Official Game Thread: Hawks - Knicks

[Ruckus]

Ahhhh Smoove...I hate u so much sometimes

Over and back and then a moving screen. This is not the time Josh (as if there is ever a time).

[Admin]

Over and back and then a moving screen. This is not the time Josh (as if there is ever a time).

And then Carmelo treats Josh like Jodie Foster in the accused. Great D there Josh.

[ryandauwalker]

Over and back and then a moving screen. This is not the time Josh (as if there is ever a time).

Don't forget the great D on Melo. Horrible call though

[Admin]

3 seconds left on the clock he fires up a hail Mary rather than passing to the wide open Deshawn who actually can shoot 3s. I'm so completely done with this guy.

[Guest]

And to cap it off...a smoove 3..... Haha...he single handedly won the game for NY...way to go Josh...I wouldn't give u the league minimum much less the max...only thing that upsets me is we have to wait another 3 weeks before we trade smoove

[MrMeltdown]

8 rebounds between Al and Josh

[Q45T]

One of them has to go... I honestly don't care which.

[suiluap]

OMG. Felton was on Horford near FT line and Smoove attempted a 3-pointer instead of pass. No words...It's 4AM in my country and Smoove pissed me off.

Edited January 28, 2013 by suiluap

[AHawks89]

A dunk from tonights game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6_givH7qok

[Mully]

The terrible defense on Melo cost us the game .... duh ! No finger pointing cause its damn obvious who it was...

Good notes:

Teague is killing it... seriously folks Kyle Lowry over Teague ? WTF is that a bad joke ?

Korver must be kept on whatever we have to pay him next year just a great all-round player and influence.

[suiluap]

Let's get back to the last play. Yeah, we all know that it was terrible but..

1. Horford 8/8 from the field. Enough space to take a shot. He's better shooter from that distance than Dirk is.
2. DeShawn was in the rhythm last night. He's good corner 3pt specialist.

Two no-brainer choices but oh well... Nuff said. GOOD JOB, GOOD EFFORT JOSH! lol

[macdaddy]

Let's get back to the last play. Yeah, we all know that it was terrible but..

1. Horford 8/8 from the field. Enough space to take a shot. He's better shooter from that distance than Dirk is.

2. DeShawn was in the rhythm last night. He's good corner 3pt specialist.

Two no-brainer choices but oh well... Nuff said. GOOD JOB, GOOD EFFORT JOSH! lol

Nice pict. That 2.8 on the clock is after a huge wind up by Josh. He caught the ball with almost 4 seconds. This is almost exactly what happened to end our season last year. SSDD

[Admin]

Excellent pictures!! I was going to see if I could find that play from last night to end it just in case people didn't believe how wide open Deshawn was. Please Ferry trade him as soon as possible!!!!

[jhay610]

One thing that should be corrected for the record -- yes Carmelo beat Josh on that last bucket, but there should have been help ready when Carmelo caught it face up from the elbow.

Horford was the main culprit -- he had followed his guy to the other side of the paint. The rule is that you put your head under the basket when you are two passes away opposite the ball, all the more when you have a playmaker like Carmelo facing up a weak on-ball defender.

So, I don't put that on Josh.

Also, LD had me really heated when he was just chillin' watching 4 bench scrubs get their brakes beat off for a 16-0 run.

Josh's illegal screen was on Teague for leaving before the pick was set.

The other stuff -- the over and back and the late three, as well as getting beat so easily to the rack (at least turn Melo one time instead of letting him sprint you to the rim), is all on Josh.

[macdaddy]

One thing that should be corrected for the record -- yes Carmelo beat Josh on that last bucket, but there should have been help ready when Carmelo caught it face up from the elbow.

Horford was the main culprit -- he had followed his guy to the other side of the paint. The rule is that you put your head under the basket when you are two passes away opposite the ball, all the more when you have a playmaker like Carmelo facing up a weak on-ball defender.

So, I don't put that on Josh.

Also, LD had me really heated when he was just chillin' watching 4 bench scrubs get their brakes beat off for a 16-0 run.

Josh's illegal screen was on Teague for leaving before the pick was set.

The other stuff -- the over and back and the late three, as well as getting beat so easily to the rack (at least turn Melo one time instead of letting him sprint you to the rim), is all on Josh.

Excellent points. Josh had a good game overall but to me the hero complex at the end is frustrating. The definition of insanity.

[Admin]

One thing that should be corrected for the record -- yes Carmelo beat Josh on that last bucket, but there should have been help ready when Carmelo caught it face up from the elbow.

Horford was the main culprit -- he had followed his guy to the other side of the paint. The rule is that you put your head under the basket when you are two passes away opposite the ball, all the more when you have a playmaker like Carmelo facing up a weak on-ball defender.

So, I don't put that on Josh.

Also, LD had me really heated when he was just chillin' watching 4 bench scrubs get their brakes beat off for a 16-0 run.

Josh's illegal screen was on Teague for leaving before the pick was set.

The other stuff -- the over and back and the late three, as well as getting beat so easily to the rack (at least turn Melo one time instead of letting him sprint you to the rim), is all on Josh.

So in your eyes the "MAIN" culprit was the "HELP" defender, and not the guy guarding the ball handler? Maybe Al should have helped, I can't remember for sure who he was guarding but I believe it was Novak and there's no way he should leave him otherwise we'd be screaming that he left Novak wide open for an easy shot... but there's no way in hell I will ever name a help defender as the primary culprit when a guy gets beaten off the dribble.

[jhay610]

Another thing that I should have mentioned is that both Teague and Horford, who had helpside on that last play, had their heads turned away from the ball and were watching their men as they were lead away from the play. You are supposed to square up your back to the basket and split your view so that you have an eye on your man and an eye on the ball at all times. That is elementary school level stuff.

As soon as Carmelo made his move, Horford should have been sliding over to cut off his lane, teague should have rotated down to cut off the first pass, and the rest of the defense should have rotated around in scramble mode. A well-coached high school team will be able to master this concept.

Sometimes even the pro's have a lapse on the fundamentals, but you should definitely not ever let this happen on a game-deciding possession in the 4th qtr. Inexcusable.

[Admin]

Another thing that I should have mentioned is that both Teague and Horford, who had helpside on that last play, had their heads turned away from the ball and were watching their men as they were lead away from the play. You are supposed to square up your back to the basket and split your view so that you have an eye on your man and an eye on the ball at all times. That is elementary school level stuff.

As soon as Carmelo made his move, Horford should have been sliding over to cut off his lane, teague should have rotated down to cut off the first pass, and the rest of the defense should have rotated around in scramble mode. A well-coached high school team will be able to master this concept.

Sometimes even the pro's have a lapse on the fundamentals, but you should definitely not ever let this happen on a game-deciding possession in the 4th qtr. Inexcusable.

My guess is that they were told to not rotate or switch but to play man up so that we didn't leave JR Smith or Steve Novak wide open for an easy look if Carmelo were forced to pass it on his drive. Unfortunately our "max" player was unable to even slow Carmelo down and gave him an easy layup.

[jhay610]

So in your eyes the "MAIN" culprit was the "HELP" defender, and not the guy guarding the ball handler? Maybe Al should have helped, I can't remember for sure who he was guarding but I believe it was Novak and there's no way he should leave him otherwise we'd be screaming that he left Novak wide open for an easy shot... but there's no way in hell I will ever name a help defender as the primary culprit when a guy gets beaten off the dribble.

I'm not absolving Josh of all responsibility -- he got beat way too easily, but the basket was a failure in team defense. See my post above.

It looks like Al had JR Smith, but he should have had his head in the lane. Depending on Carmelo's depth, he would have had to recover and close out to his man or there would have had to be a rotation to cover it. There may have still been a basket, but the point is to force the offensive team to make several passes to get an open jump shot instead of simply driving straight to the basket for a lay in. Maybe there's a bad pass, maybe a shot is missed -- anything but two dribbles and a lay in.

All I am saying is I don't think it's completely on Josh. It should have been expected that one of the best scorers in the world would shake loose an average on-ball defender. Josh is great at playing the passing lanes and blocking shots from the helpside, but he is not very good on the ball. I think we can all agree on that.

So it's either a coaching problem or a brain lapse by one or more defenders.

Edited January 28, 2013 by jhay610

[jhay610]

My guess is that they were told to not rotate or switch but to play man up so that we didn't leave JR Smith or Steve Novak wide open for an easy look if Carmelo were forced to pass it on his drive. Unfortunately our "max" player was unable to even slow Carmelo down and gave him an easy layup.

This is very possible, and would point to a coaching problem. I would expect Carmelo to beat Josh out on an island in that scenario most times. To me that is down to knowing your personnel -- we don't ask Zaza to run Iso-Joe's for the same reason. Maybe LD thinks Josh is a great on-ball defender. I sure as he!! don't.