Big win tonight by the Knicks, beating the 7th place Heat. That victory brings the Knicks to within two games of the Heat, and 1.5 games behind the Nets for the 8th and final playoff spot.
Let's get the self-love out of the way. We told ya here the Knicks would beat the Bucks, lose to the Nets, and beat the Heat. We told ya that Kapono would be the top offensive player for the Heat. We even told ya the Knicks would win by 6 (to 9) points! Of course, we were slightly off in a few things: We didn't see Zo coming. His impact made the game much more competitive than we thought it would be; we figured that the Knicks would stay in control of a tight game most of the night, but we didn't think they would go back and forth with the Heat. Tonight turned out to be another playoff intensity game.
The Knicks got off to a slow start, with Marbury turning over a few times early with some bad passing. We said before, but Marbury is a poor passer. He makes Crawford look like Nash. The Heat jumped out to an early 8-1 lead. Still, the Knicks got back into the game, thanks to Eddy Curry, who was not only scoring, but rebounding tonight. He had 5 rebounds in the first quarter, and was a force on the glass. We said the Knicks would have to make up for David Lee's absence, and win the battle of the boards to win tonight, and they did, barely, 40-39.
Eddy Curry played defense on Haslem for most of the first half, with Jerome James (4 minutes of starting time, then the bench the rest of the game) and Malik Rose taking Shaq most of the game. Eddy was able to keep Haslem off the boards early, which gave the Knicks a boost through the first half. Isiah reached deep into his bench, playing 10 Knicks in the first 15 minutes. That helped keep the Knicks fresh, and it showed in the second quarter, when they were able to build up 47-39 halftime lead over the tired and offensively inept Heat.
The big key tonight? The Knicks kept the Heat off the line, limiting them to only 1 FTA in the first half (on a Curry technical), and 8 overall. The Knicks went to the line 39 times; Curry alone outshot the Heat by 5 FTA (13 to 8). Stephen Marbury had a monster fourth quarter, dropping 18 points, hitting some big threes (though the biggest three of all was by Crawford).
Alright, so what's next for the Knicks? SML says they will need 14 more wins to make the playoffs for sure. They play four easy winable games next: at Boston, home against GS, at Atlanta, and home against Seattle. We're seeing them winning three of those four games; if their pattern holds true, they will beat Boston, play tough games against the Warriors and Hawks (splitting them, most likely beating the Warriors and losing to the Hawks), then beating the Sonics. To win, they have to do the following: Get David Lee back. They can't keep losing the rebound battle. Get Q-Rich posting more. Continue to make Crawford the point guard as much as possible - his passes tonight (6 assists sadly to lead the Knicks) were good, even the ones that didn't lead to assists. He had a nice alley-oop to Curry, and some great lead passes (a skill Marbury doesn't possess) that lead to easy baskets. He also did a good job of swinging the ball around the perimeter, wearing down the slow and tired Heat defense. The Knicks need to keep finding playing time for Balkman, whose defense (particularly his two blocks tonight) and rebounding energize the Knicks. Finally, the Knicks need to keep having Eddy Curry carry the offense for stretches at a time. Crawford, Marbury and Q-Rich are all too inconsistent to shoulder the offense all by themselves. Maybe getting Channing Frye to have a bigger role might help, but for now they need to keep riding Eddy Curry.
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Um, how is that any different than Shaq? Shaq has been showing up out of shape for seasons going back to his Laker days (hence, Kobe's hatred of him). He's been half-ass it for years - that's why he never lead the league in rebounds or blocks. Or even points. Yet you still have him down as #8 on your list of players in the East to build a team around.
As for Curry, at least he can hit a FT down the stretch. He may not be in great shape, but he can carry the team for long stretches, and he doesn't need to be in shape to draw fouls or overpower his opponents. And that's all the Knicks need him to do if they want to make the playoffs.
I wonder how many Oliver Miller fans were making this argument 15 years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Miller
Slaq has been out of shape in the past, but he's never been like Curry is right now. During those years that Kobe was complaining about Shaq's conditioning he was averaging 27-29 points per game, 11-14 rebounds per game, 2-3 blocks per game and 3-4 assists per game, while playing 37-40 minutes per game. Curry will never approach any of those numbers. And 61% from the line (Curry's current number) is nothing to crow about.
Throughout his career Slaq's fatal flaw, in my mind, is that you had to sit him, or go away from him in the final two minutes. That's a little different than having to look elsewhere for basically the entire second half.
There's a big problem with your "riding Eddy Curry" theory. He's fat, and out of shape. He had a terrific game tonight, I'm not taking anything away from that. He's got an assortment of moves down low, and yes, he did crash the boards. The problem is that after the 6:37 point in the third quarter he was an absolute non-factor.
If Marbury doesn't take the game over in the fourth, the Knicks get buried. Curry should be ashamed of himself, he spent the last 18 minutes of the game walking up and down the court. He didn't have the energy left to make any moves in the low post. He dominated this game for the first 30 minutes, then disappeared.
He should be one of the most dominant players in the league, but he's going to eat himself either out of the league or into a casket. He's definitely gotten bigger since the last game I was at. How do you gain weight during an NBA season? This guy is a disgrace. Almost as much of a disgrace as what's left of the Heat w/out Wade.
I hope I didn't see a playoff team play tonight, because this game wasn't pretty.