Allan Ready for Usual Minutes

[Mr. J]

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Allan Houston heard boos at the Garden last night. But the fans were booing because they were upset with Lenny Wilkens' decision to take Houston out for Tim Thomas with 6:43 left in the fourth quarter.

In his fourth game back, Houston had his best outing, scoring a season-high 17 points in a season-high 21 minutes.

Afterward, Houston declared he's ready for Wilkens to take the leash off him. Houston was benched in the second half Tuesday in Jersey, creating fear his left knee was more sore than he had let on.

"I'm sufficient with whatever the team wants me to do, but I'm ready for more," Houston said. "If they're comfortable for me playing more, I'm ready. [The knees] felt great tonight and I continue to feel great."

Houston hit his first two 3-pointers of the season and shot 6 of 10. After Houston came back in, he popped in a catch-and-shoot left wing 17-footer to give the Knicks a 92-88 lead with 1:45 left in their crushing 94-93 loss to Detroit. Houston received a big hand when he came off for defensive purposes with 34 seconds left for Jerome Williams and the Knicks up three. Wilkens said before the game he will "monitor" Houston's minutes, possibly until January. </div>

I'm glad Houston isn't reall showing any illaffects from that knee. To me he looked like the regular old Allan. Now that he has a legit supporting cast, I am sure we can make it to the conference finals. Take a seat Tim. I don't know about the rest of you guys but, the way I'm looking at this Houston and Thomas SF thing is this: Houston plays just as much defense as TT rebounds just as good as him however, he is much better at everything else. We should have our tri-captains out on the floor at the same time. Not only do we get leadership and experience but, we get our best scorers on the floor as well. At this stage it should be a no-brainer. We have our captain and leader in Allan Houston, we should take full advantage of him. I understand where Wilkens is coming from. I wouldn't want to mess up his legs so early in the season especially. He did say his legs felt great though. Allan Houston lit it up with 17 points in only 21 minutes of play. He looked perfectly fine to me. Matter of fact I think we would have won it had Allan Houston played more. Any way, I'm happy that Houston is back. As I said before with him Crawford, and Marbury, gelling really quickly, I feel we are going to the conference finals. That backcourt, frontcourt consistantcey, and supporting role playing bench I feel we are a very lethal team. I know this is a longshot but, does anyone smell a '99 run? I hope this isn't Knick bias but, I am really confident in this team and feel we can go far with the return of our great captain in Allan Houston.

 

[Beat]

Yeah i think we should bench Tity thomas and let Ariza get more minutes. SO our depth would look something like:
PG: Marbury/ Crawford
SG: Crawford / Penny
SF: Houston/ Trevor Ariza
PF: Thomas/Sweetney/ JYD
C : Mohammad/ JYD
Now the Knicks would look somethin like a good team.

 

[Tribute to H2O]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm glad Houston isn't reall showing any illaffects from that knee. To me he looked like the regular old Allan. Now that he has a legit supporting cast, I am sure we can make it to the conference finals. Take a seat Tim. I don't know about the rest of you guys but, the way I'm looking at this Houston and Thomas SF thing is this: Houston plays just as much defense as TT rebounds just as good as him however, he is much better at everything else. We should have our tri-captains out on the floor at the same time. Not only do we get leadership and experience but, we get our best scorers on the floor as well. At this stage it should be a no-brainer. We have our captain and leader in Allan Houston, we should take full advantage of him. I understand where Wilkens is coming from. I wouldn't want to mess up his legs so early in the season especially. He did say his legs felt great though. Allan Houston lit it up with 17 points in only 21 minutes of play. He looked perfectly fine to me. Matter of fact I think we would have won it had Allan Houston played more. Any way, I'm happy that Houston is back. As I said before with him Crawford, and Marbury, gelling really quickly, I feel we are going to the conference finals. That backcourt, frontcourt consistantcey, and supporting role playing bench I feel we are a very lethal team. I know this is a longshot but, does anyone smell a '99 run? I hope this isn't Knick bias but, I am really confident in this team and feel we can go far with the return of our great captain in Allan Houston.</div>

Thank you. I've only been saying that Houston should start at small forward since before he came back. Glad you see things my way.

Not only does Houston play as much defense as TT he also gets back on defense. I've been smelling a '99 run since the season began. But then again I'm an optimist. With our potent perimeter attack(Marbury,Houston,Crawford) and great interior play(Nazr,Kurt) and good guys off the bench(JYD, Sweetney, Penny, Ariza, Moochie) along with the occasional good game from TT we have the potential to surprise alot of people. The fact that the Pacers might not make the playoffs didnt hurt our chances either.

We've already beaten the Cavaliers who have the second best record in the East. And came pretty close to beating the defending champs. Most people will probably say that this Knicks team has no chance of making it to the Eastern Conference Championship but they also said that about the '99 Knicks. So this team has the ability to do great things. As for Houston and his minutes... if Houston says he's ready to play his normal minutes then let him.

Bobby I'm not too sure about Crawford at point guard. He has the skill requirements of a point guard but not the mindset. I'd rather have Brewer or Norris backing up Marbury at point guard. As much as I dislike TT he has to play sometime. He could turn into a cancer if he doesnt get play time. Let him come out with the second unit. It'll probably do him some good. He could be the number one(well make that number two) perimeter option while Sweetney works the low post. Or something like that. I dont know how we're going to do things but whatever we decide to do it will work.

 

[goofy]

I rather think that even Penny is better point guard than Crawford ...... =)
Crawford should stay only sg

About that Houston thread... He is getting the rythm with every game and when he gets more minutes then he scores more points ...so i don`t see way should he stay on the bench ...... the idea of Trevor ariza not tim thomas is not bad ...

 

[Mr. J]

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">As much as I dislike TT he has to play sometime. He could turn into a cancer if he doesnt get play time. Let him come out with the second unit. It'll probably do him some good. He could be the number one(well make that number two) perimeter option while Sweetney works the low post. Or something like that. I dont know how we're going to do things but whatever we decide to do it will work.</div>

I agree. Remember what he was doing with the Bucks off the bench? To tell you the truth TT is always better backing up than he is starting. With those bench numbers TT is already putting up it wont hurt to let Allan start.

The 3 guard rotation has been real well for us. TT can be a spark off the bench. Jamal Crawford is playing great starting and Allan of course is a starter, so the only way I see it is putting TT down. If he really thought he was nice enough to start he would have worked real hard in getting his numbers bak to normal.