- The Knicks are 0-8 lifetime against the Clippers at the Staples Arena.
- The Knicks have Zach Randolph, Quentin Richardson and Stephon Marbury back tonight. No Clyde Frazier, though.
Chatting.
Ah, here comes the handshake...
Smile for the camera, boys. This is my "We're all fam" handshake.With Marbury on the bench, Crawford gets the start at point guard (with Fred Jones as the SG). Jamal does a nice job as point guard for the first couple of minutes, racking up nice assists to Curry (on a lob entry pass) and Randolph. Keep those big men happy. But the turnovers... Crawford just can't go more than a couple of possessions without turning it over.
- Curry is working hard the first quarter, with his defense on Kaman and especially on the boards.
- It's 10-9 with 3:30 left in the 1st. Bricks galore for the Clippers (who can't hit a perimeter shot for their lives), and dumb turnovers are the motif for the Knicks.
That was a semi-defense of Marbury's AWOL, and how he doesn't think it will effect his teammates too much. That doesn't surprise me too much. I think most players would shrug it off as a business thing, too. You're not going to get too involved or emotional if a coworker and the boss had words, and he was suspended or something, right? Stay out of it, mind your business, move on... I think that's Kenny Smith's point here.
Marbury's Entrance:
Marbury checks in with about 2:00 to go in the 1st. He is chatting it up with some dude in the second row.
To this point the Knicks have mustered very little offense, and turned it over six times.
-Corey Maggette just got fouled. That's what he do!
-Jared Jeffries was left wide open on the double to Curry, gets the ball, and bricked a 14-footer. That's what he do!
-Did you know Cat Mobley is shooting 62% from the field, good for #2 in the NBA? If he was a baseball player we would assume he's on steroids.
- And it's 18-17 Clippers after the first quarter. The Knicks are shooting 29%.
- Marbury with a nice steal on Mobley, and goes all the way on the fast break for a layup.
- On the next possession he gets fouled, hits both FTs. 21-18 Knicks.
- Then Marbury gets an assist to Crawford on the next possession. He has 4 points, 2 assists and a steal (plus good defense) since checking in 5 minutes ago.
Marbury played most of the second quarter, and whereas the Knicks had 6 TOs when Crawford was the point for 10 minutes in the 1st quarter, they had only one when Marbury ran the point. That one turnover was Crawford's carry. Also worth noting that Marbury was playing hard defense tonight, clearly trying to prove a point.
Okay, let's fast forward to the second half. It's 50-43 Knicks, with 9:50 left in the third.
13 Minutes of Futility:
On November 7, 2003, the Toronto Raptors scored 4 points in the second quarter of a 86-60 lose to the Wizards. It is one of the worst quarters ever in the shot clock era of NBA history. The Knicks tonight looked almost as bad. Let's break down this 13 minute span: red indicates bad shot/play by the Knicks' offense, green indicates good, blue indicates the Clippers did something good.
-3-second violation called.
Overpassing.
-
-Q-Rich misses open three pointer.
-Crawford misses a forced three pointer. Curry rebounds.
-
-Eddy Curry misses a little baby hook from like
four feet away.
-
-
-Curry misses a similar jump hook from deep in the
paint. Good defense on Kaman.
-Crawford misses a hard drive that he should have dunked (if he can), because
he dislikes contact. Good decision, bad follow thru. P*ssy.
-Q-Rich posts, draws foul. Hits one of
two. 56-51 Clippers.
-Marbury misses open three. Grabs rebound, then
Nate Robinson misses an open three. That's 11 straight missed
field goals. It's 59-51 (16-1 run for the Clippers), with
-Marbury turnover on pass to David Lee.
-Crawford gets called for carrying again (14
TOs).
-Marbury gets into the paint, flips it up... in and
out.
-Lee good feed into the paint to Jeffries, but he lost it out of bounds. 15 TOs.
-
-Crawford to the line, hits two FTs. 59-53.
-Nate drives, flips it up over Kaman. It misses.
-20-3 run for the Clippers. It's 61-53.
-Nate misses a three.
Kenny Smith “Knicks walking it up too much, need to push more..."
-Jared Jeffries misses a three from the corner.
No one should be surprised.
-
-3-second violation to open the fourth.
-Crawford hits a jumper at the
-Curry gets stripped.
-Nate gets fouled on a drive with
-
-71-55 clippers with
Because they are the Knicks, you know that they will come back just when you decide to give up on them:
It's 73-57 with under 8:00 to go:
-Crawford hits a runner.
73-59.
-Clippers offensive foul.
-
-Missed three for the Clippers.
-Crawford gets hit on drive. 2 FTs. 73-63.
-Kaman with a nice move. 75-63.
-Crawford again with a short runner.
75-65.
-Fred Jones with a nice steal. He gets
fouled by Kaman.
-Jones hits 2 FTs. 75-67 with
-10-2 Knicks run in the last
-Maggette misses a jumper.
-Crawford nice feed in, but Curry misses the
short jumper.
-Crawford blocks a shot, then up ahead to
Marbury.
-Marbury gets called for an offensive foul on the layup,
because he kicked that b*tch Thomas while in the air. 19 TOs.
-Clippers miss another one.
-Crawford misses, rebound by
-Kaman powers in over Curry. 77-69.
-Crawford drives, gets
blocked by Kaman. Crawford grabs the ball, but goes out of bounds.
-Marbury’s drive is short, but
-Great double-team on Kaman, he travels.
Props to
-Marbury to the basket, banks it in.
77-73,
-Ross missed a jumper. Curry strong rebound.
-Crawford misses the pullup, but Curry with the
offensive rebound, puts it in. An
18-4 run has cut it down to 77-75 with
The Last Two Minutes:
-Crawford deflects a pass on defense, Knicks
get it.
-Crawford to Curry, Curry gets fouled by Kaman.
Two FTs. 77-77.
-Tim Thomas with a hand in his face. I
hate that guy. 79-77.
-Maggette is guarding Crawford. He throws a bad
pass to Fred Jones.
-Casasell misses a three. Knick ball with
-Marbury to
-Mobley backs in on Marbury, knocks him down, but no call. He banks it
in. 23.6 left, Clippers up four. Isiah is pissed because Cat
carried the ball (he did, replay confirmed), but the refs didn't call it.
Nice to know that only Crawford is going to get called for carrying the ball
this year.
-That essentially does it. Fred Jones got
fouled. He hits 2 FTs. 81-79.
-Knicks foul Mobley. Mobley hits 1 of 2. 82-79
with 18.4 left.
-The Knicks go for the quick two (as Kenny recommended). Marbury misses the
drive,
-Knicks go for two again. Marbury puts the
layup in with 7 seconds to go.
-With 6.4 Maggette hits two free throws. 84-81.
-No Timeouts. Crawford dribbles up slowly, shoots long 33 footer for three. He misses. They ran out of time.
************
The key differences in the game:
Turnovers - Knicks 20, Clipper 14. Jamal had 5, including 2 carries, another travel, and one silly out of bounds. Randolph had 5, including a couple of three-second violations.
3PT Shooting - Knicks 1-13, Clippers 5-20.
Bench: David Lee played only 18 minutes, Nate 17 minutes. They combined for 9 points (Jeffries add 2 more). If you consider Marbury a starter (he played 34 minutes to Jones' 19), then Jones added 6 points. The Knicks generally win the battle of the bench, but tonight Mobley, Brevin Knight, Al Thornton and even Alvin Williams had good contributions. They outscored the Knicks bench (counting Fred Jones as bench player) 30-17.
Next game is Friday against the Kings. It's essentially a must-win, as the Knicks need to stop the turmoil. They may be without Zach Randolph, and Ron Artest generally kills the Knicks....
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Curry dominated him on the defense, though. Where as Curry missed shots he usually makes (my guess: He was tired from working had on the boards and defense, and couldn't get his usually "lift", all two inches of it), Kaman was just not getting very good looks. He had one or two good moves, but 6-17 sums it up.
Now, on the boards... he's a monster. I was very impressed by Kaman's boarding, and overall I was impressed by the improvement in his game. I think he's a solid 18-20 ppg with double-figure rebounds for the rest of the season. Maybe I should go get him in fantasy....
34 minutes for Marbury after being AWOL. He's running the team at this point.
If Isiah had any balls, he would've let him rot on the bench for a game. The final result would've been the same (a loss) but at least he would've shown the team who's in charge.
He's averaging like 16 boards a game this season. I figured he'd get the 20 on the boards, not the points. With the lack of perimeter D for the Knicks and the perimeter players the Clips had, I figured the perimeter players would get most of the touches.
As for Curry's defense...that may be the first compliment he's rec'd....ever. I didn't want the game so I can't dispute it, but I am suspicious.
I was at the game so I can clarify that Kaman struggles with scoring and rebounding under certain conditions. Like when the other team is allowed to foul him.
For this one game it was not illegal for the Knicks to grab a handful of Kaman's jersey, call it a northern Reggie Evans, and pull and hold. By the time the game was over, Kaman's jersey didn't fit right anymore.
I get that some calls are hard to make, but it was clear to the whole arena, except for the 3 men in gray, what was happening out there. The neck of an NBA jersey shouldn't be around your waist, no matter how baggy it gets.
SML,
You can't get Kaman in fantasy, unless you have more than one team. I'm in your league, I have Kaman, and I am not letting him go.
You know, I completely agree with you about a double standard that is being applied to Crawford with carrying the ball. He really seems to be on the ref's radar this season. It is really pissing me off.
...It would have been sooooooooo nice if Marbury made that three! So nice!
That's going to be a really cheap beer when you get it. 14 and 18 last night, damn close.