They sound hot.

Continue reading this post »

Breaking news at this hour! All the beat reporters just simultaneously twat some updates regarding Carmelo Anthony's litany of injuries. Here's Howard Beck:

Carmelo taking next two games off to rest his injuries, D'Antoni says. Could return tues.

It's a wise move, I think. Melo, in my opinion, played more intelligently and chose his shots more wisely in the last two games than he did in the Nuggets game and prior. But with both hands all wrapped and riveted up, one ankle hurting, and that back/side still hampering him, he just couldn't convert good, open looks he's accustomed to making (something he just admitted was hurting the team). New York will be hard-pressed to compete with the Heat and Rockets no matter what, and Melo rimming out easy shots wouldn't help much anyway.

I'd expect Bill Walker to start in his place, as was the case when Melo missed that game in Oklahoma City. Walker has historically been pretty focused in match-ups with LeBron James, (or perhaps I completely invented that. Whatever.) so that'll be interesting to watch. I'd also expect Jared Jeffries to spin a bit as the small forward, and maybe-- MAYBE-- we might get some time with Renaldo Balkman and/or three-point prophet Steve Novak (HEY! STEVE!). Who knows? Maybe the short-handed Knicks will get hot from outside or something and take a game this weekend.

This all sets up next Tuesday's game at home against the Pistons-- a theoretically winnable game-- as a probable return date for Melo and possible debut for Baron Davis. Intriguing!

The main purpose of this post is to direct you to Alan Hahn's newest "Knicks Fix" (now over at MSG), but it's also here to showcase the impeccable flow of one Mike D'Antoni. Here he is spitting about, well, flow, actually:

"That's what we have to do and we're not doing it all the time. And then because we can't score points, every little thing is magnified . . . We have to open our offense up, we gotta run, we gotta move the ball and we gotta go. We gotta go. It's gotta move, it's gotta flow. And right now we can't get the flow."

You can witness the rhymes at about 1:07 of the linked video. It's a stretch, but if I can't find ways to distract myself from the Knicks' on-court product right now, I'm gonna lose my mind and start snatching schoolchildren.

But...uh...anyway, the section on the Knicks' offensive struggles is worth a look, as is Hahn's bit about New York's three-point shooting. He, like many of us, figures that letting Steve Novak spin might at least be worth a shot. Couldn't possibly hurt.

I don't think anybody's expecting much from Baron Davis in his first few games, but just a glimpse of the guy-- a cool layup, a fancy pass, a confident beard stroke-- would really help break up the early season monotony we've been witnessing. There was fleeting hope that he'd make a cameo last night against his old team, but no such luck. And the next one's not sounding to promising either. From Al Iannazzone:

"It’s just a matter of when I can get over that last bit of soreness, that last bit of pain, and continue to get stronger, being able to push for an extended period of time," Davis said. "Right now I can go in spurts. I’m just not comfortable mentally or physically out there."

Friday in Miami — a nationally televised game — remains doubtful with a possible return Saturday in Houston. But there’s no guarantees Davis is in or out for any game on the trip.

"It might be a little much," coach Mike D’Antoni said of Davis facing the Heat. "I’ll talk to the medical staff. Might not be the best game to do it, but we’ll see.’’

Yeah, it's best that he take his time. We can be patient. I'll just grin creepily at this video of him talking about being tired and out of shape again. Patient as a...puma. No need to rush.

...

How about now?

So, uh, I suppose the suspicions that New York's rousing victory last night was largely the result of a terrible, short-handed opponent were right on point. Against a better defensive team with folks who actually liked hitting shots sometimes, our old friend returned, just like ny knickerbocker said in the thread. The lazy, sloppy ball movement, the settling for ill-fated threes, the careless switching on defense, and the overall lack of any discernible will all resurfaced at even the slightest display of resistance from the opponent. There's absolutely no reason for a team capable of the things we saw last night (and in stretches of tonight's first half) to whither so completely against the Cavaliers-- an un-terrible but totally vulnerable team-- but that's just how it's been so far this season.

Take the jump for some quick notes.

Continue reading this post »

Bad shots, bad defensive rotations, bad rebounding, bad passing, bad dribbling, bad running around, bad looking at stuff, bad wearing shorts, bad having hair...

Bad everything, you see.

Evening, grapefaces! The Knicks' road trip continues tonight in Cleveland, the Land of Enchantment. We were getting a little excited that Baron Davis might make his Knicks debut (in a cameo) this evening, but he will not do that. The rest of the Knicks, however, will play, and will look to build upon last night's merciless smothering of the Bobcats.

The Cavs own a nearly identical record to the Knicks and have added Kyrie Irving to a lineup that throttled New York a few times last season (although they subtracted Baron Davis, who killed the Knicks at least once), so I wouldn't count on another blowout.

Meanwhile, New York will be wearing white because the Cavs want to wear their "wine jerseys". Don't be alarmed.

Comment here if you're watching, check out Fear the Sword, and please refrain from posting photos, .gifs, illegal streams, and e-books about ox leather in the thread. Let's make it two straight, eh Knicks?

Tip-off's at 7.

They don't seem that cavalier to me.

Continue reading this post »