Sixers 93 Knicks 85

Sticking with the unexpected nature of this season’s preseason the Knicks actually played much better defense then offense last night. Despite having their best defensive performance in the Mike D’Antoni era the Knicks fell yet again to an average Philadelphia 76er team. I understand the Sixers are a better team then the Knicks, but are they better to the point of dominating us every time we meet. Andre Miller was by far the biggest Knick killer during his tenure with the Sixers so hopefully this trend of being dismantled by the Sixers will come to an end.

Game Notes

* This team needs to get tougher. The Knicks team I fell in love with, was built around the principal of; when you drive the lane you’re going to end up on your ass. As the Knicks are constituted now the new principal is; we’ll talk a good game but when it comes to getting physical, we’d rather jack up three pointers.

Lou Williams who has the body of a high school sophomore drove the lane for uncontested lay ups time after time last night. It got so bad that Williams often started his uncontested trips to the basket at the half court line. I mean seriously Lou Williams is going to carve your defense up. This isn’t Chris Paul, or Devin Harris this is Lou f’n Williams. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if one of our big men would have given him a hard foul just once during the game Williams would have been content to settle for outside jumpers.

For the second straight game a Knick player took an elbow in the face which needed medical attention. While Elton Brand’s elbow should have been a foul I highly doubt it was on purpose, that being said it was an opportunity for Jared Jefferies and his teammates to take a stand and let the rest of the league know that stuff isn’t going to happen anymore. It’s actually a perfect opportunity for Jarred Jefferies to get into a fight with Elton Brand. I’d imagine that both players would be suspended for 5 games which would mean Brand would miss the first meeting between these teams in the regular season.

* 7-41 from three point land. I repeat 7-41 from three point land. That’s just sad folks. It’s not even like the Sixers were playing suffocating defense. I’d say at least 20 of those three point shots were completed uncontested. I’m actually going to give them the benefit of the doubt on the awful shooting. From everything I’ve read D’Antoni has run a tough training camp and that means the players legs are gone. Other then Galinari this team lacks a knock down jump shooter but there’s no way they are that bad of a shooting team.

I’m not worried about the shooting percentage; I’m worried about the three point shooting attempts. Shooting 41 three point field goals in a game screams to this team not being tough. When your shots not falling you have to attack the rim but they continued to jack up shots that had little to no chance of dropping.

* A starting lineup of Duhon, Chandler, Harrington, Jefferies, and Lee simply isn’t going to cut it. You can’t have a starting lineup that has one player (Harrington) who can create his own shot. I think you have to insert either Nate Robinson or Galinari into the starting lineup. I’d probably lean to replacing Jefferies with Galinari just because Robinson has proved he’s a good 6th man.

* Wilson Chandler was brutal last night. Again I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt on his shooting (7-18 2-10 from 3). Chandler is a mediocre shooter but has to attack the basket. When your 6’8 and all muscle you probably should look to attack the rim from time to time.

* While Wilson Chandler was brutal Larry Hughes (0-8) was absolutely awful. I’m pretty sure I could beat Larry Hughes in a game of HORSE right now. The sad part is Larry Hughes is a great perimeter defender. I can’t fathom how he ever averaged 21ppg during a season. If Larry Hughes could shoot the ball at all he would be our starting shooting guard.

* Galinari shot the ball bad but that’s one player I’m not worried about when it comes to shooting the ball. What I’m really worried about is his unselfishness. He never seems to force the issue. D’Antoni needs to call some plays for Galinari when he enters the game to help get him into a groove. Along with D’Antoni calling some early plays for him, Gallo needs to develop that killer instinct great scorers have. When he sees Jason Kapono guarding him, he needs to ask for the ball every trip down the floor.

* The biggest obstacle this team faces is that they have zero players that demand a double team. David Lee and Al Harrington put up numbers but they don’t scare a defense. When a defense can stay out home and not concentrate on stopping one player it really makes playing defense much easier. The lack of a legit scoring option makes shooting at a high percentage a must.

* If the NBA starts the season with replacement referees its going to be a travesty. The refs were awful last night. Nate Robinson missed a free throw and yelled in disgust only to receive a technical foul. Have these guys never watched a basketball game before? Almost every player makes some sort of noise when he misses a free throw.

* The one real positive from last night’s game was the defense. With our offensive system we will win a lot of games if we hold the opposition to 93 points. I’m not sure we’ll ever be a good defensive team but we do have a good amount of players who can play solid defense. Robinson, Chandler, Hughes, Galinari, Jefferies, and Douglas can all play good defense it’s up to D’Antoni to come up with a defensive concept that works.


This is a Knicks blog but to prove my flexibility as a sports fan I’m going to take a stab at predicting the AL and NL Championship Series.

Yankees vs. Angels: Yankees in 6

I’d love to pick the Angels but the Yankees are just too good right now. The only chance the Angels have is that the 3 man pitching rotation might be pushing Andy Petite and AJ Burnett to much.

Dodgers vs. Phillies: Dodgers in 7

Other then the bullpen the Phillies have the edge over the Dodgers in almost every facet of the game. That being said I just have a feeling the Dodgers are due and the baseball gods (Television networks) really want to see Torre vs. the Yankees.