There were two things I was telling myself while watching this game, first, that for some reason we were unlucky enough to catch Tim Thomas on a night where he was hitting all his lackadaisical three’s, and second, over and over, that eventually the Knicks were going to stop hitting so many jumpers. Credit the Blazers for being patient and not going for too many homeruns, but I’m sure most of you were rolling your eyes when Chris Duhon hit that 28-foot trey.
Portland did give New York life, though, thanks to the plastic wrap discretely covering the Blazers bucket early in the game. The Knicks put up such a high volume of shots that they can get some serious runs going, like when they went 14-0 on Portland in the first quarter, but they can also get into some serious slumps, like in the beginning of the fourth, when Portland pulled away. That’s just the nature of playing a Mike D’Antoni team, even one without All-Stars. It’s a sign of confidence in this team, one I think they’ve earned, that I wasn’t overly concerned when they were down double digits. Just as the Knicks were bound to start missing, the Blazers were bound to start making dunks and short jumpers. And we shouldn’t take it for granted that Brandon Roy chose just the right time to takeover at the end of the first half. Just as the strings were breaking and the horns were squawking, the Maestro cued the rhythmic drums and returned the Blazers orchestra to harmony.
While our defensive rotations were a half-step slow tonight, giving the Knicks too many open three’s, the most worrisome aspect of the night was the ease with which Duhon was getting inside for layups. Duhon did an excellent job on the pick-and-roll, creating switch situations and getting by mismatched defenders, but he was also converting on some junk layups contested by both Joel Pryzbilla and Greg Oden. There’s no time for it tomorrow with a visit to Washington on the slate, but I’d put money on Nate McMillan spending at least some film time on pick-and-roll defense with Rajon Rondo and Jose Calderon looming on the weekend horizon.
Other thoughts:
-It bothers me that the ESPN video highlight for the game reads, “Blazers down Knicks despite Oden’s struggles.” Greg rushed two dunks and hit iron on both, but he still passed well out of the post and ate up seven rebounds in less than 20 minutes. But with the Knicks running around shooting threes and only battery bunny David Lee bouncing about inside, this just wasn’t Oden’s kind of game. He’s no LaMarcus Aldridge, but after switching onto guards on picks, Greg moved his feet fairly well on the perimeter. That quickness is still coming back to him, though.
-Joel Pryzbilla, what else is there to say about the man? 14 boards and two huge blocks inside in 26 minutes. He played his kickboxing butt off, but eventually Nate went with LaMarcus at center and Troutlaw at the four in the fourth quarter. I dare you to find me a better backup center in this league. Double dog dare.
-I no longer worry when Sergio is in the game, which is says volumes about his performance thus far. I don’t know about that one pullup jumper he took, but he’s making good decisions and playing fundamental defense.
-Well, Rudy was due, wasn’t he? He looked the slightest bit more aggressive tonight, but the big difference was the three-ball was falling. I loved it when the Knicks broadcast cut to D’Antoni’s face after a Rudy three. Between Rudy and Derrick Rose (and Starbury…), D’Antoni must need an Ambien every night.
-Walt Frazier should be on a national telecast by now. In fact, it’s unbelievable that he isn’t. Top 5 announcer voice of all time, and he rhymes, too. “Earlier Travis Outlaw was doing lots of missing, now he’s doing all the swishing.” Put the man in Jon Barry’s seat right now.
-I found it odd that the Knicks’ broadcasters talked about Starbury at length early in the game. Thought that was the kind of thing teams liked to avoid talking about during games.
-I’m beginning to think that Channing Frye is going to be the odd man out when Martell Webster returns next week. Feels like the bench unit will round out to Sergio, Rudy, Batum, Travis and Joel. Gotta love the guy, but when Frye’s shot isn’t falling, he can disappears fairly quickly.
-LaMarcus did some nice LaMarcus things, and took advantage of some mismatches in the post with calm fadeaways, but I’d like to see him start throwing down on the break inside of just finger rolling it (even if it is pretty).
We can clinch a winning road trip with a win over the Wizards tomorrow, and needless to say, any time you can win three out of five away from the Garden, it’s been a good week. As for tonight, let’s clean up the pick-and-roll and give Maestro Roy a tip of our hat.