Knicks · Live from Vegas!! (Game 2) (page 1)

first of all, i thought this was going to be a big test (literally) because the lakers have more physical players in T.Black, Upshaw and Randle. On top of that, 99% of the building was PACKED FULL OF LAKERS FANS. Us knicks fans all sat right behind the bench so i think we were on tv a few times. i followed their lead and cheered every timeout or great play the knicks made. the 5 of us knick fans were louder than the ENTIRE lakers crowd though...smh

Observations
- i LOVED the defense. it was intense. guys theyre VERY VERY VOCAL on the floor. they "ICE ICE", they "SWITCH", they "RECOVER". constantly talking and communicating. that lead to easy transition buckets. The defense in the 1st qtr gave us a 19-4 lead in the fourth. that took the air out of the building.

- wasnt impressed with randle or russell. i know im supposed to be talking about the knicks but they must have had a million turnovers. looked LOST out there.

- i love grant! always composed! a true extension of his coach. galloway also has a calm demeanor.

- The French guy Louie was a physical presence and the crowd booed him constantly. he was a pest and he often instigated near fights.

- I liked what i saw from Captain Kirk - nice mid range jumper! I also liked NDour- played Randle on the physical end

- there was a post about lack of athleticism and after watching this game - i can at least say thats not the case for this team. between ledo, thanasis and cle, they were making spectacular plays. simply running them off the court. and this was a team featuring russell, clarkson and randle.

- I ran into Chris Herring and he said hes going to write an article about the new Triangle offense. its like a hybrid offense where they initiate the triangle by dribbling into it. more PNR opportunities. i mentioned this from the previous game

- KP looked out of his element today. he simply isnt strong enough and this physical lakers frontline slowed him down. on one play randle simply stopped his post position/penetration with his ONE forearm. he simply needs to add strength. right now he's too finesse

- Lastly, during a quiet stop in action with the whole building silent, my friend yells "WE LOVE THE MOVES YOU HAVE MADE WITH THIS ROSTER PHIL, THANK YOU THANK YOU"! it was hilarious, he gave us the thumbs up (by the way, phil has completely outkicked his coverage...jeanie buss is way out of his league. lol). btw dolan was at the game sitting next to affalo and mills. we also thanked affalo and welcomed him to ny.

- like i said, the beauty of this league is seeing all these star players sitting up close and personal. LJ was sitting 2 rows ahead of me. i sat behind billy king and coach hollins in the previous game. after the game, i was trying to leave the arena but this big 7fter was in my way blocking the door. it was upshaw complaining on his cel phone that hes not getting playing time. his parents had to console him. seems like a hot head. i gave hollis-jefferson a pound after the game, but i told him hes on the wrong team. lol

thats all i can think of for now. you all saw the game, but stood out to me on the court was the TALKING DEFENSE and athleticism of the knicks

Good stuff man, thanks!

Saw you on TV Callmened!!! I got a kick out of it. I actually think this team was really looking great on D. KP may not be a physical force but I can tell you that on TV I could see that he was really messing up the Lakers attempts at the basket. They had to change shots and pass out at the last second because of his presence inside. It's something that can get overlooked but I was focused on it from the last game cuz I noticed his mere presence changed the way that teams play on offense. Once KP gets stronger it's gonna be game over!!!

we need this to carry over to the regular season - never really does - and that has been the case for several years where I thought our summer league roster would outplay the regular squad.

great point. i think some of the players who will see action are: grant, galloway, and cle...they were getting after it defensively

franco12 wrote:we need this to carry over to the regular season - never really does - and that has been the case for several years where I thought our summer league roster would outplay the regular squad.

Well this time a LOT of these guys are going to be in the rotation this year. The other vets are of a similar character which is Phil's brilliance to build a team full of tough hustle players who sacrifice for the team. I fully expect the same kind of effort in the regular season. It's just the nature of the players Phil has brought in. This is how they play all the time. No one has to convince them to play hard.

nixluva wrote:

franco12 wrote:we need this to carry over to the regular season - never really does - and that has been the case for several years where I thought our summer league roster would outplay the regular squad.

Well this time a LOT of these guys are going to be in the rotation this year. The other vets are of a similar character which is Phil's brilliance to build a team full of tough hustle players who sacrifice for the team. I fully expect the same kind of effort in the regular season. It's just the nature of the players Phil has brought in. This is how they play all the time. No one has to convince them to play hard.

It's a big difference from the past summer league teams. As Nix said, Phil has a team that he hand picked, except for Melo. We have a team full of players with high intangibles. I believe this effort and energy will carry over. KPs length as a blind side shot blocker will be huge during the regular season. I believe the summer league was a test to see if he can hold down the center position. But for the most part, each team only has 1 main post guy. I think Rolo will guard all the post players and KP will (or should) guard the stretch 4 players. But the more I think about it, the more I see him having problems at the 4 or 5.....Can he guard Melo or Bron or Duncan? They are todays PF. And he's not strong enough to guard Dwight Howard or Marc Gasol.....But the center position might be his target as he gets stronger. I think playing him at PF, with Rolo helping at center would be his ideal role. But this team needs a healthy Rolo, which history disagrees. Rolo will not play all 82 games, and thats when this team will be in trouble. We need more backup centers.

Thanks for posting this. Looking forward to your update from game 3.

Gallo and Grant are willing defenders. The perimeter D will be better this year with them in the game and Afflalo. Hopefully Calderon can make up hi Deficniency by being better offensively this year.

This was a fun update to read. Thanks for posting!

The team D seems much better. Hope that carries over to the big team.