Knicks / Howston - out hustled

[whensly]

watched the knicks houston game last night and have a few observations.

a. knicks played well but were warned that Houston is a team that will out work you
and so they did. One reason I believe is because D Antoni seems so very afraid of
going to his bench. I thought last night he could have used a Hughes to spell
Duhon and up the D. Hughes has something to prove so he might have come out with
a vengence. The fact that D Ant does not use or trust Hill yet, Darko (soon to go ko) or Curry
I believe also hurt the knicks who seemed to have tired legs logging all those minutes
where adelman was keeping his players fresh.

It's a good team to measure us against because the Rockets seem to have a comparable level
of talent on their roster as we do. (see no allstars or dominant players) . It seems that David
Lee is getting there but he too seemed to have to play too much.

During the game I was thinking, "now who would the Rockets want for T mac,
assuming that Jeffries or Curry was one of them, who would be the deal maker,
and my deduction is that I don't see a deal there. Anderson and Scola are already better
than Curry, and maybe Ming returns late this year or next. I could see the rockets
wanting Gallo Lee or Chandler but one of those would be the sweetner to unload Curry
and I don't see it. I will guess there is NO deal with us and the Rockets for T Mac.

[jbnewyork162]

You were accurate thinking for the most part what i was last night Mouse.

Let ne add a few things in detail in regards to that bench. When Nate started going out of control with bad passes and not enough defense on his best friend Aaron Brooks I would have put in Douglas for defense on the hot shooting Brooks based on the fact I know Douglas could have shut him down half the time with less turnovers.

In regards to Mlicic, why cant Coach D inspire Darko like he gave an over confident endorsement to Jeffries and have him be our inside presence, similar to what Bender is doing? Curry got hurt and is a slob, a this and a that but you cant tell me he couldnt take on Scola with his limited skills displayed better than he was floating over Lee(who i like) and Jeffries(who i dont) all night. When Curry came back and he was pissed and looked like Anthony Mason I liked that and in limited minutes we could have used that energy last night to get that man some burn so he can get the hell outta here.

Finally why do all the Knicks give so much space to the perimeter players on defense. I know we lost one, and not in a long time, but a trend even on our winning streak is that Chandler and Jeffries and Lee back up like 3-4 steps even on slow perimeter players and dare them to shoot a shot they may shoot a high percentage on. Like defense on (the better version of Nate last night anyway) Aaron Brooks or Boris Diaw the other night in Charlotte.

This form of defense although in all of December it has been less frequent just isnt smart and will continue to boggle my mind until it changes.

-Jason

[whensly]

Good point on douglas vs brooks, I guess DAnt challenged Nate to shut down his old pal
and I believe D ant left Nate in because we were hurting for scoring big time.

If the knicks learned one thing last night it's that a lesser team can out-hustle a more talented team and win.
The Rocketts did that to us last night. It was a good game though very hard fought by both teams.

The Knicks seemed to brain lock in the final minutes and get lost out there but I will attribute that to
tired legs (resulting in so many missed jumpers) and the fact that Houston was on fire.

[irish2u2]

Some excellent observations Mouse and Jason.

Phoenix fans used to complain that every now and again their were games were they got outcoached more than just beat. I know what they mean. ; )

Brooks and Lowry killed us and with Houston coming off a 3 game losing streak on the road and having a 7 game wiinning streak at home we should have been prepared for their best game. I also think we missed Harrington's scoring off the bench a lot but IMHO the real issue was using Toney Douglas and Larry Hughes in this game.

I am an expert at making Chicken Kiev out of chicken poop so on the positive side watching David Lee just destroy guys one on one (I especially liked the behind the back dribble in the paint and the finish with his off hand ; ) and literally grow up as an offensive force in front of our eyes is especially sweet. I told y'all 3 years ago that nobody works harder on their game than Lee and in that short time he has gone from a pathetic midrange shooter to an exceptional one. The guy is a gym rat and you can see all that work now manifesting itself big time. On NBA Pass they had the Rocket announcers (Clyde Drexler and whoever) and they were just blown away by Lee's emerging game.

Me too. ; )

I'm also super impressed with Wilson Chandler, the Quiet Assassin. His growth as a player is no less amazing than Lee's and while David is getting better on defense Wilson has always been a very good man and team defender.

Keeping in mind this is Gallo's real rookie year I love our future. I love the idea we are competitive and starting to get pissed when we lose games. ; ) It used to be we took defeat as a given and concentrated on individual players more. Now we think we can win most nights which is good. We do match up well with Houston and we should have been able to win this game.

BTW, while I do think Scola is better than Curry I'm not so sure Anderson is though he was effective against us. I think this is where we missed Harrington because we had to go with Lee and Jefferies for extended minutes. I still think the Rockets could be a landing pad (all right, I know, I know ; ) for Curry. I don't think the Rockets will get anybody of substance for TMac though they are just being diligent in trying. Somebody made the point that with Brooks they didn't need Nate Robinson. Good point. ; )

[whensly]

that's the thing,
Houston has there own Nate and a slew of big guys
that are much cheaper than Curry and probably productive.

Andreson seems like peer of Jeffries so I just don't see a trade there,
perhaps Donnie will?