Tough to focus too much on the horrid decision to pass and the air ball, especially when Jerome Jordan is the screener, but what you notice most is a quick trigger before reading  the screen and obviously the inability to get in the paint.

Defenders are allowing him to shoot and as long as they give him that room, he doesn’t have the ability to improve on the pick and roll.

That said, I still believe Douglas will recover his jumper and his confidence will return. I expect him to be a big part of the team over the next few months, but if he’s not in the plans moving forward you have to look to try and score a draft pick even it it’s in the second round of this draft.

Between the Knicks early season struggles and Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony both sidelined, ticket prices for Friday’s game vs. the Lakers took a major hit. The average price for the game fell from $544 in mid-January down to $400 on Tuesday, a drop of over 25%.

That all changed when Jeremy Lin burst onto the scene and Linsanity took over The Garden this week. After three great games by the Harvard grad–and three straight Knicks wins–prices have begun to climb, rising 27% since Tuesday from $407 to $517 (as of 2:45 PM today).

If you’d like to be there on Friday and take part in the next chapter of Linsanity, click here. And for the cheapest ticket available, a $135 seat in sec 417, click here.

Lin is actually shooting 54% from midrange.

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Dan L

Lin has made 6 shots outside of 10 feet in the last 3 games. His form isn’t perfect, but I think he’ll improve his distance shooting when the game slows down for him. He’s admitted he’s had to slow his own game down, but he’s still getting used to NBA pace. It’s a different speed.

All-Access with the Roadrunners from CollegeInsider.com on Vimeo.

Man, Brooks Thompson is a name from the past. He finished with the Knicks in 1998..

Thanks Tad Hathaway for the flashback.

Seriously.

The Jeremy Lin story is an amazing one. There’s a reason he’s had success in summer league and in this system and that is space on the offensive end. Think about it, he’s shooting .091 (1-11) from behind the arc this year yet still has the ability to create at will. Teams will adjust to that but getting under screens and thus nullifying pick and roll situations. Once this happens the ball has to move with no defensive reaction or dribble drive reaction and that leaves a shot clock running down in the hands of either Melo or Stat.

We’ve talked about what this team can be in terms of what we’ve seen around the league. Are they the Hornets during the CP3/Chandler Era? The Mavericks of last year? Or the old Suns. Right now with Lin at the PG they are typical old-school D’Antoni ball, but that has to change to fit the stars.

Unless Lin can prove he can knock down jump shots the Knicks will need the balance of D’Antoni’s continuity offense with isolation sets. The Celtics do it with Rondo, who can’t shoot either, Garnett, Allen and Pierce as they let Rondo read the possession then as as clock runs down they get others touches late. They also run plays for Allen, a type of player that they don’t have, but Fields can create mismatches at the 2. Amar’e has to continue to develop KG’s 18-foot jump shooting ability along with his natural pick and roll game.

But, before we get to the future we should enjoy the present and all fans are. Seems like the whole basketball world is. That said, we have to talk about how Melo and Amar’e will fit together, which is still the biggest question mark, Lin or not.

Jared Jeffries has done an outstanding job, not decent, not good, OUTSTANDING job as the pick and roll big along side Tyson Chandler. We know that Amar’e will be injected into that position. Can he be the dive pick and roll player? Yes, because we’ve seen it for years, but he also has to stretch the defense to the mid range a la KG. More simply put, Amar’e can and has to be KG from 4 years ago which is a tall ask, but if can be a poor man’s version offensively then that’s fine too. He can be a big, jump shot end of shot clock making big man as the defense tightens in bigger games in addition to being the explosive catch and finish man off of rolls.

So it would seem that Amar’e will be a fit, which leaves us with Melo, who has to assume the Paul Pierce roll in all of this. Pierce knows when his touches are coming and he learned this very quickly with Rondo in Rondo’s rookie year. Credit Rondo for this, but also Pierce as well. Pierce has learned to CLOSE possessions not DOMINATE them. That’s a Hall of Fame and champion quality.

That takes selflessness.

There was a time where Pierce was selfish and the Celtics were terrible. That has changed because he has changed and because Rondo has made him change. If Melo can read Lin, find space and get to his spot with time on the clock then it will work. If Mike D’Antoni can throw Melo a few bones by isolating him on a few occasions then there can be a balance. My thing is that Doc Rivers has the ability to balance his offense and D’Antoni has struggled to because the system is so point guard heavy.

Again, if D’Antoni can make it work then the team will have success and maybe the make a massive playoff push. If Melo isn’t happy then there will be a coaching change with a man with a zillion rings waiting in the wings. But in the end when Melo and Amar’e return they have to look to the Celtics offensive model to ensure proper balance, which as we’ve seen, is always the key to success.

RONDO PICK AND ROLL
PAUL PIERCE POST UPS
KG SPOT UP JUMPERS
ALLEN SPOT UP JUMPERS 

“I can guarantee there’s no rookie better defensively. That’s half the game. The other half he played well after being put in a spot where he had to be the point guard. And he’s not naturally a point guard. His best position is 2 and he can play 3. I’m shocked. That’s wild.”

Mike D’Antoni on Shumpert’s slight.

Shumpert is far better defensively guarding 2s and 3s and since Lin has been part of the rotation Shump hasn’t had to guard the ball as much and that’s a real positive. And yes he definitely should have been part of the game considering his athleticism he’d have had 5 or 6 sick dunks.

AKA building camaraderie.

Thanks Notebook Number Four…

BOX SCORE

The amazing thing is that this night, in terms of a recap, is pretty much exactly like the two others previous.

Jeremy Lin, who took a shot to his jaw early in the contest, continues to impress and the Knicks continue to create enough space offensively that allows for so many easy baskets.

Lin, who finished with a double-double, had Landry Fields on a string all night. After struggling in the first quarter the Knicks had a monster 2nd quarter netting 35 points and really took control of the game until a Wizards third quarter run made things interesting.

But Lin put the team on his back and finished with 23 points and 10 assists leading the Knicks to their 3rd straight win.

After the game Lin told Tina Cervasio that he plays by instinct, and Knicks fans hope that continues.

Where: DC

Network: MSG/NBA-TV

Knicks (10-15)

PG: Jeremy Lin

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Bill Walker

PF: Jared Jeffries

C: Tyson Chandler

Bench: Douglas, Walker, Novak, Balkman

Wizards (5-20)

PG: Wall

SG: Young

SF: Singleton

PF: Booker

C: McGee

Can the Knicks make it 3 in a row?