For anyone who saw some of the Portland/Thunder game late (or any team in the NBA recently besides the Knicks), it's just amazing to see how much quicker these other teams set up their offense. Night and day compared to how we get bogged down searching for shots...Such a stark contrast. Watching our players play so indecisively -- it's excruciating...We've gotta be the most confused-looking team in the NBA right now... These other teams though...BANG!! They're all in their offense right away and shots are being taken within 10-15 secs max
with conviction. That's how it should be. Look at Portland last night in the 4th quarter -- they get into their offense quickly and BANG--shots are going up. Wes Matthews is taking open shots off the good ball/player movement, guys like Robin Lopez/Chris Kaman are looking to score in the post right away, etc...Like Mike D'Antoni or not, I think that's what he was after with his '7 sec. or less' philosophy. Maybe he had a point --- why overthink it? We actually looked fairly crisp the first 10 mins or so last night. The ball was moving around well, you could tell they were in sync for the most part running what they were trying to run (particularly the high screen and roll between bigs & guards--I guess that's part of the triangle. Funny, it looks like good old fashioned P&R/P&P to me, generating the screener with a jump-shot or the guard with an opening to the basket), Larkin was showing nice energy & Amar'e was sizing up his opportunities to score the ball and he was executing at a very high level. Then all of a sudden -- Shump goes out after picking up his 2nd foul, Melo and Amar'e both went out for a rest and POOF--the game was over. It was like someone cut the power cord...How the hell does that happen? One of the few times I've ever agreed with anything JR Smith has said or done -- he said in the papers today that "we stopped competing." He's right but how the hell does that happen?
I just wish we can find a way to set things up more quickly -- esp. with a guy like Larkin out there with the ball in his hand. I'd love to see 'the triangle on steroids.' To be fair, I see some open looks being passed up early on in these sets. Guys look like they're thinking 'OK, I just took 2 shots, someone else has got to take it now.' F that -- take the shot!!! Stop wasting time trying to force something that isn't there. If anyone's open on this team from Melo to Travis Wear, take the friggin' shots when they're there!!!!! I see guys hesitating and overpassing to a fault. They're passing up some open looks and then what happens -- we lollygag out there with the ball, nobody's looking to step up and shoot and we either wind up turning it over or someone takes a forced shot up against the shot clock running down. I wanna puke when that happens and it happens way too much...I mean I'd rather see Acy or Jason Smith take an open 15-footer off a screen and roll over a forced shot by Melo as the shot clock's expiring. The first good look by anyone, I want it going up. No more overthinking this. That should be adjustment #1: make an effort to get into these sets MUCH QUICKER...And while we're at it, we need better movement without the ball. After a pass or hand-off, don't just stand there, move around!!! Everyone needs to be in constant motion -- that's also one thing I don't see enough of. Better player movement = adjustment #2.
Adjustment #3 -- it was good to see Amar'e in the SL. I like it. I was calling for it and I didn't think Fish was gonna do it. Glad he did. We saw the fruit it could bear early on before the wheels fell off last night...Stay with it now and don't look back. First off, on track record alone, Amar'e Stoudemire deserves to start...For all the anti-Amar'e guys out there -- not sure what you guys are seeing. Here's a guy that is still a very effective scorer in this league. I'm sorry but when this guy gets the ball in his sweet spot and he's got room to operate (say anywhere 15' and in), I want him looking for his shot, whether it's poppin' an open J, moving in closer for a post up move or looking to take a guy right to the rim. He's gotta be 50+% shooter in that range, and I'm sure it's even higher the closer he gets to the basket. What would you rather see -- a high % shot attempt by Amar'e or a 23 foot heave by JR Smith or THJ? Gimmie Amar'e looking for his all day in that comparison. Forget what he doesn't do well -- focus on what he does do well and milk it like there's no tomorrow!! We have other players to cover for his shotcomings. I will continue to be 'glass half full' with this guy until he's no longer in a Knick uniform.
And adjustment #4 -- like we were discussing in another thread, play Cole Aldrich more. Control what you can control -- if there's a way to win the rebounding battle or at least keep pace with these other premier rebounding teams by giving Cole some time because the man's our best rebounder, then he needs to play. Let's not pull a Mike Woodson and have Cole stuffed away in an attic somewhere covered in mothballs for 90% of the season. Dust him off now and send him out there with a simple mission -- rebound the ball and defend the rim. He can do that. He showed it at Kansas in college and we all saw it with our own eyes last year. We may not see it every single play -- he's may miss an easy bunny inside, he may get beat for a rebound or get scored on inside...it's over time with him out there that I feel we'll reap the benefits. He needs to be playing.
