Mavs 127 Knicks 109: Energy Shortage
Going to be a very short recap this time, because the Knicks really didn't show any energy for the first half of this game, against a very angry, motivated, and superior Mavericks team. The game got off to a bad start when Amare suffered a shoulder stinger two minutes in the game - to his credit, he toughed it out and came back in after a minute, but he was ineffective and clearly affected. He missed 7 of his first 8 shots, forcing attempts inside against tough Dallas interior defense with no lift, and Carmelo wasn't much better against Shawn Marion's defense. The team as a whole struggled to get anything going -- even though they were actually ahead at one point at 14-12 midway through the first quarter, it never felt like they had an advantage and the pace of the game was very heavily dictated by the Mavs.
The only saving grace for the Knicks was free throws - in a bizarre inversion of the previous game against Memphis, with sparkling offense but only 4 free throws the entire game, the Knicks got 13 free throws in the first quarter but only 4 FGs. In the meantime, they could not stop the Mavs at all -- on the perimeter, inside, in transition -- and credit must especially be given to the Mavs bench; Tyson Chandler got two early fouls, which would normally have been a positive, but Brendan Haywood picked up the slack against a hobbled Amare. The bench depth of the Mavs was overwhelming: JJ Barea, Jason Terry, even more marginal bench types like Brian Cardinal and Corey Brewer were getting open jumpers and drives against the slovenly defense of the Knicks.
That first half score of 72-51 says it all in terms of just how bad the Knick defense was-- even when the Mavs missed, they got the long rebounds (17 offensive boards) and loose balls against the Knicks' very tired legs. Dallas kept piling on until it got to 88-62, at which point the Knicks put together their best run to get the lead down to 13. Amare, Fields and Douglas fought past their early struggles and were especially good in this stretch, and there was more Melo/Amare pick and roll action than I recall ever seeing since the trade -- the one sliver lining I took from this game (along with the team making 35 of 37 free throws). The lead got down as low as 11 in the fourth quarter, but the Mavs put together one final run to put the game out of reach.
A few final notes:
- The bench with the exception of Shawne Williams was dreadful and contributed to the game getting out of reach quickly. it's possible Anthony Carter isn't used to getting significant minutes in 4 out of 5 games any more at his age, since he had his second consecutive bad game, and Turiaf looked even worse (12 minutes, 1 blocked shot, 3 fouls, -17), in a game that could have used his defense.
- Jared Jeffries had a miraculous plus/minus of +1 considering the nature of the game, but he was left hung out to dry by his teammates too often on defense (every time he would show on the ballhandler in a high screen situation and direct a teammate to help, the ballhandler just ended up getting a clean path to the basket or a kick to a wide open shooter). Jared also handled the ball a bit too much and paid for it, but a lot of that was the Dallas pressure and his teammates being out of sorts.
- Pick and rolls were over a quarter of the plays the team ran, by far the highest percentage of plays since the trade. Granted, much of it occurred in a blowout, but the team getting more effective with the pick and roll instead of running isolations so heavily is a positive sign for the team learning to work together more smoothly on offense.
Dallas has also had a very packed schedule and so this recap isn't meant to take credit away from their effort, but losing to New Orleans the way they did the other night was the worst thing for the Knicks. At this point, the Knicks can look forward to some rest, and hope that the coaching staff's optimism about Billups' return for Sunday's game against the Pacers really is warranted. Douglas (and his teammates) have performed admirably in his absence, but the team could use his leadership and his ability to direct the offense as the grueling schedule continues to take its toll.
The only saving grace for the Knicks was free throws - in a bizarre inversion of the previous game against Memphis, with sparkling offense but only 4 free throws the entire game, the Knicks got 13 free throws in the first quarter but only 4 FGs. In the meantime, they could not stop the Mavs at all -- on the perimeter, inside, in transition -- and credit must especially be given to the Mavs bench; Tyson Chandler got two early fouls, which would normally have been a positive, but Brendan Haywood picked up the slack against a hobbled Amare. The bench depth of the Mavs was overwhelming: JJ Barea, Jason Terry, even more marginal bench types like Brian Cardinal and Corey Brewer were getting open jumpers and drives against the slovenly defense of the Knicks.
That first half score of 72-51 says it all in terms of just how bad the Knick defense was-- even when the Mavs missed, they got the long rebounds (17 offensive boards) and loose balls against the Knicks' very tired legs. Dallas kept piling on until it got to 88-62, at which point the Knicks put together their best run to get the lead down to 13. Amare, Fields and Douglas fought past their early struggles and were especially good in this stretch, and there was more Melo/Amare pick and roll action than I recall ever seeing since the trade -- the one sliver lining I took from this game (along with the team making 35 of 37 free throws). The lead got down as low as 11 in the fourth quarter, but the Mavs put together one final run to put the game out of reach.
A few final notes:
- The bench with the exception of Shawne Williams was dreadful and contributed to the game getting out of reach quickly. it's possible Anthony Carter isn't used to getting significant minutes in 4 out of 5 games any more at his age, since he had his second consecutive bad game, and Turiaf looked even worse (12 minutes, 1 blocked shot, 3 fouls, -17), in a game that could have used his defense.
- Jared Jeffries had a miraculous plus/minus of +1 considering the nature of the game, but he was left hung out to dry by his teammates too often on defense (every time he would show on the ballhandler in a high screen situation and direct a teammate to help, the ballhandler just ended up getting a clean path to the basket or a kick to a wide open shooter). Jared also handled the ball a bit too much and paid for it, but a lot of that was the Dallas pressure and his teammates being out of sorts.
- Pick and rolls were over a quarter of the plays the team ran, by far the highest percentage of plays since the trade. Granted, much of it occurred in a blowout, but the team getting more effective with the pick and roll instead of running isolations so heavily is a positive sign for the team learning to work together more smoothly on offense.
Dallas has also had a very packed schedule and so this recap isn't meant to take credit away from their effort, but losing to New Orleans the way they did the other night was the worst thing for the Knicks. At this point, the Knicks can look forward to some rest, and hope that the coaching staff's optimism about Billups' return for Sunday's game against the Pacers really is warranted. Douglas (and his teammates) have performed admirably in his absence, but the team could use his leadership and his ability to direct the offense as the grueling schedule continues to take its toll.
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