross match defensively (West has to find Shump, George has to find Melo, etc). This will also get JR, Melo and Tyson some open looks and get them into a rhythm.
If the refs are going to let the the Pacers play that physical, we need to run more PNR with Felton and Chandler and even Melo and Chandler. Hibbert is not coming out or showing on the pick, he's laying back in the paint and waiting for us to dart into the lane. The offense looked good in the 1st Q when we aran the PNR and Felton had about 3 easy runners in the lane. The 10-12 foot area is wide open as Hibbert is guarding the rim. This is also why I would like to see Melo and Chandler run some PNR because Melo can knock down the 12 footer.....
If the Knicks are gonna continue small ball , then they need to push the pace and take advantage of their slow bigs. It seemd like Felton and Prigs wanted to at times but everyone else was walking up the court.
I was reading a thread on another forums and someone said
It is hard to play defense because Melo is so unpredictable. You don't know if he's going to launch a 3 with 20sec still left on the clock or if he is going to go iso for 20 sec before launching a contested shot.
This quote was obviously by a melo hater and meant to be a diss but I can't deny that there is a lot of truth in it. You can't teach an old dog new tricks and the Knicks are the oldest team in the NBA. I am no longer going to argue about what they need to do and just hope we win with the way they are going to play. This team will win most of our games if Melo and JR are on and lose most of our games if they are off. We are just going to have to pray that both those players hit another hot streak before our season is done.
Clean wrote:I was reading a thread on another forums and someone said It is hard to play defense because Melo is so unpredictable. You don't know if he's going to launch a 3 with 20sec still left on the clock or if he is going to go iso for 20 sec before launching a contested shot.
This quote was obviously by a melo hater and meant to be a diss but I can't deny that there is a lot of truth in it. You can't teach an old dog new tricks and the Knicks are the oldest team in the NBA. I am no longer going to argue about what they need to do and just hope we win with the way they are going to play. This team will win most of our games if Melo and JR are on and lose most of our games if they are off. We are just going to have to pray that both those players hit another hot streak before our season is done.
I'd call him a Melo critic - I see nothing that indicates hate for the person. In fact, you said you agree with him!
fishmike wrote:Uptown wrote:First and foremost, we lost game 1 because the two players we rely on to take the most shots went 10-28 and 5-14 from the field. When they put down Jamal Crawford's cliff notes on shot selection maybe we have a chance.
Fixed
It's bad enough that they couldn't stop shooting but the rest of the team was on fire - .553 from the field. Yet Melo and JR wouldn't give them the ball.
Get Amare at Center on the floor and bench Tyson "The Most overrated player in the NBA " Chandler. 3 rebounds in 30 minutes for are 7' Defensive Stopper,Thats pathetic.The guy has no offensive game and if he cant rebound why the f is he on the court. At least with Amare he can score, Chandler is worthless right now. Chandler should go watch Joakim Noah's Game 7 tape before Game 2. I have never see Chandler take a game over like that. Why is this guy being paid like a Superstar when he is just a role player
Jmpasq wrote:Get Amare at Center on the floor and bench Tyson "The Most overrated player in the NBA " Chandler. 3 rebounds in 30 minutes for are 7' Defensive Stopper,Thats pathetic.The guy has no offensive game and if he cant rebound why the f is he on the court. At least with Amare he can score, Chandler is worthless right now. Chandler should go watch Joakim Noah's Game 7 tape before Game 2. I have never see Chandler take a game over like that. Why is this guy being paid like a Superstar when he is just a role player
folks on this forum think he's better than Dwight Howard
tyson has been a dick the entire playoffs, but DJ augastine who avg just 4.7 pts ppg on 38% fg gets 16 pts on 80%fg
22yr old lance was playing like he was KG..
They say we are old, but against the celtics they said they were too old..
Ditch the 2 pg starting line up and start cope
Five Things
5. Rebound
4. 22 team assists would be nice
3. Get well Steve Novak
2. Stay Calm. Anything can be fixed.
1. Stop leaving DJ Augustin open.
stop playing Melo at the power forward. It doesn't work against this team...it will only see Melo in early foul trouble. Same happened in 2 of the 3meeting with them this season. Play Melo at the 3 and pull out the twin towers of Tyson and Camby. Camby is a damn good passes, Indiana is a really big team and if healthy he could help neutralize that and help on THE BOARDS where we got killed.
and stop with the iso's at the end of the clock. Just cause there is only 14second left doesn't mean you don't have to pass or move the ball.
DurzoBlint wrote:stop playing Melo at the power forward. It doesn't work against this team...it will only see Melo in early foul trouble. Same happened in 2 of the 3meeting with them this season. Play Melo at the 3 and pull out the twin towers of Tyson and Camby. Camby is a damn good passes, Indiana is a really big team and if healthy he could help neutralize that and help on THE BOARDS where we got killed.
+1
If Camby can't be useful in this series then what is he doing here? Indy is a big team, and we need his height and rebounding. I thought we were "saving him" for the playoffs. Well, here we are!
fishmike wrote:Uptown wrote:First and foremost, we lost game 1 because the two players we rely on to take the most shots went 10-28 and 5-14 from the field. When they put down Jamal Crawford's cliff notes on shot selection maybe we have a chance.
Fixed
They were awful, not doubt about it and we need them to step up. 2 things the average fan always does, they never look at the defensive end of the floor, and they never look at what the other team is doing...I heard somewhere that defense and rebounding = rings...We lost in both categories. We gave up 50% shooting and was outrebounded by 14. Cant win that way....
If anyone heard Jeff Van Gundy on Mike and Mike this morning he pretty much echoed everything I said. He said the Knicks need to push the ball in transition to beat the bigs up the floor, and we need to exploit more PNR with Felton/Chandler and even Melo/Chandler because Hibbert is not coming out to defend. The 10 foot area is wide open which is why Felton was able to make the runners. Melo can also exploit the 10 foot area with pull ups as opposed to running into Hibberts Body...
Uptown wrote:If anyone heard Jeff Van Gundy on Mike and Mike this morning he pretty much echoed everything I said. He said the Knicks need to push the ball in transition to beat the bigs up the floor, and we need to exploit more PNR with Felton/Chandler and even Melo/Chandler because Hibbert is not coming out to defend. The 10 foot area is wide open which is why Felton was able to make the runners. Melo can also exploit the 10 foot area with pull ups as opposed to running into Hibberts Body...
we need to play the big we signed at the end of the season. He is a good rebounder and his jumpshot is money. He'd be awesome in the pic-n-roll which could work since like you said, Hibbert is not coming out to contest and if he does it OPENS up the lane.
Guys, we aren't basketball Einsteins; what we see, probably almost every coach down to elementary or high school sees. So the fact that they are not doing these pick and rolls things means either of three things a) our players are dumb as hell and can't see it; b) our coaching is dumb as hell and they don't practice it or c)there's something we're not seeing.
But I also think that this game was really lost on defense. I wasn't able to watch it, unfortunately, but for the pacers to get 102 points on us in a playoff is really, really bad. As I've commented upon in the past, for some strange reason, we see Flu Tyson during the playoffs. JR and Melo are at least consistently shooting. But Novak and Tyson have been real disappointments.
I think there are a few things that would be helpful for the team, many have been said in the thread already but a few haven't:
1) The Garden needs to get louder, Van Gundy noted the crowd was kind of tame compared to crowds during the 90's run - I think it would really help our guys if the Garden was rocking
2) JR needs to stay out of the clubs, he just needs to understand it is a distraction and it should wait until the season is over. Woodson probably needs to sit him down again and just be clear about it
3) Stop chucking 3's - live by the 3 and die by it, the Pacers are one of the best teams at defending the 3 pt shot so its time to switch it up
4) Break the glass on Camby and give him some burn - wtf is going on here? Is he still hurt or just in Woodson's dog house? We need the rebounding, the defense, and Tyson probably needs to sit a little more to get his head straight
5) I agree with the calls for more pick n roll
6) Call timeouts when the Knicks lose energy and start to slip. I feel like Woodson lets them dig too big of a hole before calling a timeout.
This is going to be a tough series, we just need to survive it and win.
To be honest, we look so un prepared yesterday..I don't understand why we go small and are dead last in fast break pts and assist..
But when you see prigs and kidd stop every potential fastbreak, you know why..I hear woody in huddles talk about pushing the ball, yet at every opportunity you see your guards stop in transition to either look for melo and jr, or try and shoot a 3.
our guards get no assist because when they pass the ball, they take 12 seconds to size up there defender and shoot a jumper, sometimes I see why jr resorts back to jumpers, he doesn't get the calls when he penetrates.
