Los Angeles Clippers vs. New York Knicks Post Game Recap April 25

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Final Score: Los Angeles Clippers 93 New York Knicks 99

The Knicks were able to come tonight and again protect their home court, finishing the season 22-11 at Madison Square Garden.  That is the highest winning percentage at home for the Knicks since the 2000 season.  With the win, the Knicks remained in contention for the 7^th seed in the Eastern Conference, but will not be able to move up any more.  With the Magic defeating the Charlotte Bobcats, the Knicks are officially out of the running for the 6^th seed.  This locks the Knicks into a first round match-up with either the Bulls or Heat. 

-Bench Shows up Again

The Knicks bench again was on fire tonight.  J.R. Smith led the charge, leading the team with 21 points, five assists and four steals.  Smith set the tone at the end of the first quarter putting the Knicks up 24-19 behind five points from Smith.  Steve Novak then picked up right where Smith left off starting the 2^nd quarter off with two straight 3 pointers within a minute time span.  Bench production did not stop there as Landry Fields later got into the act with six points of his own.  Before you knew it, the Knicks had built a double-digit lead and were in command of the game.

The stellar play of Smith as a playmaking point guard and Novak continuing his hot shooting in the 4^th quarter really helped put away the Clippers.  Mike Woodson decided to let it roll with the bench giving the starters pretty much the whole 4^th quarter off and they did not disappoint him.  The Knicks bench finished with 43 points compared to the 20 scored by the Clippers bench.

-Two Different Halves

In the first half, the Knicks were dominant in the paint.  The Clippers scored only four points in the paint compared to 10 for the Knicks in the 1^st quarter.  The Knicks were able to limit the dynamic front court of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to only six points combined in the first half.  What was even better was the Knicks did not allow either player to a get a dunk.

The second half was a different story for the Knicks.  They allowed Griffin and Jordan easier access to the paint, leading to a combined four dunks between the two.  The game was no longer out of hand once the Knicks allowed the Clippers to get to the basket.  Again, it was mostly against the Knicks second unit, so it was a positive at the same time they did not allow the Clippers to take the lead and held on for the win.

-Stoudemire Struggles on Defense

Everyone is aware that defense is not the top priority for Amar’e Stoudemire.  At times, it even looks like it is not in his top five while on the court.  But Stoudemire has to do a better job of buying into Mike Woodson’s team first approach.  Carmelo Anthony has bought in and he is playing some of the best basketball of his career; it is time for Stoudemire to follow suit.  Stoudemire was the culprit on multiple post ups by the Clippers and was easily exploited numerous times.  This led to multiple break downs on rotations and the perimeter defense, allowing the Clippers to shoot 11-25 from downtown in the game. 

-Get Flow on Offense

The Knicks have to figure out a way to work everyone into the offense.  Tonight, at least early on, they relied too heavily on Carmelo Anthony isolation.  The Knicks barely ran any pick-and-rolls for Stoudemire or Chandler, leading to a combined one point between the two of them.  Anthony did have nine points in the quarter, but it would be nice to see more people worked in.  It should be noted though as the game went on, Anthony was finding Stoudemire and Chandler more often rolling to the basket for easy dunks and lay-ups.  

Los Angeles Clippers vs. New York Knicks Pre-Game News and Notes April 25

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 8:00 P.M. ET
Los Angeles Clippers vs. New York Knicks

The playoff picture for the Knicks should be much clearer after Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers.  The Knicks have already secured a playoff spot, currently tied for 7^th with the Philadelphia 76ers for 7^th place in the Eastern Conference with two games remaining.  That can all change depending on the results of tonight’s game.

For starters, if the Magic win all talk of moving up to the 6^th seed ends.  7^th would be as high as the Knicks could be seeded.  But, if the Knicks win and the Magic lose, the Knicks stay in 7^th for the night, keeping alive the chance of moving up to 6^th place.  It would then take another Magic lose tomorrow night in addition to a Knicks win for them to complete the jump and move into 7^th place.  The only way the Knicks can fall below 7^th is if they lose and the 76ers win tonight.  Holding the tiebreaker over Philadelphia, any tie would result in the Knicks receiving the higher seed.

-Injury News and Updates

There will be restrictions on the Knicks tonight.  They are expected to play their full allotment of healthy players like any other game.  The only player not playing is Jared Jeffries, who is resting his sore knee for the playoffs.  Tyson Chandler, after missing Sunday afternoon’s game in Atlanta will be returning to the lineup and is a go tonight. 

News is not as light-hearted for the visiting Clippers.  They could be without All-Star Point Guard Chris Paul for tonight’s game.  Paul suffered a left groin strain last night in Atlanta.  Paul is considered to be a legitimate game-time decision, and is doing everything in his power to get into the lineup for the game against the Knicks. 

-Contain the High Flying Clippers

The Knicks will have their hands full tonight with high flying big men Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.  Both Griffin and Jordan look to roll to the basket every time down the court so they can finish with thunderous alley-oop dunks.  If Chris Paul is indeed capable of playing tonight, it will make it that much more difficult on the Knicks.  Paul is a master in the pick-and-roll game and has shown that time and time again throughout the season with the highlight plays he has been a part of with Griffin and Jordan.

-Attack, Attack, Attack

The Clippers are playing their second game in as many nights with travel from Atlanta to New York in between.  Fatigue this late in the season is usually a factor, even more so when you have to play on multiple nights in a row.  The Knicks have to come out aggressive, feeding the big horses Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire early and often to set the tone in tonight’s game.  Running the offense throughout Anthony first is the best option for the Knicks with Stoudemire and the rest of the team playing off of him.  Anthony is a capable creator when given the opportunity.

-Continue to Build Chemistry

Amar’e Stoudemire will play in his third game tonight since returning from a back injury that kept him out nearly a month.  Only one of those games though has been played with both Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler in the lineup.  The Knicks have to continue working out the wrinkles because they are a much more dangerous team when all three of them are playing up to their abilities.  They have tonight and tomorrow night in Charlotte to figure some things out.

The biggest problem for the three of them has been spacing.  At time it seems like they are playing tentatively, afraid that they might step on the others toes in a sense.  The most problems seem to come with 

Chandler and Stoudemire, as both players are best suited for the pick-and-roll game.  

The best way around this in my opinion would be to have Anthony run the pick-and-roll with both players.  Anthony is a capable passer when he wants to be and Stoudemire and Chandler are even more capable finishers at the rim. 

Another thing that would help is Stoudemire getting his jump shot down.  If he is able to knock down the elbow extended jumper the offense would open up that much more.  That would allow for Chandler to be the pick setter and Stoudemire to spot up.  Defenses will have to watch Chandler rolling to the basket because of his ability of finishing around the basket.  This will have defenses sagging off Stoudemire some, 

making for easy opportunities for everyone in the offense.

Getting both of them involved in the offense will be key; it is much harder to stop both of them compared to guarding one or the other.  Not just one player, but the team as a whole will be responsible for making that happen. 

Knicks Promote Glen Grunwald

After the Knicks and Donnie Walsh had what was said to be a mutual split after last season, the Knicks have had Glen Grunwald acting as interim Executive Vice President and General Manager after Walsh’s contract expired July 1^st 2011.  Tuesday afternoon the Knicks announced that Grunwald would have the interim tag removed, and officially become the Executive Vice President and General Manager.  Grunwald has been a part of the Knicks franchise since September 6^th, 2006 when he was named the Senior Vice President of basketball operations.  Previously, Grunwald served as part of the Toronto Raptors front office, spending 10 years with the team from 1994-2004.  Seven of those seasons were as the general manager of the team.

This was a great move by the Knicks brass, and it started right after the lockout was lifted on December 10^th.  On that day, Chauncey Billups was amnestied to make room for Tyson Chandler.  It was a move in which Grunwald pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes because the Knicks were not considered serious contenders for Chandler’s services. 

At first, people were unsure of the move because it virtually took the Knicks out of the running for a 3^rd superstar this upcoming off-season.  But Grunwald knew what he was doing, as the signing of Chandler has put the Knicks franchise moving in the right direction.  Instead of going into the wait and see mode like last summer when the Knicks missed out on Lebron James and Dwayne Wade, Grunwald decided to act now instead of later, nabbing the defensive anchor this team needed after Donnie Walsh was able to add offensive weapons Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. 

The returns have been noticed right away for the Knicks.  In the 2010-2011 season, the Knicks were ranked 22^nd out of 30 teams in defensive rating and this season have improved to 5^th in the league out of 30. 

After Chandler, every other big move Grunwald has made has paid dividends for the Knicks this season.  The signings of Steve Novak, Jeremy Lin and J.R. Smith were all brilliant moves with the Knicks being strapped against the salary cap and without their mid-level exception after amnestying Chauncey Billups.  Grunwald was willing to give Lin a chance, seeing something in him that other executives did not give time to look into or just skipped over. 

As for Novak and Smith, Grunwald realized the holes that the current roster had and filled them up as well as any GM could have.  Novak and Smith gave the Knicks the outside shooters they needed to succeed once Lin and Anthony would break down the defense by penetrating and looking to kick. 

"Glen has done a terrific job this season," Knicks owner James Dolan said in a statement.  "He is an intelligent, seasoned executive and we look forward to him continuing in the role of general manager for many years to come."  For once, I could not agree more with Dolan.  Grunwald has done an outstanding job with the restrictions placed upon him to reshape the Knicks roster into a legitimate team on both ends of the court, not just an offensive juggernaut and a liability on defense.

-What is on the horizon?

Grunwald will have his formal introduction Wednesday night in a press conference before the Knicks face off against the Los Angeles Clippers.  Then next up on the agenda is Mike Woodson’s job situation.  Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire have already given their votes of confidence supporting Woodson.  That is a strong signal that Woodson will be brought back when the two superstars of the team are on the same page. 

Not that the head coaching decision is easy, but it gets much tougher for Grunwald after the season ends.  He will have tough decisions to make regarding free agents and how to shape the team next season.  The Knicks will be strapped for cash in the off-season, making it Grunwald’s job to figure out how to re-sign Jeremy Lin while being able to keep key role players to fill out the team.  It is ironic that the same players he signed this year in Jeremy Lin, Steve Novak and J.R. Smith are the same players he will have to re-negotiate with and convince staying with the Knicks for another year is worth the potential pay cut they will need to take.  It will not be easy, but Grunwald has succeeded so far and I look forward to seeing him continue to work his magic next off-season and through the draft. 

New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks Post Game Recap April 22

Final Score: New York Knicks 113 Atlanta Hawks 112

The Knicks bounced back nicely from their poor performance Friday night against the Cavaliers, picking up a much needed win tonight if they will have any hope of moving up to the 6^th seed in the Eastern Conference.  The team came out more focused tonight and with more energy, matching what was a very game Hawks squad.  It will not be easy as they need to beat the Clippers and the Bobcats to finish off the season and have the Magic lose the rest of their games.  For one night, things went according to plan.  The Knicks also put a half game between themselves and the Philadelphia 76ers, whom they hold the tiebreaker against as well. 

-Getting Things Together On Offense

For at least one night, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire looked like the lethal combination they were hyped up as being when the Knicks brought Anthony on board at last season’s trade deadline.  Carmelo Anthony was lights out again, scoring 39 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.  Anthony was back in attack mode after taking a backseat it seemed in Cleveland Friday taking only 13 shots.  He took 12 shots in the 1^st quarter alone tonight.  Stoudemire had a strong game as well, scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.  It was nice seeing Anthony and Stoudemire working hard on the glass in the absence of Tyson Chandler, who sat tonight because of what is being called a sore knee. 

The performances of Anthony and Stoudemire tonight are significant because numbers suggest that Anthony and Stoudemire have had trouble co-existing with each other on the court, playing better when one of the two are sitting on the bench.  Another reason of this being so encouraging is the team it came against.  The Hawks have been firmly cemented in the playoffs and are no slouches on defense, ranking 5^th in the NBA in overall team defense.  It needs to be taken with a grain of salt because the Hawks have really nothing to play for the final games of the season, but they did play their full complement of players and came out trying to win the game. 

-Total Team Effort

Anthony and Stoudemire were the vocal point of the offense tonight, but the other players did not stand around and watch.  Landry Fields had one of his better games of late, finishing with 18 points on 7-8 shooting and an impressive 3-3 from 3 point range.  Fields has played so bad of late that Mike Woodson benched him in favor of Iman Shumpert when Stoudemire returned Friday night; so it was encouraging to see him bounce back.

Baron Davis made his return to the lineup tonight and looked rejuvenated.  He scored 13 points, knocking down 3-4 from 3 point range and handed out a season high 10 assists.  If the Knicks can get performances nearly as great as this from Davis on a consistent basis in the playoffs, they will be that much more dangerous. 

The bench was uncharacteristically quiet tonight, scoring only 10 points with the starters logging big minutes.  The starting group did not disappoint though, with each player scoring in double figures.

-No Chandler, No Defense

Without Tyson Chandler manning the middle tonight for the Knicks their defense was not very stellar.  Players got to the basket at will with very little resistance.  One encouraging sign though was Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire dominating the boards in place of Chandler.  Anthony and Stoudemire led the Knicks with 10 and 12 rebounds respectively, leading the Knicks to outrebound the Hawks 37-33. 

The downside though was that the Knicks allowed the Hawks to shoot 53.9% from the field and 65.2% from the 3 point line.  Luckily for them, the Hawks did not play any defense either, as the Knicks shot 54.4% from the field and a blistering 63.2% from the 3 point line.  Both teams combined to knock down an absurd 27 combined 3 pointers.

The next game for the Knicks will be Wednesday at 8:00 against the Los Angeles Clippers a.k.a Lob City at the Garden.