Showing posts with label Jose Calderon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jose Calderon. Show all posts

Friday, November 14, 2014

N.Y. Knicks: Did The Commissioner Poke The Bear With A Stick?

From the desk of:  DUTCH PANTS CAN'T JUMP




Patiently Waiting On Phil Jackson To Restore That Old School Feeling


NEW YORK KNICKS: Feeling Six And Queasy To Our Stomachs.

To paraphrase - We're really trying hard this year, not like last season - is the way Tim Hardaway Jr. put it.

  • Translation - Mike Woodson never stood a chance.  We abandoned his dictates in the time it took us to walk from the locker room to the hard wood.  And why not?  Carmelo Anthony was the alpha of MSG, and therefore player accountability remained nothing more than a theory.   Phil Jackson, however, will delete anyone of us in a New York minute, so we better do what Coach Fisher says.

I wonder what he'll say when his minutes get converted into Jose Calderon playing time.

In Calderon's absence these Knicks have twisted the Triangle into a pretzel.  The Knicks suffer from poor ball distribution and lack of scoring; nine games into the season, they have yet to score 100 points.

Yes, yes, yes... they're learning a new system.  Start spinning of the rolodex of excuses.

Evidently, the commissioner seems to have noticed, and Phil Jackson noticed that the commissioner noticed, and didn't seem all too pleased about it.

Easy there Zen Master....  The NBA commissioner only pointed out what we all already know.  I am somewhat surprised though, Phil seemingly took Commissioner Sterling's observation personally.   Then again, Phil has never been asked to oversee this much dysfunction before.  His sensitivity is understandable.  It goes to show running the Knicks can even make someone practiced in the art of meditation a little schizo.

In the meantime, the Knicks losing streak is up to six games.  The biggest difference between this six game slide and any other slide suffered over the last 15 years, is that finally someone is looking to fire all the players responsible, because as we all know, Derek Fisher isn't going anywhere, and this is after all a rebuilding year.

Right?

On that note, the commissioner might have even done fans a favor by hastening the Knicks president of basketball operations into initiating several savvy personnel changes.




Mike

Thursday, October 30, 2014

N.Y. Knicks Show Two Different Faces In Two Nights

From the desk of:  DUTCH PANTS CAN'T JUMP





69th Season of 
Knickerbocker Basketball


NEW YORK KNICKS: In its debut, the Triangle didn't quite fit Madison Square.

No playoffs last season.

No Mike Woodson this season.  No Tyson Chandler or Ray Felton either.

Although Phil Jackson signed on late last season, and started putting his stamp on the Knicks during the off-season, the Triangle Era officially started Wednesday night and failed miserably.

The byproduct of their 104-80 defeat to the Bulls was the season's first excuse.  The Knicks played Wednesday night without Jose Calderon, who will miss the next 2-3 weeks with a strained calf.  He was brought in to execute Jackson's triangle offense.  Now they'll just have to wait.

The real problem, however, was a lack of effort.  That came out of Knicks mouths after the game,   not mine.  Someone dressed in a Knicks uniform indeed said the team quit.

No need to point fingers though.  It is better if they all understand not to say anything they wouldn't want Phil Jackson to hear.  That is now a sure way to abbreviate one's Knicks career.

Then came Thursday night's effort in Cleveland against LeBron James and the suddenly resurgent Cavaliers.

Did new head coach Derek Fisher press the right buttons?  We don't know.  But, after sleepwalking in the 1st quarter, they pulled within 2 points by the half.  The Knicks then took control in the 3rd quarter en route to a 95-90 victory.

LeBron James led all players with 43 minutes, but struggled to shoot 5/15 from the floor, with 17 points, and an uncharacteristic 8 turnovers.  He was the Cavs' third leading scorer behind Kyrie Irving's 22 and Kevin Love's 19 points.

Carmelo Anthony scored a game high 25 points and led the Knicks with 6 assists.  Quincy Acy led the Knicks with 10 rebounds.

That's it.  Until the Knicks play the Charlotte Hornets this weekend, the season is a tale of two very different games, two very different efforts (eh hem, Iman Shumpert), with very different results.



Mike