I know everyone wants Melo to be the scoring machine he was in Denver, Mr. Inside, Mr. Outside all in one, but let's be real here in the compressed NBA season I don't think Melo was in the shape he was last year and I'm pretty sure he never realized how taxing this compressed season would on a guy physically and mentally.
D'Antoni's system wasn't working, the emergence of JLin, the inconsistency of STAT and not to mention the plethora of nagging injuries. All those things can throw off I guys rhythm but, what has impressed me more than anything is Melo new accountability on the other side of the ball!!
Listen, when you're a score and your shot isn't falling it's pretty easy to tune out of all other facets of the game obsess about the next shot and more or less "grab your ball and go home". But Melo seems to aggressively want to rebound pass out of the double and dare I say it "gasp" play defense!!
Remember the scoring machine from G-state that the Knicks took on? You remember that guy his name was Latrell Spreewell, well Spree was a walking scoring machine but the Knicks had Houston in the 2 spot and Allan was the lights out shooter of the Knicks dreams arguably if we had Houston when Ewing was younger we'd be looking a a title or 2. So what does Van Gundy do? He put's Spree at the 3 spot and encourages Spree to be a lock down defender. Spree's averages went from about 23 a game to 15 but he was instrumental in holding guys down. Hey Melo's averages aren't the best this year (career lows) but you can always play defense. Get the ball to Amare or Tyson cutting to the rim, eventually you percentages will go up but in the mean time, let's just keep winning. And if the Post or any other NY tabloid can see that then lets just use it to line our hamster cage. Melo keep up the good work yo!!
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