the Knicks playoffs hopes
I've never had a realistic expectation for the playoffs, mostly just to be a good team. East is real strong - even Orlando may not make it. Heck, sometimes a team like Atlanta (last year's ECF team) is out of the top 8.
What irks me is the dedication to play certain players just because of veteran status. That's silly. You play your better players. Calderon at this point is not a better player than Galloway - and Gallo should be playing the point ahead of him. If Grant plays more games like tonight, he should be at PG more. Calderon should be phased out - he's a walking mismatch for our opponents.
The RLO/Porzingis lineups are the least effecient and effective. DWill was a +3 today and got what 10 minutes? With Quinn out, you play DWill more. If Thomas is playing well, you play him more, but not at the cost of KP/DWill. Those 2 are 2 of your highest PER guys.
Anyway, on to the next one.
we had 4 wide open 3 that were just back breaking misses.
mreinman wrote:crzymdups wrote:Fisher should've brought in KP and Galloway around the 4-5 minute mark. Not the 1 minute mark.Also, did they post up Afflalo a single time all night?
Also, Lance Thomas just got a shot off! Hey look at that, he's 9-9 from the field.
We needed better decisions from the coach and the point guards tonight. Grant was not the answer.
KP in for rolo? Too many problems with that. And even on offense where KP was not really able to do anything against the magic, at least lopez was setting killer picks.
Gallo in for Grant for sure. AA had post ups but orlando played it very well. AA was plain bad tonight.
Orlando crushed us on picks tonight. CRUSHED!!
Fair enough - Orlando just has bruising athletes at every position. They are more physical and athletic than the Knicks. It's a bad matchup for them, I guess.
I mean, I watched most of the game and I did not see Afflalo get the ball in good position very often. Maybe that's on him.
And, yes, I would have tried KP on Vucevic down the stretch. Rolo could not stop him at all. I think Vucevic hit his last 5 shots in a row on Rolo in the 4th quarter. He just cooked him, inside and out.
Dagger wrote:Can you say lance Thomas breakout game
He's been solid for the most part, he had good shooting night, but the pass from melo that went through his hands was a back breaker
nyknickzingis wrote:matt wrote:crzymdups wrote:Magic scored on 9 of their last 10 possessions.Where the hell were KP and Galloway.
Did not like Fisher's substitutions tonight. Not at all.
Brutal.. Why play grant so much?
You've had a rotation and pecking order that's been going on - a 4 game win streak. I get that Quinn got hurt, but what you do is give those minutes to either Lopez or Porzingis (Lopez because he wasn't closing regularly so he has the fresh legs). And you stick with everything else the same. Instead we saw Sasha/Seraphin in the 1st, we saw weird, real weird sub patterns in the 2nd half as well. Grant played well, but Galloway/Afflalo backcourt with Thomas/Melo and Zinger up front are clearly the best lineup we have. Horrendous sub patterns tonight. I gave Fisher a pass last season based on the situation and lack of talent, but this year? He's been average at best. I think a better smarter coach has this team 3-4 wins above .500 - this is NOT the first game we've lost with poor sub patterns. It's been maybe the 5th or 6th. Early on in the season, that's a somewhat reasonable excuse that a coach is trying to figure things out, but 30 games in nearly he's still experimenting with Sasha/Seraphin and trying to make R Lopez into Pau Gasol. It's really frustrating he simply can't grasp what Dirk Nowitzki picked up in about 1 game - that the toughest cover for the league when they play the Knicks is when they go Porzingis/Melo at 5/4.
I didn't......I said his substitution patterns last year was horrible. And I have the same lack of confidence. Fisher is a great leader and former player.....But he really needs help with his subs patterns. I like having Grant in there, but you don't just throw him in crunch time after several DNPs......But their center and PG killed us in crunch time.
Fisher messed up big time .. Grant Gallo and Lance has showed us team chemistry since the preseason games .. Why would Fisher put Afflalo in the lineup with Lance & Grant .. Afflalo played a ugly game on offense n defense from tip-off.
SocraticBallin22 wrote:nixluva wrote:Despite the poor finish there were some good signs. Jerian needs to play more! We need KOQ to get healthy!
Yes! Despite what others have said, love that Fish finally let Grant play some crunch time minutes. He played well. He is not the reason we lost the game. He will only get better, the more he plays. And we saw a lot of positive signs.
He was left in too long. Over-pursued on D and Fournier punished him for it. Having said that I was glad he came in game and he contributed but in the 4th Galloway should have been in sooner and grant needed to sit
Chandler wrote:crzymdups wrote:Magic scored on 9 of their last 10 possessions.Where the hell were KP and Galloway.
Did not like Fisher's substitutions tonight. Not at all.
I agree at least w the end of the game and he had a slow hook in 1st quarter
Gallo and KP were missed on D and offensive rebounding
Jerian was playing well mostly and Fish left him in too long. Fish still struggling with rotations. He got out of his recent rotation patterns without KOQ! It's Fish's weakest area so far in his career.
We're all over the place in our comments here . . . except that we agree that Calderon offers no hope.
crzymdups wrote:mreinman wrote:crzymdups wrote:Fisher should've brought in KP and Galloway around the 4-5 minute mark. Not the 1 minute mark.Also, did they post up Afflalo a single time all night?
Also, Lance Thomas just got a shot off! Hey look at that, he's 9-9 from the field.
We needed better decisions from the coach and the point guards tonight. Grant was not the answer.
KP in for rolo? Too many problems with that. And even on offense where KP was not really able to do anything against the magic, at least lopez was setting killer picks.
Gallo in for Grant for sure. AA had post ups but orlando played it very well. AA was plain bad tonight.
Orlando crushed us on picks tonight. CRUSHED!!
Fair enough - Orlando just has bruising athletes at every position. They are more physical and athletic than the Knicks. It's a bad matchup for them, I guess.
I mean, I watched most of the game and I did not see Afflalo get the ball in good position very often. Maybe that's on him.
And, yes, I would have tried KP on Vucevic down the stretch. Rolo could not stop him at all. I think Vucevic hit his last 5 shots in a row on Rolo in the 4th quarter. He just cooked him, inside and out.
maybe we should have doubled him a bit? Fisher did not help him at all.
Orlando is much much much better at the knicks at one thing. PICKS! We suck at it other than lopez and they were drilling our guards 2-3 times per possessions.
mreinman wrote:we had 4 wide open 3 that were just back breaking misses.
This is true. And Lance fumbled two passes that would've led to buckets - he had a great night, not blaming him.
But a lot of things added up to this just not feeling like our night.
Knicks played pretty well and just got flat beat in a lot of matchups. Lance was tremendous, Melo played very well, Rolo good on O, terrible on D. Not enough other guys stepped up.
I do think Fisher was too quick with the hook on KP though. He was altering shots, blocking shots, the Magic players would hesitate and miss shots when he was in the game. KP even hit a 3 early in the third, sometimes a sign he's heating up, and Fish immediately yanked him. Not sure what was up with KP tonight.
Like the way Skiles coached the last 4 minutes. Went to guys that were hot with post ups and lots of pick and rolls. We passed it around to everyone that was not. Love the triangle. Aflalo had 0 post ups called for him down the stretch after scoring at will last 3. KP is 7'3 and cannot post up but runs to 3pt line at will. What's wrong with that picture? He should be down low or slashing to basket to take advantage of his rebounding. Grant should not play again until he can hit a 15 foot shot.
blkexec wrote:nyknickzingis wrote:matt wrote:crzymdups wrote:Magic scored on 9 of their last 10 possessions.Where the hell were KP and Galloway.
Did not like Fisher's substitutions tonight. Not at all.
Brutal.. Why play grant so much?
You've had a rotation and pecking order that's been going on - a 4 game win streak. I get that Quinn got hurt, but what you do is give those minutes to either Lopez or Porzingis (Lopez because he wasn't closing regularly so he has the fresh legs). And you stick with everything else the same. Instead we saw Sasha/Seraphin in the 1st, we saw weird, real weird sub patterns in the 2nd half as well. Grant played well, but Galloway/Afflalo backcourt with Thomas/Melo and Zinger up front are clearly the best lineup we have. Horrendous sub patterns tonight. I gave Fisher a pass last season based on the situation and lack of talent, but this year? He's been average at best. I think a better smarter coach has this team 3-4 wins above .500 - this is NOT the first game we've lost with poor sub patterns. It's been maybe the 5th or 6th. Early on in the season, that's a somewhat reasonable excuse that a coach is trying to figure things out, but 30 games in nearly he's still experimenting with Sasha/Seraphin and trying to make R Lopez into Pau Gasol. It's really frustrating he simply can't grasp what Dirk Nowitzki picked up in about 1 game - that the toughest cover for the league when they play the Knicks is when they go Porzingis/Melo at 5/4.
I didn't......I said his substitution patterns last year was horrible. And I have the same lack of confidence. Fisher is a great leader and former player.....But he really needs help with his subs patterns. I like having Grant in there, but you don't just throw him in crunch time after several DNPs......But their center and PG killed us in crunch time.
If Phil is smart, he thinks long and hard about giving Luke Walton a call after this season. I think Fisher is just that - a great figure for the players to trust just as they did as when he was their teammate.
Coaching wise I've been very very unimpressed with his work. I know he's a 2nd year guy and learning as well, but in terms of sub patterns, they're just as bad as last year. Phil being the great coach he was, has to see how limited Fisher is, and hopefully at some point will make a change if Fisher does not improve by season's end. This Knicks roster is damn good, in comparison to last year. Fisher can not be making rookie mistakes like this in important games.
mreinman wrote:crzymdups wrote:mreinman wrote:crzymdups wrote:Fisher should've brought in KP and Galloway around the 4-5 minute mark. Not the 1 minute mark.Also, did they post up Afflalo a single time all night?
Also, Lance Thomas just got a shot off! Hey look at that, he's 9-9 from the field.
We needed better decisions from the coach and the point guards tonight. Grant was not the answer.
KP in for rolo? Too many problems with that. And even on offense where KP was not really able to do anything against the magic, at least lopez was setting killer picks.
Gallo in for Grant for sure. AA had post ups but orlando played it very well. AA was plain bad tonight.
Orlando crushed us on picks tonight. CRUSHED!!
Fair enough - Orlando just has bruising athletes at every position. They are more physical and athletic than the Knicks. It's a bad matchup for them, I guess.
I mean, I watched most of the game and I did not see Afflalo get the ball in good position very often. Maybe that's on him.
And, yes, I would have tried KP on Vucevic down the stretch. Rolo could not stop him at all. I think Vucevic hit his last 5 shots in a row on Rolo in the 4th quarter. He just cooked him, inside and out.
maybe we should have doubled him a bit? Fisher did not help him at all.
Orlando is much much much better at the knicks at one thing. PICKS! We suck at it other than lopez and they were drilling our guards 2-3 times per possessions.
You are right about the picks. Orlando sets some good ones.
Malcolm wrote:We're all over the place in our comments here . . . except that we agree that Calderon offers no hope.
AND that Seraphin was brutal in place of an injured KOQ!!! Seraphin COMPLETELY destroyed the flow of the bench unit!!! KOQ with his passing and defense would've been soooooo much better!!!
I do not understand the decision to have Grant play no minutes in the first half and then have him play crunch minutes in the second. Is he a rotation player or not Fish? Same with Sasha.
I do not like Tobias Harris.
And how about this, guys, maybe Orlando is just a better (more talented) team right now. They hit every big shot tonight. They have a young team with athletes who can defend multiple positions. They have been playing good ball all year. Maybe they're just better...flat out.
nixluva wrote:matt wrote:crzymdups wrote:Magic scored on 9 of their last 10 possessions.Where the hell were KP and Galloway.
Did not like Fisher's substitutions tonight. Not at all.
Brutal.. Why play grant so much?
I don't know why Fish didn't switch him sooner but I'm glad he let Jerian play so much cuz we need Jerian to gain confidence.
This^ Getting Jerian in was good. Keeping him late was bad. Jerian needs to get to gym early and take 300-500 shots a day to find his money shot. He needs to work on some old school floaters and shorter midrange ala Reggie Lewis. his D is good. His speed is good. Right now he's struggling a lot bc he's thinking way too much and pressing. He needs to know he's in the rotation and the master plan
I agree so much with this.
SocraticBallin22 wrote:And how about this, guys, maybe Orlando is just a better (more talented) team right now. They hit every big shot tonight. They have a young team with athletes who can defend multiple positions. They have been playing good ball all year. Maybe they're just better...flat out.
I don't think we're disagreeing with you. But Knicks get premium for home court and that should have been enough tonight . . .
SocraticBallin22 wrote:mreinman wrote:SocraticBallin22 wrote:nixluva wrote:Despite the poor finish there were some good signs. Jerian needs to play more! We need KOQ to get healthy!
Yes! Despite what others have said, love that Fish finally let Grant play some crunch time minutes. He played well. He is not the reason we lost the game. He will only get better, the more he plays. And we saw a lot of positive signs.
ah ... so you really have no idea what you are talking about. Grant was terrible in crunch time.
How was he terrible? Because he missed one shot? And tell me exactly how Calderon would have been any better? You can make a case for Gallo playing over him in crunch time; can't argue with that, but don't tell me he was the reason we lost tonight.
We lost tonight b/c ROLO had no answer for Vucevic in the paint, and Orlando hit one big shot after the other. They deserved to win.
He was beat by a little Evan threw on the breaks and grant flew right by him. Giving a wide open shot. Gallo needed to be in. You do realize Evan not vucevic killed us once we got to within 1?
