Tweet of the Night: Metta World Peace has the solution to New York Knicks’ problems

The New York Knicks are off to a historically-bad start, and the ugliness continued on Friday when they lost to the struggling Charlotte Hornets – a team that lost 10 straight coming into the game – on the road 103-102 in crushing fashion.

After being down by as many as 21 points in the second half, New York amazingly managed to come all the way back to take a one-point lead with about 40 seconds remaining in the contest. After getting a defensive stop, they had the chance to go up by three or four points. Instead, the team played like it had a lead rather than playing as if they absolutely needed another basket and ended up getting an awful shot out of Anthony with the clock winding down. Then with four seconds left in the game and needing a defensive stop, this happened:

There are several things wrong with what went down for the Knicks on that final play. Lets take a look at all of them.

First off, they had a foul to give and were supposed to use it. Why Pablo Prigioni didn’t take that foul is anyone’s guess, and the mishap probably threw everyone off from a mental standpoint in terms of having to find a way to execute regardless of things not going as planned.

That said, what was J.R. Smith doing just standing there against the inbounds passer? Why didn’t he apply any pressure on the guy responsible for getting the ball into the right man with the game on the line? He could really, really learn a lesson from Andrew Bogut of the Golden State Warriors.

Next, does Amare Stoudemire (who is being horribly misused on offense, by the way) not have any clue about the concept of playing ICE on the pick-and-roll? Lets pretend for a second that the Knicks did not have a foul to give. In that scenario, Prigioni actually played the situation correctly (whether he meant to or not is another story) by forcing his man away from the coming screener (Al Jefferson in this case) and to the baseline. That means Stoudemire was supposed to be in position to impede Walker’s drive by being on the right side of Jefferson. That way, he cuts off the lane to prevent the drive, allowing Prigioni to recover defensively while at worst, giving Jefferson a look at a long jump shot if Walker made the pass, which certainly beats a free drive to the basket. Regardless of the foul-plan, this is a basic defensive play that Stoudemire should absolutely know.

But of course, he was on the wrong side (left side), giving Walker a clear path and trailing on the play.

 

Tim Hardaway could have quickly stepped in as well from the right corner, but he had no interest in leaving Gerald Henderson, who was hot all game shooting eight-of-10 from the field and two-of-three from the 3-point line.

Now, lets look at Carmelo Anthony – who had himself a game with 32 points, seven rebounds and four assists. What in the world was he doing in no man’s land, looking like he was frozen in time, and watching Walker drive to the basket for the game-winner instead of applying pressure and clogging up the lane knowing what was about to happen? I say “knowing” because he had already completely left his man (Marvin Williams) in the right corner, so something had to give. Instead, he was essentially playing illegal defense and did nothing despite being in position to do something. Anything but just stand there.

Anthony was actually in tremendous position to disrupt Walker initially. Sure, he left his man wide open in the corner, but look at the clock: there wasn’t enough time for Walker to find Williams for that 3-pointer anyway. Even if Walker makes that pass and Williams somehow gets a 3-pointer off before time expires, you live with that shot over a barely-contested layup. Also, the clock reads 1.5 seconds in the freeze frame, but Anthony was actually already in that vicinity with a good two seconds left – an infinite amount of time for him to block the lane. No dice, as his position remains unchanged throughout the whole process.

All of it was just terrible, but there is nothing worse than the decision-making of the man dressed in black in the left corner watching the play. Why, with the team having to come up with one defensive stop to win the game, was Stoudemire, Hardaway, and Smith – arguably the team’s three worst defenders – on the floor in the first place? Why were the team’s best defenders – Iman Shumpert, Quincy Acy and Sam Dalembert – sitting on the bench? There is absolutely no logic or excuse for not having the proper personnel on the floor to help your team win.

Yes, Derek Fisher is a rookie learning the ropes of being an NBA coach, but his lack of attention to detail was rather stunning in this particular loss.

So what’s the solution to all the struggles of this team? There doesn’t appear to be a clear one at the moment, although they are amazingly just 5 1/2 games behind the Brooklyn Nets for the eighth seed of the anemic Eastern Conference despite having a 4-17 record.

Of course, they could just give up on this season, let Stoudemire walk (he and Anthony were never meant to co-exist anyway) and hope to sign a marquee free agent in the summer. Marc Gasol is on track to be an unrestricted free agent, and according to former Knick Metta World Peace, the center would make all things go right:

“@NeedSmokee: @MettaWorldPeace Can Marc Gasol be the key next year to turn the Knicks around ?” Marc is so good, he could change the world — mettaworldpeace.com (@MettaWorldPeace) December 6, 2014

No one knows for sure of what Gasol has planned except maybe his brother Pau Gasol, but signing with the Knicks actually sounds like a tremendous idea in every way possible.

For the first time, he would be playing in a huge market with a great fan base to help his popularity grow. His role in the Triangle offense would also be pretty awesome, given how great he is from the pinch post, whether it’s passing, shooting or isolating. He’d have alongside him one of the most reliable scorers in the league in Anthony, and would be joining his friend and Spanish national teammate Jose Calderon. Defensively, Gasol would help correct a lot of things, and the Knicks can then build around two great players for the next several years. Most importantly, though, he would depart from the bloodbath that is the Western Conference and find an easier path to a potential championship in the East.

It’s all speculation at this point, but the mystified Knicks fans can at least have something to dream about while watching the abomination that is their team for the remainder of this miserable season.

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James Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.