Okay . . . I've formulated a question that I feel gets to the heart of things.
Everyone here should have an opinion on it. I'd appreciate everyone justifying
the opinion that they have.
Simple:
How did the team manage to start the season 22-22 (?)
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Malcolm wrote:Okay . . . I've formulated a question that I feel gets to the heart of things.Everyone here should have an opinion on it. I'd appreciate everyone justifying
the opinion that they have.
Simple:
How did the team manage to start the season 22-22 (?)
.
Good question
.
Leads to some obvious other questions:
(1) If players improve with Triangle over time . . . why did the team end worse than it began (?)
(2) Did opposing teams "figure out" the Knicks (especially the defense) after the good start (?)
(3) How much did Porzingis wearing down contribute to team's bad second half (?)
(4) Would starting 10-28 and finishing 22-22 . . . been more encouraging (?)
cause Galloway was playing like steph curry.
KP & Galloway played better in the first half of the year.
Melo got hurt
Teams adjusted to Triangle sets
It seems to me that this team peaked going into January and several players fell off at the close of January. From what I can ascertain it all started right around the time that Melo tripped on that ref in the Boston game. Melo missed the next 2 games and then had a relapse in the Charlotte game which they lost and he missed the next 2 following games which the team also lost. So that is 5 games lost which directly tie to Melo not being there.
This is not to say that the team would've been able to maintain the level of play if Melo had not been injured but it seems like a very likely source of the least part of the sudden downturn the team took.
Oct. 2-1
Nov. 6-9 (8-10)
Dec. 7-8 (15-18)
Jan. 8-9 (23-27)
Feb. 2-9 (25-36)
Mar. 5-10 (30-46)
Apr. 2-4 (32-50)
DATE MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS
November 28.9 5.3-12.3 .432 0.9-2.9 .318 2.5-3.1 .826 9.9 1.0 2.1 0.7 3.1 1.7 14.1
December 26.4 4.6-11.0 .418 1.0-2.7 .366 2.4-2.6 .923 6.4 1.5 2.2 0.7 2.4 1.9 12.6
January 29.5 5.4-12.6 .431 1.5-4.0 .375 2.9-3.6 .807 7.2 1.4 1.6 1.0 3.0 1.4 15.3
February 28.7 5.7-13.3 .432 1.2-4.0 .295 2.2-2.4 .923 5.9 1.1 2.1 0.6 2.5 1.5 14.8
March 29.9 5.3-13.4 .398 1.2-3.7 .318 3.7-4.7 .786 6.9 1.8 1.5 0.5 2.9 1.8 15.5Afflalo
DATE MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS
November 31.0 5.6-12.4 .452 1.4-3.6 .389 0.6-0.9 .667 3.7 2.0 0.1 0.1 2.1 0.9 13.2
December 31.3 5.2-10.9 .476 0.9-3.3 .260 1.7-2.0 .867 4.3 1.6 0.1 0.3 2.2 0.9 13.0
January 36.5 5.6-13.4 .423 1.7-3.7 .460 2.2-2.4 .950 2.8 2.1 0.3 0.5 2.5 1.1 15.2
February 37.0 4.9-10.8 .454 1.5-3.7 .405 2.2-2.5 .880 4.6 2.4 0.1 0.7 2.0 1.6 13.5
March 33.2 4.2-9.5 .447 1.0-2.5 .394 0.9-1.6 .571 3.9 2.1 0.0 0.2 1.5 1.5 10.4
Galloway
DATE MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS
November 25.7 3.0-7.7 .388 1.3-3.2 .396 1.1-1.7 .654 3.4 1.9 0.1 1.1 2.4 0.8 8.4
December 23.7 2.2-6.2 .355 0.7-2.3 .324 1.2-1.3 .900 3.6 2.5 0.3 0.7 1.5 0.7 6.3
January 24.1 3.4-6.8 .491 0.7-2.4 .300 0.9-1.1 .833 3.4 2.4 0.4 0.8 1.9 0.6 8.3
February 28.0 3.0-7.5 .402 1.0-3.0 .333 0.5-0.7 .750 4.3 2.6 0.0 0.8 3.3 0.7 7.5
March 21.6 2.1-6.7 .310 0.6-2.4 .250 1.1-1.5 .696 2.9 2.3 0.5 0.9 2.1 0.9 5.8
If I recall Calderon missed some of the early season.
Folks didn't know how good KP would be. Likewise D Will was better than expected and as mentioned Gallo lit it up to start the season. Teams adjusted and realized that Grant wasn't ready for prime time and when teams adjusted they exploited our backcourt. Relentlessly. And we saw it and it was ugly. When the Knicks recently played the Celtics, Isaiah out scorered our entire backcourt. Need we say more
