Asbestos good for the Knicks

Remember playing tag as a kid? Remember chasing down a slower friend only for them to call "base" or say "time out" just before you tag them? That's essentially what happened to the Knicks Tuesday November 2nd when the game was cancelled by asbestos. As a fan I was pissed because it ruined my night. I was going to hangout with my father at my place and then get him to drop me somewhere to hangout after. After I let that go, I took a deep sigh of relief because the Knicks were primed to get their first 30pt blowout coming off 2 heart breaking loses against Boston and Portland. The Knicks were that fat kid running for his life from their psycho classmate in the school yard. The fallen asbestos was the basketball God's calling "BASE!!!" for us. Whew indeed...



Let's face it...Orlando is on the other side of the NBA spectrum from the Knicks. Orlando has had about 3-4 successful years with basically the same coach and personnel. They are a team good enough to contend for a NBA championship. The Knicks are a newly assembled team with a ton of question marks. They already are facing injuries to two of those question marks. Their confidence has got to be down after giving away two winnable games to contending teams. A lost to Orlando could have been devastating to this young season especially with the fiery Chicago Bulls in the on deck circle.

The Bulls in the Derrick Rose era have built a reputation on being a scrappy, get after it kinda club. Rookie head coach Tom Thibodeau has made a living in the nba for years as a defensive specialist. He was Doc River's right hand man in Boston and was credited for installing the concepts they used to win the last few years in beantown. In Chicaco, with the injury to newly signed Carlos Boozer, Thibodeau has the team playing uptempo with Derrick Rose basically running wild with his options athletic enough to catch his drop off passes around the rim. Luol Deng has been taken off the baseline and been put in a position where he can have more freedom to score. He just came off a 40pt game against the Portland Trailblazers. The Knicks have their hands full but not quite as much as they would have with a offensively potent Orlando Magic team.

What separates Orlando and Chicago is their perimeter shooting. Orlando just has too many deep threats and the Knicks have been cursed with leaving shooters wide open throughout the years. Chicago doesn't have that luxury. Chicago does have the bodies down low that can compete with Orlando's bigs on the boards. Surprisingly the Knicks have gotten more physical and defensive minded inside but haven't been able to grab a rebound to save their lifes. The Knicks are averaging 8 blocks per game this year up from just 3 blocks per game the previous year...read that stat again if you need to. That stat alone helps to cancel out their rebounding woes. The bread and butter of these Knicks under D'antoni has been the jumpshot. It's seemed to fail them in their first 3 games. Gallo has been shooting 18% from the 3 point line. Toney Douglas and Chandler have been shooting roughly 25% from 3. They can't shoot blanks forever. Chicago likes to pack it inside and dare teams to shoot it so if there is a game the Knicks can crack open the offense, this is it. Hopefully the extra rest and practice time will settle down this club. Anthony Randolph is set to make his season debut. The adrenaline should be flowing so I expect some extra help inside especially on the defensive end.

Tomorrow...we'll love the Knicks tomorrow...it's only a day a way my dudes. Go Knicks!