Knicks Pacers recap

A dominant performance by the Knicks tonight.

They started hot in the opening minutes of the game and never looked back. It seemed like they couldn't miss, hitting over 50% of their shots. Wilson Chandler was the leading scorer with 23 points, followed by David Lee with 22 and 16 rebounds (If he isn't considered for the All-Star team I am convinced the coaches don't watch his game enough), Danilo Gallinari with 20 on 7-9 shooting, and Chris Duhon with 18 on 6-8 shooting, with 7 assists. I was impressed with the fact that we took the lead early in the game and instead of relaxing and letting them back into it, they kept up the intensity and built the lead. However, as impressed as I was with the win, I could not help but notice the effort put forth by the Pacers. It seemed like they weren't even trying. The effort they came with was embarrassing. They were throwing up shots at will and didn't bother to even try on defense. (sound familiar Knicks fans?) Although on a bright note- I really like Pacers PG, AJ Price. He was the 52nd pick in the draft this year, he tries hard on offense and defense, is quick, and he has a nice shot stroke. He may be a player to keep an eye on as we go forward. Don't get me wrong Knicks fans, I'm not saying he'll be a great player, but if we need to fill roster spots somehow, if the Pacers don't want him down the line, he may be someone we could look at.

The next point I want to get to was Nate Robinson's play tonight. He was really off tonight, only scoring 6 points on 2-11 shooting. But he seemed to hustle on defense, which was good. But the good thing is that despite his weak play, his teammates, specifically Al Harrington, were able to cover for his play. That was the beauty of our second line, Knicks fans. Even though a weapon like Nate was off, someone else was able to take his place on the scoring load. As long as Nate continues to play hard on defense and hustle, he will be in the rotation despite offensive nights such as these, because Coach knows that he will have other nights like the one in Atlanta. We have a lot of scorers on our second line, and they are becoming very good at seeing who is hot on the specific night and getting that person the ball. The method is working very well and I hope they continue it.

The final point I want to cover is the play in the fourth quarter. I know this was a point that most of you shut off your TV's, Knicks fans, but if you watched you saw a rare occurance where our second line, players that are usually warming the bench, got to play the entire quarter. At one point Coach D'Antoni fielded a team consisting of Nate Robinson, Toney Douglas, Marcus Landry, Jonathon Bender, and yes Knicks fans, Jordan Hill. Nate and Bender were mostly ineffective in the quarter, Bender had a few nice shots but mostly the quarter was about the two rookies, Toney Douglas and Marcus Landry. Landry hit a pair of very nice threes and Douglas stole the ball on 2 occasions and dunked it with ferocity. They played very well in garbage time. Hill... Not so much. He hit a nice mid-range jumper and almost blocked a driving dunk which the refs called as a foul but that was about all he had to show tonight. Every time he got the ball in the post it was swiped from him. He just looks lost out there. It seems like he tries hard and attempts to replicate a lot of things David Lee does out there, but he doesn't seem to have the timing right. I recall one possession where he tried to pick and roll and gave up on it and it seemed like he was wondering what he had to do next. Knicks fans, watch David Lee when his pick and roll fails, he runs to his position, knowing exactly where to go and what to do next. Jordan Hill just doesn't have those instincts yet, and I don't know if he ever will.

Thats all for now Knicks fans, Bobcats and Raptors won tonight, which hurt because they played very good teams. But we have another shot at the Bobcats on Thursday, which we need to come out of the gate strong and hard because they can be a tough team to beat.

Chat with you later!