Author Archives: Ben Kopelman

They’re waiting for the second quarter because that’s when most of these “fans” get off the beach and show up.

I hope Woodson can somehow flip this into bulletin board material because Miami should be ashamed of itself…

Via ESPN:

Chicago, Miami and Oklahoma City will open the NBA playoffs Saturday, though their opponents are still to be determined.

Who we play and when we tip will be finalized and announced after games end tonight.

But for anybody going to a wedding on Sunday (see: me), not to worry, Game 1 will be sometime on Saturday.

What does Big Stevie Novak have to do tonight to capture the title of Best 3-Point Shooting Season of All-Time?

According to RealGM, Dale Ellis holds the single-season record – with a minimum of 250 3-pointers attempted – at 47.8% having connected on 162-of-339 three-point attempts during the 1988-89 season.

Heading into tonight’s finale, Novak is at 47.1%, shooting 130-276 from behind the arc. Thinking about it realistically, Novak would have to 4-for-4, 5-for-6, or 6-for-8 from deep tonight against the Bobcats to eclipse Mr. Ellis (though if he went 10-for-14 he would take home the belt too).

Needless to say, it’s doable, but it’ll take a particularly sharp-shooting night from the team’s, and the league’s, top sharpshooter…

We have to really, really lock in. We have to lock in to what we’re trying to accomplish out there. The only way you beat a team is by every possession you accomplish what the coaches see that’s best fit for the game plan. If you make a mistake on one rotation, it can cost you the game. Playoffs are a different ballgame. We have to have a different focus about us.

– Tyson Chandler on his team’s defensive approach come playoff time

Every possession.  Hope everybody on the roster heard that one. Every. Single. Possession.

I’ve said it a few times this year, but it bears repeating: god bless this man. As much as Mike Woodson deserves credit for turning the team around, we wouldn’t be going anywhere without  TC manning the middle.

On the heels of Jeff’s post, let’s see how these Amar’e is integrated back into this team’s new-look offense.

It would mean an awful lot to me. That was one of my goals coming into the season. I felt I put myself right in the thick of things for consideration. I personally feel like I deserve it. It would be a great honor.

– Tyson Chandler talking about potentially being the league’s DPOY

Unless the league wants to rubber-stamp the award to Dwight Howard, TC Hustle has got to be the frontrunner.  With a ring on his finger and Woodson at his side, he’s got this entire team playing defense — and taking some pride in it along the way.

Look at the difference with and without the guy:

	Opp. FG%	Opp 3-PT %	Pts/G	Pts in Paint
2011	.472	.372	105.7	42
2012	.441	.352	94.6	33

At least MDA’s awful defense forced us to go get this guy in the offseason.  Could you IMAGINE if we had Chauncey Billups instead of Tyson??? Scary thought…

Somewhat lost amidst the well-deserved elation after Sunday’s win against Chicago was that the team played without a point guard down the stretch.  Melo replaced Baron Davis with more than 10 minutes left in the game and the supremely confident PG never came back in.

And this point-guard-less, crunch-time lineup is becoming a trend.

During last week’s debacle in Indiana, Landry Fields checked in to replace Baron Davis (who had missed all three of his shots and had no rebounds, assists or steals in the quarter) at the end of the 4th.  During Sunday’s thriller, Steve Novak played alongside Melo and JR Smith, with Baron Davis once again sitting on the bench during the deciding minutes.

Iman Shumpert is great and clearly needs to be on the floor down the stretch for defensive purposes.  I’m not arguing against that.  But Shumpert isn’t a run-plays, pass-first type of player. Sure, he can bring the ball up, but he’s not orchestrating anything the way most PGs are asked to. Rather he is a (necessary and important) piece of the team’s Melo-centric motion offense. Which is all fine and dandy.  Really.  Shump has been everything and then some the last few games and I’m not chiding him one bit.

But he is not a point guard. And the team’s 4th quarter offense against Indy and Chicago (Orlando was a blowout) has been less than ideal: a lot of standing around, a lot of watching Melo, and a lot of guys looking unsure of how to contribute. When Melo does what Melo did Sunday, it’s easy to overlook that. But when he doesn’t, things don’t look particularly smooth.

So who else is out there?

Baron Davis – I’m not Baron’s biggest fan: he’s been serviceable, yes, but he takes straight up BAD shots at inopportune times far too often (his final plays on Sunday were a missed layup, a missed 3, a made 9-footer and another horribly missed 3).  I don’t trust him to run the offense with five minutes left in a tight playoff game.  He’s either sucking wind, or just plan sucking.  Neither version works for me.

Toney Douglas – TD is making some strides back toward respectability, but he looks a bit lost at times, and I’m not at all confident that he can retake the reigns.  Not to mention, his value moving forward is coming off the bench and running the second unit; to all of sudden expect him to mesh with and lead the first-team offense is a bit much to ask.  Not to mention, the guards on this team need to be able to hit 3s considering Melo gets doubled and open men aren’t all that hard to find.  TD is shooting 23% from behind the arc this year.

Mike Bibby – Just kidding…if this guy is within 100 feet of the ball at the end of a big game…good lord, I don’t even know…

So if none of these guys can be counted on when it matters most, we are left watching Melo bring the ball up half the time and Iman (who is often instructed to just feed Melo in the post) the other half. If Shumpert can hit his open jumpers, this setup may continue to flourish.  If not, who knows what will go down.  It worked against the Bulls, but a 7-game series is another beast altogether.

Sigh…I miss Jeremy Lin.

Just saying…

I think they’d be idiotic if they didn’t keep him. The players have really responded to Mike. The [Jeremy] Lin kid responded to the chance he had under Mike, the team’s gone 9-2, and they haven’t had anything remotely close to that performance over 11 games. You’d have to be an absolute idiot not to see all of that. Not that the NBA is without its absolute idiots.

– Bob Knight on his former Indiana player Mike Woodson’s future as the Knicks’ head coach

Tell us how you really feel, Bob.

But let’s discuss: Woodson’s tenure with the Knicks has proven two things: (1) Mike D’Antoni had reeeeaaallly lost control of this team, and a change should have been made even earlier; (2) Mike Woodson is a quality coach and deserves a shot running a team next year.

But whether he should remain at the helm in New York remains unclear.

One part of taking over a talented but wildly-out-of-control under-performing team midway through a season is that you are taking over a team with, well, talent on the roster.  Woodson did not spend the offseason tweaking the roster, projecting how the team would play and what it would need once you got past Amar’e, Melo and Chandler; but he gets to reap the rewards of guys like Novak and Baron Davis for crunch time minutes.

He was also already familiar with the roster and had working relationships with individual players before he was asked to take charge.  As a result, his leap to the front of the bench was pretty smooth.  Not to mention he took over for a team (see: Melo) with a little prove-it-was-all-MDA’s-fault fueled motivation.

But those advantages don’t make him a good defensive coach — he just is a good defensive coach.  Rather than being blown out by the Bucks and the 76ers in the last week because we couldn’t score, we out-played and out-hustled them on the defensive end and came away with ugly, vintage-Knick wins.  Woodson deserves credit for that.

Woodson also brought along his death stare.  You saw it a lot during last night’s 4th quarter meltdown, but you see it even when the team is winning.  In last night’s first half, Woodson scolded Shumpert for back-to-back bad plays (a sloppy pass on one end and then a bad defensive effort on the other) despite the fact that the team was thoroughly outplaying Indiana.  He called him out while he was on the floor, in front of his teammates, and then took him out of the game.  Showing up a rookie —  who, mind you, you need thinking straight and feeling good for crunch-time defense in the playoffs — takes belief that your players are going to respond positively to your disappointment, and not sulk as they did under MDA.  Though the sample size is admittedly small, something about Woodson’s “you have got to be kidding me” ice grill just seems to register with this roster a whole lot more than their former coach’s folded arms and stomped feet.

So Woodson gets a passing grade.  Maybe even an above average mark.  Agreed.  But does that mean he should stay our coach?  Who else is out there?

Target #1: Phil Jackson.  #2: Everybody else…

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