The Pelicans beat a bad team tonight, and normally I’d not have a ton of comments to make in that situation because you can’t take a win over a terrible defense that seriously. Tonight, however, I saw a bunch of interesting things during the game. Let’s get rolling.
- Gorgeous play with 2:20 to go in the first quarter. Davis sets a pick on the right wing for Jrue. As Jrue takes the pick, Anderson comes up and sets a second pick for Anthony Davis. This sets up a situation where two Knicks are concentrating on turning back Jrue, leaving Jason Smith having to decide who he covers – Anthony Davis or Ryan Anderson, who flares to the wing away from Davis. Smith bites on the movement and follows Anderson. Jrue also flares right, drawing the two guys on him, Davis flashes to rim down an open lane. Dunk.
- Amare Stoudemire had his full post game on display tonight and had it going. As he’s lost his athleticism, he has become a surprisingly effective post player. He’s finished 70% of his shots in the post this season, which is a tremendous number. The Pelicans committed to stopping Anthony – and that left little to double Stoudemire and he did well over a good defender in Asik.
- Stoudemire’s roll (and Anderson’s cold shooting) led to Monty going with Asik during crunch time. He also inserted Dante Cunningham to provide energetic defense on Anthony. Since the Knicks were rolling with JR Smith as the small foward, that left Davis on him. Davis was definitely up for it, though it was a bit nerve-wracking.
- In fact, the best part about Anthony Davis guarding JR was the Knicks immediately started feeding JR Smith to let him attack, going away from Stoudemire, who had been on fire. After Smith was shut down four times, they then tried to do their normal thing and feed Carmelo for crunch time shots. The Pels immediately doubled him every time it happened and he couldn’t get going. By the time the Knicks went back to Amare (who immediately scored) the game was essentially out of reach. Ego-ball!
- Gal Mekel started by doing a good job getting penetration past the first line of defense and finding open Pelicans. Later, the Knicks started staying home and Mekel was forced to shoot. At least, I think it was shooting. They were so off, I’m not positive. Maybe he thought Tyreke could put down alley-oops?
- Babbitt did what Babbitts do. That’s all you can ask of him.
- I’m 100% into the Dante Cunningham experience right now. He’s probably already the teams 3rd best defender, and the team needed a shot of that.
- I should mention that Evans had a good game, scoring 27 points on 15 shots and hitting a slew of layups. It’s just really hard to get excited that he could hit layups against a team that was waiting for him to hurry up and finish so they could shoot too, damnit.
Next game is tomorrow night in Dallas! Dallas also played tonight, losing to Memphis, so at least both teams should be equally used up.
9 responses to “Observations: Knicks @ Pelicans”
I gotta go ahead and give an early good job to Monty and Dell. This bench lineup has a totally different feel about them. The two additions seem to be what we needed, as they get more comfortable in the lineup It’ll get even better. I like taking the ball from Rivers and allowing Mekel to make the decisions, while just allowing Rivers to make plays. And the hustle from Cunningham will have a good effect on this team. I don’t have to close my eyes when the starters sit. Now if Anderson starts making his shots, then I’ll be extremely happy with the second unit.
Also, I say it after every game. Jrue is getting more confident, that’s gonna be huge for us. He looks better and better each game. Starting to have more of an attitude like Tyreke, but he can make more happen with the ball
Steven J I could not agree with your observations more. Cunningham brings the energy we lost with Morrow and JSmith. Rivers at the 2 > Rivers at the 1. Meckel needs to improve his offense just a bit so he is not left open to shoot…Anderson has got to do better…beginning to get concerned with Ryno as its killing our 2nd team potential.
Pelican Poster Steven J It is going to be hard to keep Mekel on the floor shooting like that.
mateor Steven J That’s the thing. I don’t think the team wants him shooting, and I don’t think he wants to shoot. He can do things like distribute to Ajinca, Rivers, and Anderson and give them more scoring opportunities with good passing and decisions. I think he’s perfect for a guy like Ajinca who has the capability to score, but just needs to get the ball in the right position.
This is really off topic but I just saw Portland won again, and was really annoyed. This prompted me to look their schedule up. It’s by far the easiest schedule I’ve seen. It’s really sad they cut no corners giving us a tough schedule. It kind of makes me feel good about our chances of going on a run. Take a look at Portlands schedule to start the season, if yall get a chancehttp://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2014/08/portland_trail_blazers_2014-15_season_schedule.html
Steven J mateor He won’t have to shoot as much if guys move more off the ball and present themselves to receive passes. Once the other guys realize that it isn’t Tyreke or Rivers, they should develop the confidence that a skilled pass may come their way.
Didn’t see the game. Did see Cunningham played much more than Babbitt, not that I mind. (I like them both but see they have nearly polar opposite skill sets.) Was a reason given why?
504ever Monty clearly liked Dante’s defense on Carmelo. After the initial stint with Babbitt, Monty tried to have Dante on Carmelo whenever Carmelo was out there.
ryanschwan 504ever Sounds great. I thought Cunningham’s D and slam last game were great. Then he hit two long twos. Glad to see his D shine again. He looks like a keeper. Thanks!