Category Archives: Xs and Os
Finally the coach of the Knicks asked a question that all Knick fans are asking themselves today:
“How do you close out a game against a great team?”
Everybody in the place knew he meant a playoff game. Knick fans are long past caring that Stoudemire almost made a shot to beat the Celtics in New York in December.
“We gotta act like we know what we’re doing,” D’Antoni said.
The Knicks found out a lot about themselves on Sunday night, and showed they still know as little as ever about being finishers against Boston. The New Orleans Hornets, even without David West, were able to go into Los Angeles and beat the Lakers when nobody gave the Hornets a chance. The Grizzlies won the first playoff game in franchise history in San Antonio against the Spurs, even though that one has a bullet next to it because Manu Ginobili didn’t play.
Both of those teams showed they could win a close game against a championship team on the road. The Knicks came close. Still let one get away. The coach, a good guy, spent a lot of time Monday talking about his team’s chance to win in the last seconds, the 3-pointer that Anthony took and missed from too far away when a 2-point basket puts the Knicks into overtime.
Billups aside, D’Antoni, Stoudemire and Anthony all have playoff experience. Those who watched the Nuggets the other night saw a team that couldn’t close either as they faced a closer in Kevin Durant, who somehow gets treated like a King while Melo is frowned upon as the court jester by officials. Last time I checked, Melo had at least won a few playoff series.
You close out a “great” team by overcoming whistles and winning on the road despite officials. Period.
The bottom line is they have to make shots, which is why I go back to Amar’e's charge call negating a Douglas 3. You can’t miss FTs either and Amar’e and Melo both missed them in the 4th quarter. You have to take advantage of EVERY point and you have to execute in every possession and secure rebounds on the defensive end to negate possessions.
Great question and a great read from The Lip.
James Hauser is a friend who played his high school ball at Archbishop Molloy under Coach Curran. He now coaches up in the Boston area. He sent me this hyper-analysis that he’s learned over the years and used it for last night’s game. I’m hoping he will continue do these for each game…
“Execution in the fourth quarter was the difference in yesterday’s Game 1 matchup between the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics. What you will read here is a different kind of summary. I will take you through the fourth quarter of the game possession by possession. The data for this summary is not recorded from watching film. The data is recorded via a shorthand technique which records every pass, dribble, shot, rebound, foul – mostly everything that happens with the ball. This shorthand produces a score sheet which is essentially a play-by-play transcript of the game. It is extremely time consuming, but as a dedicated basketball coach and student of the game it has taught me critical thinking skills that allow me to analyze the ebb and flow of any game at any level, and more importantly which players are producing at the most important moments of the game. You will not be reading the shorthand, but rather its translation into terms everyone can understand.
As you go through this summary you should know there were 96 possessions in the first half and 98 possessions in the second half – for a total of 194 possessions in the entire game. I would bet that the average basketball fan would not know there are this many possessions in a game. In the fourth quarter there were 47 total possessions. The Celtics had 25 possessions and the Knicks had 22. When a team grabs an offensive rebound or when the ball is knocked out of bounds it is recorded that a new possession begins. The Celtics +3 margin in possessions will become evident when you see their pursuit of offensive rebounds and the Knicks continuous failure to complete the defensive possession with a block out and rebound. We start at #50 which is the fiftieth play of the second half, THE FIRST PLAY OF THE FOURTH QUARTER.
Here’s how to read the transcript, Play # of the second half), the team who has possession (BOS for Celtics or NY for Knicks), the result of the possession, the in parenthesis () the player involved in the action, and lastly the score at the end of the possession.
Play #) TEAM – Result of Possession (Player(s) involved) – SCORE AT END OF POSSESSION
50) BOS – Miss 2pt FG (West) – 59
51) NY – Miss 2pt FG *High Post (Amare) – 64
The fourth begins with the Celtics and the Knicks both missing jump shots.
52) BOS – 3pt FG (Allen) **Double Screen – Corner 3) – 62
53) NY – Miss 3pt FG (Douglas) – 64
54) NY – Offense Rebound (Jeffries) Turnover (Walker – traveling) – 64
55) BOS – Miss 3pt FG (Allen) Knocked OB NY ball – 62
56) NY – Draws foul 0/2 FT (Amare) – 64 (more…)
Officiating aside Rivers clearly out managed D’Antoni down the stretch, which was expected. I felt like D’Antoni managed the time outs well, stifling Celtics momentum throughout the game. But you obviously have to have one saved for the last possession. I thought the defensive effort for the Knicks was absolutely tremendous all game, except for several key situations that the Celtics exploited.
To me, again, the biggest play was the charge call on Amar’e late in the game that negated a Toney Douglas 3 and would have stretched the lead to 7. A charge is a “player control” call, and Amar’e was in plenty of control. Either way, the Celts play calling down the stretch was huge in getting key baskets and I agree 100% with Sebastian in that coaches earn their money down the stretch out of timeouts in critical situations.
This is a beautiful play because 99 times out of 100 the in bounds pass will go to the player moving away from the basket and the top of the key. Jared Jeffries expects it and doesn’t use his length to destract Pierce who has a wide open look to KG. The defender can’t switch off Allen because he’s a shooter.
A great play and a great job by a truly great head coach.
With the Final Four now set, it’s time to look at all the prospects who have truly opened some eyes from a scouting perspective and some of those who could probably use more seasoning. While there are still several months before the draft, in addition to several key camps and pre-draft workouts, scouts were paying particular attention to players’ performances during the pressure cooker that is March Madness.
Read my scouting take on Hoopsworld…
As we said, the Knicks automatically switch on seemingly every pick and roll. Here is an example of a high-octane team, the Mavericks, buckling down defensively against the Suns.
To me it’s two-fold, first great show by Chandler allowing Terry, not the world’s greatest defender, to get over and stay with Nash. Also, a great help by Kidd on Chandler’s man, the screener rolling to the basket.
As always the great NBA Playbook was spot on catching this play during last night’s key home victory. While Melo does get “sucked into the paint” leaving his man wide open in the corner (TKB favorite Ryan Anderson) he had the right idea. The Knicks are a terrible transition defensive team and here’s why. Again, the switch on every screen. Screens in transition are effective, but notice the Knicks did do a great job of getting back on this possession and Billups did a pretty good job of stopping the ball at the elbow. Then he and Douglas switched. Stoudemire, who took the shot on the offensive end, sprinted back to the paint and was there to hedge on the ball screen set by Bass. Douglas should have stayed on Turkoglu and everyone else should have stayed with their men in help position one pass away. Because Amar’e switched out, all hell broke loose and the Knicks had to help off the dribble.
Turkoglu missed Anderson wide open in the corner, which is generally always open because the Knicks, in this case, don’t consider it one pass away because it’s deep on the weak side and the ball is attacking the basket on the strong side. But the idea, especially with new players defensively, is that if you switch that much it takes immense communication, which takes time to develop as a team.
Or, you just don’t switch unless it’s the ONLY option.
Magic: Good shooting percentages throughout the game — 48.7 percent from field, 48.0 percent from three-point range and 89.3 percent from the line.. 12 offensive rebounds, led by Dwight Howard’s four… 14 turnovers, led by Howard’s five… Brandon Bass had 15 points and seven rebounds, including 9-of-9 from the line… Hedo Turkoglu had 16 points and 11 rebounds, as well as four assists … Howard had 33 points and 11 rebounds, along with three blocks — 11-of-15 shooting and 11-of-13 from line… Jameer Nelson scored 19 points, including 4-of-6 from downtown… 95 points from starters.
Knicks: Only shot 40.5% from the field…impressive 12-of-28 (42.9%) from three…11 offensive rebounds, led by Amar’e Stoudemire‘s four… Carmelo Anthony had 24 points and nine assists; shot 10-of-11 from the line… Stoudemire struggled with 6-of-20 shooting… Knicks’ starting guards combined for 7-for-19 shooting… Toney Douglas scored 17 points off the bench. More.
Obviously, near 50% from both the behind the arc and the field is a terrible recipe. Sounds like Nelson may be out, but will have more as the game approaches. Can the Knicks make the proper adjustments to get a critical home victory?
D’Antoni has all but scrapped the thing that got him the job in New York: the high-scoring offensive system that star players are supposed to love. The pick-and-roll is almost nonexistent. Even when it is run, the play generally is just a means of creating movement more than an open shot. “Seven Seconds or Less” officially has declined into “Several Seconds of Mess.”
But there is confidence among the team that offense won’t be an issue. D’Antoni is working directly with Billups on that end and also is taking input from Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire.
Perhaps too much input. There comes a point when you have to set a standard and demand execution.
Obviously, there should be a balance on both parties, but Hahn makes a great point that D’Antoni should at least stay true to what got him here. I don’t agree in the sense that an offensive innovator should be able to make the talent work and he should lean on his point guard to dictate tempo and offensive sets. That said, it makes for a tough situation when the coach is appeasing his players instead of leading them his way.
No, I don’t mean posting blog posts several times.
Does anyone ever remember Al Buckets posting up at the elbow? This is what we mean when we say Melo is the best mid-post and mid-range player in the game. Here, Carmelo probably decides to hang onto the ball much longer, but Melo does do a great job of passing out of a double. If he does, D’Antoni would love for him to spread to the corner, if he doesn’t get the ball back, like Harrington does below.
There is a craft to the mid range game, especially the post. It causes doubles, yet the idea has been one that the Knicks have had a hard time fitting in with the idea of space. But it does have plenty to do with a quick decision and ball movement. The key to the play? Nene, who seals his man opposite block. Can Amar’e do that, or do they need a real center? If so, where does Amar’e go? I think Amar’e can be the player to seal opposing bigs. He needs to improve his post offense.
A prime example of how the Knicks have to integrate both Mike D’Antoni’s concept and Melo’s. Yes, playing the role of Anthony in Denver’s offense was TKB favorite Harrington.
Keys to Beating the Magic
1) Get back: The new-look Magic throws long sideline passes.
2) Run with Howard: He is most dangerous sealing in early postups.
3) Solid closeouts: Have to know who is a three-point shooter and who is not.
4) Find the weakside: Orlando’s defense tends to get heavy on the ballside.
5) Attack the interior: Can’t get in a jumpshot game with them. Go to hole.
6) Make Howard move: If he is allowed to camp out, it’s tough to get to the rim.
I like #3 the best. The Knicks are often inept at what I call rapid close outs. Meaning, making a player feel the contesting defender after they’ve decided to pull the trigger. Far too many open looks. The Magic will kill you in that manner.
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