New York vs. Memphis

[Mr. J]

Knicks

7-6
vs. Grizzlies

5-10

<font size="3">Date: 12/1/04
Time 7:30 (7:00 Cannon Business Solutions Knicks Gamenight)
TV: MSG</font>
<font size="4">
Knicks Season Stats</font>
Record: 7 - 6 ( .538)
Standings: First, Atlantic
At Home: 5 - 1
On Road: 2 - 5
PPG: 96.5 Opp PPG: 99.1
FG%: .439 Opp FG%: .482
RPG: 42.9 Opp RPG: 41.4

<font size="4">Grizzlies Season Stats</font>
Standings: Fourth, Southwest
At Home: 3 - 5 (.333)
On Road: 2 - 5
PPG: 94.5 Opp PPG: 95.7
FG%: .437 Opp FG%: .439
RPG: 41.3 Opp RPG: 41.4
<font size="4">
Previous Games:</font>
NYK: 110-109W @ Atlanta
MEM: 98-93L vs. Sacramento
<font size="4">
<font color="Navy">Probable Starting Lineups:</font></font>
<font size="3"><font color="DarkOrange">Knicks:</font></font>
PG: Stephon Marbury
20.6ppg 3.0rpg 9.1apg

SG: Jamal Crawford
18.2ppg 2.8rpg 3.9apg

SF: Tim Thomas
8.5ppg 3.5rpg 0.6apg

PF: Kurt Thomas
11.6ppg 10.5rpg 1.5apg

C: Nazr Mohammed
13.0ppg 9.2rpg 0.2apg

<font size="3"><font color="Blue">Grizzlies</font></font>
PG: Earl Watson
8.7ppg 1.7rpg 5.2apg

SG: Bonzi Wells
12.8ppg 3.7rpg 2.3apg

SF: Shane Battier
7.5ppg 4.7rpg 1.1apg

PF: Pau Gasol
18.3ppg 8.9rpg 2.4apg

C: Lorenzen Wright
6.6ppg 6.7rpg 1.5apg

<font color="Red">
<font size="4">Injuries:</font></font>
NYK: Allan Houston, Moochie Norris
MEM: Jason Williams, Ryan Humphrey, Jake Tsakalidis

<font size="4"><font color="Green">Matchups:</font></font>
PG: Stephon Marbury is coming off of a great game against Atlanta scoring 32
points, and had a career high 6 steals. Despite this, Marbury has to be fatigues playing 47 minutes. Watson isn't quite out of the water either he played 43 minutes yesterday and might be a victom of fatigue getting the best of him as well. Still I think Marbury has the advantage on this one. He has more mommentum from yesterdays game and is more used to situations like this.

SG: Very good matchup between the shooting guards. Jamal Crawford shooting 7-28 from the field (including 2-12 from 3) still has that "Chicagoness" in him so he chucks up some bad shots. Even shooting extremely poorly yesterday he did shoot the game winner yesterday so that kind of eliminates all of the bad shots he has taken throughout the game. Bonzi Wells is a good player but, he isn't the only one that will play Crawford. Yesterday, Bonzi played only 22 minutes because another legit SG named Mike Miller lit it up for 25 on 10-14 shooting. Crawford has to be aware of his shot and also he has the handle to take it to the basket.

SF: Well I guess we already know what to expect from TT. Let's just hopes he plays decent defense and Penny plays minutes at the SF. As for Battier, he has come off of a 4 point game playing 30 minutes yesterday. Lokk for him to redeem himself.

PF: Pau Gasol, the rookie of the year has been playing great basketball as usual. Kurt Thomas has his hands full again. To tell you the truth I think that Gasol is not as tough a matchup as Walker was. Walker is very elusive off the dribble and can shoot (atleast yesterday he had it going) Thomas' midrange jumpshot should keep Pau out the paint. Leaving room for Marbury and Crawford too penetrate easierly.

C: I guess this game is the moment of truth for Nazr Mohammed. He has been putting up big numbers against mediocre to bad centers. Now that he has some legit athletic ones we shall see whether he continues this hot streak. Another Grizzly that had a shooting bad game yesterday was Lorenzen Wright. I think he will attempt to reddem himself against Mohammed. Many people from other forums are already hating on our Knicks. The last thing that we need is for Swift and Wright to make some highlight plays.

<font size="4"><font color="DarkSlateBlue">Key Matchup: </font></font>The Key Matchup I would have to say is at the center position and whether Mohammed can continue to produce those all star numbers. Down the stretch his rebounding, and scoring has been very important to us. I think this game will really show whether Mohammed has truly turned into a good center or whether those games were frauds.

<font size="4">My Prediction:</font> I am taking the Knicks in a hard fought battle in the Garden. The Knicks will try and redeem themselves from that horrible game and win a thriller at MSG. I am saying the final score will be 98-95.

 

[02civic]

i cant put my finger on it...but lorenzen right pau gasol and earl watson look kind of similiar.....ah.....blast my stupid brain

 

[Mr. J]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 02civic:</div><div class="quote_post">i cant put my finger on it...but lorenzen right pau gasol and earl watson look kind of similiar.....ah.....blast my stupid brain</div>
Good Looks I missed that one.

 

[jbbPrimetime]

At home to a team that is struggling to say the least, this needs to be a win.
Going 8 - 6 would be huge for the morale of the team.

I do expect the New York Knicks to win this, but with a game last night, I hope the bench can carry alot of the load, by that I mean, Penny Hardaway, Mike Sweetney, and lets hope Trevor Ariza can get some decent minutes.

Keep the turnovers down and the New York Knicks should get a win.

New York Knicks 88
memphis Grizzles 81

 

[Knicks Analyst]

Wow. We saw some pretty pitiful defense from New York, and I was disgusted at first, let me just throw that out there. Then when I saw the plays set for Marbury with some good passes from Crawford I calmed down. Sweetney is just looking superb, he's really putting forth a lot of effort. Marbury just lit it up 19 points in the second quarter-just crazy. So far this game Jason Williams has played horrible defense and it's been exposed by Marbury. Ariza shows Knicks fans some spurts of points, but I wasn't thrilled with his performance, unlike my pleasure from (a product of) Sweetney.
Kurt has been shooting poorly and I'm getting worried about his hand. Mohhamed barely played in the second quarter - he deserved to sit, he made those very stupid fouls. That's one thing I really hate about Mohhamed - the man makes some very stupid fouls-and he can't drain free throws for his life.

A pretty good half all in all.

Prediction: Knicks 96 Memphis 94

 

[Mr. J]

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

Grizzlies 44

<font size="4"><font color="DarkOrange">NYK Leading Scorers:</font></font>
Stephon Marbury: 21
Michael Sweetney: 8
Trevor Ariza: 4
Jamal Crawford: 4
Kurt Thomas: 4

<font size="4"><font color="DarkSlateBlue">Grizzlies Leading Scorers:</font></font>
Bonzi Wells: 12
Pau Gasol 6
Mike Miller: 6
James Posey: 6

<font size="4"><font color="Red">Hot At The Half:</font></font>

Obviously it is Stephon Marbury who just straight up lit it up! Marbury was stroking the 3 ball so well. 5/6 in one half. He has 21 points and is just killing making the Grizzlies chill out with that zone defense. Jason Williams stop and pop 3 was alright, but, it was definitely no match for Marbury's 4 in a row. He said he was working on his shooting and man has he shown it! Kepp this up Stephon!

<font size="4">My Prediction: </font>
The score is what I expected but, what I didn't expect is for Marbury to explode the way he did. If he continues to play like this we can win it more easily. I'm taking the Knicks 98-93 because the Grizzlies are still a good team and will be playing better and hungrier. The Knicks will just be too much for them playing at MSG.

 

[Tribute to H2O]

Well this is a treat. I come home and the Knicks are beating the Grizzlies. Sweetney is looking good but Ariza is out of sorts but that's to be expected. Sweetney is pulling down alot of rebounds. He hasnt gotten any real minutes for a long time. We should play our two future stars more. By the way mrj18 that disgusting shooting night by Crawford was not made up for by the winning shot. If Crawford hadnt shot the ball the way he did the game would not have gone into overtime. Were looking good. I have a big smile on my face. Who said Kurt Thomas isnt a great defender?? Even when he's shooting badly he's making an impact. Let's not forget about JYD's defense. Who said JYD isnt a good defender?? Marbury hit four three's in a row???? And the refereeing is "dubious". But that's ok. Were winning anyway. Right now I'm loving all my Knickerbockers

 

[Mr. J]

The Knicks win 90-82. Again Primetime is close with the score! Collectively he was off by only 2. I am very happy that our defense has improved and we held Memphis to 82 points while they were shooting 42%. We won 5 of our last 6 and still have 1st in the Atlantic. H2O is returning very soon (possibly on Saturday), and most importantly we got a win.

 

[Knicks Analyst]

Game over. Knicks pulled away. Kurt played outstanding defense despite putting up atrocious numbers on offense. A real nice finish to the game. It was Marbury's night tonight, and he really brougth his A game.

And VooDooChild lost the sig bet we (he and I) made!

 

[Ming637]

This win puts us 2 games ahead of the sixers for first spot in the atlantic. Kurt Thomas played great defense for us and Starbury really stepped up and led this team to victory. Hopefully Allan Houston will be much better when he returns to the floor.

 

[jbbPrimetime]

I expected this kind of win, this needed to be a win and it was.

I think especially for the New York Knicks it is very important to win as much home games as possible because they tend to be inconsistent on the road, hence the game against the Atlanta Hawks.

I also think the return of Allan Houston and the whole "effect" on team chemistry is over rated and fictious. Allan Houston can only help the New York Knicks moreso, as he commands respect at the perimeter and therefore allows Stephon Marbury to penetrate and dish more, theoritically anyways.

I cannot wait until he returns, I just hope the New York Knicks can play defense as well as they will be playing in their offense.
The New York Knicks defense right now is mediocre at best, and it will not be enough to beat the "better" teams, such as;
- Miami Heat
- Indiana Pacers (they are still a good team)
- Detroit Pistons
Let alone the Western Conference teams ....

Nonetheless a win is a win, and the New York Knicks are rolling, good times for all.

 

[Tribute to H2O]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Primetime:</div><div class="quote_post">

I also think the return of Allan Houston and the whole "effect" on team chemistry is over rated and fictious. Allan Houston can only help the New York Knicks moreso, as he commands respect at the perimeter and therefore allows Stephon Marbury to penetrate and dish more, theoritically anyways.

I cannot wait until he returns, I just hope the New York Knicks can play defense as well as they will be playing in their offense.
The New York Knicks defense right now is mediocre at best, and it will not be enough to beat the "better" teams, such as;
- Miami Heat
- Indiana Pacers (they are still a good team)
- Detroit Pistons
Let alone the Western Conference teams ....

Nonetheless a win is a win, and the New York Knicks are rolling, good times for all.</div>

When its said that Allan Houston will bring back chemistry its true.; Simply because because alot of plays are broken by Tim Thomas, Crawfrod and Marbury. Also Crawford takes ALOT of bad shots as shown by his last two dreadful performances. There will be more sharing of the ball and less selfishness. Your right about Marbury though. His job will be plenty easier. Teams will have to pick their poison. Deal with Marbury constantly getting into the paint and ripping their guts out or leave Houston open and allow him to deliver hammer blows from downtown. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

Sadly unless Ariza and Penny get more play time our perimeter defense isnt going to be anywhere near as good as our offense. Which is fine. Were not looking to stop anybody were just looking to outscore the opposition. Were undefeated when we score over a hundred points. And when Houston returns it'll be that much easier to break a hundred. But for us to do that we have to have a team with chemistry so the offense flows better. That is the impact Houston will have. It is not "overrated" or "fictitious". There are more good times ahead.

 

[jbbPrimetime]

Oh I agree, what I meant was that with the arrival of Allan Houston back into the team it won't hurt the New York Knicks, what I was trying to say was that when people say, "oh it may affect the team chemistry" I do not agree, I don't think team chemistry will be affected in a negative manner, Allan Houston can only help.

Maybe we may turn into the Eastern Conference version of the Phoenix Suns, a team that can score consistently for 48 minutes. But I really do hope we get some defense out there.

 

[mike18946]

Managed to catch this game on MSG network even though I don't live in New York (was a speical preview game), Marbury was really feeling It in that first half. Could hardly miss a shot but you could tell the Knick starters were getting tired after their OT game the night before. JYD did a great job defending Gasol and as always did a great job bringing energy and to me decided the game. Memphis tried to make a few runs but the Knicks always answered any run the Grizzles came up with.

BTW Walt Frazier is great-"posted and toasted"