Where: TD Center

Network: ESPN

Knicks (8-14)

PG: Iman Shumpert

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Amar’e Stoudemire

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Douglas, Walker, Jeffries, (hopefully D’Antoni makes adjustments here)

Celtics (11-10)

PG: Rajon Rondo

SG: Ray Allen

SF: Paul Pierce

PF: Kevin Garnett

C: Jermaine O’Neal

Bench: Brandon Bass, Mikael Pietrus, Chris Wilcox, Avery Bradley

As we said on TKB.TV today, Christmas afternoon’s hard-fought win over the Celtics feels like five years ago. Assuredly the Knicks will utilize same defensive gameplan of forcing Rondo to shoot and collapsing into the paint, however, Paul Pierce is in much better playing shape compared to December, and is playing phenomenally over the last couple weeks.

Bottom line, the Celtics make shots (42% from 3 as a team) and always play great fourth quarters, led by Doc’s out of timeout plays, on the flip side, the Knicks have been horrible from outside (31% from 3 as a team). You want to focus on the positives from last night, but if the Knicks don’t get good minutes from their bench on a back-to-back, winning on the road in Boston is a tall order.

Where: Garden

Channel: TNT

Bulls (18-6)

PG: Derrick Rose

SG: Ronnie Brewer

SF: Kyle Korver

PF: Carlos Boozer

C: Joakim Noah

Bench: C.J. Watson, Taj Gibson, Omer Asik, Brian Scalabrine

Knicks (8-13)

PG: Iman Shumpert

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Amar’e Stoudemire

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Toney Douglas, Bill Walker, Jared Jeffries, (maybe Lin or Novak tonight)

TKB’s got a good feeling about tonight’s game. The Bulls are coming off a loss to the Sixers which Rose got to rest much of the fourth quarter for tonight’s game. But, without Deng and Hamilton the Bulls lose a lot of depth and don’t have much firepower aside from Rose, and Korver if left open.

You know, the Chicago native Shumpert will be raring to go against his hometown squad, but if he starts to get crazy look for Bibby or Lin to get minutes to facilitate the offense. The Knicks are coming off a well-played win, have had some days to rest and the Garden should be rocking tonight.

I’d also like to see Novak get some minutes tonight as his defensive shortcomings can be hid guarding Korver.

For those of us watching at home, get ready for some Knick-bashing from Reggie Miller and Weight Watchers Barkley.

Where: Garden

Channel: MSG

Pistons (4-18)

PG: Brandon Knight

SG: Rodney Stuckey

SF: Tayshaun Prince

PF: Greg Monroe

C: Ben Wallace

Bench: Walker Russell, Austin Daye, Damien Wilkins, Jonas Jerebko, Jason Maxiell

Knicks (7-13)

PG: Toney Douglas

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Game-time Decision

PF: Amar’e Stoudemire

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Iman Shumpert, Bill Walker, Jared Jeffries, Mike Bibby, Jeremy Lin, Steve Novak

The second-worst team in the NBA comes limping into the Garden tonight. The Pistons have lost five in a row, nine of their last 10, and are missing three rotation members including Knick killer Ben Gordon. They score the fewest points per game in the NBA at 85.6. Opposing teams shoot 48% against them.

Greg Monroe has developed into an efficient post scorer and Rodney Stuckey has the ability to get hot, but as you can see, as bad as it’s been in New York, it could be worse.

At home, fresh of two off days, with the Bulls and Celtics looming, I shudder to think what would happen if tonight does not end with a win.

Where: Time Warner Arena (fitting, I guess)

Network: MSG

Knicks (6-10)

PG: Iman Shumpert

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Amar’e Stoudemire

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Toney Douglas, Bill Walker, whoever D’Antoni replaces Jorts with

Bobcats (3-14)

PG: Kemba Walker

SG: Gerald Henderson

SF: Derrick Brown

PF: Tyrus Thomas

C: Byron Mullens

Bench: D.J. White, Boris Diaw, Eduardo Najera, Matt Carroll, Bismack Biyombo, Cory Higgins

Two days off in this schedule is a very welcome respite, especially for the Knicks. You hope that the practice time has given them an opportunity to watch film, see what has worked, and make sure to utilize their strengths every possession.

In looking at what the Bobcats are doing, it’s amazing that we’re even thinking that this could be another L, but that’s the situation the Knicks have put themselves in. The Bobcats are missing two of their top scorers (Augustin & Maggette), but for whatever reason, Boris Diaw is a near triple-double waiting to happen against the Knicks.

There were a lot of positives on offense in the Denver game, and unfortunately, they went away from most of them in the overtime period. But, the best way to end a losing streak is to focus on what’s working. The players and coaches have all been saying the right things in their interviews, now they have to go out and do it.

Where: Garden

Channel: MSG

Denver (11-5)

PG: Ty Lawson

SG: Arron Afflalo

SF: Danilo Gallinari

PF: Nene

C: Timofey Mozgov

Bench: Andre Miller, Al Harrington, Kosta Koufos, Birdman, Corey Brewer

Knicks (6-9)

PG: Iman Shumpert

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Amar’e Stoudemire

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Toney Douglas, Bill Walker, Jared Jeffries, Jorts, Mike Bibby

A week and a half ago, this was a game you circled on the calendar and were excited to watch. After the way the Knicks have played recently, it’s hard to get excited, or think they have any realistic chance to win.

To make matters even more bleak, the Nuggets are firing on all cylinders and are 10-2 in their last 12 games.

I would like to give X’s and O’s perspective, but honestly, it’s just beating a dead horse. Please run the P&R on offense, and don’t switch yourself into mismatches on defense.

There will be a lot of motivated players tonight looking to get back at their old teams and you hope that will play itself out into a great Saturday night at the Garden and finally an end to the losing streak.

Show some pride, get back to basics, and get a W.

Brutal loss. More importantly, the “patience” period is quickly coming to an end. That was 48 minutes of a great effort by the Knicks, but it’s cause they HAVE to. What they were “playing” was not basketball. They have to work so hard to get baskets in iso situations and work even harder to get stops on the defensive end in self-created mismatches. You can’t switch on every screen. It makes absolutely no sense with this personnel.

You also cannot have possessions with players not knowing what to do or where to go. There is no cohesion on offense.

Is it bad coaching? Maybe, if you want to go that route. To me, it is becoming a coach in an impossible contract situation not adjusting to his personnel, and it’s not fair to either party to let them continue trying to force a round peg in a square hole.

Where: Garden

Channel: MSG (Or Time Warner customers search Twitter for free streaming links)

Suns (4-9)

PG: Steve Nash

SG: Jared Dudley

SF: Grant Hill

PF: Channing Frye

C: Marcin Gortat

Bench: Markieff Morris, Shannon Brown, Ronnie Price, Hakim Warrick, Michael Redd, Robin Lopez

Knicks (6-7)

PG: Iman Shumpert

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Amar’e Stoudemire

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Toney Douglas, Jorts, Bill Walker, Mike Bibby

I know we are often criticized in the comments section for being too apologetic for D’Antoni. Personally, I think it’s too easy of a copout to simply place the blame or give the credit to the head coach of professional athletes. However, one consistent criticism of D’Antoni on the site is his inability to adjust to mismatches or foul trouble situations.

Tonight’s matchup provides a perfect example. The Suns have Channing Frye and Markieff Morris split minutes at the “stretch 4″ a position that Amar’e has had trouble defending (see Ryan Anderson). Now, the majority of the Suns half-court sets begin with a Nash/Gortat pick-and-roll with Dudley and Frye/Morris ready to catch and shoot from the opposite side. This brings Amar’e away from the basket where he appears to be uncomfortable defensively. So, you assume Frye and Morris should continue the trend of shooting bigs who kill the Knicks. The hope is that Shumpert and Chandler’s length can neutralize Nash, possibly the best pick-and-roll guard in the league.

On the flip side though, Morris and Frye are both weak interior defenders. So, ideally you’d like the Knicks to exploit this by feeding Amar’e at the high post to attack the rim while simultaneously keeping Chandler in space so that Gortat isn’t in a good help position. However, all season long, it seems the Knicks either betray a gameplan early on in the game, or simply allow for the offense to find continuity through ball movement.

Simply, let’s hope the Amar’e we all know and love is given an opportunity to flourish in the mismatch he can exploit on the offensive end. You know, coming off a very frustrating game on Monday afternoon, he’s chomping at the bit to take over against his old team.

Apologies for the late recap, although there obviously isn’t any good news to report. You just have to hope two things: 1) Melo is OK long-term and at worst misses a couple of games (I won’t get into the beating he has to take in order to get a foul call) 2) You hope the Knicks don’t get used to the bad habits that you saw last night (lack of ball movement (ahem Iman), and first-quarter malaise).

If there was an encouraging thing, it’s that you hope D’Antoni trusts Balkman and especially to me Novak, with just a handful of minutes a night. I think both can be productive in their own way in small doses.

Another tough road game awaits Saturday night in Oklahoma City. As of now, Melo is questionable.

Where: FedEx Arena

Channel: TNT (Marv, Reggie, Fratello)

Knicks (6-4)

PG: Iman Shumpert

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Amar’e Stoudemire

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Jorts, Douglas, Walker (Anyone else? Bibby? Balkman? Novak?)

Grizzlies (3-6)

PG: Mike Conley

SG: Tony Allen

SF: Rudy Gay

PF: Marreese Speights

C: Marc Gasol

BENCH: Dante Cunningham, O.J. Mayo, Quincy Pondexter, Jeremy Pargo

The Knicks look to ride the momentum of a 4-game winning streak spurred by their DEFENSE of all things. While Memphis is coming in on a 3-game losing streak since the loss of Zach Randolph.

There has been some criticism, unfair IMO, about D’Antoni’s playing time distribution. It’s unfair, because if he trotted out a unit of Douglas, Walker, Novak, Balkman, and Jorts the backseat drivers would be furious. When Jeffries and Davis return, the playing time will be more evenly regulated.

Anyway, the Knicks have an opportunity to play zone tonight against a weak outside-shooting Grizzlies team which should help the legs AND also force Gay and Conley into becoming outside shooters. (See how Clippers beat Miami last night). I’m hopeful that the Knicks mix up their defensive schemes similarly to what they did against the Pistons.

Where: MSG

Channel: MSG (Or TimeWarner customers search Twitter for free streaming links)

76ers (7-2)

PG: Jrue Holiday

SG: Jodie Meeks

SF: Andre Iguodala

PF: Elton Brand

C: Spencer Hawes (game-time decision) OR Nikola Vucevic

BENCH: Louis Williams, Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner, Tony Battie, Andres Nocioni

Knicks (5-4)

PG: Iman Shumpert

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Amar’e Stoudemire

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Toney Douglas, Bill Walker, Josh Harrellson, Mike Bibby, Renaldo Balkman

The Sixers are on the back end of three consecutive nights. Although they were able to rest their starters for the majority of the second half in last night’s blowout win over the Kings. As Tommy stated earlier, a big key to the Sixers’ hot start is simply due to familiarity, they have relied on this core of players for several years and you can see how comfortable they are with each other. Here is a link to a good summary of what the Sixers are doing on the offensive end of the floor.

The Sixers do pose some personnel issues for the Knicks, especially when they play Thaddeus Young at the 4 with Amar’e on the floor, and Andre Iguodala is a tremendous defender who will most likely draw the assignment on Anthony tonight.

However, despite what John Hollinger’s formula tells you, the Sixers are NOT the best team in the NBA, and you hope that tonight’s division rivalry inspires the Knicks to give a full four-quarter effort. We know the importance of ball movement and bench play, but I’d like to see the Knicks establish an identity as a very difficult team to score on in the 4th quarter, a trend we’ve seen in a couple of their wins this season.