WHY?... Have we won the last 5 games?

and not have adjustments to make.

but when new players come in to the fold- how quickly they adjust is the real barometer.

if bill walker, bless his heart, doesn’t get to shootbecause his shots go to carmelo anthony, and likewise, jared jeffries’ shotsgo to stoudemire, this team will start to score in hailstorms.

consider that jeffries shots tend to miss, altho somehow he’s been shooting well this year. but other times jeffries doesn’t shoot and pulls it out, then hands it off to fields, lin et al. that takes another ten seconds off the clock to re-establish an attack. if its just stoudemire getting those in rhythm jumpers at the top of the key, we’re gonna get some automatic points, and its going to create more possessions per game.

then there’s bill walker, similar to jeffries the guy is a liability when trying to score. not nearly as egregious as jeffries, but i’d actually argue that jeffries makes more things work on offense. but anyway- bill walker is not as good of a shooter or creator as carmelo anthony. and when the initial pick and roll doesn’t get a layup or dunk, it will get kicked out either directly to an open anthony or anthony will be one pass away. and it will be devastating.

but the simple fact remains. toney douglas was stopping his dribble 30 feet from the hoop every time. shumpert was stopping his dribble 15 feet from the hoop every time and lin never gives up his dribble. so much of our action comes off the pick and roll play, if you have to make your scoring wing, the pick and roll ball handler, you are out a scoring wing. and sure, melo and chandler p&r’s payed dividends, but you need melo and stoudemire to get the ball of action going to the rim.

anyway, the team will be fine. its no use to condemn them after a bad game or three, and its silly to laud them as the eventual champion if they win a game or three.

the team has won the last five because the chemistry is there. the talent is missing. baron and melo are hurt. amar’e is contending with life’s greater issues. but the team will rally around the players and help them through their struggles.

in summation, the coach has fostered a horrible community of ingrates, who don’t like being around one another and don’t do what they’re told because theywant to win the game by themselves and leave their teammates out in the cold, therefore we should fire the entire coaching staff, minus kenny atkinson.

chemistry wins in basketball. Sure you can have all the talent in the world, but if that talent doesn’t have chemistry it will fail.

I think Mare and Carmelo will fit in, for some reason I do. Amar’e is easy to figure out, he’ll fit. To me the only thing with Mare is if his mind is right. I wouldn’t blame him if it isn’t.

Carmelo’s watching this. He knows what he needs to do. And I think he will. He did his shit in the past cuz he had to. Or at least he felt he had to. But now we have a guy that can poke and prod the defense and get guys good looks. He can create. He’s smart with the rock. He can do his own thing if he needs to.

I think Lin’s for real and I think he’s the poor man’s Steven Nash we’ve basically always needed here. Felton and Billups were solid, steady presences at the 1, but neither could create for others like Lin can. And Lin’s only scoring as much as he is cuz his PF is Jared Fucking Jeffries and the 3 is Landry and Bully Walker. He’s got to score, and he is. But eventually he won’t have to.

I have an erection.

Stat will be back for sure on Tuesday, and Melo is supposedly progressing well and probably will return this week as well. Knicks will benefit from the shitty teams they’re playing, and should be able to incorporate them into the offense and still win. I can’t see Stat having a problem because a good point guard is what he’s been lacking this year. As for Melo, I would be shocked if he’s a problem. The guy’s been doubled and beaten all year, and now he has a chance to shoot open jumpers and only have to deal with one man when he drives to the hoop. The game will be much more fun for him.

It’s because a) we’ve been playing good defense, and b) we haven’t wasted possessions on offense because Lin has been decisive, creative and aggressive in initiating the offense, and he’s also been hitting shots.

I’ve kind of calmed down from the Lin euphoria and I’m just looking forward to following this team – I feel they will compete on both ends night in and night out, and they now have good players at pretty much every position on the floor.

Anyone heard of Joe Johnson? Guess where he blew up. PHOENIX, WITH D’ANTONI, NEXT TO STEVE NASH.

Nowadays he’s an iso scorer, but he got his start as the prototypical D’Antoni 3. Who plays like Joe Johnson on this team hmmm…I wonder.

As for the intangibles, yes Lin has inspired this team in a way Melo was unable to, but that doesn’t mean he’s the anti-hustle guy or something.

How many times has Lin found Walker wide-open with the option to drive or hit a quick 3, and Walker somehow fudges it up? Melo would turn 70 to 80% of those opportunities into points. And Walker has no ability to pass off of that. Melo can do that better as well.

Just like when we were losing due to a combo of reasons, I think the recent success is due to a combo of reasons as well, the largest being Lin. I think it’s both talent and intangibles though. I see no reason to pick between the two. They both play a part in our new found success.

BDiddy. We’ve got to be able to get 10 -15 out of him soon or our goose is going to run out of golden eggs.