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Follow Tommy, in game, on Twitter
This game, for me, is a very intriguing one. The Pistons are sputtering having lost 7 games in a row.
But the Knicks have a way to bring out the best in the worst teams, and if they are serious about making the playoffs, a road win against a struggling team will go a long way in making fans feel that this is possible.
The Pistons, who jumped on their cap space this summer, aggressively spent on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, and the latter has been miserable over his last 4 averaging just a shade over 4 ppg.
The Pistons benefitted from a great system that culminated with a championship under Larry Brown. Now they are a roster that is, it would seem, clogged with bad contracts. But the team does have great talent and are really one game away from going on a run. The Knicks need to understand that they can’t let the Pistons get into a rhythm, or else it will be a miserable night in Mo Town.
Listen to Rice Balls chat with Natalie Sitto of need4sheed.com last night on TKB Radio.
[...] … The Knicks opened the season just 3-14 … Danilo Gillinari does Beyonce [vid] … The Knicks Blog preview … Al Harrington is leading the league in bench scoring at 18.7 … realistic Pistons [...]
I can see this being a blowout. Pistons record is misleading as they have been rattled by injuries. They’re not great and have their holes, but certainly more talented than the Knicks roster. After an extensive hiatus, Hamilton, Gordon and Prince didn’t really find their rhythm against an improving Toronto team, but I see that changing. They also have promising rookies in Jerebko and Daye as well as 2 talented, yet enigmatically inconsistent PGs that are capable of putting up big points. The Pistons have a lot of offensive threats with decent wing defenders in Prince and Hamilton.
Luckily for the Knicks the Pistons don’t have the interior offense to go against the Knicks lack of interior defense. If Wallace gets in foul trouble maybe the Knicks can capitalize and get some high percenage shots. We need big games from Lee and Duhon (long shot)
94-80 Pistons. Hope I’m wrong.
Alot of the times the most talented team doesn’t win.
Those times accounts for 99% of Knicks victories and those don’t come all that often.
I meant that as a general statement meaning more than the Knicks, even beyond Basketball. Look at most sports.
most times the more talented team actually does win, you’re not getting anyone too excited with that arguement
Piston’s losing streak has been without many of their key players. I too have a bad feeling about this game and hope I’m wrong.
Gotta cut Villanueva some slack for his recent play. He’s dealing with planter faciitis which is very painful (talking from personal experience).
Nate Robinson Tweeted that he’s got a feeling he’ll be on the court soon…trade?
Enjoy the game!
Thanks for the CV update, it’s nice to hear from the other side on gameday.
Surely, we have the best coach in D’Antoni and that should provide the difference!
I see a masterful 7 man rotation since we have 3 games in row starting tonite. Don’t wanna burn out the bench! Otherwise, It’s hard staying awake watching the titantic!
We have two games in a row and we have new years eve off. December has 31 days, if the 7 man rotation has people talking about the knicks in a non-negative way, which they have this december, then let it roll
Huge game tonight. If the Knicks don’t win, then it is time for Dantoni to mix up the rotation again in my opinion. Id like to see Nate or Douglas instead of Hughes tonight, and as always, I hope to see Hill instead of Bender. One can hope right?
If so, Do ya want to see Big ball or small ball?
X, I just wanna see winning ball. Don’t care if its small or big haha. Ideally we could just develop our young guys a little, but you know how it is. We need to play our allstar hof players like Duhon, Jeffries, Hughes, and Bender. They are all just so amazing. Haha.
lol, I hear ya. In continuing his 1 year development program, I predict that Kwame Brown will have a strong double double tonite. 10+ minutes on the court and 32+ minutes on the bench! I’m really going out on a limb on this one but I do like risks!
That’s 15 year Dev progam! I guess ya heard my dog was fired huh?
” Id like to see Nate or Douglas instead of Hughes tonight,”
There are 96 minutes to be had in the backcourt.
_’antoni has been playing 1 guard in Duhon, Hughes had been hurt he’s been playing about 15-18 since coming back Douglas was playing about 6 mins before the DNP-CD’s started piling up for him.
My point is, there are plenty of minutes to be had, it doesn’t have to be a choice between Hughes and Douglas. Only in _’antoni’s world.
Hughes will probably have to shut it down again soon, I think he is still hurting. He hasn’t looked like the same player since coming back (he didn’t look good shortly before going out, he probably was already playing hurt) Duhon will either get injured or play ineffectively and in pain for the rest of the season.
Hopefully there’s a new episode of The Mike D’antoni show airing tonight. Who can ever get tired of “the greatest coach in the world” reducing the key to winning and losing games to “hitting shots”.
I hate this coach.
Your last paragrah about reducing our coach reducing the key to deducing the key to winning and losing games to “hitting shots” is PRICELESS and SO ON PT!
But why u hate the coach! Hater!
The problem remains that Duhon is the only actual pg on the team. I have for the last 2 years hoped that DW could acquire another pg, and he has failed in that regard. That is why I don’t count Duhon’s minutes in their. It comes down to Hughes and I guess Chandler then, and as I have already made clear I am not in favor of taking any of Gallo or Chandler’s minutes since I want the young guys who will be here next year to play. I have been saying forever that Nate should be able to play a little pg, but unfortunately he has not shown that ability in the past few years. Hopefully he will get another chance this year(doubtful) with us and try and change his game a little.
Chandler is not a guard.
I’d like to see more toney douglas at point, but I’d rather have chandler play shooting guard than nate. He’s a better defender than nate at that position. You like defense, right HaS? What is nate anyway, a point guard or a shooting guard? Oh and we have a 6′9″ David Lee at center.
We just don’t have the right type of personal this year. Hopefully next year we will have our players playing their correct positions. It’s part of rebuilding, it sucks, but it’s part of it.
Hill could probably play some Center, couldn’t he?
Hill’s legs aren’t strong enough yet, I guess. Austin Daye looks like he’s built like a tank at 6′11″ and 200 lbs.
What a joke.
I hate this coach.
I don’t see Toney Douglas becoming a point guard in the NBA, I think he’ll be more of a utility player in the Lindsey Hunter mold.
Hill is tweeting from the locker room at half time..
way to keep the young guys involved coach..
this swede can get major minutes as a second round pick but our #8 pick is so involved int he game he found time to check his blackberry..
the coach is a laughingstock.
If that’s true about Hill tweeting from the locker room at half time, that’s just terrible. Don’t they get fined for that? It’s going to take a lot for Hill to win me over as a fan.
Our listed starting shooting guard and center both had good games tonight.
we also won again since this coach made some major changes to the team
I think hate is a bit too strong of a word
Right u r! I’m firing my dog. I have a new opening for fact checker? Spread it around will ya?
Just heard on sports talk “The Rockets put McGrady on a Leave of Absence until they can finalize a trade”. Maybe we’ll get lucky and we can trade our unwanted for their unwanted.
This is my speculation, not a trade rumor I heard.
McGrady for Curry, JJ, Nate, 3 mil and our 2nd rounder from next season.
The 3 mil & 2nd rounder would be a way for Houston to save face for picking up Curry & JJ for 2010. Hope we can keep the 2nd rounder but if they accept its not gonna stop me from making the trade.
You know if this happens DW will buy both a first rounder and second rounder next year.
Houston, I think we have a problem! I also think we might be heading that direction. McGrady would be a believable source to warn Wade, Lebron, Bosh and others about D’Antoni since Stackhouse may be a little suspect.
How does that help us????? Good pt!
A warning?
It’s all about dumping salary.
McGrady’s not gonna get any play either.
And he shouldn’t, he’s a shell of what he used to be.
He’s never made the second round of the playoffs, his team did last year without him.
You really think his word carries any weight in the league?
Maybe about as much as Marbury’s.
lol, Yeah his words does but his play and team’s results doesn’t. I never cared for McGrady’s game because he relies to much on the perimeter when he had the skills to stay on the foul like. McGrady is Vince Carter lite or equal!
But even as a shell, McGrady is till better than 98% of the Knicks team!
Completely agree with you with everything except for;
“But even as a shell, McGrady is till better than 98% of the Knicks team!”
98% of 15 roster players would mean we have 0.3 players better than McGrady.
And RIGHT NOW I would rather have;
Danillo
Lee
Wil
Al
Larry
Duhon (He sucks but doesn’t complain and plays hard)
Mobley (Knicks are getting paid for him, insurance)
True but I didn’t want to say 100% since I have a 2% error margin! lol Besides I fired my dog so I’m doing the math myself!
At this pt, Tracy McGrady is still better than all those you mentioned (providing he can stand up straight)
“(providing he can stand up straight)”
That’s the problem, he can’t anymore.
But I’d put him on the end of the bench behind Darco to dump EC’s & JJ’s salaries.
Houston is not taking jeffries AND curry for tmac lol
They will certainly get offers around the league which will be better than the rockets taking over $35 million in salary over the next two years (with an $18 million cap hit for the summer of 2010 btw) soley to rid themselves of tmac’s $23 million expiring contract. Not to mention that the players they are taking (other than nate, who they may not be able to resign anyway) stink.
You would need more than nate, $3 million cash and a 2nd round draft pick to convince them to do that.
Don Corleone would be the only gm that could convince houston to take that deal
I completely agree and I was just dreaming.
A man can dream, can’t he?
As I stated before “This is my speculation, not a trade rumor I heard.”
And we can’t offer more than 3 mil, and I wouldn’t want to tie up any other draft picks if I don’t have to after this coming year.
The Knicks draft picks next year will be there FA signings.
lol yeah, I suppose that I’m a dreamer too. I think we may actually make the playoffs this year.
In Dantoni We Trust!!!!
And Donnie!
lmao! Enjoy the game! I gotta go get my popcorn and bottle of pepto bismol ready for the game. Cherry popcorn is in!
I just want to say something about the Pistons. It’s amazing how one mistake in the draft can effect you for years and years. We all know that mistake was Milicic.
This basically set their ability to be a contender back 5 years. Signing those free against and trading Billups made things worse not better. Forget about Detroit ever being a powerhouse again unless they completely rebuild from the ground up.
Now look at what Isiah did here. He set us back 10-12 years. I have to say Walsh has done a great job cutting those years down but still not enough. We are 5 years away from being a powerhouse. That’s 4 #1 lottery type picks. I think we already messed up with 2 lottery picks. Gallo and Hill are not star players, not yet. Can they be….we will find out within this time frame. If they turn out to be great players, add on some other #1 picks and we can do something but again not for a few years.
I just cannot see how signing a superstar and a lesser player will make us a winner. We do not have enough on this roster even if we did add Lebron. Unless we rid ourself of Curry and JJ so we can sign 2 max player we aren’t going anywhere.
So that’s it, we need 2 max players and some money left over for a pair of point guards, one to start, one to backup. Add Chandler, Gallo, Hill and Douglas and maybe we have a good team but not a championship one.
Now if we had drafted Lopez and Jennings, then added Lebron and Joe Johnson and some how found a way to still sign DLee we would have a true championship caliber team. A true PG, a BIG SG, A superstar, A true center and a very good power forward, all very young players with upside to get better. Now that’s a championship team, we can fill out the roster with minimum salary veterans to fill in. We would be young enough to keep drafting players and win championships for about 5 years before we had to rebuild. We would after this season have a true 5 year window for championships.
Right now no matter what we do we do not have that window. I think Walsh did some good things clearing players and getting cap room but blew it in the draft.
I agree with Circlelimit.
Stuckey and Gordon will be too much for Chris Duhon and Larry Hughes – once again Hughes will be the key. If he plays good D and makes plays on the other end of the court then we might win this game.
Gallinari will have to be more confident on the road too.
My money’s on the Pistons – I hope that I’m wrong though.
AL Trautwig is the worst I know everyone agrees on that
Agreed. I’m listening to Gus Johnson with the radio call…
Prince on Gallo – now that’s a compliment.
did he sing” lil red corvette”?
knicks winning this 1 easy
if they play nate hill an curry..
I think Austin Daye is the only guy Jeffries has ever outmuscled on a rebound.
His legs are stronger than Hill’s though.
what was the company line about big men need more time to develop?
apparently not in Detroit.
Hey, according to _’antoni, we have to make sure that Duhon, Lee, Harrington and Hughes are able to find jobs and feed their families next year.
Knicks have a logjam upfront, Pistons have the exact opposite.
Yup, can’t think of a better reason to draft a PF in the lottery with the 8th pick.
Well the only PF we have under contract past this year is Jeffries who we’re trying to unload at any cost. The Knicks (and a lot of analysts) thought Hill was the best player available. Obviously they were wrong.
I’m glad D’antoni has heard our cries for more Douglas
has he gotten 5 minutes?
lee will be an allstar
an they need to trade him for the rite price..
Some ugly 3 attempts tonight – and I’m not just talking about Jefferies’ attempt
Jordan Hill tweeting at half time… wonderful.. way to go coach
RT @The_Illest: @jordanchill43 They don’t make snuggies your size loser…yes dey do…I saw it
5 minutes ago from UberTwitter
jordanchill43
Jordan Hill
Haha you’re blaming D’antoni for Hill? channeling his inner Villanueva? Come onnnnn. D’antoni isn’t there to babysit and half time isn’t for 12 minute pep talks.
i blame the coaching staff that their prized rookie 8th overall pick is so involved in the game that he finds time to check twitter at half time..
yes thats right.
I understand being upset with D’antoni for not getting Hill involved, but using a tweet as a premise for your argument is utterly nonsensical. Hill is a big boy, he should know the rules about twittering during games and knows his head should be in the game even if he’s not in it. Again D’antoni isn’t a babysitter.
picture the coaching staff fenticly going over the first half and reviewing what went right/wrong in the 12 or so minutes they have..
then picture the rookie at his locker checking his blackberry..
there are what? 12 players dressed and maybe 4 coaches?
The coach isnt a baby sitter but he sets the standards..I bet no one is tweeting in San Antonio’s locker room.
Maybe we need to hav a babysitter on staff..
Or maybe picture Hill heading to the bathroom to drop a deuce and whips out his blackberry. Shame on D’antoni not being there with a roll of Charmin to wipe his ass.
he can leave the bench anytime he wants to take a dump.. His number aint getting called..
But the 6-10 Swede can get plenty of burn.. I guess 22 year old big men in Sweden develop their legs a lot sooner..
Again, nothing to do with a mid-game tweet.
so you are OK with it?
Im sure the league has something to say about it.. as far as i know it is not allowed.
Lord knows the coach wont do anything about it..
Of course were it Nate or Curry they’d be sent home..
Ok with what? The tweet or Hill riding the pine? I’m not ok with either of it.
The difference is that D’antoni is responsible for Hill sitting on the bench. D’antoni is NOT responsible for Hill tweeting, much to your obvious dismay.
Who is responsible for the lack of sicipline in the locker room?
a locker room with 12 players and 4 coaches.. this is not some NFL locker room with 53 players suited up..
A rookie that lacks discipline, you never see that! Fire D’antweeti!
You have no idea what was happening during that tweet. Your outrage is, well, outrageous.
graspin at straws
who else do we blame that he has splinters in his ass and is clearly disinterested in the game of basketball.
I blam the organization for not sending him to the D-League if he isn’t going to play.
Ummm how about Hill?
Nah, he’s just trying to find an appropriately sized “Snuggie” to keep those young and weak legs warm while he develops into Amar’e for next year.
D’antoni is to blame that Hill isnt playing,but Hill is professional basketball player now.Its up to him not to tweet.What,D’antoni is supposed to give him minutes ,just to stop him from going on twitter?
Great halftime interview between Rich Mahorn and John Andraise. Talking about basketball fundamentals and how a lot of ball players overdo athleticism and don’t work hard on the fundamentals. Mahorn said Laimbeer couldn’t jump over a piece of paper but could consistently shoot the J.
Then Mahorn talked about how you have to put in the work. Cited D. Lee’s work ethic since Lee’s HS days. (His wife’s nephew played with D. Lee in HS). And he referenced how Al Harrington’s parents forced him in the gym on Xmas after his poor performance. It was a very good and passionate interview. He said he would take a coaching job as an assistant or anything because he loves the NBA and believes it’s a great opportunity to teach. I hope he gets the opportunity.
Sometimes it’s good to hear a game on the radio rather than watch it on TV.
These are the games the Knicks HAVE to win. So far they are not playing like the same old Knicks which is encouraging.
LMAO David Lee with the crossover… I mean the turnover.
He must have started reading the blogs about his great All-Star skills offensively.
I don’t understand why teams don’t press the Knicks more after a basket. Duhon couldn’t dribble his way out of a paper bag.
Especially when they are virtually playing one guard for the month of December.
D’antoni is finally wising up a little and playing Douglas
He’ll get his 6-8 mins. That is all.
D’antoni has already played 9 players. Douglas 11 mins. If this blowout continues Douglas could get 15 and maybe we’ll see Hill or even Nate in garbage time.
I hate to be the voice of dissent but I’m actually not that impressed with Douglas. He looked good for a couple of games early in the season but in the spot duty he has been given I’ve just not been impressed. He can’t run the offense and doesn’t set his teamates up in positions for them to be successful. Maybe with more minutes and a regular role he would be better but right now I think D’Antoni may be right that he may not help the team win games.
thats because Douglas isnt a point guard..
it may take the coach a year ors so to figure it out.. he’s a little slow ion the uptake..
Maybe Toney should tweet something.
Yeah I saw your post above. Just inexecusable. Hope Hill gets fined and D”antoni makes him do some extra suicides. Actually, I hope they send him to the D League where he should be anyway.
Neither is Nate or anyone else on the team. D’antoni is giving Duhon rest and giving the rookie some court time.
umm no.. Duhon is in there with 4 and change to go.
Are you really giving D’antoni crap for playing Douglas after all the crap you gave him for not playing Douglas? Please explain.
no.. Duhon played 35 minutes…. probably 12 more than he should have..
you said the coach was giving Duhon a rest to play TD and I said Duhon was still in the game with 4 minutes to go..
Douglas looks like he has not developed at all sitting on the bench next to the Tweeting #8 pick
35mins is too much I agree. He would have played 40+ if Douglas did not play.
D’antoni not taking advantage of garbage time is unacceptable. Playing Douglas IS acceptable.
Nate is a better passer than Toney is, so is pretty much everyone on the team.
Different level of competition but Douglas was passing great in summer league. He’s not a point, but lets not write him off so easily. Also I’d rather our young rookie get the minutes than Nate who has no future with this team.
I look at the Pistons and I really don’t understand what Joe Dumars was thinking. No PG and no interior defense. I understand Charlie V is hurt but its not like he was a defensive force before the injury. They are an over the cap team that could benefit from Jeffries. They have plenty of offense and no role players other than a washed up Wallace.
Of all the players they could have trade why trade Chauncey Billups?
If the Knicks can increase this thing to twenty with five minutes to go and we don’t see Hill, Curry (or Darko), Nate, Douglas, and Landry I’ll seriously consider joining the D’Antoni detractors.
At the very least Hill and Douglas should be playing in garbage time. Curry should also get his fat a$$ some game action during blowouts.
the coach has managed to alienate 20% of the Roster (NAte, Curry, Darko) .. I doubt he will use any of them..
And of course it questionable whether or Not Hill actually has a uniform on under his warm ups.. He’s more intersted in checking his twitter account than learning about the game that pays him a living..
For the record.. The Pistons have looked awful from the tip off.
No wonder they are on a 7 game losing streak.
They were without Gordon, Hamilton and Prince for the first 5 of those losses but they are pitiful. My assessment was wayyy off. They have talent but no inside threat and absolutely no chemistry.
That’s why I thought they wouldn’t make the playoffs back in october – no interior scoring and lack of “continuity” within the roster.
That is true but the Knicks are playing well and shooting the ball well.
The interior defense is still marshmallow soft though, David Lee’s having a great game obviously but he just watched Stuckey jump and shoot in front of him – thank God Stuckey missed but that’s what I call stat-padding. This attitude cost us several games already but 30 and 10 is impressive.
Wilson Chandler postgame interview:
“David Lee set the tempo and we just followed his lead.”
D. Lee is our best player right now.
No doubt about that.
Wilson Chandler’s midrange jumpshot is GOOD, his high-arcing shots are gorgeous
Yeah but I would be seriously ecstactic if he stopped shooting threes. Jeffries too.
Lol now David Lee is shooting threes.
Can’t blame him lol, he played well
Ditto on both comments
Knicks hold another team under 100 pts. I’m actually enjoying watching Knick games again. Jets look like they are heading to the playoffs.
This is usually the part of the dream where I wake up and realize I’m not really married to Eva Mendes.
We’re up by 17 with 2 mins, bring in the garbage men!
This is fricken insanity
How come Hill can’t get a run when your ahead by 17 ?
And why burn out your starting 5?
His legs are still developing.
Have you guys ever thought that maybe Jordan Hill jus plain SUCKS,and thats why he does’nt play?If hes tweeting at half time,maybe in practice hes also acting the ass hole,and thats why he has splinters
Jordan Hill has a twitter?
I guess Scott Skiles is a bad coach to seeing how Charlie V was tweeting during halftime last year.
I thought we already established Toney won’t be the Prototypical PG but he fits in perfectly with what we are trying to do here. Man some people.
GO Knicks!!!
Come on ITZ the rule was implemented this year. Either way your rookies shouldn’t be tweeting during games.
How does Toney fit in as a PG perfectly here? Do you understand the offensive system we are running?
Douglas is a good defender and fills a need there but the team needed a PG. No?
I can’t critiicize the Knicks too much though. Nice win against a team playing at home most here thought they would lose too.
I meant we are trying to get Lebron. So we would need a Point tha can catch and shoot. Toney is one of the best Catch and Shoot guards in the draft.
I didn’t know J Hill had one but I brought up The Charlie V thing to say just because a player is tweeting doesn’t mean the coach doesn’t have control of his locker room. It just means you have a sneaky bastard on your hands.
This win is impressive from a psychological standpoint, they showed that they were mentally tough enough to win this one in Motown (after two tough losses at home).
I think Mike D’Antoni did a good job tonight, the fact that we were hitting shots helped him obviously. David Lee and Wilson Chandler were sensational tonight, Gallinari was hot from downtown (finally) and Al Harrington didn’t try to do too much. Good to see Toney Douglas back into the rotation.
Agreed. Gallo was also very good defensively.
Knicks need to figure out what to do against that full court press. If their opponents watch game tape they will see how much it threw off our offense.
It’s all about “hitting shots”.
That should be the name of _’antoni’s follow up to his book, “Seven Seconds or Less”.
Lee drops 30. No bartnyk comments tonight.
Hmmm.
Did Darko leave for europe already ??