D'Antoni lost this game tonight. No doubt about it.
First of all, where was Mozgov in the 4th quarter ?
Second, Foye started to go off when D'Antoni subbed Toney Douglas out. I was pissed at dude when he helped so hard off of Foye and Foye knocked the 3 down as well and this is when he got yanked, but bottom line is that T.D. was the reason we were even back in the game. And he's our best on ball defender. Foye would have never got on the roll he got on with T.D. bumping and tripping all over him.
D'Antoni has to accept that Mozgod is going to have to be on the floor and he has to be getting 30+ minutes. Mozgov has showed me nothing but good things. He's a game changer. He's running up and down the court effortlessly. The centers on other teams are not able to run as much as this guy. Even he if not scoring he's creating an advantage, because he has the Centers on the other team tired, because they are trying to keep up with him. When they aren't able to stay with him, he's getting easy wide open buckets under the basket. He knows his spots and he's started to get comfortable with making moves under the rim now, with pump fakes and drop steps etc. This will only continue to improve if D'Antoni gives him the PT. On defense, if he's not blocking the shot, he's altering it. Just the fact that there is a 7 footer makes the PG, SG or whoever is looking to penetrate think a different way. He's not the best one on one defender, but that can improve IMO. It's still only his first year, but he's showing that giving him the minutes and experience is also giving him more confidence and he's getting more comfortable with how the game is moving, and he can develop a nice rhythm.
I agree with the break down
RuffRydya08 gave about Felton. I believe that Felton sometimes wants to be so good that it becomes detrimental to the team. He starts to want to create the run or be the reason why we are up. I don't fully think this is a bad thing though, because I like that competitiveness about Felton. It just becomes a little too much sometime. I also believe that his struggles are also a product of D'Antoni's lack of ability to create a rotation that doesn't force Felton to kill himself. (Some of the blame goes to Toney Douglas as well IMO, being that he hasn't exactly been the most reliable for D'Antoni) Overall, I am still mildly satisfied with what Felton does for us.
Amare is becoming another product of too much play time, but D'Antoni really hasn't had a choice and right now Amare is bottom line our horse, so we gotta hope he's Rocky type Stallion. My son showing me he tough so far.
Fields is starting to become a little to inconsistent for me, I mean the effort is there. He's always trying to rebound, but for games like this, when he's obviously not in an offensive rhythm I expect for him to try and make a difference on the defensive end as a lock down defender. He has the size, speed and athleticism to be a great defender and I don't always see the attempt from him to be great at it.
Gallo continues to impress me. I love how he's forcing the refs to make a call. He's being aggressive and this opens things up for Amare and Moz, because big men are going to help off them because Gallo is just blowing past his defenders or making a good move. If he shot better we would have had a better chance to win.
Chandler is obviously being affected by the trade talks. I don't see the same Chandler I saw during the 8? game win streak. That stretch after the 3-8 start that got us to something like 15-8, dude had me dismissing Melo rumors like we had a special player. I still believe dude can become that, but it's obvious he has to overcome things mentally. He's has to find that zone and stay there. Injuries probably are playing a big part in his decline as well though, so I don't really want to go to hard on son. But I am now willing to part with dude to get Melo.
At the end of the day, I watched this game and then coincidentally the NBA TV channel is showing the second part of the double header which was Nuggets vs Warriors.
But anyway I watched the game closely, well at least Melo (and Monta, that boy is crazy) individually. I was convinced that we need him or another player of his caliber if we want to contend. He displayed almost all the traits the Knicks are missing. A guy who can control tempo and mood of the game. A guy that has the ability to effect the way the refs call the game. (Amare can also do this, but isn't as effective as Melo.) A guy that you can go to in a drought for a basket. Another post-up option, being that Amare is our ONLY post-up option. Another guy he demands a double team.
I still stand pat on not giving up too much, but I can't lie, I'm starting to feel like Fields, as much as I love what he does and believe he will get better I can't get past his inconsistencies. If we want to really contend for a chip we should jump on the road right now. Don't let Amare over work himself and possibly hurt himself for another year when you have the chance to pair him up with someone that will push the team into contention.
cause I felt like that at the game and I've felt like that a bunch as of late but you look at his overall body of work thus far and it's been better than he's played of late. But I'm with y'all with Ray Ray's play recently, dude's been hot basura. He makes decent passes but I feel like he doesn't see the play developing in general. He can see the easy pass but I don't think he quite understands setting up angles off the P&R and I think he only sees the first pass if y'all know what I'm saying. He gives the ball up WAY to early on the break, and pounds the rock WAY too much in our half court set. I swear when Amar'e went down early when he took that spill for some reason Felton irked the #** out of me on that. Dude gave Amar'e the ball as he was crossing half court. !+* is good with that, SMFH. I thought our offense was based off spacing and ball movement, not gonna get either with Ray Ray pounding the rock for the first 15 seconds than rushing into the P&R. Personally I think he's been %$***+% awful defensively for the last month or so. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he probably has no legs cause of dumb %!@ Pringles but still, repeatedly letting BDiddy get into the lane and get toasted by 90 year old Jason Kidd & JJ Barea is just
enver, but that makes you question the guys heart, especially if you're Denver..Let's hope he starts playing well soon, not just for us to win games but to hopefully be able to get Carmelo
