Knicks 131 Raptors 118: (Air) Mailing It In
Mike D'Antoni stared at the Toronto Raptor team that took the floor last night at Madison Square Garden, and probably had a vision of the Knick team he had to coach the last two years -- the gutted, point-guard poor, wing-heavy group that by April was sleepwalking its way through trainwrecks like last night. Whatever his reservations about the team he has now, he's a happier man for being on the other side.
In short, the Raptors were pretty bad last night. They had to play without Jose Calderon and Leandro Barbosa, and got only token minutes from Andrea Bargnani. They were coming off two very impressive efforts against elite teams (an upset of Orlando and a close game against the Bulls), but against the Knicks they showed up with nothing. The Knicks got off to a 13-0 lead, a run which included a near miraculous Chauncey Billups behind the back pass to Jared Jeffries off the pick and roll, which Jeffries caught cleanly without fumbling for a layup.
But layups weren't the order of the night -- jumpers were. The Knicks took 16 jumpers in the first quarter (out of 21 field goal attempts total), and made 10, including six three pointers. At the start of the second quarter, four of the Knicks' first six baskets were jumpers, and the other two baskets were fastbreak layups as the Knicks piled on further with an 18-4 run in the first 4:30 of the second to build a 57-30 lead and basically end the game.
For such a dominating performance, it was a strange game. The Knicks put up almost zero resistance in transition defense and allowed the Raptor wings to turn the corner a lot off screens and take it right to the basket -- Weems, DeRozan and Bayless had a field day, and DeRozan got a career high 36 by the end of the night. But the Raptors were even worse in contesting anything by the Knicks -- Bill Walker on some possessions might was well have had a "Please Don't Guard Me" sign on him, as open as he was, and Landry Fields blew past DeRozan for two straight-line tomahawk dunks.
And those threes! The player you'd expect to be taking his share of threes, Billups, only took 3 attempts and made one, but Melo and Douglas combined to make 11 of 16 three pointers. Melo had an insane, 30 foot Jimmer/JJ Redick styled bomb as the trailer with 1:19 left in the first half that typified the evening for both teams.
If you were looking for signs of what might work in the playoffs -- more connection between Amare and Billups, or exchanges between Melo and Amare, or some new sets to facilitate greater ball movement -- there wasn't much. There were still rough spots in trying to coordinate the players who are likely to get the most minutes; in the third quarter, it was actually a bit frustrating to see the ball stick on one side with role players while the stars were idle on the weak side on some possessions. But then you'd see Billups just drive past Bayless or Amare catch the ball unimpeded at the elbow and make a jumper, and again, it was that kind of night. If the Raptors were going to concede layups and 3 pointers, the Knicks weren't going to refuse what was in front of them.
Game Notes:
* Poring over numbers in a game like this is pretty meaningless, but the one number I'll flag is offensive rebounds -- the Knicks gave up too many (17 by the Raptors). The Raptors missed 47 shots for the night, and Amare rebounded only five of them in 35 minutes of play, while Ed Davis made him look bad (7 offensive boards).
* Derrick Brown got some burn finally, and he looked very lively with 7 points and a steal in only 10 minutes. D'Antoni seemed to like him enough to indicate he would get more of a look in succeeding games before the playoffs, but I have a hard time picturing him cracking the playoff roster without a functional jumper or some demonstrated ability to help with the rebounding issue the Knicks have. His best shot would be showing some ability to help with perimeter defense, especially with the playoffs looming and either Wade or Pierce posing a huge challenge.
* The fourth quarter was a classic "April in the NBA" quarter. The Raptors kept chipping at the lead, and the Knicks would keep the Raps at arm's length primarily with their second unit and Amare. For a while, the Knicks just stopped guarding second unit fodder like Ajinca (who made them pay) and boxing out Ed Davis seemed like it wasn't worth their time, giving the Raps hope. But the flip side is that the Knicks either ran TD off screens or hit Amare at the elbow over and over, and the Raptors couldn't be bothered to guard the same 2 plays or adjust in any meaningful way.
* Ronny Turiaf got only seven minutes and didn't look near 100 percent, but he still looked like the most versatile interior defender on the team on a night when the team couldn't stop anyone. Keep praying for Ronny to heal.
Tonight will be a more interesting test of the Knicks' evolving chemistry and lineups when they play Philadelphia on the road. It's not likely to be a classic with both teams playing the second night of a back to back, but the Sixers are an excellent defensive team with an elite defender (Igoudala) that can shut down Carmelo, and speedy wings that will punish lazy transition defense. The key matchups will be Amare against Brand, Melo vs Igoudala, Billups against Jrue Holiday, and bench players like Douglas and Thad Young are likely to contribute significantly as well. These teams have played three entertaining games this season, and tonight should be no different.
In short, the Raptors were pretty bad last night. They had to play without Jose Calderon and Leandro Barbosa, and got only token minutes from Andrea Bargnani. They were coming off two very impressive efforts against elite teams (an upset of Orlando and a close game against the Bulls), but against the Knicks they showed up with nothing. The Knicks got off to a 13-0 lead, a run which included a near miraculous Chauncey Billups behind the back pass to Jared Jeffries off the pick and roll, which Jeffries caught cleanly without fumbling for a layup.
But layups weren't the order of the night -- jumpers were. The Knicks took 16 jumpers in the first quarter (out of 21 field goal attempts total), and made 10, including six three pointers. At the start of the second quarter, four of the Knicks' first six baskets were jumpers, and the other two baskets were fastbreak layups as the Knicks piled on further with an 18-4 run in the first 4:30 of the second to build a 57-30 lead and basically end the game.
For such a dominating performance, it was a strange game. The Knicks put up almost zero resistance in transition defense and allowed the Raptor wings to turn the corner a lot off screens and take it right to the basket -- Weems, DeRozan and Bayless had a field day, and DeRozan got a career high 36 by the end of the night. But the Raptors were even worse in contesting anything by the Knicks -- Bill Walker on some possessions might was well have had a "Please Don't Guard Me" sign on him, as open as he was, and Landry Fields blew past DeRozan for two straight-line tomahawk dunks.
And those threes! The player you'd expect to be taking his share of threes, Billups, only took 3 attempts and made one, but Melo and Douglas combined to make 11 of 16 three pointers. Melo had an insane, 30 foot Jimmer/JJ Redick styled bomb as the trailer with 1:19 left in the first half that typified the evening for both teams.
If you were looking for signs of what might work in the playoffs -- more connection between Amare and Billups, or exchanges between Melo and Amare, or some new sets to facilitate greater ball movement -- there wasn't much. There were still rough spots in trying to coordinate the players who are likely to get the most minutes; in the third quarter, it was actually a bit frustrating to see the ball stick on one side with role players while the stars were idle on the weak side on some possessions. But then you'd see Billups just drive past Bayless or Amare catch the ball unimpeded at the elbow and make a jumper, and again, it was that kind of night. If the Raptors were going to concede layups and 3 pointers, the Knicks weren't going to refuse what was in front of them.
Game Notes:
* Poring over numbers in a game like this is pretty meaningless, but the one number I'll flag is offensive rebounds -- the Knicks gave up too many (17 by the Raptors). The Raptors missed 47 shots for the night, and Amare rebounded only five of them in 35 minutes of play, while Ed Davis made him look bad (7 offensive boards).
* Derrick Brown got some burn finally, and he looked very lively with 7 points and a steal in only 10 minutes. D'Antoni seemed to like him enough to indicate he would get more of a look in succeeding games before the playoffs, but I have a hard time picturing him cracking the playoff roster without a functional jumper or some demonstrated ability to help with the rebounding issue the Knicks have. His best shot would be showing some ability to help with perimeter defense, especially with the playoffs looming and either Wade or Pierce posing a huge challenge.
* The fourth quarter was a classic "April in the NBA" quarter. The Raptors kept chipping at the lead, and the Knicks would keep the Raps at arm's length primarily with their second unit and Amare. For a while, the Knicks just stopped guarding second unit fodder like Ajinca (who made them pay) and boxing out Ed Davis seemed like it wasn't worth their time, giving the Raps hope. But the flip side is that the Knicks either ran TD off screens or hit Amare at the elbow over and over, and the Raptors couldn't be bothered to guard the same 2 plays or adjust in any meaningful way.
* Ronny Turiaf got only seven minutes and didn't look near 100 percent, but he still looked like the most versatile interior defender on the team on a night when the team couldn't stop anyone. Keep praying for Ronny to heal.
Tonight will be a more interesting test of the Knicks' evolving chemistry and lineups when they play Philadelphia on the road. It's not likely to be a classic with both teams playing the second night of a back to back, but the Sixers are an excellent defensive team with an elite defender (Igoudala) that can shut down Carmelo, and speedy wings that will punish lazy transition defense. The key matchups will be Amare against Brand, Melo vs Igoudala, Billups against Jrue Holiday, and bench players like Douglas and Thad Young are likely to contribute significantly as well. These teams have played three entertaining games this season, and tonight should be no different.
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