| 14 January 2010
(I joined Derek and Brian for their latest Blog Talk Radio show, check it at www.sixersbeat.com, the podcast of 14 March is uploaded there. My guido voice should be at around the 1 hour mark or so, just before the end. Tom Moore was the special guest)
Who is to blame for the 92-93 home loss to the Knicks (12-26, .316)?
Ouh, I have few names to mention.
1) First is Rodney Carney. You simply have to make that last second, uncontested shot. Nice dish (Iverson), open look, feet set, in rythm, coming off eleven fourth quarter points, that included three tryes. Clank.
Thought: it shouldn't be Carney to take a last second shot ! Bullshit. I was fine with the play. Speights got double teamed in the low post, he threw out a decent pass to Iverson, who went for a drive, defense reacted, and Allen set up Carney.
Rodney had the hot hand last night, and he was in a great position on the possession: he had hit another three exactly from that spot earlier in the game.
I'd even say Carney's shot was WAY better than Dalembert's jump hook of the night before. Ironically, Sam knocked it down, while Carney missed it. So nobody will remember the excellent job he did prior to that. It's s a shame that a good/great game like that ends with a decisive miss.
2) Second is Iguodala. It's not the 2/9 overall that disturbs me, that can happen. It's the 0/6 from behind the arc. And the ZERO free throws attempted. I'm not blaming him because he missed six threes, but because he took so many. Should have stopped at three. He was pulling a Kyle Korver while he is... Iguodala.
Of course, a good coach maybe would have told him that. Or called plays for him. Or pulled him out for a while, given that Knicks were playing so much zone. Instead he stayed in for his usual 40 minutes, jacking up threes.
3) Third comes Eddie Jordan, because... well, because you never miss by blaming Eddie Jordan. Knicks played extended stretches of zone defense and the best 3 pt shooter of the team got a DNP CD, while Iguodala took six shots from downtown. Sense?
Then you have the lack of substitutions down the stretch, when he had many timeouts to make the basic defense/offense changes and never did, leaving Iverson and Speights on the court for key defensive possessions. Outcome: from the 90-86 lead with only 1.30 to play to the final 92-93, with Lee hitting an open jumper from the baseline and then the decisive basket, a layup (in the pic)... I liked the Speights move, though: putting him in for the first time with 8.40 minutes to play. It paid off, Speihts responded very well.
3) Third comes a pretty crowded group of players. Brand, Young, Williams and Iguodala combined for 8/38: that is 21%, guys. Take out the aforementioned Iguodala and you still have 6/29, 20%. Details below. (more after the jump)THREE ANSWERS
1) No, Brand simply can't finish under the rim. I am getting sick of the missed layup-offensive rebound-pump fake-pump fake-pump fake-foul/missed shot/off foul plays... and he's going on with the streak of poor rebounding games, that's really alarming.
2) Yes, Dalembert had another monster game, taking full advantage of the fact that Knicks play with no center. 12, 21 and 2 on 75% from the floor is dwighthowardesque. Again, trade him NOW.
3) No, Thad can't find any consistency, and continues to miss shots he was hitting easily before. He was slightly better under the boards, averagely bad on defense.
THREE QUESTIONS
1) How can you lose a game in which you keep your opponent, a good three point shooting team, to 5/19 from downtown, outrebound it 54-27 (!!) and hold a 25-8 fastbreak edge? Ask Sixers.. maybe because they continued to shoot long, rushed jumpers against the (far from great) Knicks' zone defense?
2) How come Speights be our only go-to-guy in crunch time? He and Carney combined for 21 of the team's 24 points in the fourth... Speights knocked down a couple of big, big shots, the biggest one on a 1-vs-1 drive, off the glass, with 26 seconds left. It could have been the game winner (92-91). His team mates were simply watching and hoping for the best...
3) How could Jared Jeffries be New York's top scorer at the break (11)? His 15 points are a season high... Jared effin' Jeffries !! Clearly Knicks are showcasing him, he was taking shots he NEVER takes (I watched some Knicks games this year).
REASONS
Why we lost the game
Had no...answers against their zone, when Iverson (8/10 at a point, many off 17-18 footers) cooled off, we struggled a lot, Carney was the only reliable offensive weapon.
To be optimistic
If you are a tanker, you surely noticed our record is again the 4th worst in the League... Holiday played another solid game, at this rate he will be a starter by the mid of next season and Lou Williams will be either gone or moved to the bench again.
To be worried
All of the above +... Young's involution is really alarming, and I don't see any way to stop this process anytime soon. Again, maybe he should focus more on defense, and just on that, and perhaps offense will follow. The fact that we lose a ton of close games is another bad, bad sign.
Friday against Sacramento, that will probably have Kevin Martin back. Good for my fantasy team.
