Peja ( B ) -- did score a lot of points, but kind of a disappointing effort -- came off one of his most aggressive games of the season vs. the Spurs, and was fairly passive again. Not much on the boads, had some defensive problems against Trevor Ariza. And what do you know, we discovered that if Jerome "Junkyard Dog" Williams and Peja Stojakovic both get their hands on a rebound, that the guy named Dog is going to be the one to rip it away. Kept us in the game during the third by being a scorer more than shooter. Never did get into a shooting rhythm, but found ways to the line to compensate. Overall, ok game. Helped in our time of need, got quiet late.
Webber ( A- ) -- played a really strong first half in all regards, but started falling out of rhythm in the third quarter. Worse, was not closing down the middle to penetration. Shooting was pretty much post play = hit, jumper = miss. Wasn't entirely happy with his perfomance by the late 4th, but then this has to be said -- has this guy become some sort of clutch player or what? I mean, how far has he come? Again, for the second game in a row he enters the final minutes of the game missing his jumpers, and then steps forward and just ices the game with two jumpers and a brilliant pass to Miller in the last two minutes. So good to see, so noticeable, that I bumped him TWO grade levels this time.
Miller ( B- ) -- quite frankly only our second best center of the night. A respectable enough performance but like Bibby, the defense just sucked. Not only did he let Nazr Mohammed have something approaching a career night against him, but it was another one of those nights where he showed less interior defensive presence than Earl Boynkins. Marbury just ran right at him time and time again with absolutely no fear of anything happening.
Christie ( C+ ) -- had some bursts of great energy in the first half in particular. But for the second game in a row lost a lot of minutes to the young guys off the nbench. Tonight it was Evans. Could we be seeing the changing of the guard slowly playing out right here in front of us? Not sure, but noticeable that Mo Evans stayed on the floor during clutch time tonight while we kept Doug on the bench. Doug's undoing was really when Bibby was forced from the game by Marbury's offense. Doug had to swing to the PG, and he just never looked really comfortable, made some mistakes, and was generally outshined by Evans.
Bibby ( B ) -- played a great first half -- really confident and everything was flowing. Then the third quarter hit, and his defensive woes exploded back in spades. Now it WAS Stephon Marbury, who can destroy anybody on any given night and is probably the strongest PG in the league, but nonetheless Mike was totally helpless to even slow him down, and eventually got pulled because of it. Late in the game Mike returned, and it was give and take -- he hit clutch shot after clutch shot on offense, but we had him switched over to Allan Houston to avoid the Starbury problem, and he just kept on fouling him and giving him automatic points at the line. Hard one to grade -- excellent first half, great clutch shotmaking down the stretch, but huge defensive issues once again causing us problems. Going to avergae it all out to a B.
Tag ( A ) -- huge game from Tag, literally. Just a big 'ole wall in there again. 10 rebounds in 14 min! Made a couple of hilarious plays that only he could make, once catching an airball from Mo Evans and throwing up an underhand scoop for the followup, and once stepping over in front of 6'1" Moochie Norris and just looming over him like Frankenstein, totally squelching him. It was incredibly noticeable when Tag entered the game for Miller -- each time we went on a big surge and the rim was gone for the Knicks. Only thing keeping him from the "+" and maybe even being the player of the game (along with Mo) was Rick just somehow not understanding his value once again.
Evans ( A ) -- and tonight it was Evans' turn to step up and be our young OG star again. High energy performance, as always. But made his outside shots too, and played some excellent defense, including a great extended stint on Stephon Marbury down the stretch of the game. Was playing so well, and his defense on Marbury was so important, that Rick actually uncharacteristically left Doug on the bench in crunch time and stuck with the hot player instead. Did get beat by Marbury a few times on lightning crossovers, and made a dumb play pulling himself on the rim on a dunk to get a technical at a critical point late in the game. Perhaps barely enough to deny him the "+", along with my suspiscion that I am going to have to start grading him on a tougher scale. This isn't a garbagetime camp invite walkon anymore -- this is becoming a major bench player and I'm beginning to expect good things form him almost every night.
Songaila ( C- ) -- getting a little tired of this routine. Darius wasn't awful, but certainly didn't help. But the thing bothering me is Tag coming in as a big 'ole gameturner and Rick feeling somehow contracturally obligated to split his time with Darius. Twice in the game he pulled Tag and left Darius in the game. Twice in the game the Knicks resumed driving to the hoop at will. Wise up Rick! But that's more Rick than Darius. The kid himself grabbed a couple of aggressive boards, but was sloppy and once missed a wide open Bibby under the hoop and turned it over instead. Difference between Webb and Darius pretty obvious on that play.
Martin ( B- ) -- not as good as his previous two games, but still respectable for a rook. Just lost a lot of the minutes tonight to Evans, who was the young OG star of the night. Had some nice aggressive drives to the hoop -- kind of his preferred move really, and no doubt why he drew so many fouls in college. Did force one of those drives though, and made some bad turnovers that highlighted his need to become a better ballhandler/passer. Overall should be enough to keep him in the mix for the next few games as a viable bench option, but not an impact game.
Adelman ( B ) -- Rick made a couple of mistakes tonight that really annoyed me -- first, in what is rapidly becoming a burr in my saddle, he again underutilized big Tag despite an extremely effective stint by him. Why? No idea really. Secondly, thought he might have waited too long to call a timeout in the third quarter to break the Knicks' momentum. Actually he had already called one, but the second one needed to be called 3-4 possessions earlier than it was rather than letting them score another 6-8 pts on us and take a lead. We were clearly out of rhythm so not sure what he was waiting for. In any case though, also did some notably good things -- pulled Bibby in the third when he was just getting lit up by Marbury. Hard call to make when you only have one PG, but it was the right call. And secondly he found Mo Evans having a great game off the bench, tried him on Marbury with good results, and actually rode the young guy all the way to the end of the game. I know that flies in the face of Rick's normal instincts, but tonight it again was absolutely the right move. So while I've got my complaints, credit where its due, and we finally beat the damn Knicks in the Garden. I actually have given up putting money on this game because we find ways to blow it every year. Be nice to have bragging rights again for once.
Webber ( A- ) -- played a really strong first half in all regards, but started falling out of rhythm in the third quarter. Worse, was not closing down the middle to penetration. Shooting was pretty much post play = hit, jumper = miss. Wasn't entirely happy with his perfomance by the late 4th, but then this has to be said -- has this guy become some sort of clutch player or what? I mean, how far has he come? Again, for the second game in a row he enters the final minutes of the game missing his jumpers, and then steps forward and just ices the game with two jumpers and a brilliant pass to Miller in the last two minutes. So good to see, so noticeable, that I bumped him TWO grade levels this time.
Miller ( B- ) -- quite frankly only our second best center of the night. A respectable enough performance but like Bibby, the defense just sucked. Not only did he let Nazr Mohammed have something approaching a career night against him, but it was another one of those nights where he showed less interior defensive presence than Earl Boynkins. Marbury just ran right at him time and time again with absolutely no fear of anything happening.
Christie ( C+ ) -- had some bursts of great energy in the first half in particular. But for the second game in a row lost a lot of minutes to the young guys off the nbench. Tonight it was Evans. Could we be seeing the changing of the guard slowly playing out right here in front of us? Not sure, but noticeable that Mo Evans stayed on the floor during clutch time tonight while we kept Doug on the bench. Doug's undoing was really when Bibby was forced from the game by Marbury's offense. Doug had to swing to the PG, and he just never looked really comfortable, made some mistakes, and was generally outshined by Evans.
Bibby ( B ) -- played a great first half -- really confident and everything was flowing. Then the third quarter hit, and his defensive woes exploded back in spades. Now it WAS Stephon Marbury, who can destroy anybody on any given night and is probably the strongest PG in the league, but nonetheless Mike was totally helpless to even slow him down, and eventually got pulled because of it. Late in the game Mike returned, and it was give and take -- he hit clutch shot after clutch shot on offense, but we had him switched over to Allan Houston to avoid the Starbury problem, and he just kept on fouling him and giving him automatic points at the line. Hard one to grade -- excellent first half, great clutch shotmaking down the stretch, but huge defensive issues once again causing us problems. Going to avergae it all out to a B.
Tag ( A ) -- huge game from Tag, literally. Just a big 'ole wall in there again. 10 rebounds in 14 min! Made a couple of hilarious plays that only he could make, once catching an airball from Mo Evans and throwing up an underhand scoop for the followup, and once stepping over in front of 6'1" Moochie Norris and just looming over him like Frankenstein, totally squelching him. It was incredibly noticeable when Tag entered the game for Miller -- each time we went on a big surge and the rim was gone for the Knicks. Only thing keeping him from the "+" and maybe even being the player of the game (along with Mo) was Rick just somehow not understanding his value once again.
Evans ( A ) -- and tonight it was Evans' turn to step up and be our young OG star again. High energy performance, as always. But made his outside shots too, and played some excellent defense, including a great extended stint on Stephon Marbury down the stretch of the game. Was playing so well, and his defense on Marbury was so important, that Rick actually uncharacteristically left Doug on the bench in crunch time and stuck with the hot player instead. Did get beat by Marbury a few times on lightning crossovers, and made a dumb play pulling himself on the rim on a dunk to get a technical at a critical point late in the game. Perhaps barely enough to deny him the "+", along with my suspiscion that I am going to have to start grading him on a tougher scale. This isn't a garbagetime camp invite walkon anymore -- this is becoming a major bench player and I'm beginning to expect good things form him almost every night.
Songaila ( C- ) -- getting a little tired of this routine. Darius wasn't awful, but certainly didn't help. But the thing bothering me is Tag coming in as a big 'ole gameturner and Rick feeling somehow contracturally obligated to split his time with Darius. Twice in the game he pulled Tag and left Darius in the game. Twice in the game the Knicks resumed driving to the hoop at will. Wise up Rick! But that's more Rick than Darius. The kid himself grabbed a couple of aggressive boards, but was sloppy and once missed a wide open Bibby under the hoop and turned it over instead. Difference between Webb and Darius pretty obvious on that play.
Martin ( B- ) -- not as good as his previous two games, but still respectable for a rook. Just lost a lot of the minutes tonight to Evans, who was the young OG star of the night. Had some nice aggressive drives to the hoop -- kind of his preferred move really, and no doubt why he drew so many fouls in college. Did force one of those drives though, and made some bad turnovers that highlighted his need to become a better ballhandler/passer. Overall should be enough to keep him in the mix for the next few games as a viable bench option, but not an impact game.
Adelman ( B ) -- Rick made a couple of mistakes tonight that really annoyed me -- first, in what is rapidly becoming a burr in my saddle, he again underutilized big Tag despite an extremely effective stint by him. Why? No idea really. Secondly, thought he might have waited too long to call a timeout in the third quarter to break the Knicks' momentum. Actually he had already called one, but the second one needed to be called 3-4 possessions earlier than it was rather than letting them score another 6-8 pts on us and take a lead. We were clearly out of rhythm so not sure what he was waiting for. In any case though, also did some notably good things -- pulled Bibby in the third when he was just getting lit up by Marbury. Hard call to make when you only have one PG, but it was the right call. And secondly he found Mo Evans having a great game off the bench, tried him on Marbury with good results, and actually rode the young guy all the way to the end of the game. I know that flies in the face of Rick's normal instincts, but tonight it again was absolutely the right move. So while I've got my complaints, credit where its due, and we finally beat the damn Knicks in the Garden. I actually have given up putting money on this game because we find ways to blow it every year. Be nice to have bragging rights again for once.
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