Knicks · What we learned from game 1 (page 1)

We need Ray Felton to stay healthy. Udirih is a good player but if he is your lead PG for 30+ minutes--youre in trouble. Ray looked awesome when he was healthy--like an all star.

Bargs--I think hes got it--and if not the coaches can show him the film. Find seems and set up 12 feet and in. Hes money from 12 feet and in--hes a big target.

We needed Kenyon Martin to play the 2nd half when Bargs is out there!!! They got back in the game by killing us in the middle. If Kenyon and Amare play every other game--let them go 7 minutes a half!!! I thought this was the big one--when Felton went down and Martin not in their for D--we got complacent and swarmed inside. Heck play Aldrich if Martin cant go but we need to keep the clog in the paint on the D for 48 minutes.

You walk away positive--we did build a 25 pt lead we did come back to win by 7 and emphasize win. I think guys can see their roles and maybe what fits them

Now lets see us tomorrow with a fresh Amare for 15-17 minutes. Woody cant be afraid to throw in Cole for 5 minutes if need be.

Ray always looks awesome early. Then he gets fatigued. Shot gets flat. Doesn't penetrate, settle for jumpers and can't stay in front if his man. Early he always looks like an Allstar though.

Tyson is similar. Looks like an Allstar early then 2nd half develops the flu and other health issues

Very excited about a first full season of Shumpert tho

THJ is exciting too

A win is a win but jeez...that gave me a heart attack

Kudos to prigoni..i thought he was the mvp

What we learned from game 1?

The team has a lot of moving parts, and Woody is still experimenting with the roster. When in doubt, go with what worked last season.

what we learned:

mwp is a godsend,

bargs is a fringe bench player,

melo is the truth,

shump is the truth

We also learned that a healthy Chandler is superb. Hopefully I can eat my words about him this year.

MSG3 wrote:We also learned that a healthy Chandler is superb. Hopefully I can eat my words about him this year.

Chandler looked really good last night. Active on D, shot blocking presence. Offensive follow up at the rim and a couple of nice dunk finishes to get the crowd into it....even an outside shot!

Barqs looked rusty....going to hold opinion on him until about a month in or so.

Shump might just evolve in to a really good complete player.

Ray takes a lot of sh1t, but he looked very good.

Prigs has some nice man D....too many TO's last night.

The court looks much better painted in Knicks blue.

Tyson Chandler is back

Positives:
Shump wants to be the second scorer
Artest brings a different energy to this team and I love when he's on the floor
Tyson looks motivated, but Sanders was out most of the game so lets see how he handles Noah tonight
Ray looked great for a while.

Negatives:
Imagine what a big team is gonna do to us in the paint after seeing that.
Bargs hasn't and doesn't impress me
Beno looked outta sorts

We got more and younger weapons than last year.

Bargs is still recovering. A full month off. Now taking the over under on when he has a sick break out game like he used to have against us. He suhucked majorly, and we were still up by 25. To coin a phrase, chew on that.

Welcome THJ! (Don't know if dad told you or not, but no one but Bonn and the Sombers will feel it's not necessary to hit every shot you take...)

Double Double Melo. Like that. The assists will come when Bargs starts hitting. Was that Mr. Lazy Inefficient saving another ball going out of bounds? My oh my.

Beno, watch Mr. Prigs. That's what we need. You can mimic the old man, it's okay.

jrodmc wrote:We got more and younger weapons than last year.

Bargs is still recovering. A full month off. Now taking the over under on when he has a sick break out game like he used to have against us. He suhucked majorly, and we were still up by 25. To coin a phrase, chew on that.

Welcome THJ! (Don't know if dad told you or not, but no one but Bonn and the Sombers will feel it's not necessary to hit every shot you take...)

Double Double Melo. Like that. The assists will come when Bargs starts hitting. Was that Mr. Lazy Inefficient saving another ball going out of bounds? My oh my.

Beno, watch Mr. Prigs. That's what we need. You can mimic the old man, it's okay.

I think this team takes a step when Bargs hit that jumper...Having an alternative to Melo is welcomed...When Bargs gets his legs and he hits those shots, people will start talking...Then we bring JR off the bench...Sprinkle in a little Tim Jr.(Copeland who?)from the trey...Tim disappears at times on the court..He has to let his presences be known..Crash the boards...

What I got from this game is what I have always said, the pressure to play at MSG for the home team is INCREDIBLE!!!

Did you guys feel the excitability of that intro ?

That kind of hype atmosphere reminded me of the NBA finals, who wouldn't be nervous after that type of introduction.

Playing for the knicks at MSG is very difficult, the opposing teams always try to get a rep with all the big NYC media there.

They should be more relaxed playing in Chicago.

MSG3 wrote:We also learned that a healthy Chandler is superb. Hopefully I can eat my words about him this year.

Chandler was hurt and not close to par last year....

But he's the only DPOY in franchise history

Healthy Chandler >>>> trading Chandler

This is going to be a long season..

Ray and chandler are still our best two man combo

Beno looks shot

Bargs looks like he wants no part of basketball anymore

I like THJ, nice shooter..

shumpert shows flashes, but in spots, needs more consistency.. would like to see him closer to Lance stephenson type of play..

If felton can stay in shape and if chandler can stay aggressive, knicks will be less predictable on offense...

But there just isn't enough all around talent and size on this team to be a contender... but 43-46 wins is still my prediction.

I watched a lot of games last night and I don't see many teams at this point that we have more talent than...

My main takeaway: Thank god we don't live in Milwaukee. That is one weak-ass team. Might struggle to win 20 games.

Knicks were erratic. Early season game, so that's not surprising. Hard for me to take to much out of it, but I agree with those giving props to ray ray and tyson. Both looked really good. And we just need 81 more wins for a perfect regular season.

SupremeCommander wrote:

MSG3 wrote:We also learned that a healthy Chandler is superb. Hopefully I can eat my words about him this year.

Chandler was hurt and not close to par last year....

But he's the only DPOY in franchise history

Healthy Chandler >>>> trading Chandler

He has to STAY healthy. He's ben hurt every Spring we've had him. And last year it was most of the season he wasn't playing well.

bernard wrote:My main takeaway: Thank god we don't live in Milwaukee. That is one weak-ass team. Might struggle to win 20 games.

Knicks were erratic. Early season game, so that's not surprising. Hard for me to take to much out of it, but I agree with those giving props to ray ray and tyson. Both looked really good. And we just need 81 more wins for a perfect regular season.

they will be better than you think. They lost their starting PG during the first minute of the game and erased a 25 point deficit with their rookie PG. who is not even their backup.. ridnour is..

What I learned is that the Knicks will let you back in the game.

and they say preseason doesn't matter..how many leads did we blow in the preseason.

Still surprised we are bringing Bargs off the bench ---- When has he Ever done that in his life? And now we got him to be our 2nd scorer and to take pressure off Melo. Sure he has looked rusty in the Pre Season but in my view --- you start him and THEN if he struggles--- bring him off the bench. We will need him tonight againt the Bulls.

Chandler, Felton, Pablo, Iman all took the summer seriously and put in the work to improving their physical abilities and added skills to their game
Credit Chandler's hard work as he plays a bigger role on our Offense, leading to better DEFENSE with his confidence
He not only is stronger but also worked on his athleticism, speed, confidence in the 12 foot shot, and looking to fight for position for post ups
His shot blocking is much needed on help DEF and 1v1 DEF, in addition to the offensive put backs

Felton, Pablo, Iman, all look physically quicker/faster with more explosiveness in their games to finish, in addition to their DEF by harassing/putting pressure on Buck's lack of legit PG's/lack of playmakers/facilitators, and playing the passing lanes extremely well
I am not sure if we should credit the Knick's DEF more or Buck's making many poor decisions/spacing

Iman's shot is much improved but still has to work on his mid range game and ability to finish with contact in the rim, he is on his way to changing his scouting reports on him as a 2nd/3rd option
His athleticism, speed/quickness, is almost back to what we expected of him when he was drafted, and he should be much better this year, taking a huge leap after recovering from his injury as a 3rd year player
I hope Iman stays as a Knick, as he has the killer instinct, in addition to the tough defensive mind set, unfortunately he is eligible for an extension in 2015 summer where we can retool with the FA's
However, with Melo eligible for an huge extension that would hinder our abilities to find a LEGIT ALL STAR to pair with, in addition to the contracts and player options of JR Smith, Felton, Iman, we likely would need a Kevin Love type of player to pair with Melo and the rest of the team

Melo and Woodson seem to willing to allow rest of the team take a bigger role on the Offense and not constantly go 1v1 with Melo
Yes, Melo still wants to be the hero but he is our most talented Offensive player but just isn't a good facilitator

I was very pleased with Felton's/Chandler using the PnR with Tyson Chandler instead of force feeding Melo in the final seconds where he was struggling with the rest of the team
Chandler saved our let down in the 2nd half with his DEF, Alley Hoops with Felton, and the final OFFENSIVE putback from Anthony, in addition to Melo's put back off his own miss that should have been a AND 1 but the REF's let the game go with the aggressive play with many BS calls on traveling on both sides

It is very important that we continue to build on Chandler to establish himself as it will not only effect his play on DEF but on OFF and confidence as well
From what I say, I would say he has a chance to be a DPOY candidate again, reminding us why we decided to use our amnesty and overpay for his DEF and leadership
We have to continue to also establish and build on our role players confidence so Melo can learn to trust his team mates, so they can continue to look to get open and ready to make plays

We need a better rotation of our BIG's, especially if AB continues to struggle as he gets back in NBA shape and regains confidence in his shot
Kmart played very well and is a big part of our BIG man rotation with his limited minutes on DEF and continues to make great cuts, with good PnR, sometimes faking the pick and rolling to the rim to finish instead

MWP didn't seem to happy to me in the post game interview, I think he thought he was going to play a much bigger role than he did yesterday, especially with AB NOT starting
He isn't the same player or lock down DEFENDER he once was, but his leadership and mind set is very important to this team
I think we should consider cutting Chris Smith for either a SF/PF like James Johnson that plays a Ronnie Brewer/Shawnee Williams role or an athletic PF/C with the health concerns of STAT, Kmart, and a struggling AB with ex Twolves, Chris Johnson or the young PF/C cut by Houston

Rest of our role players....
Tim Hardway JR could SHOOT, although we have 3 SG's that are undersized at SF, but we also play 2 PG's because we simply play better with more ball handlers and players looking to move the ball to the open man
Pablo looked a bit winded in the end, I was very happy to see his pressure DEF and looking to penetrate to the rim much more
Udrih is very crafty off the dribble and looks like he has to work himself in the better shape to be able to play PG/SG with speed/quickness and strength

We played a weak DEF team yesterday that loss 2 of their PG's facilitators in Ridnour and ex Detroit combo guard, but we have a much tougher team in the Bulls today that just seems to have our number with their size/defense/ and hustle play, with many good wing DEFENDERS in addition to a healthy Derrick Rose
Hope we can continue to build on our Win streak, and correct some of the sloppy mistakes we made the let a 25 point turn around, come back to take the lead in 1 quarter

Let's go KNICKS!