Via Michael Lee

After missing Monday night’s 111-108 overtime win against Torontowith a sore left knee, Washington Wizards starting forward Rashard Lewis participated only lightly in workouts on Tuesday afternoon and said he was uncertain of his status for Wednesday night’s game against the New York Knicks.

Lewis participated in the shoot-around following practice, taking jumpers and jogging around the auxillary court at Verizon Center. Lewis has missed three games this season, all with knee soreness. Monday’s game, though, was the first he missed because of discomfort in his left knee.

The decision to scratch Lewis, 32, from the lineup apparently came shortly before tip-off, when the club announced rookie Chris Singleton would be starting. Coach Randy Wittman did not indicate during his pregame session with the media Lewis would be out.

The Knicks need to keep the momentum going in Washington. Having Lewis out will counter the lack of Melo and Amar’e.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theknicksblog/2012/02/08/anthony-donahue-talking-new-york-knicks-and-nba

This was the definition of a team win against the Jazz.  With the two superstars out and Chandler in foul trouble, guys stepped up and excelled at their roles.  As a team, the Knicks held the Jazz to 43% from the field.  They forced 20TOs (14 in the 1^st half to help ignite easy offense early), which translated to 27 points.  They won the battle of the boards 38-36.  That is a very impressive stat.  With a depleted front line against a good offensive rebounding team, they executed one of the keys to the game and outworked the Jazz.

A lot of guys stepped up today on both ends of the floor to get this W.  Novak’s job is not easy.  To come in cold off the bench and be expected to consistently make jumpers is tough.  He is a pro; this is why he has a job.  He was able to knock down open jumpers (7-10 for 19 points) and made plays off the shot fake pull up as well.  Jeffries continues to play great defense on the ball and in help.   He had 13pts, 8 rebounds (4 offensive), and took 5 charges.   Jeffries was 3-9 from the field; he forced it offensively early in the game.  In a game like this, I can see why he would think he needs to, but that is not the case.  He just needs to play his role and he helps this team.   Landry continues to be solid…only 6 points, but he did have 5 rebs and 3 assists.  He did a great job of spacing the floor and picking his spots to be aggressive offensively.  On defense he continues to be effective, get deflections, and make it difficult for opposing guards.  All that said, there is really only one guy everyone wants to talk about, so let’s break down J Lin’s 28pts, 8asts, 8TOs performance.

Tim Tebow part deux?  Now, I don’t think he’ll garner the national media frenzy, but regionally, Lin will be getting similar type love and discussion in the media.  When the Knicks signed Lin, I wrote a breakdown of his game.   His last two performances have been so positive because he has not been doing anything out of character.  He was just playing his game.  What I didn’t know was that he could be so effective at this level.

His play in the pick and roll game is what this team desperately needed and he delivered.  First and foremost, the most basic but critical thing he does is keep his dribble.  This allows him to get into the lane and continue to put pressure on the defense.   As soon as a PG picks up his dribble coming off the P&R, the defense has done its job and they just need to recover to their men.  He doesn’t allow the defense to exhale by maintaining the dribble, getting into the teeth of the defense, and delivering the ball to his teammates where they can be successful.  That is probably what I liked most about his game last night…making the right pass and delivering the ball on time in the right place.   He consistently hit the roll man for an easy layup (several were missed) or a lob.   Every great shooter loves playing with a great PG.  Last night, Novak reaped the benefits of Lin’s play.   Lin delivered the extra pass to Novak and hit him off screening action in the shot pocket so all he had to do was catch and go up.   One play exemplified Lin’s understanding of the game and making the right pass.   He made a steal off a missed shot and retrieved the ball in the corner.  Shumpert filled in behind him on the wing, calling for the ball.  Lin waited, looked off Shump, because he saw Novak trailing a step behind.  Lin skipped it to Novak for another wide open three.  Knowing your teammates and understanding when/where to get them the ball is the hallmark of a floor general; this really illustrated that ability.

I also liked how Lin attacked the changing defensive schemes in the P&R game.  Initially, the Jazz were going under on the ball screen.  The bigs continued to set the screen further inside the three point line as they should.  This allowed Lin to turn the corner still and get into the lane, force help, and create.   They also tried to have the big men hard hedge coming off the screen.  Lin attacked the big man, as taught, and repeatedly got by the hedge man.  This allowed him to have easy passes/lobs to the rolling big man.   Later in the game, they started to double him.  He was able to split them at times or drag two defenders with him and get the ball reversed, allowing his teammates to make plays.

Lin did not throw a perfect game.  He played very well but still had 8 TOs (all in the second half); he needs to work on some things to continue to improve as opponents will start to try and disrupt his early success in the P&R game.   Given this teams problems with TOs (last in the league), he has to value the ball as the PG.  In last night’s game, the majority of his TOs were caused for two reasons.  First, he lost control of the rock when dribbling into the lane at times.  Lin has always been great at finishing in the lane with contact (which we saw last night).   What he needs to get used to the physicality while dribbling.  The Jazz guards were able to get physical with him and cause him to lose his handle.   Secondly, there were times he made some errant passes.  I think this was a product of not knowing where his teammates were always going to be.   The positive about both these issues is they are correctable with time/experience.   He’s only logged big minutes in two NBA games.   He will get used to the level of quickness and physicality when dribbling and will protect the ball better.   The more he plays, the more he will feel confident and comfortable that he knows where guys are going to be.  As that happens, he should be less likely to make errant passes.

There are two areas in which I’d like to see him continue to improve throughout the season.  First, is his jump shot…this is obvious.  That said I don’t want him to work on his three point shot.  He shouldn’t be taking a lot of threes.  What I want to see him improve is his 22-19 foot jumper off the dribble.  Teams are going to continue to go under the high pick.  As they do this, he needs to be able make them pay by knocking down that open jumper behind the screen.  If he can do this, he will be incredibly difficult to defend in the P&R.   The other area in which he needs to improve is his help defense.  I thought his on ball defense was good in the last two games.  He did a good job staying in front of guys and being active with his hands.   Last night, in help defense, often times he was almost like a statue.  He was in good position but did not have an effect on plays when he came over to help.  He has very quick hands and long arms for a guard.  He needs to use those to be effective in help and make it difficult for offensive players to finish around or through him.

This game was a lot of fun to watch because of Lin’s performance and how he played with his teammates.  That said, he is not the savior.  He can be an important piece of the puzzle.  But like this team in general, he needs to continue to improve and be more consistent.  I think we are all excited to see Lin’s development and how this team plays when at full strength with a solid, young PG.

Dalen Cuff is a basketball analyst for Columbia University and MSG Varsity and will be breaking down X’s and O’s for theknicksblog.com all season. Follow him on twitter here.

1 more Jeremy Lin note: He's only 3rd player this season to play all of 2nd, 3rd, 4th quarter of game (Kevin Martin, Dwight Howard) #Knicks

February 7, 2012 1:06 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

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Plus he’s done 500 interviews on MSG.

Thanks AlexKennedyNBA

I’m watching the game in more detail right now and there is obviously a lot to love about the team’s pace and space.  Obviously, not having the two stars is a storyline, but the real story is players with something to prove playing extremely hard and sometimes that is enough to build a huge lead.

You cannot say enough about Steve Novak coming in and making shots. You also can’t say enough about the way Landry Fields has stepped his game up.  You can’t say enough about Jared Jeffries‘ effort.

And you can’t even begin to talk about the play of Jeremy Lin. The scary thing about Lin is that he’s only going to get better. Meaning less mistakes and more assists.

Be excited Knicks fans, things are getting better.

Where: MSG

Network: MSG

Knicks (9-15)

PG: Jeremy Lin

SG: Landry Fields

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Jared Jeffries

C: Tyson Chandler

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

JAZZ (13-9)

PG: Harris

SG: Bell

SF: Hayward

PF: Milsap

C: Jefferson

Our thoughts and prayers are with Amar’e and his family at this time of tragedy.