The Knicks Fix

that's a funny pic of balkman. for some reason it reminds me of the photo shoot with uncle rico in napoleon dynomite.

Qrich better show up tonight. Crawford better start hustling on D too. LGK!

okay, I was a little off.

http://redsquirrel.com/dave/unclerico.jpg

Q is looking better already with 2 blocked shots.

Starburyfan,

I mean this with the utmost respect, can I get some of whatever you're smoking? :-)

1st quarter just came to an end....i like the defense towards the end of the quarter, marbury is much more aggressive than he was in boston. Qrich with a couple of blocks. A much better start than at boston....we'll see if they keep it up.

Alan, did you know that N8's father Jacque was a draft pick of my beloved Buffalo Bills (NY's other team)?

I think Nate looks great. Do you think it was because it was against the second unit of Boston? either way, I am impressed thus far.

yeah dude, I said I was off, what do you want from me?

hey, knicks look good tonight and that's all I'm concerned with at this point. Q, Nate, Zbo, stephon are bringing it.

KG is a great player. like clyde said before the game, he's a hall of fame player.

Nate looks Gr8. Allan's lecture is sinking in. He looks like he can be a star if he keeps his head. Iverson isn't much taller.

You can all of some of what I've been smoking.

I'm not in new york and i can't watch the game. this is killing me i have to wait for espn highlights so everyone better be enjoying this

I would like to see Nate in there now. as a point of reference. Celts down 4 just after the hard foul on Allen.

Mike Breen is one anal retentive annoying mother effer. Please somebody take him off the air. He is just sucking the life and joy out of basketball.

Jeffries is sucking period. How many dumb ass plays can one make? What an ahole.

jeffries is terrible.

Clyde isn't helping much either.

You would never know we've been ahead most of the game.

We Want Marv!

@ Lives –
I agree – that there isn’t much left to say. It’s over. But I was intrigued because we saw many of the same things, but drew different conclusions. I also thought your piece deserved the respect it offered. Definitely time to get back to basketball . . . so while EVERYONE else is watching the game . . . I’m stuck in a hotel room in DC waiting for room service.

They call it work for a reason. If it was fun . . . they’d call it play.

C'mon, guys . . . I need game up-dates . . .

budding rivalry, huh?

i like..

Yo Trane, Knicks up 6 ,1:18 left. Nate looks solid, Crawford looks regular. KJ is killing ZBO, Curry went out with 5 fouls during the third.

You gotta get League Pass, man. I watch games on the road all the time via lap top.

Trane, Knicks look solid all around Garnett looked good on D but nothing exciting on O. Lee is playing great.

Less than a minute left in the game and starters in in for both teams. This game has been intense. N8 looks good, as well does Zach. If we replace Jeffries with Balkman it will be nice. David Lee cannot play with his back to the basket. He had trouble backin' in and turnin around all preseason. Knicks look much better and ready to start the season. Need to pick up switches sooner. Best preseason game I've seen in a while.

how much is league pass? there is no way i'll be able to go the whole season without watchign the games

It's less than 200 bucks, and you get every televised game. After a Knick game there are always western conf. games. Sometimes there are up to 6 or 7 games per night.

I should have mentioned, you get it through your cable provider, so all the games come through your tv. You then set up an account on NBA.com, and log into broadband league pass to watch the games on your computer.

This game was great all around, N8, Lee, ZBO, and Marbury were all great, Best game I have watched in a long time (regardless of season or preseaon, had me on the edge)

I live in VA, and I HAD to get NBA league Pass, I paid $159.99, and Im on Dish Network, The price is $179.99 after Nov 7... Go get it and BE HAPPY LIKE ME!!!

Why is Curry gaurding KG? ZBO does a better job checking him. Curry needs to be more aggressive against KG when the knicks is on offence. It seems like Curry has too much respect for KG and is not going really hard at him.

Jared Jeffreys had some nice moments gaurding Ray Allen in the first half.

Q had a good defensive game against Pierce.

Nate looks like he has improved tremendously and at times look like he will take over Marbury spot by the end of the season.

ZBO will help this team, especially when Curry is in foul trouble.

Defensively, we played a lot better tonight.

Knicks fan for life..........GO NY, GO NY, GO

Starbury fan, I really didn't mean offense, apologies if my joking was lame.

I didn't get to see the game: what's the consensus on J. Jeffreys? I keep wanting him to step up and be the stopper we need so desperately. How was N8's and Dlee's defense? Where were our defensive shortcomings and who had Pierce most of the night? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Peace.

Holy crap. That was a great preseason game. Win or lose I would still say the same.

The good………..

Nate was player of the game deffinitely. His defensive effort was absolutely great. He passed when he should pass and shot when it was needed. 3 bad offensive decisions all night, other than that he was perfect.

Zach looks good. Active on both offense and defense. He needed to pass out of the double team against Garnett though and forced a few instead. I have faith that will improve as he gets acclimated to his new team mates.

Curry looked good on offense. He still has a wide array of moves near the hoop. I’m glad to see the shoulder won’t hamper his efficiency too much. Defense is a totally different story. He looked more than a step slow all night. I don’t know whether that was due to Garnett (who I heard is a hell of a player lol)or its just him. Time will tell.

Lee had another fine double double showing. I would expect nothing less. The kid’s a hard worker. He was also very effective on the double coverage of Garnett late in the game.

Q was a defensive animal ! The 3 blocks on Pierce were outstanding and he was in front of him all night. Imagine how many he’d get if he was playing the 2 against 6′5″ Ray Allen.

The bad………….

Steph was in and out of this game. His scoring in bunches looked good. He was hot when he went to the hole. He was once again goaded into taking an ill advised 3 after making a decent shot. His post passes leave something to be desired to say the least. 3 assists and 4 TO’s aint pretty. He was outplayed by Nate offensively and defensively.

Jeffries looked ok I guess. I saw him make 2 good defensive plays. He is offensively inept to say it kindly and no play should ever be run for him. EVER ! All of his points should come from tip ins and put backs. ’nuff said.

The ugly…………..

Jamal looks absolutely lost out there w/ the starting unit. He looked to chuck shots instead of take them in the flow of the game. He looked much better w/ the 2nd unit in a free flowing running offense than in a stagnant half court set. He is a waste of talent on the front line. What is he there ? 4th option ?

The perimeter D is still atrocious. 3 swings of the ball produces an open 3 almost every time. We will almost surely have troubles w/ the perimeter as we did last year. Ray Allen, Scalabrine, and Posey had numerous open looks from deep but luckily couldn’t convert.

I’m not sold on the big front line. Zach looked much better as the lone force in the paint. Eddy took all the shots when he was in rendering Zach useless.

The intro music sucks ass ! I’m down for signing the petition to bring back the Dougie Fresh. Where do I sign ???

Afterthoughts……….

I haven’t seen an exhibition game with this level of intensity in quite a while. A good all around effort by both teams. I applaud the Knicks for exerting themselves in a worthless preseason game. For no other reason than to establish home court pride and show the C’s that they can be beaten.

I saw more good than bad tonight. It was a great win which I hope instills some confidence in the boys from NYC. I am amped for the season. GO NY GO NY GO.

no prob, not hawthorne wingo, i knew you were kidding around.

the show stoppers tonight were N8, D Lee, Zbo, and Stephon for the knicks and KG, Paul Pierce and Rondo for the Celtics.

it was definitely like a playoff game out there tonight.

the defense was much improved, but they can still get better, and they were finally able to keep their turnovers close to their opponents, 16 for each team.

i know alan will have full details soon on the blog and also in his write up for tomorrow's issue of newsday.

Just got back from Northern Cali (nowhere near the fires, thankfully), and missed the game. I might hang out until 1:00 and see if they replay the game In 60.

Good to hear that NYK brought it tonight, and was pleasantly surprised to hear they got the W.

Sounds like D-Nick is on the way to being cut. He shoulda kept his trap shut and done his job - a rook making demands of Isiah most definitely won him no points.

I know Curry was off, but di anyone see him back down Garnett and completely envelop and crush him for a basket with maybe one back down dribble before slaming it down. Garnett came right back with a highlight dump, but Curry outweighs him and can back him down all day if he tries.

One overall THANK YOU to everyone who sent game up-dates last night. Will definitely check out League Pass. You guys were great. Much appreciated . . .

One overall THANK YOU to everyone who sent game up-dates last night. Will definitely check out League Pass. You guys were great. Much appreciated . . .

I was going to post a recap, but a lot of you guys did a great job taking care of it for me. BAZ, JohnQ, excellent analysis. To me Nate changed the game when he entered and gave the Knicks a tremendous lift. He had his shot back after an 0-fer against the Nets. I'm sticking by my theory to start him at the point and bring Steph off the bench as a scoring guard. It's worth a look.
I'll check in after practice today. Again, great job by the Fixers.
One week until final rosters are due!

* I'm in the Windy City, did not see the game. Thanks for the recap;

* League pass.... Under $ 200.00 for a year or monthly?

So Alan,

Do we get any kickback for helping recap for you ??? I could give you my paypal acct # if you want. lol.

Nate is maturing before our eyes. If Steph goes down, the team won't go down with him. I am eating crow on saying they should trade him while his value was high this summer.

League Pass is $160 for the season (with early bird pricing). Dish Network divides it into 3 payments over the first 3 months.

Another note on League Pass - it gives you access to NBA.com's League Pass Broadband (http://www.nba.com/broadband/league_pass.jsp). You can stream games live to your computer, or watch an archived game up to 48 hours afterwards. The quality of the video is low, but it's a nice alternative if you want to watch multiple games, or if you miss a game and don't have TiVo.

It was frustrating to see Steph still taking those "momentum"-fueled, bad 3's still. If he makes a good shot, goes back on D and makes a stop, it doesn't fail that he'll chuck up a 3 the next time down the floor. Nate does this too sometimes.

Still no reason to bench Steph though. Alan - I'm surprised you think they should. I think that would only cause unneccisary strife in the locker room.

If any starting guard should be benched, it's Jamal, who does look lost - as John Q said - with the starting rotation as the fourth option. And he's still a defensive liability. He's much better as the go-to offensive guy with the second unit.

The reason: Jamal is at his best when he can first create his own shots by driving to the basket. It's only then that he's able to get into a real groove from outside. With Eddy and Z-Bo down there, it's tough for him to do, and then he starts to settle on bad jumpers.

Two words: THANK GOD!!!

I love our front court. Eddy goes out and we don't skip a beat. ZBo had the quietest 23 pt/ 6reb/ 5steal night going against Garnett and that's not bad Garnett had 17/10. Lee was his usual self. Once this EZ thing gets rolling the league is going down youll see. Nice intensity on defense last night, from everybody.

I think with Zbo, Eddy can be a little more physical on D now not fearing foul trouble as much.

Mike Breen is the worst

His double standards are getting increasingly more annoying and more obvious, during a scuffle initiated by the Celtics , Paul Pierce grabbed the chin of Jamal Crawford , if anyone knows anything about JC , they know he’s not a fighter or a dirty player, but instead of coming to the defense of Crawford Breen saw it fight to declare Paul Pierce was just showing his new teammate Ray Allen that he would stand up for him. That’s cool but last year Nate did the same thing for his new mate Mardy Collins , as did Jeffries and even if someone could twist that around to give the Knicks the full blame , it is a fact that if Crawford grabbed the face of Pierce , Mike Breen would’ve had a different outlook on that situation.

As for the game…
The Celtics “aren’t who we though they were”. They played harder this game then they did in the blowout and they were more intense then the Knicks which was obvious with the unnecessary physical play and emotional outburst but the big 3 went scoreless in the 4th and the Knicks won without much help from curry and the knicks had a balanced attack. This was not a preseason game to those who saw it and those who played in it. Both teams wanted this one and I feel the best team finally won.

As for Boston …“They aren’t who we thought they were”, and neither are the Knicks , thank goodness!!!

By the way I predicted those scuffles , as if anyone cares.

@ Rush - so are you saying that the Knicks have a *formidible* front court?

Damn. I love the Knicks, but that MSG spot they're running with the guy in the couch asking Boston fans if they know what formidible means bothers me. It's just asking for a season series sweep from the Celts, and for Boston sports radio shows to pick up the audio and mock it. Just seems to be trying a bit to hard to force a rivalry.

Let's win some regular season games, then we can start going after them.

The new marketing team should pull those spots. No need to fuel another teams fire by giving them "bulletin board material"

Relax people KG came with all he's got last night and it wasn't enough.Celtics aint shyt! We have 3 PGs better then Rondo and Garnett cant even touch EZ on offense. KG is a dunker and putback type of scorer with inconsistent jumper, very predictable and is no match for EZ. Once we started guarding Pierce and Allen they couldn't do sh!t.

Rush,

I agree with you. They got tired and went screless in th efourth. Garnet kept fouling Zach as he coudn't handle the power on the block. Garnet is arguably the best big man in th eEast and he got manhadled by Zach. What is Zach gonna do to th erest of the East I ask you?

Isiah and the Knicks are getting ready to shock the world. I daid it on 10/23/2007 and I stick with it.

Rush,

I agree with you. They got tired and went screless in th efourth. Garnet kept fouling Zach as he coudn't handle the power on the block. Garnet is arguably the best big man in th eEast and he got manhadled by Zach. What is Zach gonna do to th erest of the East I ask you?

Isiah and the Knicks are getting ready to shock the world.

"His double standards are getting increasingly more annoying and more obvious, during a scuffle initiated by the Celtics , Paul Pierce grabbed the chin of Jamal Crawford , if anyone knows anything about JC , they know he’s not a fighter or a dirty player, but instead of coming to the defense of Crawford Breen saw it fight to declare Paul Pierce was just showing his new teammate Ray Allen that he would stand up for him. That’s cool but last year Nate did the same thing for his new mate Mardy Collins , as did Jeffries and even if someone could twist that around to give the Knicks the full blame , it is a fact that if Crawford grabbed the face of Pierce , Mike Breen would’ve had a different outlook on that situation."

Legend,

Must be racism.

What a minute! Paul Pierce is African-American. Jamal Crawford is African-American. Ray Allen is African-American. Mardy Collins is African-American. Yup, had to be racism (rolling of the eyes).

Nice to see the Knicks win, of course, but a win in preseason means about as much as a 40-point loss in preseason, and both mean have the value of the testimony under oath of Isiah Thomas, who was found liable by a jury of his peers on multiple charges of workplace sexual harassment.

Actually, that's not true. Thomas's testimony caused him to lose his credibility and Chuck Dolan's son to lose millions.

Exhibition wins and losses mean nothing. Sort of like the new Starburyfan blog. Exhibition season, like that blog, offers no accurate indicators and little in the way of valid information. It's junior-varsity basketball or, in the case of the Starburyfan blog, pre-school art class. Lots of little circles and lines that, in the end, add up to nothing except useful fodder in the bathroom if the toilet paper expires.

So, with all my ultra-cynical mind, I'll wait until the regular season starts to care one way or another about the numbers on the scoreboard at game's end.

Meanwhile, with Scott May and Adam Morrison both lost for the season in Charlotte and Brevin Knight now on the left coast, I may have to revise my Knicks' prediction upward from 35-47 to 37-45 and a 10th place finish instead of an 11th place showing in conference.

The celtics didnt even start trying til after the hard foul from my boy jamal, and the knicks played like it was a playoff game, playing for revenge from the start. Im not excited. We were up by 20 with the celtics not even caring and then after that foul they started to bring it and got all the way back within two points, and that was in less than 2 quarters. They are much better than us, its not even a question. KG could only lock down on one of our guys, they rested both of their centers so 1 or the other of Zach/Randolph had scalabum to eat up. The celts are much better than us, sorry, but its true. We arent even close, we'll be lucky to ever beat them in a real game. For real. If their roster was ours, and our roster was theirs you know you wouldnt be worried at all about them. Just as they arent at all worried about us, they play their center and they dont lose against us ever, period.

Rush please tell me you are joking. He has the best lowpost game in the league outside of duncan, can hit the jumper out to three point range consistently, can drive by any big man, is the best rebounder in the league, one of the best shotblockers, is top 2 defensive 7 footers in the league, is the number 1 passing 7 footer in the league, and is at least 5 times better than Randolph and Curry combined. That is KG, get your head out of your a--.

@ #1 KG Fan

Read my post again and understand it before you comment. I was talking about offensive side of the ball. KG is a great defensive and rebounding player but Zach and Curry are better offensively by a long shot. By the way read what KG had to say about Zach in todays column. As good as Garnett is he couldn't stop Curry or Zach in last game. And if you want to go a little further D Lee outrebounded him and was outplaying KG on the boards. How bout them Knick bigs?

FYI KG doesn't have the best low post game in the league and never had, he is not in top 5.. And don't bring up Duncan please.

"KG is a great defensive and rebounding player but Zach and Curry are better offensively by a long shot."

rush,

You're wrong, as usual. Don't believe me. Check out career scoring averages.

Kevin Garnett, 20.5 ppg, 12 seasons, nine in a row above 20.0 ppg;

Fat Zach, 16.0 ppg, six seasons, only two (20.1 ppg in 2003-04 and 23.6 in 2006-07 above 20.0 ppg);

Lazy Eddy, 13.5 ppg, six seasons, never had a season with a 20.0 ppg scoring average (best: 19.5 ppg in 2006-07).

If Fat Zach and Lazy Eddy each averaged at least 20.0 ppg for the next six seasons, Mr. Garnett would still have more seasons of scoring at least 20.0 ppg.

Mr. Garnett is a man at the offensive end. We won't even discuss rebounding, passing, and defense.

Fat Zach and Lazy Eddy are children. The former needs a parole officer. The latter cannot protect his family and home and will not defend the Knicks' basket.

rush, look at it this way: if you weren't always wrong, you wouldn't be rush.

Mark my man. I'm not even getting into the numbers. But what would it take for you to give the Knicks coach/GM credit, and cheer for our team. What can we do to ease your pain? The fixers are here for you bro". Help us...help you.

Please let "us" know during the season when you have turned the corner from "ultra cynical" to "knick hopeful".

I'll be reading your post my man.

BAZ,

As I've noted previously, I applaud Isiah Thomas, found liable by a jury of his peers on multiple charges of workplace sexual harassment, for the following:

Drafting Renaldo Balkman, David Lee, Mardy Collins, Wilson Chandler, and maybe, just maybe, Demetrius Nichols;

Acquiring Quentin Richardson and, perhaps, Fred Jones; and,

Keeping a class act like Malik Rose, albeit his ridiculous salary, around the locker room.

I chastise Zeke The Sexual Freak for the following:

Acquiring and overpaying Stephon Marbury, Born Again father, husband, and self-admitted under oath in a court of law adulterer. The Coney Island Cupcake has not won anything since Lincoln High School. Even worse, the Coney Island Cupcake has been a crying prima donna in Minnesota, New Jersey, Phoenix, and New York. And the Coney Island Cupcake shows no leadership on or off the court. A complete failure;

Acquiring and overpaying Eddy Curry, a man who lacks the heart and brains to protect his family and home. Curry will never defend the Knicks' basket, has never average 20 points per game for a full season, is a horrible rebounder, a horrific free-throw shooter, a lousy passer, and a turnover waiting to happen;

Acquiring first Steve Francis, the Coney Island Cupcake, Part II, and then swapping Francis and the more affordable Channing Frye to Portland for Zach Randolph. The Blazers were begging teams to take Fat Zach, whose criminal history off the floor towers over his height on the basketball court. The Knicks not only acquired this out-of-shape, defenseless loser; Zeke The Sexual Freak overpaid to get him. Fat Zach cannot play defense, pass, run the floor, or stay out of trouble in the Big City;

Acquiring and overpaying Jamal Crawford, a shoot first, shoot second, and shoot third off guard who thinks he's a point guard. Crawford has never met a shot he didn't brick, cannot dribble the basketball, remains a lousy passer, and an indifferent defender. At least Crawford lacks a criminal record. So far;

Overpaying to sign free agents Jerome James and Jared Jeffries. James is quite simply the most worthless player in the NBA and an embarrassment to humanity. The Knicks simply out to tie James up, slap a parachute on his back, stick him on a plane, fly to Baghdad, drop James out of the parachute, and pull the ripcord. James, about a 100 pounds overweight, may even take out a few of the enemy. Or eat them with an order of fries on the side. Jeffries is a complimentary small forward on a team with about three too many complimentary small forwards. A waste of money and time;

Signing Randi Morris, a chronic underachiever at Kentucky with off-court criminal problems, whose already devolved into a chronic underachiever in the Garden with off-court criminal problems. Jerome James, Part II; and,

Drafting and retaining Nate Robinson, a short shooting guard who refuses to play the point and lives to start fights and make an ass of himself. Little Man Nate is a Harlem Globetrotter. On a good day.

That about answer your question.

lol homie. Just bloggin'.

well knick fans, i hope none of us are expecting anything positive from the knicks.. i have followed them all my life, and i love them, but lets face it, isaih is just a dispickable hunan being. who actually idolizes a dirt bag like stephon me firstybury. and with an owner like i'm a dick dolan they not only the laughing stock of the nba thug league, but are going nowhere as usual. like i have said from day one (when mr. dispicable came on board)they will never make the playoffs with these guys in charge....

david stern is a hypocrit plain and simple.. he now can change the rules for his gambling buddies, but not for steve nash getting cheap shotted by robert i'm a thug/and a dispicable person horry. sorry buddie you need to go you have exploited this league long enough. please get a guy with an once of integrety in that postion.you absolutly suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!