Good performances by the Knicks over the weekend.  On Friday they beat the struggling 76ers, a team that has had their number since last season.  For some game recaps (and some of my thoughts in the comments) from the other side, see this bitter Depressed Fan post on that game, and this more upbeat Sixers4Guidos post.

Oh, and of course, to get the Knicks' site version of the 76ers-Knicks game, see this brief Posting and Toasting entry.  Um, I guess us Knick fans really don't post well on the weekends, huh?  On an embarrassing sidenote, I just now figured out the pun in the name of Seth's Knick blog being named POSTing and Toasting.  Wow, that only took about 8 months, huh?  Sh*t, I'm stupid.

On to last night's game against the Warriors.  The Knicks lost 106-104 in a close game against one of the best teams in the West.  That's the positive to take from this defeat, though the general feeling is that, despite having won 5 of their last 7 games before last night, the Knicks are in trouble on this trip.  They are playing the Lakers, Warriors, Blazers and Jazz on the road... and all have winning records.  But the way the Knicks have been playing, you just hope they keep competing and playing hard defense, as that's really all that we, as fans, can hope for the rest of the season.

Here are some quick notes on things that don't appear in the box score:

• Quentin Richardson, Mastercard.  Richardson drew three charges in the game against the running and gunning Warriors, and almost drew a fourth in the fourth (the Warriors were bailed out by Nate Robinson's fifth foul).  I'm generally not a fan of drawing the charge, as most times it involves flops (see my boy Ginobili, or that herb on the Cavs).  But these were legit, damn good defense, charges.

In all four cases, Richardson was at the spot first, showing his quickness (and smarts) on defense.  He took four hard body shots, not little contact with flop that you normally see.  They were all no-brainers, and honestly, if Richardson can't do anything else, at least he's working on that.

• Speaking of making up for lack of skills: Along those lines, you have Mardy Collins.  He's awful in a lot of ways.  He can't shoot, and he's not a great passers, either (Zach Randolph is much better).  He's not quick, so he won't strip or steal the ball, and he'll sometimes get beat by guards.  But he's tall, and long.  And he's using that to play good defense, and more importantly, rebound.

See, what you won't see in the boxscore is the story of the rebounding.  It ended in a dead heat, 48 rebounds for each team. 

But the reality is this... to beat the Warriors, you have to outrebound them.  They are small team, but they are quick and active, so you have to keep your turnovers low, and hustle on the boards. They are going to shoot before you set up your defense (the Warriors took more shoots with 20 second or more on the clock than I thought were even possible, and I've watched these Warriors a lot - they should just call their offense "4 seconds or less"), so you have to limit the number of shots they take.

To that extent, the Knicks needed to control the boards.  And when they were, they did well.  Start of the 1st quarter, the Knicks kept dumping the ball into Curry, who was hitting his shots or drawing fouls  (say what you want about Curry, but 17 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes). 

I was hoping he would help knock Biedrins out of the game by getting him into foul trouble, but it didn't work out that way.  In fact, Curry got into foul trouble, and sat down after four minutes in the first quarter.  At the time the score was 8-6.  Doesn't sound too impressive, but these are the Warriors.  It was the Knicks up 16-12 after 6 minutes in the first quarter.

Then the Warriors took control of the boards with Curry out, and dominated the rest of the first quarter, to go up 29-20 after one.

The second quarter was a different story... the Knicks dominated the glass, 17-7.  The result?  A 32-18 quarter for the Knicks.

Who dominated the glass?  The lineup for most of the second was small, fast guys, like Balkman, Collins, Jeffries, Robinson. 

• Balkman is the key:  Renaldo was again a huge factor.  Balkman played over 15 minutes yesterday (27 minutes, in fact).  When Balkman plays more than 15 minutes, the Knicks were 7-4 before yesterday's game.

Yesterday's game may go down as a loss in the "Balkman playing more than 15 minutes" stat, but it's not for lack of effort.   His final line:  4-5 FG, 3-4 FTs, 11 points, 4 rebs, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 blocked shots!  A "+6" for the evening, one of only three Knicks to finish in the positive on this night (Quentin "Chaaaarge" Richardson was +12, which has to be a season-high for him, and Mardy Collins was a +13). 

Why did Balkman and Collins do so well?  Mainly because they were crashing the boards a bit, but also keeping back defensively, so to prevent the fast breaks for the Warriors. 

• Never give the Warriors 1.1 seconds:

The last difference in this game?  In a three point game, here's one play that could have haunted the Knicks:

Is there anything better than hearing Gus Johnson call that?!? 

On the downside, I apologize for the crappy video feed.  Obviously I'm just pointing my camera at the TV and recording it.  The Dominican Businessman gave me some instructions on how to properly get video footage off my TV (I need to buy a splitter for the signal to go to my laptop), so I will get some soon.  Hopefully we'll have some good looking You Tube clips going forth!

Finally:  I've been a big fan of Golden State of Mind for a while (they're a great site, and the Warriors have become my third favorite team behind the Hornets and Knicks).  Well, they did a great interview with Modi from Cosellout, so check it out here.


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Also on the Network: √ Giant Linescore of the Morning [El Lefty Malo] √ Dealing With The "Rumor" [C70 At The Bat] √ Apply Online to Be the Next Head Coach of DePaul. Seriously. [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Playing Pepper 2010: Pittsburgh Pirates [C70 At The Bat] √ Perfect Bracket. [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Things to Read: 3/15 [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Why RBIs Are an Illusion [El Lefty Malo] √ Fun At The Old Ballpark [C70 At The Bat]

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