I have to admit, I was getting worried. The season is officially underway and after the first week, no one from the organization had heard from Danilo Gallinari. He wasn’t returning phone calls or anything. But finally, there was a Danilo Gallinari sighting. All this time I thought the poor guy was missing. Gallo’s long overdue and timely performance last week were much needed for the Knicks.
Housekeeping
Record: 3-3
Streak: L1
2nd place in the Atlantic Division
6th place in the Eastern Conference
Team Leaders
Points: Amar’e Stoudemire, 19.5
Rebounds: Amar’e Stoudemire, 8.5
Assists: Raymond Felton, 7.8
Steals: Toney Douglas, 2.5
Blocks: Rony Turiaf, 2.2
Tuesday, November 2, home vs. Orlando Magic: Postponed
As you know by now, this game was postponed due to asbestos-related debris that fell into the arena from the ceiling during overnight maintenance after a New York Rangers game. Then came all the “No wonder the Knicksaren’t any good” jokes, amongst many others. Those jokes were lame if I may say so myself. This was the first time in 14 years that a game was cancelled due to a Garden maintenance related issue.
It sure would have been interesting to see what would have happened in this game. This was Orlando’s first game since they were embarrassed at home by 26 on national TV the Friday prior against the Miami Heat. I’m sure Orlando would’ve come out swinging and I would’ve loved to have seen how the Knicks responded. New York always plays up to teams who are perceived as better than them and down to competition who isn’t as good as them. For example, the Knicks only lost to the Celtics in Boston by 4 points earlier this year in a game that they could have won. But it’s a moot point. The game wasn’t played.
Thursday, November 4 at Chicago: Knicks 120 – Bulls 112
If you didn’t see the game, please don’t be fooled by the fact that the Knicks only won by 8 points. Believe me, it wasn’t nearly that close. As I mentioned at the top, this was Danilo Gallinar’s coming out party. The man finally woke up. Coming into this game, he scored a grand total of 18 points in the first three games. In this contest, he had 21 at halftime. Danilo was second in the entire Association last year in 3-point makes, but was shooting just 29% entering this game. No one told him that because he was 4 of 4 from downtown.
The biggest unsung hero for the Knicks was Toney Douglas who finished with a career high 30 points while shooting 5-9 from 3-point land. Douglas has been solid all year, so we knew he had this in him. Gallo was who concerned me.
The Knicks shot 67% (16 -24) from 3 and 82% (24 – 29) from the stripe. They were up 70 -52 at halftime and their largest lead was 21. They absolutely embarrassed the Bulls on national TV. It really wasn’t that competitive. The Bulls even received boos heading into the locker room at the half, but something tells me that wasn’t a chant for the injured Carlos Boozer. The theme of last week’s Knicks Notes was that although it’s D’Antoni’s system, they shoot too many 3s. It’s a fact: they do shoot too many 3s, but the game against the Bulls was a glimpse of what could happen when executed properly.
Let me not forget about Wilson Chandler who has proven to probably be the most consistent Knick even though he’s coming off the bench.
Friday, November 5 home vs. Washington Wizards: Knicks 112 – 91
The talk coming into this game was all about John Wall’s first regular season game in the Garden and Gilbert Arenas’ return to the court. The Knicks didn’t get the memo because they ruined the headline for Washington. In fact, Raymond Felton and Toney Douglas held their own against the more heralded tandem. Felton had 13 points and10 assists, while Douglas contributed with 19 points and a career high, 10 boards. Good ol’ consistent Wilson Chandler had 14 points as well. Here were two of the most impressive points of the night for Wilson:
I can’t lie. I didn’t think he had that in him.
I like Arena’s game alot. I think he’s one of the most gifted offensive weapons in the league. He finished with 18 anddidn’t look like he missed a beat to me. Wall had 13 points but turned the ball over nine times. He leaves his feet with nowhere to go with the ball too often.
In typical D’Antoni fashion, the Knicks shot twice as many 3s as their opponent. They put up an amazing 29 of them. I’m not sure what the NBA record is for most attempted 3s in a season by a team, but at this rate that record won’t last very long. The Wizards only had 13 assists because there was alot of 1 on 1 and the Knicks forced them to miss alot of shots. Amar’e had four blocks as the Knicks remain as the leading shot blocking team in the league.
Sunday, November 8, home vs. Philadelphia 76ers: Philly 106 – 96
This 10 point loss is the Knicks’ largest margin of defeat this year, but it didn’t have to happen this way. Philly didn’t even have the services of arguably their best player, Andre Iguodala, but still managed to win. For the 76ers, Evan Turner filled in more than admirably (14 points and 10 rebounds) for Iguodala and Elton Brand had 20 points for the 4th consecutive game.
New York lives and dies by the 3 and they died by it in this game. They shot just 3 – 19 from downtown. D’Antoni’s system is a very risky one. This is what can happen when the 3s don’t fall. In defense of the Knicks, they still were able to put up 96 points while only making three 3s.
During the pre-game show against the Bulls earlier in the week, TNT’s Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley were engaged in a conversation about Amar’e Stoudemire and the fact that he doesn’t grab enough boards. They recycled on of their usual jokes:
Charles: “Kenny, what do you call a Poward Forward that grabs 8 rebounds a game?”
Kenny: “A Small Forward.”
I bring that up because in the loss to Philly, Amar’e had 21 points and a season high 15 rebounds. He’s capable of doing that more often, so I don’t know why it doesn’t happen that more frequently.
This Week
Coming up this week, the Knicks are in Milwaukee Tuesday, home vs. Golden State on Wednesday (David Lee’s return to the Garden), Friday at Minnesota and back home Sunday to host the Rockets. I would love to say that they could go 4 – 0, but the volume of 3s scares me. They’ll go 3 – 1 this week with the only loss being against Milwaukee. I’ll fill you in next week.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
