Charlotte Bobcats @ NY Knicks Preview

[jbbReal Deal]

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Charlotte Bobcats: 7-15
New York Knicks: 13-13

Date: Sunday, December 26th
Time: 1:30 PM
TV: MSG, NBALP

Previous Games:
Bobcats @ Rockets 90-87 (WIN)
Knicks @ Celtics 114-109 (LOSS)

<font color="Orange"><font size="1">Coach Bernie Bickerstaff</font></font>

C - <font color="orange">Primoz Brezec</font> (11.6 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 1.2 APG)
PF - <font color="orange">Emeka Okafor</font> (14.8 PPG, 11.5 RPG, 1.1 APG)
SF - <font color="orange">Gerald Wallace</font> (11.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.9 APG)
SG - <font color="orange">Keith Bogans</font> (11.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.2 APG)
PG - <font color="orange">Brevin Knight</font> (8.2 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 9.6 APG)

<font size="4">VS</font>

<font color="Blue"><font size="1">Coach Lenny Wilkens</font></font>

C - <font color="blue">Nazr Mohammed</font> (12.4 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 0.3 APG)
PF - <font color="blue">Kurt Thomas</font> (11.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 1.8 APG)
SF - <font color="blue">Tim Thomas</font> (9.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 0.8 APG)
SG - <font color="blue">Allan Houston</font> (9.4 PPG, 1.4 RPG, 1.6 APG)
PG - <font color="blue">Stephon Marbury</font> (19.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 8.7 APG)

BOBCATS - <font color="orange">Kareem Rush</font>
Predicted Stats: 12 points, 0 rebounds, 2 assists

KNICKS - <font color="blue">Mike Sweetney</font>
Predicted Stats: 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist

BOBCATS - <font color="orange">Gerald Wallace</font>
Predicted Stats: 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists

KNICKS - <font color="blue">Stephon Marbury</font>
Predicted Stats: 28 points, 2 rebounds, 9 assists </div>

The Bobcats have been exceeding expectations so far this season, and doing so behind their driving force, rookie Emeka Okafor. "Double your pleasure, double your fun"...the man picked #2 in this year's draft has done just that for the expansion Bobcats, averaging a double-double, and having no problem at all doing so back to back, to back, to back...you get the picture.

The Knicks are on top of their division with a .500 record. How? It's the East! But don't let that fool you...the Knicks are set to keep their Atlantic division lead game-by-game, and it continues today...when Allan Houston steps out onto the court as a starter in place of the injured Jamal Crawford. With H2O yet to start a game this season for the Knicks, you'd have to wonder if the sharpshooter is even ready for this role. If not, UCLA stud Trevor Ariza may see a few more minutes than usual.

The Cats aren't purring like they were at the start of the season. Emeka Okafor is going to be the key to this game, but a huge factor will also be Brevin Knight, who seems to be chasing Steve Nash in the assists column, and surprisingly enough...as a Bobcat. Charlotte needs to find their rhythm early and stick with it. Defense will be the general idea of this game; preventing Marbury from shooting the lights out and stopping Nazr under the rim. If these two goals are accomplished, these cats could walk out of MSG growling.

The Knicks are going to have to control the boards in this game. Nazr and Kurt Thomas need to gain position on Brezec and Okafor and make sure the offensive glass stays squeaky clean in favor of New York. Also, in case Houston starts out cold (as well as Marbury), the two Knicks need to clean up the boards and focus on putbacks and drawing the foul, rather than kicking it back out. Emeka is young...take advantage of it, and get him in foul trouble early.

Off the bench for both teams, your "Who Dat?" players of the game are Kareem Rush and Mike Sweetney. Rush has a new home in Charlotte and may plan to bring some of that old Pacific rain to the Atlantic today, and if he catches fire with his first two shots beyond the arc, Bickerstaff may give him the signal to continue shooting. In comes Sweetney, who will have to do the dirty work underneath the boards for the Knicks, coming off the bench and making huge defensive stops against Okafor, who will more than likely play for his daily double-double.

Marbury and Gerald Wallace are going to approach halftime with above-average stats. Okafor will get into foul trouble with Sweetney in the game, but the Cats will take the lead until the 4th quarter where, in the clutch, Marbury will come through...and the Cats will lose 9 lives in New York, 91-82.

 

[Mr. J]

The Knicks will be looking to get revenge and get a win. NY left a bad smell in MSG and I think they will relieve it a bit today. I am going to take them 100-88. I think Marbury will have a good game but, I feel as though Allan Houston will try and prove people wrong about his knee. I hope Ariza gets more burn too Brandon. Lenny Wilkens has a great rookie who collects dust a lot on the bench. Now that Crawford is gone along with his usual 37+ minutes, Ariza has to get more time.

 

[Knicks Analyst]

Wow. I'm going to have to disagree with you, RealDeal. I'm going to be going to the game in about 2 hours. So, as usual, I've been studying the Knicks and their opponents for 40 minutes to an hour (I do so before every game). And there is quite a hole in the Knicks with the abscense of Crawford. Houston will be forced to play more mniutes puttting him at risk of injury, plus Ariza will most likely be filling in at the 2 as opposed to the 3, it may be a new (difficult) experience for him in New York.

Did you watch the earlier Knicks-Bobcats game this season? Okafor tore us apart because we couldn't produce the proper plays on offense which would allow us to get the oppurtunity for rebounds. From there, Okafor snagged them. Now, that's not to say that there are 25+ other teams that can say different, but it's especially the case with the Knicks that there are poor plays, or no plays in the half-court run offense.

<u>Here you made some big errors:</u>
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Knicks are going to have to control the boards in this game. Nazr and Kurt Thomas need to gain position on Brezec and Okafor and make sure the offensive glass stays squeaky clean in favor of New York. Also, in case Houston starts out cold (as well as Marbury), the two Knicks need to clean up the boards and focus on putbacks and drawing the foul, rather than kicking it back out. Emeka is young...take advantage of it, and get him in foul trouble early.
</div>

I'm sorry, but there is insufficient proof that Nazr and Kurt can dominate the boards over Brezec and Okafor. It appears to me as if you simply glanced at the statistics. If you haven't already read my earlier paragraph above concerning the lack of designed plays. Even if we did, who says that Mohhamed has the maturity to take it all in? Granted, he's playing sensational basketball thus far, but we have yet to see him really dominate offensive glass.

You said something about getting Okafor in trouble early? Have you watched any games this year?
Kurt and Nazr always seem to be the ones in the matchups who get more personal fouls. Nazr had a huge problem last year getting 2 quick fouls (I mean QUICK like 2 fouls in 11 seconds) and Kurt has a similar problem - just not as magnified.

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<u>Conclusion - Prediction:</u>

RealDeal - You simply don't give Charlotte enough credit coming off a victory in Houston and you give the Knicks too much credit.

But, you're right about one thing: A Knicks victory.

Knicks: 94 Charlotte: 85
(Tough pick - the score in this game is nearly unpredictable - the game is really up to Wilkens and how he designs the plays)

 

[jbbReal Deal]

Well, you're forgetting something...the things you're pointing out aren't my predictions.

That's just the stuff that the Knicks are probably going to have trouble doing, and that they actually need to work on doing in order to win the game. Obviously, the game can be won without the huge amount of offensive boards or without getting Emeka into foul trouble...but those weren't my predictions.

 

[Beat]

Is Tim Thomas back!? He had a whopping 4 ASSIST!!! Overall I dont think it was that good of a game for us. WE have to cut down on turnoverer, but a win is a win .

 

[jbbReal Deal]

Ohh yeah...check my prediction for the score.

91-82...beautiful.

 

[sneballa7]

Wow you got the exact score. Very good prediction and you did even edit your post.
It was a okay game. Tim thomas played well everyone was solid. We got the W

 

[Knicks Analyst]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Real Deal:</div><div class="quote_post">Ohh yeah...check my prediction for the score.

91-82...beautiful.</div>
Yeah, you got the numbers right.

But to tell the truth, and to be 100% honest:
You were pretty wrong about everything else.

 

[Mr. J]

I just got back home and looking at the boxscore it looked like TT played very well with 20 points and 4 assists but, only 3 rebounds. I am a bit concerned about Marbury. He had another bad game shooting 3-11, 5 TO's and only 6 assists. He did have 8 rebounds though but, that definitely doesn't erase the rest of the stats. I looked at Allan Houston and he looked very solid with 16 points and 5 assists. Has anyone noticed he has improved his passing since returning. I also saw some nice ballhandling moves from him since he returned.

I knew we were going to win but, I still don't think we should have let the Bobcats even get the opportunity to make a run. I read the recap and it said, that we were up by 16 and with about 4:00 left they cut the defecit to 2. We do that a lot and sometimes we end up losing because of being careless with our lead.

Also I have a couple of questions. Why did JYD only play 8 minutes? Why did Sweetney only get 16 minutes. Why does TT suck at getting rebounds? Why do fools fall in love? J/K

. A little holiday humor.

 

[jbbReal Deal]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Knicks Analyst:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, you got the numbers right.

But to tell the truth, and to be 100% honest:
You were pretty wrong about everything else.</div>
LOL...how was I wrong? I didn't predict that they would win the offensive glass, or that Okafor would get into foul trouble. I just stated that it might be a key to winning the game, that's all. I didn't think Nazr would end up with no more than three fouls, because it's Primoz, and the physical aspect of the game wouldn't be like one against Shaq.