I meant to respond to kuku's post. BTW, to say that Lin and Carmelo played well together is pointless without statistics. I doubt those making these assertions have them. What was their W/L record together at the very least. Provide some basic stats to back up these assertions.
This is kinda off-topic, but there seems to be many disgruntled Knicks fans here, so I will ask: do you think Woodson is a good coach? I got the impression he was still running the MDA stuff because he had to -- not because he liked it -- there wasn't time to change the whole system. Knicks games are going to be so ugly next season. And Woodson's desire to father JR is just... nevermind. That said, I think he used Lin well, easing the pressure off him.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. Woody already punked out by ceding to Dolan's demands of signing up with CAA. He's Melo's puppet.
Carmelo will never use Woodson as a scapegoat. Woodson is a major piece of Melo's building block. That's like dung on himself, not to mention losing power over his headcoach? Nah~~If anything he will defend Woodson. htthttp://www.nba.com/2012/news/features/john_schuhmann/07/19/knicks-amare-carmelo/index.html Exactly!
Yes. I think that Woodson did well. But I also think that his success was partly because there still was a remnant of D'Antoni ball which allowed better ball movement while integrating his iso sets that led to success. That plus Melo blowing up in April. However, without Lin next year and his spread the wealth speedy offense, I don't know if he can replicate the success he had at the end of the year. I do think they have a good team that will make more noise than many on this board seems to think. Something started clicking on this team in the second half of last season.
People blow smoke about "intangibles" and "character" but they don't seem to always mean it. From what I've seen first hand in sports, "competitiveness" is an attribute that's on par with attributes like height, vertical, free throw shooting percentage, etc. You have to have minimums of each to make the NBA, but the magnitude of each is really important once you're there. Competitiveness can't be directly measured but you can compare players' competitiveness. No one can doubt that, for example, the success of Jordan or Kobe Bryant wasn't significantly aided by their higher competitiveness compared to most average players. There are lots of reasons that I think Lin's competitiveness is a cut above. A few off the top of my head: 1. Single-handedly beating Mater Dei. 2. I read an article early in the Lin's senior season at Harvard where he already had made 4 out of 8 buzzer beaters. 3. He scored more in the second half of almost every game, according to that same article. 4. His play jumping up when playing big time school, scoring 28 on UConn's lottery players, for example. 5. Outplaying John Wall at summer league. 6. Second in the NBA last year in 4th quarter PER. Lots of notable game ending plays: the block on Nowitzki, took charge against Lakers, shot at Raptors, forcing Brandon Jennings into bad shot, 10 for 10 on free throws against Philly, etc. Anyway, so I think he's really, really competitive and I think that matters. And I came across this: http://spartascience.blogspot.com/2012/02/key-to-soreness.html Sparta Science are the guys that train Lin, including last off season from which he came back to the NBA 15 lbs of muscle heavier, 30% quicker laterally, and 4 inches of vertical springier. They train elite high school, college and a bunch of pro athletes. They'd know.
I watched nearly every game. Knicks went on a 18-6 run under Woodson and they faced better competition. They were better offensively and defensively than they were under D'Antoni. I believe they were 6-1 or 5-1 before Lin got injured.
Add to that Lin icing the game against the Wolves with a couple of free throws. Rubio had 2 turnovers at the end of the game by comparison. Score: 100 to 98 Knicks W.
Lin missed the first free throw. He also shot 8 for 24 in that game. It was the team defense that got them back into the game. Linsanity got too much credit for the 7 game winning streak. The star was really TEAM DEFENSE.
Yeah he is right. Defense was what got the Knicks those wins. Lin did make some really nice plays and the Knicks were averaging more guys in double digits because of his playmaking but it was the absence of lazy defenders like Carmelo and matador defense of Amare that sealed the deal for them. Lin does deserve some credit though, after all if he wasn't doing what he was doing on the offensive end, the Knicks would have lost all those 7 games with no Amare and Carmelo. Both played a part but defense has the edge most definitely. In that 7 game stretch the Knicks were the best defensive team in the NBA. The reason why they lost the next 7 games was because of lack of defense. Believe it or not, it is a myth that Dantoni is allergic to defense, he does value it, but probably not as much as other coaches.
I know right, while we can agree that defense and hustle played a bit part in their winning streak, but the deciding factor was Lin.
Your missing the point. That 8-15 record included Melo and Amare. The Knicks were a top 10 defensive team under Dantoni, the only time they were higher than that was during Linsanity when they were the best defensive team in the NBA. So Team Defense during Linsanity did play a part. But if Lin didn't make plays they would have lost 7 games in a row irregardless of there superior defense.
We're back to "intangibles". Lin's leadership and unselfishness brought the guys together. During Linsanity everyone bought into the game plan and the system. They shared the ball, played hard and played together to win those 7 games. Once Melo returned he wouldn't play team ball and sabotaged the game plans, leading up to the losing streak and MDA's resignation.
Guys play defense when they have a leader who can win games for them and make them look good by getting them the rock where they can score.
That is incorrect. Amare has never been a good defender. And he had Nash as a pg for much of his career. Melo is a lazy defender since his denver days. The Nuggets were always better off with him off the floor and Melo still scored the ball a lot. Nash and the suns won games, Melo and the nuggets won games. Those guys just lack defensive fundamentals (Melo) and Amare is just a lost cause. Let's not start making excuses for there lack of defensive effort as if they were not winning games with there previous teams and they weren't getting the rock to score on the suns and nuggets. They have always been bad defenders even before they came to NY.
