SB Nation User Blog: Seth

Hawks 114, Knicks 101

Seth — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:31:09 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

Yeah...that won't work. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Oof. Is it too much ask for the Knicks to stick to the same script? An awful start and failed comeback would've had me perfectly at ease this evening. No such luck. New York flipped it up tonight, just to keep us interested and mess with our heads. They played a strong, cohesive first half, the Garden crowd rocking all the while. Toney Douglas got the start and looked sharp from the outset. Danilo Gallinari was connecting, Al Harrington was driving, and Larry Hughes was wreaking havoc on both ends. In a season of otherwise solid second halves, though, you bet your ass the Knicks picked this one to tank after halftime. The previously adequate defense completely crumbled, and the Knicks made bonehead play after clumsy mistake en route to a blowout loss.

It sucked. Notes after the jump..

- Like I said, Toney Douglas started this one. He took Larry Hughes's spot in the lineup (noteworthy that it was Hughes, not Chris Duhon), and played very nicely. Toney continued his accurate shooting, canning pull-ups from either side, finishing near the rim, and draining a couple threes as well. His 23 points were an early career-high. He posted only 1 assist to 3 turnovers, which reflects both slightly rough point guard play from Toney and utter inability to finish from Toney's teammates. On the other end, Ghostface had a bit of trouble striking a balance between fouling Mike Bibby and staying in front of him. By the end, though, his defense looked sharp. Overall, Toney Douglas did what Toney Douglas do. I have a feeling TD's got a bit more point guard savvy than his line suggests. It'll just take more reps and a better sense of his teammates to make it work.

- That point about Douglas's teammates not finishing was actually a major theme of this game. Several different Knicks found new, wonderful ways to deny Toney his assists. I'm talking missed layups, dropped passes, silly turnovers, and all sorts of things you'd see in a typical JCC ballgame.

- I've never seen David Lee rendered so ineffective. His shot attempts were pretty limited (4-9) and he simply couldn't hang with Al Horford. I usually cut Lee slack for suffering against legit centers, but Horford isn't even that big a dude. Davd looked weak out there. Clyde quipped that Horford was "Bogarting" Lee around the basket. If we're sticking with the Hollywood metaphors, then Lee was Beckinsale-ing.

- Speaking of which, where the hell is Darko Milicic? Everybody's been asking after Darko in the comments, and I just don't have a good answer. Perhaps he's hurting and I didn't see anything about it. In any event, New York could have used him to maim Horford tonight.

- Like the Knicks, the Hawks switch pretty much everything on defense. They just do it with a lot more conviction and better angle management. You know what I mean? The Knicks always look like their tripping over each other when defending the pick. The Hawks got it right.

- Danilo Gallinari's start was nice, including a steal and fast break dunk that made me soil myself. After that, Gallo faded into the background. The Cock just couldn't get touches, and attempted only 8 shots in 31 minutes. I kept forgetting he was on the court. I won't discount his steal and 7 rebounds, but Gallo desperately needs to make more of an impact out there.

- I harp on Al Harrington's accessories way too much, but I might as well add that this mouthguard that's half blue and half white just makes Al look like he's missing teeth. I think it's squashing his brain as well. Some of those fouls and shot attempts were remarkably poor.

- To be fair, Harrington did a decent job backing down Josh Smith's wiry ass a couple times (but not enough), and did a better job on Horford than Lee did (including a delightfully emasculating chair-pull. Malik Rose is smiling up in heaven. What?).

- Chris Duhon can't buy a bucket right now. Shit, he can't rent one. I don't think he could even test drive one. I don't think he could even window shop for one.

- Wilson Chandler really did his darndest on Joe Johnson. Wil kept a low profile (in a good way) on offense, focusing his efforts on staying in front of the dastardly Armadillo Cowboy (®). Johnson was actually held to 8-19, but it felt like he was hitting tough shot after tough shot.

- Speaking of which, watching Jamal Crawford from the opponent's perspective is still a wild experience. The feeling is identical, yet opposite. Instead of lamenting his shot selection but celebrating his improbable buckets, I found myself celebrating his shot selection but lamenting his improbable buckets. He can be positively infuriating in either light. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Jamal Crawford. Soft in the sense of compassion, but also soft in the sense of aortic decay. He's that kind of player.

- I'm looking forward to Eddy Curry's return. He really does look as svelte as I've ever seen him, though I think like a quarter of that weight was in his head, and I mean that literally. Jeez.

- The only real rotation Knicks with decent plus-minuses? Douglas (0), Gallinari (+4), and Jared Jeffries (+1). Just saying.

And with that, I'll wash myself of this one. Goodnight, y'all.

Game Thread: Knicks vs. Hawks- 11/11/09

Seth — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:41:45 -0000

It's the Knicks and the Hawks tonight, y'all. Stop by for comments throughout the evening, and keep 'em coming. Check out Peachtree Hoops for all things accipitrine.

Tip-off's at 7:30. Any vets in the house?

Wednesday Trioks

Seth — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:02:23 -0000

Good day, pilgrims. The Knicks are signed up to play basketball against the Atlanta Hawks at home tonight. In the meantime, let's take a look at what's floating around the world wide web.

- Eddy Curry practiced with the team yesterday and...Holy Jared Fogel, what happened!? NYKnicks.com has the words and video on the big guy, who looks like his own little brother right now. I saw Eddy in person no more than 6 weeks ago and the amount of progress he's made is astounding. I was ready to discount his ever playing this season completely, but things appear to be looking up.

- From that same article, Nate Robinson practiced yesterday and could be ready to go against Atlanta tonight. The Knicks could badly use his offense, provided he can relocate his shooting touch.

- Trey Kerby runs the "Phenomenal Swag" feature at Ball Don't Lie, and happened upon some fresh kicks for the suffering Knick fan/hipster in your life. I think we can call these people "Knicksters".

- You'll probably object to my invoking the name of Charles Smith in this space, but you should know that he's been up to some philanthropy since becoming dead to you in '94. Howard Beck profiles Smith's engagement with the NBA Retired Players Association.

- Mike Kurylo of Knickerblogger tells Donnie Walsh what's what about advanced statistics and Walsh...well...read for yourself.

- Danilo Gallinari isn't on the All-Star ballot, which infuriates me. It also infuriated me when Danilo Gallinari wasn't elected president or named Top Chef or America's Next Top Model. ALL THESE HATERS. I wouldn't be surprised to see some cock in the three-point shootout, though. And by that I mean Daniel Gibson might participate.

- I have a feeling that a few of you will foam at the mouth after reading this bit of opinion on Chris Bosh. If you do foam at the mouth, you should consider getting treatment.

- All I'm saying is don't let your guard down around that Tate's triok. Something fishy about that character.

Come back later for a Knicks-Hawks game thread and maybe my celebrity sex tape. Maybe.

Jazz 95, Knicks 93

Seth — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:18:08 -0000

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I know that there's "no such thing as a moral victory" and whatnot, but I'm gonna go ahead and take the moral victory on this one. For the most part, this game was the usual fare: a truly horrid start followed by a spirited comeback that fell just short. We've seen that before. There were a couple elements of this one, though, that made it stand out. The primary one, as you might have heard, was the performance of a particular "precocious neophyte".

Yes, for perhaps the first time in his young career, Toney Douglas did what Toney Douglas do. It wasn't a revelation, really. Toney played 23 minutes of steady, determined basketball, and ultimately took the fall for a heartbreaking loss. The contrast, though, between TD and Chris Duhon was a sight to be seen. I know Chris means well, but he's been playing like he doesn't care. Most of us picked up on it, and I think Mike D'Antoni finally gave into the suspicion as well. He benched Du for the entire fourth quarter and handed the keys to Pretty Toney, who very nearly won the game by his damn self. Throughout the evening, but particularly in the fourth quarter, Douglas showed his full arsenal- three-point bombs, pull-up twos, and speedy drives to the rim. Though Toney threw away more turnovers (2) than assists (1), it was immediately evident that his ability and willingness to score prevented the D from sagging and made for many more passing opportunities. Should he continue to score so successfully, the pick-and-roll options and team-wide ball movement should thrive in turn. This isn't even close to Toney Douglas's team yet, but he made it very clear that he deserves a chance at taking the reins. His playing the full fourth quarter suggests that D'Antoni is fully willing to grant him that chance. As for that last shot, one more dribble and he could have splashed a nice running floater off the correct leg. Toney's a rookie, though. These things happen. If he keeps up this nerve, I'd be more than happy to watch Toney Douglas learn on the fly. DWTDD.

The rest of your game notes are after the jump...

- This was mentioned in the comments, and it's really a splendid thought. I see two ways to deal with the Knicks' tendency to fall behind early then storm back late. One would be to make them play two or three quarters of five-on-five before the game starts so they're in endgame mode by the time tip-off rolls around. Another would simply be to change the scoreboard to indicate that they're down 18 in the fourth quarter from the outset. You could totally pull that off, at least at home.

- I asked my team of trained genius badgers to run some numbers and found the following: The Knicks have lost every first quarter except for two (vs. Indiana and New Orleans). Through 8 games, the average first quarter margin is -9.4. Meanwhile, the Knicks have won every fourth quarter except for one (against Indiana), with an average margin of +7.6. That just goes to show that my first bullet point is no joke. The Knicks have really clicked in fourth quarters, but never enough to crack the eggs they collectively lay in first quarters. Part of this is that the opposition gets sloppy in the waning moments of a blowout, but part of it is significantly better New York basketball. Like I said, start each game with a fourth quarter and the Knicks would be a pretty solid team.

- Danilo Gallinari had a quiet night. His outside shots weren't really in rhythm, and he didn't get nearly as many touches as one would hope. It's tough for a youngster to demand the ball on offense, but I'd rather watch Gallo go iso for 20 seconds than see most anyone else try and create offense. Danilo also had two fantastic blocks (he's better at that than I expected) and was seen pounding his signature dish- scaloppini di Gallo- with Tina Cervasio in a pre-game feature. It's gnocchi with veal, if you're curious. I would love some right now.

- The presence of both Carlos Boozer and Ronnie Brewer nearly made Walt Frazier's head explode. By the end of the game, I'm pretty sure he resorted to calling both of them "Broozum".

- One thing that distinguished tonight's loss from every other loss was that the Knicks got back into it with zone defense. D'Antoni saw the opportunity to create turnovers and exploit Utah's lack of shooters by employing a 2-3 zone for very lengthy stretches. He was successful on one of two fronts. With Toney and Larry Hughes in the backcourt, New York was able to disrupt a lot of passes and even turn some steals into fast break buckets. At the same time, though, Utah accepted the challenge to shoot and did so with considerable success. Andrei Kirilenko hit 5 of 8 threes, many of which were so wide open that the nearest defender was someone in the crowd. Jerry Sloan also made his squad stack one side of the floor, which meant that one guard (often Douglas) found himself stranded at the top of the zone. The ensuing scramble repeatedly left Ronnie Brewer open for a mid-range J, or one of the big men open off a backdoor cut.

- That was the other big thing. Be it laziness or a child-like understanding of object constancy, the Knicks were completely baffled by backdoor cuts. I don't have much more to say on this. If somebody disappears for a second, that doesn't mean they're completely gone. I thought that was a given.

- This movie 2012 shouldn't be advertised on MSG. It almost makes me think Walsh should be clearing cap space for John Cusack, since it seems like he'll be the only dude around in a few years.

- Jared Jeffries has a new haircut. It looks fresh. Jared Jeffries's free throws look like the opposite of his haircut.

- Al Harrington really troubles me. He's trying very hard to be the difference and provide energy, but his shots just ain't falling of late. It's problematic, but I'm not as ready to bench him as some of y'all are.

- I guess Larry Hughes (and Toney, right?) deserves some credit for holding Deron Williams to 2-10 shooting for just 5 points and 7 turnovers. D-Wil did have 16 assists, though.

- Listen, I think the fact that the Knicks promote the Lustgarten Foundation is really, really excellent. Pancreatic cancer is a serious problem and it's a worthy cause for the organization to advocate. All that said, I can't help but single out Mike D'Antoni's performance in his ad spot for the foundation. Where Channing Frye's former rendition of "sometimes, dinner was just crackers" for the Garden of Dreams foundation was classically deadpan, D'Antoni's gratingly loud delivery of "WORKINGTOGETHERASATEAM (beat) THAT'SHOWWE'LLBEATPANCREATICCANCER." lacks nuance and prosody to the point that I have to laugh. The cause is truly noble, but the execution is downright hilarious. Am I a bad person for thinking that? Probably. Just to clear my conscience, why don't I link you over to the foundation one more time.

- In her regular halftime interview, Jill Martin asked Darryl Strawberry what trend from the 80's he'd most like to have back. Once more, I felt like a bad person for thinking the thoughts that I thought.

- It's funny how a 17-point deficit feels like nothing at halftime. That's practically a tie game in the context of this early season incompetence.

- I couldn't have told you without looking that Wilson Chandler (33 minutes, 17 points on 8-15 shooting, 10 rebounds, 2 assists) had a good game, but I guess he did. I'd prefer he not shoot 4 threes and 0 free throws, but hats off to Wil, I suppose. That's a nice line.

- According to the boxscore, Jordan Hill played in this game. I must have been blinking.

I don't have much else to say. The Knicks, as usual, hung tough when they hit open shots and play defense with even a hint of conviction. As usual, that occurred in the fourth quarter. As usual, it wasn't quite enough. Luckily for us, this game was distinct because of a compelling stretch of zone defense and an intriguing breakout performance from Toney Douglas.

Next game's on Wednesday against the Hawks.

Game Thread: Knicks vs. Jazz- 11/9/09

Seth — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:56:55 -0000

Good evening, all. Tonight's game against the Utah Jazz is important for all sorts of reasons. One is simply that the Knicks have lost three straight since beating the Hornets and desperately need to get back in the win column. Another is the perpetual headache that is the Knicks' 2010 lottery pick, which is headed to Utah. Every loss brings the Jazzes closer to John Wall and Derrick Favors. A loss to Utah would be the absolute worst.

Meanwhile, tonight's game will be preceded by a special feature called "Dinner with Danilo" in which Tina Cervasio eats dinner with Danilo Gallinari and a gathering of his friends and family. You probably shouldn't miss that.

This here thread is for all of you watching the game and, of course, the meal. Stop by throughout the night to comment and head on over to SLC Dunk for all things jazzy.

How accountable is Mike D'Antoni?

Seth — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:34:24 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

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I could recap last night's game, but it'd just be a mixture of the usual nonsense and disgust at Dan Gadzuric's beard. Instead, I'd like to turn our attention to the coach. I rarely question coaching and management in this space because so much of that takes place behind the scenes and out of earshot. One thing strikes me, though, and I think it's something you guys have picked up on as well. D'Antoni gets very hot; he nearly throttled a referee last night after a foul on David Lee went unnoticed. We haven't really seen him let loose on his players, though. It's hard to say what goes on in the locker room, but from what we see on TV, D'Antoni has yet to hold his guys accountable in the form of scolding. With a team that's 1-6 and can't find any semblance of chemistry, that probably shouldn't be the case. I understand that D'Antoni is a "player's coach" and cares deeply about his squad, but something has to give. It doesn't have to be the coach himself yelling and screaming. It could be a quicker trigger on calling timeouts, or it could be more willingness to bench guys who are a step slow (which, to be fair, made an appearance last night). D'Antoni could even preserve his camaraderie with the players by having an assistant play the role of bad cop, like Doc in Remember the Titans. Can't you picture Herb Williams yelling "you're lookin' like a bunch of BUMS out there!" after a huge opposing run?

Anyway, to put poorly what Tommy expressed quite well, I'm of the opinion that D'Antoni's at fault not for his system, but for his motivational techniques. Just like Tommy, I saw Coach passionately preach defense throughout training camp. I don't doubt that his intentions are pure. It just seems like his message lacks a punch, and that's where a little anger might help matters. But that's just me. How accountable do y'all think D'Antoni is for this woeful start? Is it a matter of strategy, motivation, or something else entirely? Discuss the 'stache in the comments.

Knicks-Bucks Postgame Meltdown

Seth — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:05:46 -0000

This is your quick post-game discussion post. The Knicks were decimated by the Bucks this evening in a manner so completely repulsive that P&T's own "Frederic Weis" felt the need to incorporate a noose into the traditional Francis the Vomiting Man graphic. It was that bad, and worse.

A slightly more detailed recap will follow tomorrow.

Game Thread: Knicks at Bucks- 11/7/09

Seth — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:26:34 -0000

Well, here we are. I'm back from a mini-basketball-watching hiatus. In my absence, the Knicks fell to 1-5, pretty much confirming our suspicions that they are...well, just not very good. Last night, all the hooplah surrounded a certain Cavalier (y'all can say his name now, but I'm keeping the strike alive). Tonight, Brandon Jennings comes to town. As you surely know, Donnie Walsh (among others, let's not forget) passed on Jennings in this summer's draft in favor of Jordan Hill. While Young Money carves it up in Milwaukee, Hill has been riding Mike D'Antoni's bench for a team that could really use a ballsy point guard. I think you can see where this is going. Jennings probably has a chip on his shoulder and will give the Knicks hell tonight. Eyes will roll and the media will shit their diapers. I can't wait.

In the meantime, it would be really excellent if the Knicks could collect themselves and try and scrap together a win on the road. Stop on by for game thread goodness and head over to the superior Brew Hoop for Bucks coverage like you wouldn't believe.

Game tips off at 8:30 because the midwest can't hang.

Cavaliers 100, Knicks 91

Seth — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:53:52 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Kmonicek - AP

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This is the second Knicks game in a row that I've missed, and should be the last one for a long, long time. Looks like it went pretty much as expected. If you were watching, share your thoughts on the evenings events in the comments. I'll add any good stuff to the body of this post.

In the meantime, check out Fear the Sword's recap, as well as a more Knicks-centric one at TKB.

Bucks tomorrow, y'all.

Update: What's this about Delonte West attacking Toney Douglas? That's not at all ok.

Game Thread: Knicks vs. Cavaliers- 11/6/09

Seth — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:45:16 -0000

It's a big night, folks. The Knicks will be on national TV tonight as Jawad Williams as the Cleveland Cavaliers come to town. This here's your game thread for discussion throughout what promises to be an eventful night. I'd like to reiterate my request that we not use the name of a certain free agent to-be in order to protest the obscene amount of attention and ass-kissing he gets from the local media. He is the opponent and we will treat him as such, and then some.

Maybe, just maybe, New York can put in a decent effort and surprise the Cavs. It'd be great for our own guys to be the focus of attention, just this once. Go Knicks.