Winning Ugly aka Who Shoots?... J.R.

The Knicks have erased the gloom and doom for at least a little while.

They're back to their winning ways using a combination of good shooting and cagey defense.

Like I said before, K-Mart can play and with his addition the Knicks get what they were sorely missing ...TOUGHNESS, intimidation, other that Tyson they really had no one in the middle that really made you pay for going to the hoop and the K-Mart signing is making dividends cause the Knicks won't lose anything when Tyson sits.

Ball movement is back (WHICH IS GREAT) and J.R. it in full blown attack mode.  I guess now that Amare is on the shelf the only other place you can go is to Smith.  And Smith's over all game is getting better and better he's gone from an iso "chucker" to a slasher finisher in the paint a foul drawing machine and level head guy that can make thing happen QUICKLY, where even if he takes an ill advised shot it doesn't feel as deflating as one that was held up for 20 seconds of the 24.

With the love getting spread this will help Melo, He won't have to play 40+ min a game and hopefully he's remain healthy ready for the play-offs.

Still feel the Knicks can be a dark horse and Woody will have to make role-plyer look like stars, but like I said if the Knicks make it to the 2 round Imma gonna pop my champaign and take it as a win... PROGRESS is PROGRESS!


Go Knicks!

-Sclub007

The Fat Lady is singing...

Well it's official,  the Knicks are done.

I'm not piling on, I'm a KNICKS FAN, but for it all to work the stars had to align and everything had to go right...

But it seems like everything has gone wrong.

1. STAT hurt and done for the season.
2. Wallace done and doesn't look like he;s coming back.
3. Melo Banged up (knees).
4. Chandler hurt now.
5. 3-point shooting cooling down.
6. NO Deus Ex Machina guy rising from the bench turning out all-star game.

I mean everything had to go right, for the Knicks and heck, things had to go wrong for the Heat and Pacers for the them to get out of the East but now...

It's over and the Fat lady is singing "Another one bites the dust"

Well, my spring looks like bike riding with my boys, fishing, gardening with the wife, camping early BUT NO deep playoff run for my Knicks.

Alas there's always next year.



THE BLAME GAME!

PodCast 2/26/2013 - guest appearances from the twins

Computer broke down, sick for god how many days but here we go.  Another cast for you from a few wks back but with two special guest appearances.  Take a listen. 

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

ISO - Metrics!

Can we all sit down and have a conversation about Iso-basketball?

Iso-ball is the what happens when a coach schemes up play where you give your best player the ball and clear everyone out so your guy can get a bucket one on one OR attract the more defenders to open up a spot up shooter/slasher.

It's not a bad call it usually happens to when your primary play breaks down and you need you a "star" to bail you out so you at least get out of the shot clock with a decent attempt.

BUT - what happens with Iso-ball is a guys eyes get bigger than their stomachs and the feel they can score on the world and it may just turn to "hero-ball"

1.	Hero Ball
	A style of basketball played by a person with average or mediocre talent who nonetheless believes he is the second coming of Michael Jordan. It involves lots of ball-hogging, mindless spinning and jumping, and taking a bunch of highly contested fadeaway jumpers that almost never go in. Oh great, looks like fat Lenny has decided to play hero ball now that he's in the game.   -Urban Dictionary         But never the less the BEST PLAY in my opinion is the "rope a dope" you can iso all you want but at the end of the game every one knows where the ball is going and what that player is going to do with BUT instead of taking a lame turn around fade away, you pass the ball to a cutter going to the rim or an open spot up shooter and let them have an uncontested bucket!!!     1. rope a dope   a strategy to appear weak to convince an opponent to attack and fall into a trap. a joke that suggests one thought just to set up a twist. Muhammad Ali and Tommy Smothers were both experts at rope a dope.   -Urban Dictionary.           The Knicks have the Talent SMITH, STAT, MELO, all the guys are creative offensive weapons  now... just... make... the... right... PLAY!     It's THAT SIMPLE, once you shake the urge to go HERO and make that play you go LEGEND!!   I'm not bagging on anybody, but I'll say this.  Do you just want to be a good team?  or Do you want to be a GREAT TEAM!     -Sclub007

The Problem in the PAINT!

One of the best things to happen to the Knicks in the last few days was,  their loss to the Heat!

WHAT? A LOSS? = BEST THING??

Yup, the Knicks have been suffering from slow internal bleeding, and if they beat the Heat they'd feel good about themselves and never fix the problem.

The Knicks HAVE to solve the CARMELO / AMARE issue.  OK guys read Tsung Su, talent has never been a problem ...managing that talent though?

Listen Woody this isn't the Tangram this isn't and ancient Chinese puzzle that only the masters can solve.  This a simple case of the tried and true basketball philosophy of... Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside!!

It's that simple remember when Melo played in the Olympics?  Remember all those open looks he got and he basically was draining everything like roto-rooter.

STAT efficiency has been off the charts he shoot well over 50% and his inside presence makes it hard on defenders to recover when the ball goes back out to the perimeter.  What does that mean?  OPEN LOOKS!!!  And when Amare sits then Melo can work inside.

It's hard when your an interior player, once you hit the paint you feel like a shark that smells blood, you want to attack the rim, you want to score, it's instinct, but STAT, Melo have to figure out how to make that extra pass the must develop the spacing the foot work as a tandem!

One posts up one slashes to the rim, one catches deep in the paint the other spots up from the wing.  The options are staggering but the execution TAKES PRACTISE!!

I'd sacrifice record for the practise it's a small step back to take a HUGE step forward.  The Knicks have the luxury of a good start so if the lose a few with this experiment they'll still be in good shape to make the playoffs.  And if it works, the team will have a MUCH higher ceiling than this one sits and the other one plays rotation.

Go Knicks!!