This from Amare after the game..ouch. “They’re a better team than we are,’’ Stoudemire said. “On paper we’re evenly matched, but they get after it. They really ramped up their intensity and we didn’t.’’
That just means we played really really good the other remaining 30%. We were clicking beautifully until Melo and Tyson got hurt around Christmas day. The thing is, Woodson's D was still giving up 103.5 points per 100 possessions last year. It ranked 17th best in the league last year. We ranked #4 in DREB%. 13.1 turnovers per possession ranked for best in the NBA. Our offensive rating was #3 in the league. The theory was we had a great D because of those first 10-15 games. In reality, we just scored the hell out of the ball, never turned it over, and rarely gave other offenses second chances, and in turn slowed down the game. It seems like the Knicks FO never got this message. It really seems liked we overreacted to the Pacers beating us last year in 6 games when Tyson, Melo, and JR were all playing hurt. So something shifted in Woodson's head (really mean Dolan) that caused us to go out acquire Bargnani and become a team we never really were last year. I want to think Woodson was forced this hand, but other the hand Woodson is making mind numbingly bad mistakes he didn't make last year like forgetting fouls to give, drawing up terrible out of timeout plays, and forgetting timeouts. When he first came here, that was a breath of fresh air because D'Antoni was terrible at it. I don't know what caused Woodson to regress.
Maybe it is just injuries and not enough time, but I blame it all on Dolan like I usually do He messed up Woodson, the team, and will probably see Melo walking away this year for nothing or us signing him to a monster contract into his mid 30s
Chris Herring @HerringWSJ 9m Woodson, on whether he'll sometimes go back to smaller lineups now: "It's a possibility; yes." Said it depends on the opponent. Al Iannazzone @Al_Iannazzone 11m Woodson said Tim Hardaway Jr will play. He had an X-ray on his wrist last night. Al Iannazzone @Al_Iannazzone 13m Woodson said Cole Aldrich and Jeremy Tyler will have to play some now that Amare and Kenyon are out "at least" two weeks. Chris Herring @HerringWSJ 14m Really thought the injuries might prompt Woodson to go small. It has in the past. Not this time. Ian Begley @IanBegley 15m #Knicks say Felton, Shumpert, Anthony, Bargnani & Chandler will start vs. LAC. Martin and Stoudemire will not dress.
Bargnani is shooting 29% from 3 according to ESPN. Knicks up a bit early in the 1st. The 1st Q of hope followed by 3 quarters of despair happened last night
Felton with a STUPID foul. Blake Griffin on the fast break, just taps Griffin on the arm for a foul and Griffin easily goes through the contact gets the bucket, and gets the AND 1
Jeremy Tyler looking good in his real time minutes. Nice spin move and finish. Nice short jumper. Dropped a pass from Felton in the PnR. Defensively not great, but he's new so it might just be nerves
Felton has 3 fouls, so Knicks running JR, Shump, Melo, Bargs, and Tyson. No PG lineup? Interesting Woodson
Hopefully this timeout, we come out with a better lineup to close the 1st half. Shump and JR are not point guards. Melo shouldn't be playing point forward with two non 3 point threats out there
Knicks have 12 turnovers at halftime. They average 13 a game. They have played minutes without a PG and Beno Udrih hasn't seen the court at all. Just saying
Knicks down 9 after 3. Can't buy a bucket from anyone. Knicks still turning it over. Wodoson still using no PG big lineups. Maybe go small Woodson, that's how we made a run in the 2nd Q
