• Happy Birthday Earl Monroe! Today the Knick legend turns 67. Wonder if he will play bingo online for money? Hopefully, he’ll win some B-day dough.
• Carmelo Anthony has agreed to take part in four game exhibition tour. The tour is being described as a “homecoming tour” as games will be played in the home cities of each of the four main participants. Other participants include Lebron James, Chris Paul and Dwayne Wade.
• Cuttino Mobley is suing the Knicks for discrimination. Mobley didn’t technically play for the Knicks, however he believes that he was mistreated by the medical staff during his brief time there, causing him to retire prematurely. (more…)

Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports:

Turiaf will join San Antonio Spurs guard and fellow Frenchman Tony Parker(notes), who is a part owner of Asvel and also has agreed to play for the club during the lockout.

Bon voyage, Ronny!

Wow. Two Shelden Williams posts in one week?!?!

In case you missed it in Will’s preview, coming off his surprisingly effective performance defending Dwight Howard two nights ago, it’s looking like Mr. Landlord Williams will get the Knicks first crack at Brook Lopez against New Jersey tonight. If he manages to go two for two in giving the East’s two most offensively talented big men (apologies to a sober JaVale McGee) extended headaches, who knows how far he can take us. The sky’s the limit when Shelden Williams is your starting center.

From Chris Sheridan:

Shelden Williams starts at C tonight for Knicks vs. Nets. Ronny Turiaf (ankle) is out. Shawne Williams (back spasms) is doubtful.

The team says center Ronny Turiaf is doubtful with a strained right ankle.

The injury forced Turiaf to miss Saturday night’s 114-106 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. Mike D’Antoni, who started Shawne Williams in place of Turiaf against Charlotte, was not ready to announce his starting lineup on Monday morning. D’Antoni noted that all 15 of his players are healthy, so maybe that’s a good sign for Turiaf.

Hate to place yet another obstacle in the Knicks’ road to ending their losing streak, but if Ronny can’t go tonight expect Dwight Howard to turn MSG into his personal slaughterhouse once again.

In other Knicks news, I also want to point out an interesting Renaldo Balkman interview that was posted today by Dime Magazine. If you forgot Balkman was on the team, you aren’t alone. Since coming aboard, Balkman’s played 18 minutes. He was a pretty good defensive player, last I checked; maybe it’s time to let the guy loose, give him some minutes, and see what happens. Sometimes when you’re near rock bottom, a semi-drastic move like this one couldn’t make the situation any worse than it already is.

The Wind Left Chauncey's Sails At Halftime (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Box Score

The losing streak drags on; the Knicks have fallen below .500. The story, once again, is the team’s inept play when the game’s up for grabs and both teams have a win in their sites—otherwise known as the fourth quarter.  Tonight, after forfeiting a four point lead at the half, the Knicks found themselves down only one point heading into the final period, and, you guessed it, the Knicks were outscored, out-hustled, and outplayed to the tune of a 32-21 deficit.  Hop the turnstile for a few points on the big three…

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Hopefully New York Can Bring A New Defensive Intensity For 48 Minutes Tonight (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

To enter the Linkin’ Center, please hop the turnstile…

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A Dejected Carmelo Looks On As New York Fails Down the Stretch (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Demoralizing. The word’s five syllables roll off the tongue sounding exactly like what they mean. As far as regular season losses go, this one is flat out demoralizing. Coming off two pretty bad losses to some pretty bad teams, the Knicks looked like a team that almost didn’t respect their opponents. Tonight, they knew what they were up against and they responded admirably early on, playing up to their competition and leading after the first three quarters, including a 51-37 halftime edge.  But after Carmelo Anthony—who fought through foul trouble all night and still managed a team high 22 points—cut the outer edge of his eye open on a collision with Rajon Rondo, the Knicks looked like lost puppies.  With five fouls on him for much of the fourth quarter, Anthony was reduced to defending Rondo on the perimeter instead of his man, Paul Pierce. This is an understandable strategic move, but putting Billups or Fields on Pierce in turn makes very, very little sense.  The Celtics captain went on to absolutely destroy New York in the final quarter, and with Amar’e Stoudemire continuously trying to attack the strength of Boston’s defense on the other end, the Knicks had no chance against one of the league’s best teams.

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The Knicks Lost To This

Whenever Tyler Hansbrough scores more points than both Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, chances are his team’s walking away with the win. Most didn’t see this coming, but some did. It was just one of those NBA games where every logical point tips the scale in one team’s favor, only to have the underdog blow them out. Onto the links:

* When you’re 0-7 from deep and can hardly run up the court, you better be making passes like this. Just kidding…but seriously. Chauncey didn’t play too well in his first game back from the thigh injury, but everyone’s entitled to an off night every now and then. It’s good to see him contribute in other ways.

* A couple of weeks ago, Mark Cuban said Denver got the better of New York in their blockbuster deal. Over the weekend, Carmelo Anthony says whoever acquired him got the better of everyone else.

* Which is a better road to go down? Chauncey, Chris Paul, Toney, other?

* The New York Times game recap.

* No need to check twice, Mr. Billups is just dominating the Linkin’ Center right now! Here’s a recent, very informative Q&A.

* With news breaking late last week that MSG was planning on raising its ticket prices for Rangers and Knicks games, the Daily News’ Filip Bondy takes issue. Especially if they’ll be losing to the Pacers on the reg.

* The season’s winding down now, and before we know it the playoffs will be on us. As talented as New York looks on paper, their inconsistent losses to subpar teams must have D’Antoni nervous.

* Nice piece on Ronny Turiaf and his personal connection to the Wes Leonard tragedy.

* Have we mentioned the Pacers’ best player didn’t dress last night?

* More Turiaf!! An interview with the Seattle Times on his Alma Mater’s tourney chances.

Ronny Turiaf Upon Realizing He's The Only Center In New York

By way of comparison, the Knicks humongous, blockbuster trade of just 48 hours ago is, like, totally ancient news. Before yesterday’s deadline struck at 3 p.m., a bajillion deals went down: the Eastern Conference leading Boston Celtics changed their identity, the Oklahoma City Thunder became a contender, the Nets landed their first franchise player in almost 40 years, Hasheem Thabeet was moved for an actual player, the Trail Blazers managed to grab a momentary Brandon Roy stop gap, and so on and so on. What didn’t happen, however, was the Knicks acquisition of a big guy. As their roster stands, New York has one true center: Ronny Turiaf. Which means nobody on the team is taller than 6′ 10″. Check back later today for an explanation on how they can fix this minor dilemma, but first let’s dive into today’s links.

* Could the Knicks have landed Deron Williams, too?

* The league’s second most uproarious rookie gives thanks to all those in the heavens above for allowing him an extended stay in New York.

* A minor preview of tonight’s game against Cleveland. (A more detailed post from us to come later.)

* A toast to Gallinari; the great wild card of the Carmelo deal.

* Tired of Chris Paul rumors? Of course you aren’t! But New Orleans probably is.

* Can one of the more overlooked newcomers fit in?

* Look for our detailed piece on Chauncey Billups later today. For now, read this. You won’t be disappointed having this guy on your team.

* The Chicago Tribune, and three other corners of the country, thinks the Knicks absolutely hosed Denver.

* So do the Denver Nuggets.

* Welcome back Jared Jeffries? This should be fun.

* The Knicks will likely cut ties with Renaldo Balkman. What. A. Shame.

Before Darko came to the Knicks last season, he worked on his "Blue Steel" look. This summer he decided instead to work on his game. Turns out that was more useful. Go figure.

Former bench boy Knick Darko Milicic returned to New York with his new team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, hoping to issue another beat down.  Antony Marino had this to say about it:

Just sixty minutes before one of the great disasters in American aviation history, the New York Knicks—victorious in nine out of ten games—prepared for payback against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Whether it is more obviously absurd that the Knicks had accomplished this brilliant feat or that any NBA team should have to avenge a loss to the hapless Wolves, I cannot say. Nevertheless, it was sure to be a winnable game, and with the soft underbelly of the 2010 schedule fading fast, it was a game the Knicks had to have.

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To donate to the FanSided and Site5 Holiday Season Charity Drive and help us help the BGCA help our children, visit this link.

Here are some things I’m thankful for in the world o’ Knicks (feel free to add your own thankful bits in the comments section below):

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Why are we using a picture of Shawne Williams as a Memphis Tiger? Because before Sunday he'd never played on the court in a Knicks jersey. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

One of the oddest things about the New York Knicks’ double-overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday was that it also featured both coaches using double rotation strategies: getting everyone a shot initially, only to end up with a short leash.  By the end of the first quarter, Detroit coach John Kuester had already gone ten players deep.  For the Knicks, Mike D’Antoni went nine-deep in the first half, which might not seem like he went too deep into his bench, until you see who he played.

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Is it possible that Roger Mason Jr. has been the key for the Knicks' winning streak? Perhaps, because he seems to be best used by, as seen here, being off the court. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

New Buckets writer, Antony Marino, believes your New York Knicks’ current winning streak is due to everyone, particularly Roger Mason Jr, finding their roles:

I apologize for my recent lack of productivity. I awoke this morning to the unmistakable stench of smelling salts and the discomfort of a full beard. Doctors told me I had been in a deep coma since Blake Griffin’s dunk, but that I had fared better than Mr. Mozgov who was now eating his meals through a straw. Luckily, middling-grade vodka has been Timo’s primary means of sustenance for years, but the experience of drinking it through a straw has been harrowing nonetheless.

So where do we stand, Knick fans? (more…)

Raymond Felton hurt his back last night, but that wasn't gonna stop him from gutting out a win against his former team. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Last night, your New York Knickerbockers defeated Raymond Felton’s former team, the Charlotte Bobcats, 110-107, giving us a four-game winning streak and more.  It moved us into sole possession of the seventh seed in the East (with a full game lead over the eighth and just one behind being tied for fifth).  It left us just one game below .500.  And should we win tonight’s rematch against the Bobcats, we would have our longest winning streak in nearly five years.  Perhaps even more important, taking the rematch would also give us the season series against the Cats since we only play them three times.  Since they’re one of the teams who we’ll be fighting for the final playoff spots, that tie-breaker could end up being crucial.  But before we jump ahead to thoughts of April, let’s stay in November for a moment and discuss last night’s ART (The Awful, The Remarkable and The Terrific).

The Awful

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Blake Griffin had the game of his life, but the Knicks happily had the game. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

With two victories over the weekend against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, the Knicks have managed to pull themselves up to being tied for seventh in the East.  Our 3-1 record on the road trip was, amazingly (and depressingly), the best we’ve done on the road since 1998.  Yes, during it we beat two of the league’s weaker teams (the Kings & Clips), and the Warriors were missing one of their best players (our former fan-fave, David Lee).  However, keep in mind that previously we had been losing to those weaker teams, even ones missing top players (the Sixers without Andre Iguodala, and the Rockets without Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks).  The results were so different than the early part of the season, that it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s Memorex.  So who are we?

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Mike D'Antoni weighing the benefits of whether or not to play Anthony Randolph. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks finally had a decent night offensively, and as we’ve been saying here, that made all the difference, giving them a much needed 113-106 victory over the Sacramento Kings.  Yes, part of it is that they were helped by the fact that the Kings are a weak team, but the hope entering the season was that if we beat the bad teams and lose to the good ones, we’ll still be good enough to slip into the playoffs.  No, we won’t be a team that can challenge for higher than a 7th seed as some deluded fans dreamed, but we just might not be as bad as we’ve seemed.

Looking back, our record isn’t nearly as awful as it seems.  The truth is that Minnesota needed a historic night in order to beat us, so we easily could be 5-7 instead of 4-8, and that would have us just a half game outside of the playoffs.  Right now, as is, we’re still only a game and a half out, which is pretty sweet considering how awful we’ve been.  The loss to Houston also was tough to handle because of their poor record, but their record may be deceiving in that of their 8 losses, 7 of ‘em were against teams likely to end up over .500.  The only inexcusable loss was against Philadelphia, and my feeling is that since we had a winning record at the time (3-2) and Phillie not only had looked bad but was also missing their top player (Andre Iguodala) that we entered the game a bit too confident and not with the desperation we needed.

Our next game is a rematch against Golden State, but they’ll be missing David Lee (they’ve gone 1-2 without him).  The next night we go up against the one-win Los Angeles Clippers, so we’ve got two very winnable games.  If we snag ‘em both, that’d leave us just half a game out.  Then we have a home-and-away against Charlotte, one  of the teams who we’ll be fighting against for the final spots.  Hopefully we can at least split those.  Then after that, two of our next three games are also very winnable (versus the Pistons and the Nets).

But back to last night’s game.  Let’s talk about a few of the key factors that lead to the victory:

-More importantly than shooting really well from the three-point line (40%) was the fact that we took a far more reasonable amount of them (15) rather than the 25+ we’ve been putting up regularly.  Just as if one lives by the sword then one dies by the sword, if ya live by the three you’re gonna die by it too.  Wilson Chandler played 34 minutes and nicely only took one three (which he made, but happily that didn’t make him go trigger-happy).

-Mozgov only got six minutes of playing time and Anthony Randolph didn’t get on the court at all.  Both of those guys may have tons of potential, but it’d be a compliment to say they’ve only played miserably.  We need wins and can’t just give our young guys minutes to screw up in hopes that they’ll improve down the road.  These guys need to be growing during practice time, and until they’re consistent there, they shouldn’t be playing.

-Along that line, it was also helpful that Ronny Turiaf didn’t get into foul trouble like he had the previous night in Denver, so he was able to log 30 minutes.

-Toney Douglas finally hit some shots, going 5-for-9 for 12 points in 21 minutes.  He doesn’t need to be on fire like he was during that two-game stretch earlier in the season, but he can’t come in and be a total stinkfest on O.  He’s Toney Tone, not Jared Jeffries.

-Of note is that we only had 14 assists, with Felton only getting 3.  This, to me, further proves my point that our issue is not with the point guard position but rather that our perimeter players haven’t been consistently hitting their outside shots.  We can survive if our shooters have a slightly sub-par night, but not if they have truly awful nights like they’ve been doing.

Hopefully we can use this win to help us sneak into Oakland on Friday and steal a victory back from the Warriors.

Gallinari, apparently bored with the game, throws up his arm ("forget y'all!") and walks away while Melo scores. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks, who had been down by as much as 16 points in the fourth quarter, clawed their way back to a tie, only to run out of time in the end against the Denver Nuggets.  For once, the offense didn’t grind to a halt.  However, much like in the game against Golden State, Amar’e Stoudemire had key misses from the free-throw line that likely cost us the game.

Over the last five years, Stat’s free throw percentage has been superb for a big man, ranging from 77.1% to 83.5%.  This year he’s shooting 72%, the worst he’s done since his second year in the league.  Last night he didn’t just shoot poorly for himself at the line, he shot poorly for like Shaq or Dwight Howard, going just 3-of-8 or 37.5%.  In a game decided by two points, that’s pretty huge.  When you miss free throws, particularly if you tend to miss them more toward the end of games, it’s clearly a mental issue.  Stat called out the team after the last game, saying they lacked a winning mentality, but one could easily make a case that he’s been the most responsible for not closing out games.

Though Stoudemire ended up with 24 points on a nice 10-for-19 shooting, he had only 6 rebounds and needs to dramatically improve his shot selection.  He tends to get the ball a little past the free throw line and then likes to try to drive to the side of his defender, getting some contact and putting up an awkward shot.  It only occasionally results in foul shots, but it always results in tougher attempts than had he just shot the open jumper when he caught it.  In fact, there were many times where he caught it in that area, with his man playing several feet off of him, and Stoudemire didn’t even look to shoot, instead passing it off to someone else.  For him to be truly dangerous, he needs to get his defenders to respect that outside shot.  That will force them to close out on him and make it easier for him to drive past them.  Right now they play a step off of him, making his drives tough even when no help defenders come over to clog the lane.

On the other side of the coin, in the world of and-that-guy-is-who?, the game featured two wonderful performances from unheralded rookies.  The Nuggets’ undrafted rookie, small forward Gary Forbes, notched 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, going 3-for-3 from distance, and adding an impressive 9 rebounds.  Not to be outdone, our own Landry Fields, who many people thought shouldn’t have been drafted, rang in an even more impressive 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting, plus an insane 17 rebounds.  By contrast, our three centers (Timofey Mozgov, Ronny Turiaf and Anthony Randolph) only combined for a paltry 5 boards.

Point guard Raymond Felton also had a good all-around game, with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, and only 1 turnover.  Actually, we were pretty darn good in keeping our turns down, only having 11 of ‘em.  Stoudemire too had a good game in that regard, only losing the ball twice.  One thing that seemed to help him get some easier buckets is that often after getting a defensive rebound with his man right on his back, Stat handed off the ball to Felton and then just sprinted down the court.  Felton would then pass the ball ahead to Amar’e who, yes, ugh, would take a few dribbles, but at these points at least there was usually just one defender, and that guy was backpeddling.

Other bits:

-Mozgov and Randolph were useless.  Actually, often they were worse than useless, frequently doing dumb things that hurt the team.  On one play, a Nugget was fouled, and because of continuation, took another step and just lobbed up the ball to ensure he got free-throws.  Randolph came over, trying to be like Kevin Garnett, and swatted the ball away.  However, since it was continuation and not, as KG does, a block on a shot taken after a dead ball, it was goal-tending, giving the Nugs two free points.

-Toney Douglas’ shot still wouldn’t fall, and since he doesn’t really know how to pass like a real point guard, it limits his usefulness.  Luckily, coach Mike D’Antoni seems to have realized this and thus limited Toney to just 16 minutes.

-Too many threes.  Heading into the fourth, the Knicks had already attempted 22 threes, only hitting five of ‘em.  In the fourth, they finally started to hit ‘em, going an excellent 4-for-9, but 31 threes on just 29% shooting is ridiculous.

-Speaking of threes, we’ve seemed to have trouble hitting them and thus keeping the opposing team honest.  Toney, Landry, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Anthony Mason have all been unable to consistently hit from range.  I’ve hoped that Kelenna Azubuike might eventually return and provide that steady threat, however maybe we already have our guy.  Last season, in his 27 games with us, Bill Walker shot an insane percentage from deep.  Last night he went 2-for-3 from downtown, so I was surprised that D’Antoni didn’t reinsert him when we needed a three at the end.  Walker hasn’t been as unconscious as he was in his limited run the previous year, but he’s still shooting a very impressive 36.8% (for comparison sake, since three pointers obviously get you more points than two pointers, shooting 33% from deep is the same as shooting a very impressive 50% from two-point land).  Maybe it’s time for D’Antoni to start giving him more than 14.3 minutes a night?  I dunno.  We clearly need to switch something up and get a boost from somewhere.

-Lastly, although we won the battle of the boards last night, clearly we need help at the center position.  It is thus with heavy heart (and still much confusion) that I write that last year’s surprising end-of-the-year flier, Earl Barron, has finally signed on with an NBA team — the Phoenix Suns.  I assume he’s getting the minimum and it’s just a one-year deal, so I still have no idea why we didn’t bring him back.  Is it really better to instead use that roster spot on keeping Shawne Williams glued to the bench?

Learn the Facts and Fiction behind the Knicks' failure, including the true key factor that took Kevin Love's game to the next level (nope, it wasn't his scoring or his rebounding). (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks’ slow start to the season seemed ripe for a turnaround over the weekend since they’d be playing against two teams (the Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets) that had only won two games each and had both looked pretty dang crappy so far.  The Twolves had lost their two starting point guards (Luke Ridnour and Jonny Flynn) to injury, plus for some reason coach Kurt Rambis had been refusing to play his best player (Kevin Love) for more than 24 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Rockets were struggling to form an identity with franchise player Yao Ming not playing in back-to-back games and only appearing in limited minutes.  Were they a group that played through the post in a slow-it-down half court approach, or a jump shooting squad?  With them also losing their starting point guard (Aaron Brooks) and their backup point (Kyle Lowry) having only played one game since returning from back injury, we couldn’t have wished for better set-ups.  On Friday night, the Knicks were up 21 points on the Twolves and it looked like everything would work out.  Less than 48 hours later it had become clear we are in serious crisis mode.

This being New York, of course, utter despair has kicked in, boos have been bombarded, and every little thing has been declared as “the problem.”  No doubt we have many issues, but let’s separate the Fact from the Fiction:

1.  Poor Defense – Fiction

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David Lee returned to New York with style last night. He left in a familiar manner: with the Knicks losing. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks dropped to 3-5 with their 122-117 loss to David Lee’s new team, the Golden State Warriors.  While the Warriors have been a laughable team, like the Knicks, for the past few years, this year they’ve started out on a tear.  At 6-2, they actually have are tied for the 4th best record in the league.  Yes, it’s early in the season, so that’s a bit of a mirage, but the point is that while they’re not quite as good as that record would indicate, neither are they as bad as their recent history would indicate.

If you didn’t watch the game, the five point difference might seem large, but really it was a one-point game in the closing seconds, that only was extended to five due to purposeful fouls (the last of which shouldn’t have even happened with only 1.5 seconds left, so really the score should’ve been 120-117).  Likewise, if you just look at the box score, you’d see Golden State shot an insane 52.8% from the field and assume our defense is as awful as it was last year.  The truth though is that our half-court defense was actually pretty darn good at times and definitely got us back in the game, despite being down as much as 19.  So what was the real story?

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The Knicks' ran all over the Wizards Friday, and it was 'cuz everyone knows their role. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Another potential new Knick blogger, Antony Marino, has fun writing about his take on Friday night’s victory over the Washington Wizards.  Sorry this wasn’t up sooner and that we don’t have anything for the loss against Philly yet.  It’s not that I only look at the Bright Side O’ Life (after all, I’m a %$^#$@& New Yawker) — it’s that my internet at home has gone MIA (no, it hasn’t taken it’s talents to South Beach, c’mon, that’s Missing In Action).  As one who watches Knick games on-line, non-existant interweb provides a serious impediment.  But enough of my belly-achin’ and back to Gufano’s excellent examination of our Friday Night Fight:

Yawn. Another day, another eleven blocks; another Knicks win. Good teams take care of business at home, and good franchises take care of toxic, 19th Century insulation and its resulting vascular liability at home. Or something. Great job all around.

With the John Wall hype machine and a healthy Yosemite Arenas coming to MSG on a Friday Night [Knicks Y’all] there was cause for concern of a letdown. But as has been the case in every game this year, the Knicks showed confidence, character and talent—exposing an inferior team time after time. Each Knick played their role to a “T”, other than young Anthony Randolph (who continues to look like a lost camper mistakenly left at Al Harrington’s Youth Clinic), but why rain on the parade? There is an imperative difference between one who is a “role player” and one who “plays one’s role”. Last night the Knicks continued to exhibit that they are largely composed of the latter. What follows is a giddy description of the roles and actors from last night’s praiseworthy performance against the Washington Walls.

The Wild Card: Bill Walker

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More sky-is-falling sign-of-the-apocalypse news: a Mike D'Antoni team is better at defense than offense. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Tonight we go to Chicago to play the Bulls, but somehow the stats tell us that we’re arriving looking like a defensive juggernaut that doesn’t know how to play offense.  Huh?  The blog By The Horns brought up these truly backwards stats:

how weird is this:

The Knicks — a presumably defenseless team that relies on Mike D’Antoni’s wacky offensive system to outscore their opponents — currently rank 24th in Offensive Rating (101.1) and 8th in Defensive Rating (102.4). Seriously.

As for the Bulls, they’re 15th in Offensive Rating (106.4) and 9th in Defensive Rating (102.6). So…Tom Thibodeau’s team is worse at playing defense than Mike D’Antoni’s squad, but better at putting points on the board?

In related news: Dogs are now living with cats. Mass hysteria!

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Stoudemire's 1st Knick game in NYC may not have resulted in a win, but it set the tone for a great, gritty, exciting rebirth of a season (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks lost both games this weekend, including the home opener against Portland where we led by 9 points with under six minutes remaining, but make no mistake: these are not last year’s Knicks.  We had tight games against both the Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers, two teams who, as I wrote in my pre-season Power Rankings, I believe are amongst the top five teams in the entire league.  Throw in the fact that in the last two minutes of the Blazers game we played some great lockdown defense, and clearly you should ignore the opening to the snarky recap by the Associated Press:

The elaborate pregame festivities were designed to emphasize that these are the “new” New York Knicks.

Crunch time was the same ol’ story.

Neither weekend game was anything like ones from previous years, so let’s look at what can be gleaned from them in order to better understand our new-look Knicks.  Last year we frequently had to examine things Clint Eastwood-style, checking out the Good, the Bad & the Ugly.  Life is looking up this season, so now and then we’ll check out a game’s ART (the Awful, the Remarkable & the Terrific):

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The Knicks may've lost to the TWolves, but Wilson Chandler may've proved his worth after his lackluster training camp performance. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Playing in Paris, the new-look Knicks’ first game against a NBA opponent, resulted in them coming in second place to the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-100.  Many people (including yours truly) feel that this year the TWolves could be the worst team in the league, so it ain’t a great sign that we lost to ‘em.  Still, as it is pre-season, just as one can’t read too much into our win on Monday against Milan, neither can ya read too much into a loss here.  Then again, we’ve got nuthin’ better to do, so let’s voice our concerns, knowing full well that by the next game they may be obsolete.

Except for the rooks (oh, and all the healthy players got minutes today), pretty much everyone else looked worse than in the first game.  Amar’e Stoudemire managed only 11 points on 36% shooting.  Will that bring back out all the nay-sayers who said he’d struggle without Steve Nash giving him easy feeds.  I hope not.  Two games does not a sample size make.

The turnovers were lower (19) than last game, but still not low enough.  The two other main issues I brought up also came back to haunt us in this outing:

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During Worlds, Timofey Mozgov had this impressive block on the Phoenix Suns' Goran Dragic from the other side of the basket. It's plays like these that has Knick coach Mike D'Antoni giddy. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

As the New York Post reported, Knick coach Mike D’Antoni is gaga for new Russian center Timofey Mozgov.

“I’m trying to hold down, curb my enthusiasm,” D’Antoni said of Mozgov. “I think he can play. I don’t see anything bad.”

D’Antoni has tried to stop himself from gushing over Mozgov like he used to gush over Danilo Gallinari and David Lee. But D’Antoni has already called Mozgov training camp’s brightest light.

[...]  D’Antoni even marveled at Mozgov during yesterday’s light practice.

“I watched him,” D’Antoni said. “He can shot the ball, nice rhythm. He has a learning curve. But he’s smart. He makes foul shots. His confidence is good. He’s definitely not shying away, attacking the basket.”

One quick comment, and this is just something odd I’m pointing out, so don’t put extra weight in this, but since we’ve been talking about race issues this past week, isn’t it kinda odd that all three of D’Antoni’s faves have been honkeys?

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Ronny Turiaf (shown here rejecting Baron Davis, aka Boom Dizzle) could be our starting center. But on the other hand, couldn't he remain glued to the bench? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Yesterday, in Part I of this preview, we discussed how Coach Mike D’Antoni tends to prefer a shorter rotation (meaning a bunch of our 15 person roster won’t see the court) and what types of players excite or disgust him.  One new note, based on a press conference that D’Antoni and Knicks President Donnie Walsh held (which Buckets reader Brendan linked to in the comments section of Part I, and which Chris Sheridan and many others have reported) is that apparently Coach is enamored with Timofey Mozgov after seeing him practice in person for the last few days:

“Have to see how he adapts to the NBA game, but at 7-1, 270 pounds, he’s maybe our most athletic guy, that runs, that’s a great guy, that has great hands and knows how to play,” D’Antoni said. “(Watching him) I’m like, ‘Yeah, what am I missing?’ So I’m happy with him and excited about the possibility. We have a lot of guys we should be excited about the possibilities.”

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Somehow Donnie Walsh was able to get rid of Jerome James (center). It's appropriate that the first photo that came up features him surrounded by food. Also in the pic are former Knicks Jerome "Mad Dog" Williams, Antonio Davis and actor Dennis Quaid. (source: Yardbarker.com)

For those who missed it, we had Part I of our evaluation of Donnie Walsh yesterday, in which we examined how he’s done in terms of drafting.  The rules again:

1. I don’t believe in negative Monday morning quarterbacking, so I don’t punish people for making decisions that were widely held to be smart at the time, but ended up working out poorly.  Meaning if LeBron James breaks his leg in seventeen places in a car accident tomorrow and can never really play better than an average player again, I can’t fault Pat Riley for signing him down the road.

2. I do, however, believe in giving credit for decisions that seemed poor/insignificant at the time but turned out great.  When the Suns reacquired Steve Nash from the Dallas Mavericks, many pundits felt they overpaid due to Nash’s back issues and age.  Two MVPs and many amazing seasons later, it’s clear that was a good move.

3. Draft-wise, in addition to no negative Monday morning quarterbacking, I also don’t believe that if someone makes a pick that turns out surprisingly great, you can’t fault all the other teams for passing on the guy.  Like Isiah Thomas gets kudos for finding David Lee at #30, but since no one thought he’d be as good as he ended up being, I can’t penalize all other 29 teams for passing on him.

4. For each positive thing, I’ll add some points (the # of points will depend on how big a thing it was).  Similarly, for each negative decision, I’ll subtract some points.  We’ll keep a rolling tally.

At the end of adding and subtracting points in the Drafting section, it all ended up back at zero.  today This piece has gotten longer and longer, so we’re gonna break up the second category, Trades/Free Agency Signings, into two parts, getting rid of that slash.  Today we’ll do Trades, tomorrow Free Agency, and then probably Friday the last category of Other/General.

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Turiaf looks like a leader here, don't he? Okay, well, sometimes the best leaders are the ones who look least likely (source: Yardbarker.com)

Slam Online has a nice quote from newly acquired backup Knick center Ronny Turiaf that seems to indicate that he’s ready to step up to be a leader:

“I can’t speak of the past because I wasn’t there on a regular basis so I can only speak for myself and what I know I can bring to the table. All I’m gonna tell you is that we are going to have guys that want to play hard, guys that’s definitely coming here to win, to make the necessary sacrifices to win basketball games. So I’m not here to speak about the past, but the future. We’re going to play team basketball. We are going to be playing together and everybody moving in the same direction. We are all here to win basketball games—not to lose. That’s something that people need to understand is that we will do whatever it takes, whatever we have to do to make that happen. I have talked to plenty of guys on the team already. I was on vacation with Gallo[Danillo Gallinari. I have been working out with Stoudamire every day. I have worked out with Toney Douglas. I have talked to Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton. And of course my two partners from Golden State Azubuike and Randy [Anthony Randolph]. So I’ve been in contact with a lot of those gus and I think they are excited and there is one key word: winning.”

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Will the Knicks finally have a defensive presence in the paint? Yes, we will. Meet Ronny Turiaf (source: Yardbarker.com)

ESPNNewYork.com, more specifically Tom Haberstroh, just ran three separate articles on the new arrivals from the Golden State Warriors: Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike & Ronny Turiaf.  Most had some interesting things to say.  Here are bits, starting off with the post on Anthony Randolph:

Despite his bounce and length, Randolph got blocked once every 10 shots which places him among the most-swatted power forwards in the game, indicating he could use the extra strength at the rim.

Yikes, that ain’t a very encouraging stat.  Maybe we can just have him leave the blocked shot until his last attempt, and then only have him put up 9 shots?  Hah, take that stats!

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Two summers ago Anthony Randolph was disappointed the Knicks took Danilo Gallinari instead of him. Now he's finally here to show his stuff. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Here are some excerpts from our new young prodigy, Anthony Randolph, in a New York Times interview:

Q. Why do you feel like the Knicks and Mike D’Antoni are a good fit?

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Anthony Randolph is thrilled to be out of Don Nelson's doghouse in Golden State, with a chance to finally explode in the Big Apple (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The proposed sign-and-trade that Chase wrote about (David Lee to the Golden State Warriors for Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike and Ronny Turiaf) has been finalized. As I wrote in the comments section of that post, I’m not thrilled with the move. While Randolph (the heart of this trade) has otherworldly potential, he does play the same position of power forward as our big new signee, Amar’e Stoudemire. For potential to blossom, a player needs minutes like a flower needs water. Sure we could possibly move Amar’e over to center for a bit, but Amar’e has said many times in the past that he prefers to not play that position. Personally, I think we should’ve kept David Lee to make up for Amar’e rebounding deficiencies, ‘cuz it ain’t like Randolph is known for doing the dirty work or the little things. Plus Lee is a known commodity that could be used in a trade. If Randolph doesn’t develop, then we gave away a home-grown All-Star for nuthin’.

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