by Stop Mike Lupica on January 10 at 9:08AM
One night after the Knicks came from behind to beat the Bulls, they played the Rockets and actually played... well. With effort. They tried.
Before getting to the Rocket-Knick game recap, note that our Chicago Bulls bloggers on the network aren't taking the loss to the Knicks very well. Here's Cobra Brigade take, which is basically "Oh sh*t, we lost to the Knicks, what do we do now?". And here's Tremendous Upside Potential's take, which is basically... "Oh sh*t, we lost to the Knicks, what do we do now?". Um, losing to the Knicks sure does have that effect on people, I guess. I guess the Rockets dodged a bullet!
Posting and Toasting has a nice post up (with video) of Jamal Crawford's sweet move on Kirk Hinrich during the Bulls game. If that had happened on a street court, the only appropriate response would have been "signed the ball!"
And with that, Knicks-Rockets notes:
If at first you suck, just make up for it by being twice as good later:
Let's back it up to the 0-12 FG start:
Randolph misses a jumper; Curry misses a layup; Richardson misses a shot; Randolph misses another jumper; Curry gets blocked from behind by Battier; Crawford misses a three; Curry misses another layup due to pressure (bad spacing issues with Randolph can be seen on this play); Crawford misses a jumper; Crawford misses another. Richardson hits a couple of FTs when he gets fouled; Marbury misses a three; Richardson misses an open three; Curry hits a couple of FTs.; Randolph misses a jumper.
Meanwhile, Yao is killing the Knicks, and it's 13-4. That's 4 points in the first 6 minutes, not the first time (or second, or third...) that we have seen the Knicks have a terrible 6-minute offensive span. Almost always its this very same team here, the starting unit (Marbury, Crawford, Richardson, Randolph and Curry).
Warming Up Now:
Now, Randolph hits a couple of layups (no more jumpers) on nice passes inside first from Crawford, than Marbury. After a three by Marbury, the Knicks are at least in business offensively. Of course, they are also letting the Rockets score at will (10 points in the last three minutes), and Alston's second straight drive makes it 23-11 Houston.
Time for some changes. In comes David Lee (for Curry) and Robinson (for Richardson).
After that the Knicks mount a comeback, and end up leading 53-50 at the half. Some notes on the rotation after that:
At the half:
Marbury and Crawford have 3 assists, Robinson has 4.
Crawford has 7 points, Marbury 10, Randolph 10 and Robinson 10. And Lee has 8 points. Balanced scoring.
Yao has 22 points at the half.
3rd Quarter:
The Knicks open up with:
Randolph, Lee, Crawford, Marbury, Robinson.
The balance offense continues for the Knicks in the third - look at the shots taken:
Crawford (misses the three), Randolph (misses a jumper), Lee (rebound, layup), Marbury (driving layup), Lee (missed jumper), Lee (missed jumper), Robinson (jumper is good), Marbury (Yao blocks his layup), Crawford (hits the jumper), Lee (hits the layup), Randolph misses a layup.
Point being, there is alternating players shooting. Crawford, Lee, Marbury, Randolph (and Robinson once). Robinson is doing a nice job of facilitating the offense, in other words.
Yao, however, continues to dominate the Knicks, and puts them up 64-63. Part of the problem is that Curry can't get a call on Yao on the offensive side (he's been "blocked" like four times, often with a bit of body contact). So the Knicks have put Curry on the bench, and let David Lee guard Yao. Which is not as bad as it sounds, actually. Yao is too slow to exploit Lee's slowness, and Lee has enough (quick) hops to make Yao work on the entry passes. And he's muscling up on the big man, too. Good effort by Lee, but even he can't slow down Yao.
Randolph sits down, Curry comes in. Unfortunately, Robinson also subs out, so Richardson comes in, too.
Curry tries to take it to him (perhaps trying to slow Yao down by means of foul trouble), but instead gets blocked (by Battier). Yao is unstoppable tonight.
Both teams go cold for a while, but the Knicks run the rare pick and roll (a real play!), and Crawford hits the jumper. It's Knicks 65-64 with 4:00 to go. That is the last time the Knicks will hold a lead.
Malik Rose checks in for Lee.
After a Marbury jumper, Rose gets dunked on by a vicious Yao, who also draws a foul. He hits the FT to tie up the game.
Curry gets stuffed on the other side, and shows his frustration by drawing the rare technical. It works, because the next time down, after rebounding a Marbury missed floater, Curry goes up and draws the foul on Yao.
By the way, the Knicks have 5 players in double figures already (Marbury 14, Crawford 11, Randolph 10, Robinson 12, Lee 12), with around 5 minutes left in the third quarter. The Rockets have Yao with 29 points, and Alston with 13 points. The rest of the Rockets (six others have played) have 20 points combined.
The Good Play of Nate Robinson:
Perfect play illustrating the value of Robinson: After Yao snags a defensive rebound under the Knicks basket, Richardson pokes it out of his hands, into Curry's hands. Curry draws the two remaining defenders, and passes it in to Richardson, who can't go up with it quick enough. With Yao hovering over him, Richardson finally kicks it out to Robinson at the three point line, who hits the wide open three, thus saving the play from being wasted.
Robinson had 10 assists and 1 turnover yesterday. Today he has 16 points , 4 assists and 0 turnovers at the end of three quarters (he would have had 5 assists, but Rose waited one second too long to pull the trigger on a buzzer-beater). Yao has 31 points. It's 75-74 Rockets.
4th quarter:
Richardson, Randolph, Robinson, Rose and Marbury on the court (The 4 R's). This is a new lineup for Isiah Thomas, who is really starting to resemble Larry Brown in that respect.
The quarter starts with a layup by Alston, and Isiah getting kicked out of the game (for coming out on to the court and making contact with the official). What upset him so badly? From the looks of it, on the drive by Alston, Yao can clearly be seen pushing Rose (SML note: according to reports I've read, it was actually that Yao should have been called for a three-second violation that pissed Isiah off). Perhaps the frustration of Curry not being able to draw fouls, compounded by watching Yao's offensive foul that wasn't called set Isiah off. I don't know.
After the technical, it's 78-74 Rockets.
It's your time, Herb Williams.
Quentin Richardson +/- for the night was -15, by far the worst among the Knicks. Every member of the starting lineup for the Knicks has been scrutinized this season, yet Richardson is still a starter. Marbury, Curry and Randolph have all been (temporarily) demoted at times this season. What does Richardson have to do to get demoted?
Well, it would help if the Knicks had a viable SF to replace Q-Rich. But shooting 31% from the field, mostly on wide open shots... the Knicks are much better with Robinson, Marbury and Crawford lineup on the court. Robinson has shown signs of really developing as a point - his low turnover figures are particularly pleasing. And the Knicks need better perimeter shooting to have a chance of making the inside-out game work. That means spreading the court with the best shooters they have, and right now that's Robinson-Marbury-Crawford. No one else, save for Randolph, even has a jumper on this team.
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Before getting to the Rocket-Knick game recap, note that our Chicago Bulls bloggers on the network aren't taking the loss to the Knicks very well. Here's Cobra Brigade take, which is basically "Oh sh*t, we lost to the Knicks, what do we do now?". And here's Tremendous Upside Potential's take, which is basically... "Oh sh*t, we lost to the Knicks, what do we do now?". Um, losing to the Knicks sure does have that effect on people, I guess. I guess the Rockets dodged a bullet!
Posting and Toasting has a nice post up (with video) of Jamal Crawford's sweet move on Kirk Hinrich during the Bulls game. If that had happened on a street court, the only appropriate response would have been "signed the ball!"
And with that, Knicks-Rockets notes:
If at first you suck, just make up for it by being twice as good later:
- The Knicks open up the game 0-12 on FGA, then go 20-27 after that in the first half.
Let's back it up to the 0-12 FG start:
Randolph misses a jumper; Curry misses a layup; Richardson misses a shot; Randolph misses another jumper; Curry gets blocked from behind by Battier; Crawford misses a three; Curry misses another layup due to pressure (bad spacing issues with Randolph can be seen on this play); Crawford misses a jumper; Crawford misses another. Richardson hits a couple of FTs when he gets fouled; Marbury misses a three; Richardson misses an open three; Curry hits a couple of FTs.; Randolph misses a jumper.
Meanwhile, Yao is killing the Knicks, and it's 13-4. That's 4 points in the first 6 minutes, not the first time (or second, or third...) that we have seen the Knicks have a terrible 6-minute offensive span. Almost always its this very same team here, the starting unit (Marbury, Crawford, Richardson, Randolph and Curry).
Warming Up Now:
Now, Randolph hits a couple of layups (no more jumpers) on nice passes inside first from Crawford, than Marbury. After a three by Marbury, the Knicks are at least in business offensively. Of course, they are also letting the Rockets score at will (10 points in the last three minutes), and Alston's second straight drive makes it 23-11 Houston.
Time for some changes. In comes David Lee (for Curry) and Robinson (for Richardson).
After that the Knicks mount a comeback, and end up leading 53-50 at the half. Some notes on the rotation after that:
- Jeffries enters the game to start the second quarter (in play of Crawford), with Robinson, Lee, Marbury, and Randolph.
- Robinson is the catalyst. He has two quick assists to start the second (one to Lee for a layup, one to Randolph for an open jumper in stride).
- Randolph goes out, Curry comes in.
- Meanwhile, Robinson is now taking over the offense himself (after a few misses by Marbury and a Curry turnover) - he hits a jumper, than gets fouled on his next trip down. That cuts a 33-25 lead to 33-29.
- Yao keeps killing the Knicks. He's been playing big, more so than normal. His 18th point of the half makes 41-35.
- Robinson hits a three, then finds Marbury for a layup (assist) to make it 43-40 (Yao dunked in between).
- The Knicks good defense holds the Rockets cold; after Crawford hits a three (assisted by Marbury), and Crawford hits a running jumper, it's 48-43. The Rockets catch up to tie it at 50-50, but Robinson hits a circus three pointer at the buzzer to put the Knicks ahead 53-50. No boos in this quarter.
At the half:
Marbury and Crawford have 3 assists, Robinson has 4.
Crawford has 7 points, Marbury 10, Randolph 10 and Robinson 10. And Lee has 8 points. Balanced scoring.
Yao has 22 points at the half.
3rd Quarter:
The Knicks open up with:
Randolph, Lee, Crawford, Marbury, Robinson.
The balance offense continues for the Knicks in the third - look at the shots taken:
Crawford (misses the three), Randolph (misses a jumper), Lee (rebound, layup), Marbury (driving layup), Lee (missed jumper), Lee (missed jumper), Robinson (jumper is good), Marbury (Yao blocks his layup), Crawford (hits the jumper), Lee (hits the layup), Randolph misses a layup.
Point being, there is alternating players shooting. Crawford, Lee, Marbury, Randolph (and Robinson once). Robinson is doing a nice job of facilitating the offense, in other words.
Yao, however, continues to dominate the Knicks, and puts them up 64-63. Part of the problem is that Curry can't get a call on Yao on the offensive side (he's been "blocked" like four times, often with a bit of body contact). So the Knicks have put Curry on the bench, and let David Lee guard Yao. Which is not as bad as it sounds, actually. Yao is too slow to exploit Lee's slowness, and Lee has enough (quick) hops to make Yao work on the entry passes. And he's muscling up on the big man, too. Good effort by Lee, but even he can't slow down Yao.
Randolph sits down, Curry comes in. Unfortunately, Robinson also subs out, so Richardson comes in, too.
Curry tries to take it to him (perhaps trying to slow Yao down by means of foul trouble), but instead gets blocked (by Battier). Yao is unstoppable tonight.
Both teams go cold for a while, but the Knicks run the rare pick and roll (a real play!), and Crawford hits the jumper. It's Knicks 65-64 with 4:00 to go. That is the last time the Knicks will hold a lead.
Malik Rose checks in for Lee.
After a Marbury jumper, Rose gets dunked on by a vicious Yao, who also draws a foul. He hits the FT to tie up the game.
Curry gets stuffed on the other side, and shows his frustration by drawing the rare technical. It works, because the next time down, after rebounding a Marbury missed floater, Curry goes up and draws the foul on Yao.
By the way, the Knicks have 5 players in double figures already (Marbury 14, Crawford 11, Randolph 10, Robinson 12, Lee 12), with around 5 minutes left in the third quarter. The Rockets have Yao with 29 points, and Alston with 13 points. The rest of the Rockets (six others have played) have 20 points combined.
The Good Play of Nate Robinson:
Perfect play illustrating the value of Robinson: After Yao snags a defensive rebound under the Knicks basket, Richardson pokes it out of his hands, into Curry's hands. Curry draws the two remaining defenders, and passes it in to Richardson, who can't go up with it quick enough. With Yao hovering over him, Richardson finally kicks it out to Robinson at the three point line, who hits the wide open three, thus saving the play from being wasted.
Robinson had 10 assists and 1 turnover yesterday. Today he has 16 points , 4 assists and 0 turnovers at the end of three quarters (he would have had 5 assists, but Rose waited one second too long to pull the trigger on a buzzer-beater). Yao has 31 points. It's 75-74 Rockets.
4th quarter:
Richardson, Randolph, Robinson, Rose and Marbury on the court (The 4 R's). This is a new lineup for Isiah Thomas, who is really starting to resemble Larry Brown in that respect.
The quarter starts with a layup by Alston, and Isiah getting kicked out of the game (for coming out on to the court and making contact with the official). What upset him so badly? From the looks of it, on the drive by Alston, Yao can clearly be seen pushing Rose (SML note: according to reports I've read, it was actually that Yao should have been called for a three-second violation that pissed Isiah off). Perhaps the frustration of Curry not being able to draw fouls, compounded by watching Yao's offensive foul that wasn't called set Isiah off. I don't know.
After the technical, it's 78-74 Rockets.
It's your time, Herb Williams.
- It's 80-74 with 8:30 to go in the quarter, and the 4 R's Lineup is still out there. Where's Lee and Crawford?
- Ah, here comes Crawford and Lee (for Rose and Robinson). Crawford immediately hits a jumper. 80-76.
- Unfortunately he forgets to guard Alston on the other end, and he hits a wide open three. 83-76. A Scola jumper (after the rare "out of bounds screen violation" is called on the Knicks) makes it 85-76, and the Knicks need time.
- After a missed layup by the Rockets, Crawford misses a jumper.
- Yao then buries another jumper (36 points for Yao, a season high). With 1:40 to go, Scola seal the game with a jumper that makes it 99-88. Game.
Quentin Richardson +/- for the night was -15, by far the worst among the Knicks. Every member of the starting lineup for the Knicks has been scrutinized this season, yet Richardson is still a starter. Marbury, Curry and Randolph have all been (temporarily) demoted at times this season. What does Richardson have to do to get demoted?
Well, it would help if the Knicks had a viable SF to replace Q-Rich. But shooting 31% from the field, mostly on wide open shots... the Knicks are much better with Robinson, Marbury and Crawford lineup on the court. Robinson has shown signs of really developing as a point - his low turnover figures are particularly pleasing. And the Knicks need better perimeter shooting to have a chance of making the inside-out game work. That means spreading the court with the best shooters they have, and right now that's Robinson-Marbury-Crawford. No one else, save for Randolph, even has a jumper on this team.
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4 Comments
Comments
stopmikelupica
said
I wrote this as a comment at another site, Barf, but it fits with what you said well:
"It's scary, and very telling about the Knicks, but: Nate Robinson is our best point guard. He's got 15 assists versus 2 turnovers over the last two games (Coincidentally the best back to back games the Knicks have played this season).
And even more scary, and telling, is that Crawford might be our best SF. At least at SF, his defensive lapse are less likely to hurt us, as opposing SFs are less likely to blow by him, and instead just shoot over him."
In other words, I endorse the small lineup, for now. Let's see what a Robinson-Marbury-Crawford starting lineup can do. Maybe they can avoid a double-digit deficit to start the game....
"Um, losing to the Knicks sure does have that effect on people, I guess. "
Good thing it doesn't happen too often.
solid breakdown...
Q's killing me.
JCraw at the SF...what a novel idea. If Balkman or JJeff only had a jumper...