“Who? George Karl? Man, he’s Old Hat…”
After a disappointing finish on Christmas Day versus the Celtics at Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks fly into A-Town to face the visiting Atlanta Hawks (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, MSG in NYC). No, that’s not a typo. The way they’ve performed over much of the past forty days, the Hawks are the “road team” in 30 NBA arenas, until further notice.
Rue to Atlantans who have stayed True To Atlanta throughout this month-plus-long funk, their Hawks (15-16) coming back to Philips Arena with their tailfeathers between their legs after getting walloped once again. Their latest furball was coughed up in lowly Minnesota, falling behind the Wolves by 28 in the third quarter, 29 in the fourth, after their hosts had just returned on a cross-country red-eye from a loss in OKC the night before.
Just five days prior to that game, those same Wolves sprinted out to a 12-2 start before the Hawks decided to take the Philips Arena floor. The “home” game before that, with a chance to take over the top spot in the Southeast Division, Atlanta watched Charlotte zip to a 16-point third-quarter lead. The “home” game before that one, the Hawks let one of the NBA’s worst offenses score 30+ points in three different quarters, watching Orlando go up 12 near the end of the half, then up 13 midway through the final quarter.
The “home” game before that, down 15 at “home” in the third quarter versus OKC, while Russ Westbrook is resting. Before that, they go down in the 30s against Kyle Lowry in Toronto, then slipping down into the 40s once Fred VanVleet subs in. Before that, a “home” game against a Pistons team that’s today on the verge of implosion, yet Detroit’s up by 24 before the clock could reach halftime, up 33 at the end of the third, 36 by the end of the game.
Losing by 15 in the Lakers’ house, by 27 in Utah, by 18 at home against New Orleans, down 20 in Milwaukee. Inexcusable double-digit deficits leading to inexplicable L’s, with some crawl-back W’s sprinkled into the mix every now and then. That is no way to live. What’s that? We’ve won five of our last nine? “Oh, good for you!” [/christianbalevoice]
“True” as we may seem, Hawks fans won’t be coming downtown to offer up Citizen Kane applause for bad, lifeless, uncompetitive “pro” basketball. What’s “True”? We’re just fine with leaving the empty seats for the wannabe Jesse Itzlers of the world to fill tonight.
Carmelo Anthony has no time to worry about his wife’s teen-era NBA squad. He’s got his own set of problems to deal with. His Zen Master boss is less concerned about tying the knot with Jeanie Buss than he is about reminding people that Melo holds the ball too long. His former coach is peddling a tell-all book at Christmastime, leaking snippets to entice the anti-Melo contingent to get in their pre-orders while they still can.
Anthony called Phil Jackson’s critique “negativity,” and a “temporary black cloud”. Then along comes George Karl to rain on his parade even more. Karl cites Melo’s “low demand of himself on defense… no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy,” and comparing the Knicks star to a “blister” that offered a “sweet release” (ick.) once his trade demand went heeded by Denver.
Karl also offered up a side heaping of shade when he pinned Carmelo’s shortcomings on a non-existent father; in his case, a father that died from cancer when Melo was 2 years old. Would ya like to hear more about Melo? Why, Karl will be very happy to tell you, for just $19.99, plus shipping and handling.
Anthony understandably wants to steer the subject away from the self-satisfied Grumpy Old Men, and back toward his contributions toward a Knicks team that, at 16-14, is 5th in the duck soup called the Eastern Conference. Off the court, before the Christmas Day game, he and his foundation delivered a new car to the family of a teen struggling with a rare form of cancer.
On the court, a give-and-go layup from Carmelo assisted by Joakim Noah helped New York tie the Celts with just 1:06 to play, a sign of the work coach Jeff Hornacek has been putting into the revamped Knicks offense.
But then, with 40 seconds to go and Boston back in front by 3, Melo lapsed into the type of Melo-ball that must have had Phil running to reporters screaming, “See?”, while warming the cockles of wherever Karl’s heart resides. Melo, in the space of 20 seconds: a missed 3, but gets the ball back after a rebound by Noah; ball-stopping iso dribble in the far corner, fumbling the ball while trying to get a contested shot up on Avery Bradley, who strips and steals the ball away.
Now, Anthony’s got much more than bitter coaching legends straying from his corner. Relying so heavily on isolation plays from him plus guard Derrick Rose, New York’s 41 made baskets featured just 11 assists. The Knicks’ comeback march from 13 points down with under 5 minutes to go in the game was made possible by 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis, whose 3-pointer (assisted, ironically, by Melo) and And-1 basket in the space of 15 seconds whittled an 8-point deficit down to 2.
The Porzstar also had 7 of his 12 rebounds in the final quarter, plus four blocks, a pair of threes and a pair of steals in the game. No player in NBA history has averaged more than two triples and two swats over the course of a season, but Porzingis (2.1 3FGs per game, on 40.3 3FG%; 1.9 BPG) is right on the cusp.
Nobody wants to hear about Carmelo’s 29 points (on 33 shots; 9-for-24 FGs; 9-for-9 FTs) versus the Celtics. No one wants to hear about KP’s five turnovers against Boston, either. But everyone seems eager to talk about one of Anthony’s two turnovers, the one that mattered when the game’s outcome still hung in the balance.
Melo was once paraded about as the toast of Gotham, but now, it’s Porzingis who’s the Big Apple of Knicks fans’ eyes. No more transitioning: fans want Kris P Kreme to be the top billing, right now. Once again tonight, Anthony will do all he can to steer the narrative away, from the growing urge to steer him away from Manhattan.
The Hawks had no answers for him (31 points, 12-for-22 FGs) back on November 20, Atlanta shooting just 6-for-21 as a team from the perimeter while Melo casually sunk four of his eight attempts from deep. Kent Bazemore and Paul Millsap were at wit’s end. But perhaps Atlanta will have defensive help tonight in the form of Thabo Sefolosha (3 blocks, 3-for-4 3FGs @ MIN), who had missed the game at MSG and two games prior to it to rest a sprained knee.
If he bothers to pass the ball, Anthony could find Courtney Lee waiting in the wing. Lee’s 46.7 3FG% ranks 2nd in the NBA, and it’s even better from the corners (54.3 3FG%). Rose, Porzingis, and Melo aren’t exactly creating looks for Lee, so Hornacek is encouraging him to take more shots when he receives the ball, even when contested, rather than waiting for someone to find him wide open for catch-and-shoot attempts. Lee has been dealing with a sore wrist and sat out of practice yesterday, but he is listed as probable to play tonight.
Your ex-Hawk killer for the evening is Justin Holiday, now on his fifth team in four NBA seasons. J-Ho ranks second to Brandon Jennings with 6.7 PPG coming off the Knicks’ bench, while also shooting 38.2 3FG% and 85.3 FT%. If Thabo is occupied helping contain Carmelo, then Kent Bazemore and Taurean Prince are going to have a busy day trying to keep Knicks like Lee and Holiday cool from outside. Former Knick Tim Hardaway, Jr. will test his groin during warmups before it’s decided whether he’ll play.
Your leading dime-dropper on the Knicks? It’s not Rose (4.4 APG), it’s Jennings, whose 5.4 APG are mostly delivered while coming off the bench. Jennings has been beneficial to New York so long as he’s not expected to do much more than distribute (37.2 FG%; career-low 30.8 3FG%) when he’s in the game.
With Rose and Jennings being such poor on-ball defenders, today’s game is another test to see if Malcolm Delaney (1-for-4 FGs and 4 TOs @ NYK on Nov. 20; 1-for-6 FGs and 4 TOs @ MIN on Monday) has reached the floor.
Dennis Schröder went 0-for-8 shooting the ball in MSG last month, and will again be counted upon to bounce back quickly after a subpar game in Minnesota. It will begin by pressuring Rose out of his comfort zones, and forcing turnovers, before Rose initiates his fantastical forays toward the hoop. 36.5 percent of Rose’s attempts are at the rim, the highest proportion since his rookie season in Chicago, and his 55.7 2FG% drops off precipitously as he settles for shots further out.
Paul Millsap was shooting 2-for-13 in Minnesota, a game interrupted by an inadvertent third-quarter elbow that has his eye swollen even today. “I didn’t play any worse than before I got elbowed,” he told the AJC after the game. The All-Star forward insists his vision isn’t obscured by his swollen eye, and it won’t be further obscured tonight by the 7-foot-3 Knick defending him. Besides, Sap can probably do better than 2-for-13 with his eyes closed.
Defensively, look for Millsap to switch out to defend Noah, who is more dangerous as a post passer and a pick setter than as a scoring threat, and for Dwight Howard (18 points, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks vs. NYK in November; 20&12, 9-for-9 FGs @ MIN on Monday) to use his size to keep Porzingis’ paint scoring down.
On Monday night, Dwight could only watch as Karl-Anthony Towns matched Howard’s perfect shooting day with an 8-for-8 display of his own (incl. a Porzingian 3-for-3 3FGs), while also getting almost anything else he wanted (11 boards, 4 assists, 3 blocks, 1 TO). Howard will try to make amends tonight, but to help keep him anchored in the middle, Millsap will need to stay on Porzingis when the lanky Latvian hangs around the three-point line.
It shouldn’t take injuries and ailments for Mike Budenholzer to recognize there are other players down on the bench at his disposal. Yet there sat Minnesotan Kris Humphries, who finally entered in the final quarter with Atlanta losing by 24, promptly dropping 12&5 on the T’Wolves.
Even with Hardaway unavailable, Taurean Prince subs in for the first time during that quarter for Kyle Korver with Atlanta down 94-66, and together with Humphries the Hawks begin cutting the Wolves’ deficit in half, even while Towns and Zach LaVine were still in the game.
Budenholzer is supposed to know his personnel well enough to pull the plug and switch things up, well before games like this get out of hand. He certainly can’t hide behind the team president for building him a 15-man roster on the cheap. Whether at “home” or abroad, double-digit deficits only seem to encourage Coach Bud to double-down on what hasn’t worked.
The Hawks coach’s persistence in not adjusting game plans and personnel is eroding consumer confidence in not only his product, but his means of production. If (when) the Hawks on the floor revert to that head-buried-in-sand mode again tonight, we’ll see whether Coach Bud has learned anything from the fourth quarter in Minnesota.
Sure, the Hawks need more time to recalibrate and gel and whatnot. But it doesn’t mean fans should expect to endure collective flops on the floor against mediocre competition, especially whenever Atlanta’s only guaranteed All-Star Weekend participant is on the 1s and 2s. Dig another double-digit-deep hole in front of a Knicks-friendly crowd tonight, and Hawks’ fans shouldn’t be surprised if Itzler fills in for Sir Foster (DNP-he’s in Paris for France’s All-Star Game) and plays some “Go NY, Go NY Go!”, just for old time’s sake.
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
