Monthly Archives: November 2008
Gian does a great job of breaking down Allen Iverson‘s poor defense and the Pistons lack of interior defense. ESPN’s John Hollinger has the Pistons at 22nd in team defensive efficiency.
When: 8:00 P.M.
Where: Palace of Auburn Hills
Watch: MSG
Starting Lineups:
Pistons (8-5)
PG: Allen Iverson (18.8 ppg, 40% FG, 87% FT)
SG- Rip Hamilton (16.2, 39%, 91%)
SF- Tayshaun Prince (15.5, 45%, 86%)
PF- Rasheed Wallace (13.5, 45%, 68%)
C- Amir Johnson (4.5, 57%, 67%)
Rest of rotation: Aaron Afflalo, Kwame Brown, Will Bynum, Jason Maxiell, Rodney Stuckey
Knicks (7-7)
PG: Chris Duhon (10.6 ppg, 42% FG, 78% FT)
SG: Quentin Richardson (12.4, 43%, 86%)
SF: Wilson Chandler (14.8, 44%, 76%)
PF: Al Harrington (13.0, 31%, 100%)
C: David Lee (12.2, 55%, 66%)
Rest of Rotation: Anthony Roberson, Malik Rose, Tim Thomas
Injuries:
Pistons: PROBABLE: Rodney Stuckey (wrist)
Knicks: OUT: Eddy Curry (conditioning); Danilo Gallinari (back); Jared Jeffries (leg); Nate Robinson (groin); Cuttino Mobley (heart condition)
Keep an eye on: Defensive Effort
Earlier in the season we saw the Knicks give up points, but you could see an improvement in intensity on the defensive end. Over the last few games, we have not seen that. Now, with a shorter bench and a Pistons’ offense that thrives on continuity and screens, the Knicks must increase their effort level on defense. (Especially on consecutive nights). Iverson, Hamilton, and Stuckey all have non-stop motors on offense and Duhon and Richardson will have to work that much harder without Robinson for tonight’s game.
Michael Curry
Under the first-year head coach, the Pistons 8-5 record is pretty disappointing considering the depth and talent on this roster. We now know that the team disconnected from Flip Saunders last season, but we also know that Flip Saunders didn’t lose games to Minnesota and New Jersey. Their last three losses (Phoenix, Boston, and Minnesota) are by an average of 21 points per loss. So, if the Knicks can hit their shots early and jump out to a lead, let’s see if the Pistons respond like the title contenders that many feel they are.
The Other Blog’s Take: From truebluepistons.blogspot.com
The Pistons still have no idea what their ceiling is with Allen Iverson, but they at least now know where their floor must be. They’d better hope it doesn’t get any lower than Sunday, when the woebegone Minnesota Timberwolves thumped them by 26 at The Palace.
What we’ve learned in the three weeks since the Allen Iverson trade is that right now it’s not about who lines up against the Pistons, it’s about the Pistons. In their first home game since scoring 58 points in the second half to beat one of the league’s most rugged defensive teams, Cleveland, the Pistons scored 34 points in the first half against one of the league’s flimsier defenses, Minnesota’s.
The offense was bad Sunday and the defense might have been worse. And the tendency will be to blame a letdown, the bugaboo that marked the Flip Saunders era, the whole “flip the switch” conversation that drove him crazy.
But you know what it really is? Disorientation. A team that could find its way around with the lights off before has suddenly been plunked down in a new house, blindfolded, and is groping to find its way from the bedroom to the kitchen for something as simple as pouring a glass of water.
AP Photo/Duane Burleson
Although I never saw him play, any NBA historian who’s opinion I value tells me that Oscar Robertson was 
one of the best players to ever play the game. Not as good as Jordan, but as good, if not better, than Magic Johnson is what they tell me.
Woah hold on a second. Better than Magic? The greatest playmaker in NBA history who could rebound, lead the break and make a sick pass leading to a highlight dunk?
It’s hard for me to fathom but it’s a point rarely dispelled by those who’ve seen both play. How could I argue? I never saw the Big O play. I know this about him he averaged a triple double for a season and is a Top 50 Player of All-Time. Wait, did I just say he averaged a triple double? I knew he did, but why am I so quick to overlook it?
Why do the memories and epitaph of retired players get clouded over the years? I’m a sports nut who grew up with a room full of plastered Sports Illustrated covers as wall paper. I pride myself on trying to learn more about sports on a day-to-day basis.
So i got to thinking back to all the old NBA footage I’ve seen. I’ve been told that Robertson won an NBA title but have no idea who it was against or even what year. I vaguely remember Dave Cowen’s diving on the floor for a loose ball like a red-faced maniac thus identifying for the NBA what it means to give everything up for a title, and the Celtics beating Kareem and Robertson, but I had to look up that in 1971 the Big O’s Bucks beat the Baltimore Bullets.
Not exactly Lakers/Celtics.
My point is that the NBA has been built on such rivalries, and out of those rivalries come legends who are supplanted in the minds of fans forever.
We know about Magic and Bird, but why does Jerry West, the silhouette of the NBA logo for crying out loud, stand out in my mind as a better player than Robertson? John Havlicek didn’t even start and for a long time I valued him in the same class as Robertson before someone told me to compare them is idiotic.
I conclude that my skewed and clouded take is because Oscar played in Milwaukee.
Fast forward to today and thanks to TV and new media there are plenty of opportunity to see the game’s greatest players, but when we talk about Lebron James we’re talking about a generation-defining player. He’s what Robertson was: versatility personified in a big and gifted guard.
Lebron’s gift is that he is a champion without rings, and it has to bother him that both Kobe Bryant and 
Dwayne Wade were fortunate enough to have the perfect post compliment to help them to theirs.
Lebron wants rings, but make no mistake, he wants to be the best ever and he can be. He’s the total package. Sure Kobe is unreal, but there’s only one way to settle it and that’s in June. Lebron has been to a final and may get back there this year. We’ll see. But could you imagine a fledgling league marketing Lebron verses Kobe, LA-NY in 2010 for the next 5 years? It would be Magic-Bird, Ali-Frasier, Nicklaus-Palmer, Hogan-Andre the Giant all wrapped into seven games each June.
People would talk about it for generations and it would elevate these two warriors into the stratosphere of legendary status.
Why can’t a Knick fan plead for it? It makes sense, no? It’s logical and dammit if we haven’t felt the wrath of “The Jordan Rules” as in playing 5-8 against a stacked deck of refs during MJ’s run. Now it’s our turn.
This isn’t about money for Lebron, this is about greatness and Lebron is not afraid to be great, which is why he’s not afraid to leave Cleveland. This is about joining the All-Time Great conversation. Kobe has LA, Lebron needs NY.
But this year, I guess we can settle for the possibility of Lakers-Cavs.
Woo hoo.
The last really hyped press conference I went to was in 2006 when Tiger Woods returned to golf after losing his father, which was at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. There must have been 200 people there and media from all over the world. Tiger is a crafty athlete and as guarded as it gets so he makes sure that when he answers questions he doesn’t leave much room for misinterpretation. Sitting in a room with Tiger, making eye contact is an experience no one forgets.
Lebron James has more fun with the media.
Between making us wait some 30 minutes for his arrival and calling Mike D’Antoni an “offensive mastermind,” to saying that 2010 will be a historic day, James has been clear on some things and very vague on others.
He wants to win a championship and will make sure to put himself in the best position to do so, and obviously after last night the Knicks do not exactly portray a team on that path. I’m not going to overreact, this was a team that was just assembled for the most part and had to endure the loss of Nate Robinson to a groin injury something that will probably keep him out for an extended period. D’Antoni said after the game that there was a “pop” and that’s never a good sign.
But getting back to James, on the court his game is just so complete, obviously. His assists were down but he did show the crowd once again he can knock down threes. His block shot that led to the fast break was ridiculous and he made sure to wow the crowd with that second half dunk where it looked like his head was a foot higher than the rim. He also made sure he got to the line. But it was his turn-around fadeaway on the baseline against Quentin Richardson that impressed me the most. Kobe takes and makes the hardest shots of any player I’ve seen, including Jordan (not comparing them, Kobe just has high degree of difficulty points for his shot selection) but if Lebron, who make no mistake is the combination of Magic AND Jordan, can master the low post he will win multiple championships. He very well could go down has the best ever. Like Tiger, who has reinvented his golf swing twice, James has molded his game for the long haul, 
often sacrificing athleticism and wild shots, like Tiger did with jaw-dropping legth, for consistency. It’s a great model to follow. Lebron can cruise at a high level and turn it up when he needs to. Tiger is the same way. Two athletes who can still dominate when they are far from their best and who use those experiences to motivate them to improve.
I firmly believe Donnie Walsh looks at his team now as the group he’s building from scratch. He’ll make more moves at some point and if the team misses the playoffs they will be lottery bound. The future is bright despite failing to meet curiously high expectations last night. The Cavs are playoff tested, the Knicks are rebuilding, finally. Lebron knows what the future holds here.
I was listening to a few reporters talk last night who believed they didn’t think Lebron has any idea where he’s going to be in 2010. I agree.
But believe this, the Knicks are in the mix.
************************************
I asked D’Antoni about picking up another techincal foul last night, his third this season and he noted that it’s his way of trying to give his team some “energy” and that he “would have felt bad if we lost by one.” Fans have to love D’Antoni’s fire versus Isiah Thomas’ laid-back (aloof) style. This team will get the respect of calls when they win despite bad calls.
To sum up tonight’s game, it will probably take the Knicks’ newcomers a few games to mesh together, and they ran into a very, very good Cleveland Cavaliers team. All eyes were on LeBron and despite a couple of spectacular moves, he seemed content to sit back and allow his teammates take advantage of a weak defensive effort from the Knicks. Not too many players can have a quiet 26 points, but that’s what King James did tonight.
The Knicks were led by Quentin Richardson‘s 22 points. Newcomers Al Harrington (13 points, 9 rebounds) and Tim Thomas (16 points, 6 rebounds) seemed out of sorts in the first half but were able to pad their stats against a less intense Cleveland second-half defense. That being said, you can definitely see Harrington’s ability on the offensive end, and he is certainly not afraid to shoot.
Nate Robinson strained his groin in the second quarter and will be re-evaluated tomorrow.
Above is a photo from the postgame press conference where LeBron called Mike D’Antoni “an offensive mastermind” and hopefully we’ll see this photo every night in the future…
So this place is nuts. Trying to get near Lebron but that may not be until after the game.
Just ripped a little with Brandon Tierney and we’re both pumped. Sounds like Thomas and Harrington will come off the bench meaning that Lee and Chandler will start up front and Duhon, nate and Q will join them. Expect Q to see some time at the 2.
BT and I were trying to remember the last regular season game that had this much buzz was and I think it was Steph’s first game at the Garden after the trade against Van Gundy… Any help?
By the way hit “last” on your remote and watch the ND-Texas game between commercials. I should have mentioned the kid from Moore Catholic on Staten Island in our “keep an eye on” piece who I coached against a few years ago.
I’m curious to see if Kyle Mcalarney can get his shot off consistently against a very athletic Texas team.
…They’ll get help inside people, at some point. This is why I hated the idea of a Lebron showcase. It isn’t.
Amazing how the buzz turned to negative energy here. Let’s not get crazy. They’re playing with new players against an elite Eastern Conference team.
Understand that there are holes but it won’t be this bad all year.
That said I love how many people “want to love the Knicks again.”
When: 7:30 P.M.
Where: Madison Square Garden
Watch: MSG
Starting Lineups:
Cavs (10-3)
PG: Luke Mo Williams
SG- Delonte West
SF- LeBron James
PF- Ben Wallace
C- Z Illgauskas
Rest of rotation: Daniel Gibson, Wally Szczerbiak, JJ Hickson, Anderson Varejao
Knicks (7-6)
PG: Chris Duhon
SG: Nate Robinson
PF: Wilson Chandler
Rest of Rotation: David Lee, Anthony Roberson, Malik Rose
Injuries:
Cavs: DOUBTFUL: Darnell Jackson
Knicks: OUT: Eddy Curry, Danilo Gallinari (back); Jared Jeffries (leg), Cuttino Mobley?
What to Watch For:
Welcome home LeBron? Who knows, maybe. Look for the Garden’s reaction to LeBron he is introduced. My guess, the loudest ovation for any visiting player this year. Let’s see if Q can hold him under 40 points this game. I am very curious to see how Chandler defends LeBron at various points in the game.
I am also curious to see the point guard match up tonight between Duhon and Williams. I would love to see Duhon stifle LeBron’s new running mate. Also, look to see how Al Harrington fairs in his first game for his dream team.
But in all fairness to the King, this game is all about LeBron. I would love for the Knicks to beat LeBron in front of a roaring crowd. Show LeBron that the Knicks are no longer the doormat for the league.
Update- Mobley will be in uniform but probably won’t play.
**************
Frank Isola is reporting that both Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas have passed their physcials thus completing the trade with the Clippers.
We reported the pair practiced with the team and that the okay would follow, and Donnie Walsh did in fact follow through in sending Zach Randolph’s deal to the Clippers.
They will all be in the lineup in what plans to be a very exciting night at the Garden.
Multiple sources have informed me that at no point in any discussions with the Nets did the Warriors ask for Sean Williams
in a trade.
The deal that was on the table was that the Warriors offered guard Marco Belinelli, who has fallen out of favor with Don Nelson and hasn’t seen the light of day, in exchanged for Josh Boone straight up.
The Nets declined.
Boone has increased his value, despite enduring questions about his heart health earlier in the season, by averaging 8 points and 7.4 rebounds through his first 9 games.
Williams has fallen out of favor with Lawrence Frank as he is just averaging 13.5 minutes per game in mop up duty.
Belinelli is averaging 3 points in just 7 minutes per game, and his minutes don’t figure to increase with Jamal Crawford now on board.
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