The finger-pointing was primarily pointed at Anthony; many believed the star forward was to blame for D’Antoni’s departure from the Big Apple (these people are still hiding, somewhere, still waiting to see if ‘Melo and Stoudemire can co-exist).
Regardless of Anthony’s relationship with his former coach, something is different about Melo’s game this year. While he’s still an offensive force, leading the league in scoring at 27.3 ppg, Anthony has been much more active on the defensive side of the ball and emerging as a strong vocal leader. Playing predominantly at the 4-spot with Stoudemire out, Anthony has been the eighth best post defender in basketball this season, holding opponents to 1/2 point per post up, according to ESPN New York’s Knicks blogger, Jared Zwerling.
Undoubtedly, some of the credit goes to Woodson’s system, but Anthony says that he’s been receiving invaluable advice from the 19-year veteran floor general. “I think we’re all just trying to stay in Jason’s ear,” Anthony said. “He’s out there trying to make the game easier for me and the rest of us. It’s not just his knowledge of the game. He can still help us on the floor, and I think he’s been showing that.”
It’s not just Carmelo that Kidd is helping. Carlisle once again pointed out that the whole team is paying dividends by having Kidd around. “It’s clear to me from watching three games on film that Jason Kidd has had a great influence on their overall toughness, awareness as a team and just how they do things. If you’re talking about guys in the history of this league that affect winning, in unique ways, he’s the best I’ve ever seen. He does it in so many different ways. He does it by helping out defensively. He does it by doing things in a timely way offensively, and he does it with a resourcefulness and creativity, the likes of which I’ve never seen.”
With Kidd starting at shooting guard for the Knicks alongside newly re-acquired point guard Ray Felton, coach Woodson has the option two reliable ball-handlers on the floor, which he’s utilized frequently thus far.
Needless to say, Coach Woodson is pretty pleased to have Kidd aboard.
“I got tired of coaching against that guy for years,” Woodson said of Kidd. “He knows how to play, and he makes a lot of people better. A lot of guys are going to benefit from Jason Kidd.”
Let’s have a look around the league (hat-tip to regular blogger Jim Park, who stepped aside today to allow for my guest blog).
- At Moke Hamilton’s other job, he witnessed Kyrie Irving drop 34 and Anderson Varejao go for 35 in the Cavs’ loss to the Nets in Brooklyn. Who has it better than Moke? An excerpt from his blog at SNYNets.com: “Each set a new career-high in points scored, Irving scored 34 while Varejao dropped in 35. What was especially impressive about Irving was that 27 of his points came in the second half and he refused to quit, despite his team trailing by as many as 24 points. Afterward, Irving spoke with great admiration when discussing the Nets’ performance. “When a team is making shots like that in the fourth quarter, it is kind of hard to come back,” he said. “Brooklyn is a team to beat… They’re definitely looking forward to the playoffs.” The Nets overcame the career night from Irving and have now won three consecutive games. At 4-2, the Nets now trail only the New York Knicks in the NBA’s Atlantic division.
- President Obama has Chris Paul’s cell phone number. Obama also thinks Blake Griffin can be Karl Malone if he can consistently hit the 12-15 footer. “He could be the best power forward ever,” Obama said. How happy are you if you are Blake Griffin? And ho challenged? Here is the video:
- At the end of the year, who will miss more games: Andrew Bynum or Andrew Bogut? The latest news on Bogut is what you’d expect — he needs more time to heal.
- We have another player vs. analyst battle, but this one is on Twitter (unlike DeMarcus Cousins vs. Sean Elliott.) This one pits Royce White vs. Matt Bullard.
- Rasheed Wallace called Arron Affalo “AFLAC” last night. Either that, or Sheed just likes yelling “AFLAC.” Check the video below (all 12 seconds of it):
What do we really have to lose? Do you think that adindg Iverson will be more poisonous then going 10-72?Sure, Iverson has a checkered past mired with chemistry issues but at this point how much worse could it get for us? He would be a one year rental and his salary would come off the books. Seems like low risk high reward to me.If Iverson comes to the Knicks he’ll start and he’ll perform. It’s anyone’s guess whether he’ll impede the development of our young core but my guess is that he’ll go out of his way to show he’s a team player. I think that he’ll actually help Gallinari improve by passing him the ball something that the guys on our team have been reluctant to do thus far.And if Iverson proves to be a selfish bum then we cut our losses by placing him on the wire.