The New York Knicks have lost five straight games and are now 2-6 after wins over Cleveland and Charlotte in their first three contests. So what are the Knicks doing so poorly over the league’s first two-plus weeks? The offense is disastrously slow and inefficient The Knicks’ 88.7 Pace, or approximate possessions per game, is the worst in the league. New York has consistently gone late into the shot clock as they learn the Triangle offense, looking for the perfect pass or
NEW YORK – Phil Jackson addressed the sorry state of the Knicks (2-6) Monday, preached patience with words such as “process” and “progress,” addressed the Triangle offense, Carmelo Anthony and more. Patience? The Knicks have advanced past the first round once in the past 14 seasons. Progress? The offense has looked like any other geometrical shape during most games. Anthony? After shedding weight and coming into training camp in the best shape of his life, it appears once again that the former scoring champion
At this time of the NBA season, when all stimulating conversations must be cooled off with the buzz-killing “small-sample-size” argument, it might be a good idea to attack this issue from the other side. Which player is shooting the lights out at an unsustainable clip, who is playing out of his depth, and whose numbers will eventually straighten themselves out? Before it’s too late, fans, here are your “sample-size All-Stars.” [Read more…]
There was a lot of attention on the Pacific Division this past weekend. People were wondering when the Golden State Warriors would finally lose and when the Los Angeles Lakers would finally win. Both happened Sunday, with the Warriors – playing without Klay Thompson and David Lee – finally falling at Phoenix and the Lakers – getting production from someone other than Kobe Bryant – knocking off the Charlotte Hornets. But if you ask me, the attention was misplaced. With consecutive playoff
LOS ANGELES — It’s a standard scene in every old war movie. A ragtag, weary outfit, battered and bruised, is charged with holding a key bridge in order to save France from the advancing German army. If the bridge goes, the free world goes with it. For the Lakers, entering Sunday’s game at Staples against the Charlotte Hornets sitting at 0-5 for the first time since 1957 and facing run of high end opponents over the next 10-plus days, Sunday’s game was
When LeBron James made it official that he was returning to Cleveland, there was never a second thought about an issue that is clichéd, but certainly can be prickly. Whose team is it? When your team includes the best player in the world, that would seem to be a no-brainer. But when your team also has a player who has led it for three consecutive years in scoring – including a rookie season when he was 19 years old – and arrived as
The 76ers may be piling up the losses stateside, but the seeds of their rebuilding plan are slowly growing thousands of miles away as a couple of their Eurostash prospects are beginning to sprout. Which American just left Europe and is a possible candidate to sign with the Lakers? What has former first rounder James Anderson been up to this season? David Blatt’s Cavaliers may be under the microscope by not starting off the season as strong as anticipated, but what is going
PHILADELPHIA – Joakim Noah still winces at the mere thought of it. Sitting in the same locker room where the new and according to the experts much improved Chicago Bulls had just finished holding off the still winless but feisty Philadelphia 76ers 118-115, the painful memories of May, 2012, came flooding back. Those Bulls were top seed in the East then, with Doug Collins’ No. 8 seeded Sixers expected to be a speed bump on their way to a Conference Finals matchup