New York @ New Jersey

[Mr. J]

Knicks 10-10

@. Nets 7-13

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Date: 12/14/04
Time 7:30 (7:00 Cannon Business Solutions Knicks Gamenight)
TV: MSG
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<font size="4">Season Stats</font>

Knicks:
Record: 10 - 10 (.500)
Standings: First, Atlantic 3rd Seed in East
At Home: 7-2
On Road: 3-8

Season
PPG: 96.5 Opp PPG: 97.9
FG%: .444 Opp FG%: .465
RPG: 43.2 Opp RPG: 41.5




Nets
Record: 7 - 13 (.350)
Standings: Fourth, Atlantic
At Home: 5 - 6
On Road: 2 - 7

PPG: 85.5 Opp PPG: 92.1
FG%: .421 Opp FG%: .427
RPG: 40.8 Opp RPG: 39.4


<font size="4">
<font color="DarkOrange">Knicks</font></font>
PG: Stephon Marbury
20.3ppg 2.8rpg 8.9apg

SG: Jamal Crawford
18.8ppg 2.6rpg 3.9apg

SF: Tim Thomas
9.4ppg 3.4rpg 1.0apg

PF: Kurt Thomas
11.7ppg 10.6rpg 1.5apg

C: Nazr Mohammed
12.8ppg 9.5rpg 0.2apg

<font size="4">
<font color="Navy">Nets</font></font>
PG: Travis Best
9.8ppg 1.9rpg 2.7apg

SG: Richard Jefferson
21.5ppg 7.9rpg 4.1apg

SF: Eric Williams
12.2ppg 4.5rpg 2.1apg

PF: Brian Scalabrine
4.5ppg 4.3rpg 2.0apg

C: Jason Collins
5.9ppg 5.1rpg 0.9apg

<font size="4">
<font color="Red">Injuries:</font></font>
NYK: Penny Hardaway, Jamison Brewer
NJN: Alonzo Mourning, Ron Mercer, Zoran Planinic
<font size="4">
<font color="Green">Matchups:</font></font>

PG: I expect Stephon Marbury to have a great night ion offense but, he needs to play good defense tonight. Travis best has been playing well as of late and dropped 21 points yesterday. He has been very instrumental for the Nets in winning 4 of their last 5 games. If Marbury and the rest of the Knicks play good defense we will be able to stop Best easy.

SG: Jamal Crawford will have his hands full against Richard Jefferson. Jefferson has been a Knick killer in the past and now with his own team he will keep getting better. He is averaging 21, 8, and 4. Those are great numbers and they will get even better if Crawford plays lacksidaisical on defense like he does sometimes. What I don't want Jefferson to do, is dunk. I don't want any highlight reels much less any Knicks out on a poster so, we must contain that man tonight. Crawford might also have a hard time with Jefferson in the post. He has more muscle and a two has 2 inches over him as well. Although Jefferson has greatly improved his shooting, he is still not a consistant 3 point shooter so hopefully Crawford can force Jefferson to shoot more and not drive to the hole.

SF: Eric Williams is a good defensive role player. He can easily shut down TT. What TT needs to do is take out the same aggression he had in the playoffs out on the Nets. He looked good in the preseason vs. them. Eric Williams isn't too talented on the offensive end so, hopefully TT can play decent defense to exploit some of his weaknesses.

PF: Kurt Thomas will have to remember that Brian Scalabrine has a good shooting touch. He has 3 point range and can hit when left open. Brian Scalabrine also plays with tremendous hustle and heart so Thomas can't get lazy out there because Scalabrine is very underrated.

C: Nazr Mohammed vs. Jason Collins. To tell you the truth I wanted Nazr to play Alonzo Mourning and see how he plays against a center of that caliber. Collins does have a little jumpshot from freethrow range so, Mohammed can't forget about that. I do expect Mohammed to take full advantage of this matchup because of his quickness and athleticism. Mohammed has been a force downlow and I do not think Collins will change that.

<font color="Green">Key Matchup:</font>[/SIZE]
The Key Matchup is at the SG position. The two very electrifying players will face off. Jamal Crawford or Richard Jefferson are able to take advantage of eachother. They are also top options for their teams, and are top in scoring in their team. Jefferson is 1st, Crawford is 2nd. These two players will be very entertaining and can easily put points on the board.


<font size="4">My Prediction:</font>
I am going to take the Knicks by 13. Even with Jason Kidd the Nets are still not looking too good losing Martin. The Knicks big men I think will really take full advantage of the Nets. The Nets also don't have much offensive fire power except for Jefferson. Also their injuries will prove very costly in the game. Without Alonzo Mourning the Nets are definitely losing out at the C position as well as defensively. The Nets defense still will be tight and I will say the Knicks will win it with the score of something like 88-75.

 

[TnNeG]

Knicks by 17. Nets havent been great this year. I think with this game we are gonna improve our record to 11-10. Be right back, gotta watch the knicks

lol.

 

[Beat]

I say Knicks by 7. Even though this should be a blowout the Knicks sometime make weak teams look like Champions

 

[Mr. J]

<font size="7">Halftime</font>
Knicks 49

Nets 43

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<font size="4">Knicks Leading Scorers:</font></font>
Jamal Crawford: 15

Kut Thomas: 8

Stephon Marbury: 7

<font color="Navy"><font size="4">
Nets Leading Scorers:</font></font>
Eric Williams: 14

Richard Jefferson: 11

Jason Kidd: 5

<font size="4"><font color="Red">Hot at the Half:</font></font>

<font size="2">Jamal Crawford</font>
Jamal Crawford is doing well so far. In addition to his 15 points he has 3 steals to go along with it. The only thing I am a bit concerned about is 3 TO's and shot selection. Overall Crawford he still is playing good basketball and is shooting 5-11 from the field. Hopefully he can keep it up.
<font size="4">My Prediction:</font>
The Knicks have come out slowly but, I expect them to regain composure at the half. They made yet another run ignited y our high energy JYD. I think the Knicks will still win it by 15. Marbury did not shoot so well but, I epect that to change. I think he will be more aggresive and take advantage more of his opportunities.

 

[Tribute to H2O]

Can someone tell me how the half played out? I only saw the last few minutes of the second quarter. And why isnt Houston taking shots? From what I've seen so far it's obvious that TT is going to the bench for Houston. The Knicks played with three guards on the floor at the same time alot.

 

[Mr. J]

<font size="7">Final</font>
Knicks 87

Nets 79

<font color="DarkOrange">
<font size="4">Knicks Leading Scorers:</font></font>
Jamal Crawford: 30

Kurt Thomas: 14

Williams and Marbury both had: 12

and

<font color="Navy"><font size="4">
Nets Leading Scorers:</font></font>
Eric Williams: 21

Richard Jefferson: 22

Jason Kidd: 15

<font size="4"><font color="Red">Player of the Game:</font></font>

<font size="2">Nazr Mohammed</font>
This was a tough one to decide. Because Jamal Crwaford dropped 30 and Kurt Thomas was solid with 14 and 12 but, I had to go with my son Mohammed who was doing his thing again. Nazr had 8 points 3 steals and 9 boards but, also he had 8 blocks. Yes you're reading right. 8 blocks. I know they are only playing the Nets but, 8 blocks is always big no matter who you play. If Mohammed could play like this all the time we can easily make it to the eastern conference finals. Mohammed is playing too good right now and you can tell he has been working hard on his game. I am very proud of him.
<font size="4">Recap</font>
The Knicks started out a bit slow in the first half and picked it up a bit in towards the end of the half. In the begining of the second half, they lost their lead and struggled a bit. But, Jamal's offense quickly helped them regain it which they would never abandon after. From midway through the third is when the defensive pressure really started. From then they held the Nets to 15 minutes without a basket. Nazr Mohammed's career high 8 blocks, was very helpful to us down the stretch. The last couple of minutes in the fourth we played a bit sloppy, and Jason Kidd was feeling it but, they had no chance in making a late rally. TT played horrible again but, we came away with the victory and that is the only thing that matters. Hopefully we can return the same effort @ home vs. the world champion Pistons tommorow and get a W.

 

[Knicks Analyst]

Good game later on. We finished strong and I was really impressed with what JYD did. Crawford showed us all why he shouldn't be involved or mentioned in a VC trade. But Sweetney really disappointed me with those real rookie fouls. That was a wake-up call.

 

[Mr. J]

Yeah, Sweetney really struggled today. He will adjust though, I am not really worried about him. Btw, it's nice to see you posting again Knicks Analyst!

 

[Knicks Analyst]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, Sweetney really struggled today. He will adjust though, I am not really worried about him. Btw, it's nice to see you posting again Knicks Analyst!</div>
Yeah but I found his lack of awareness on offense alarming. He wasn't turning his head properly, he wasn't looking around, wasn't yelling much calling picks. He looked uncomfortable.

*Yeah, I've had about 3 essays to write in the past 3 days and 4 tests. I have a lab report to write tommorow too. That's why I haven't been posting as much. I'll be back to normal in about 4 or 5 days though.

 

[Henacy]

The Travis Best injury really hurt the my Nets. With Kidd's minutes limited to 20 a game, the Nets need normally about close to 30 minutes from Best. And he is extremely good still at putting the pressure on the defense off the dribble. But when he went down that left his mi9nutes to me played by Jacque Vaughn. And Vaughn simply isnt that type of offensive player to attack the hoop.

Anyway the thing that really cost the Nets was the fact that they went about 13 minutes with no points from the field between the middle of the 3rd to almost middle of the 4th, all they had were some free throws. The Nets really needed Eric Williams or RJ to step up during that time & make a couple of baskets.

Good Knicks win, this matchup will be more interesting once the Nets get healthy, even tho last nights game wasnt that bad given the cirumstances.

 

[Mr. J]

I would definitely would have loved to watch a matchup of healthy Nets(from last year) vs. this year Knicks when healthy. That would have been an absolutely enjoyable game to watch especially during the NBA Playoffs.