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It doesn’t change the big picture – the Heat are still going to win this series and there are still questions about the construction and future of the Knicks.
But for a day the Knicks got a measure of redemption — the Knicks made the big plays late, Carmelo Anthony outplayed LeBron James, the Knicks got the win and ended their 13-game playoff losing streak. New York got the 89-87 win and now the Heat lead 3-1 heading back to Miami for Game 5 on Wednesday.
It felt like a different Knicks team from the start, with Amare Stoudemire returning to the lineup. But more than that, the Knicks came out with a little fire and a sense of desperation — Stoudemire has 6 points and 4 rebounds in the first quarter, Anthony had 8 points. All game long the Knicks did a good job of having Stoudemire rolling after setting a pick for Melo, or Melo driving and kicking. There was ball movement in the offense.
But the second quarter turned and felt like the rest of the series — the Heat went on a 12-0 run, they suffocated the Knicks with defense and were the team attacking and getting to the line (Miami had 17 second quarter free throws).
But the Knicks would not go quietly into that good night and came back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to make it a game late.
Anthony finished with 41 and was attacking — with six minutes to go in the game he got the ball in transition and went right at Wade to get the And 1.
But the real key for the Knicks was that Anthony and Stoudemire played well off each other — that is the one sign of hope going forward. Both men were attacking the rim and creating space for the other. The Knicks ran crazy triple screens that the Heat did not defend consistently all game and for once the Knicks made them pay.
It wasn’t all good news for the Knicks — Baron Davis went down in the third quarter with what was later determined to be a dislocated knee cap. He had to be carried off the court. With the team already missing Jeremy Lin, they don’t need to be down another point guard.
And it still came down to a last shot and a last chance for Dwyane Wade three for the win (Stoudemire did a good job defending him on the switch and when Wade lost the handle for a second he was forced into a desperation shot). Wade finished with 22 points, LeBron had 27.
There will be a Game 5, and the Knicks can win a playoff game. There are still a lot of questions to be asked about this team, but for a day New York gets the win and should savor it.
Reuters
UPDATE 2:40 pm: As should have been expected, Mike Woodson denied that these talks are going on. From ESPNNewYork.com:
“That’s not true, not at all,” he said after practice Tuesday.
As we have discussed before, what has been officially discussed and what has been actually discussed via second and third parties to smooth the way for a deal are very different things. That is just how deals get done in the NBA. This one may or may not come together, but the idea of there being talks through back channels should not be shocking.
And, of course, Carmelo Anthony again gave a ringing endorsement to Woodson as coach. Also just as shocking. ‘Melo likes the guy who runs 75 percent of the offense through him? Who saw that coming?
10:19 am: Phil Jackson who?
Apparently one playoff win — plus how the Knicks closed out the season playing defense and going 18-6 to make the playoffs — was enough to convince New York Knick owner James Dolan and the Knicks front office to take the interim tag off Mike Woodson and keep him as coach.
So reports Frank Isola at the New York Daily News.
The Knicks have initiated talks that would keep Woodson as the team’s head coach for the foreseeable future, the Daily News has learned. The talks are only in the preliminary stages but it is clear that Madison Square Garden management is convinced Woodson is the right man for the job and will not pursue either Phil Jackson or Kentucky head coach John Calipari.
It was expected that Dolan wanted the big, splashy name to swoop in as head coach. However, on the court the team has responded well to Woodson — well, at least Carmelo Anthony has and plays hard for him in a way he wouldn’t for Mike D’Antoni — particularly on the defensive end.
Woodson got the team to close out the season playing well. In the playoffs the Knicks have struggled with the Heat, something that would have happened regardless of coach considering this injury-riddled roster — but they did end their 13-game playoff losing streak with a win Sunday.
In fact, Garden chairman James Dolan met with Woodson in the head coach’s office for 45 minutes prior to the Knicks’ emotional Game 4 victory over the Heat… Woodson has the support of several key players, most notably Carmelo Anthony. He also has a strong ally in GM Glen Grunwald, his former college teammate at Indiana. Both Grunwald and Woodson are long-time friends of former Knicks president Isiah Thomas, who serves as a de facto adviser to Dolan.
Ironically, it’s not the ties to Isiah that worries Dolan (although it does Knicks fans) rather it’s his ties to Larry Brown. Dolan and Brown clashed plenty in the year Brown coached the Knicks and Woodson both worked under Brown as an assistant for years and adopted some things from Brown’s style.
Keeping Woodson is a solid move. But now GM Grunwald needs to work in concert with him to reshape the roster. Right now, even when healthy, this Knicks team is not going to beat the Heat or Bulls, regardless of who is coach. They have questions to answer this summer, like should they try to trade Amare Stoudemire or go after free agent point guard Steve Nash (certainly a point guard upgrade but he would take the ball out of Carmelo’s hands and make him work off the ball).
But clearly the team they have has responded to Woodson.
AP
There were times when Baron Davis was as good a playmaker, as good a pure point any guard in the NBA — remember how he played when he led Golden State to the first-round upset of the Dallas Mavericks? He had the gift of court vision, and even in his frustrating later years on the nights he showed up physically and mentally right he could be magical. I’ve seen few players be able to light up a crowd like he could on the right night.
We may never see those days again.
The Knicks have announced that Baron Davis’ knee injury is much worse than we thought. And anyone who saw the video thought it was bad. Here is the announcement from the New York Knicks:
Injury Update: MRI on Baron Davis’ R knee revealed partial tear of the patella tendon & complete tears of the ACL & MCL.
Davis will have surgery later this week but would be age 34 when trying to make a comeback from this. A guy who has struggled to come back from injuries in recent years such as the herniated disc in his back that has limited him these playoffs.
Davis, when he was going right, was always one of my favorite players to watch. Too often, do to conditioning and more, we had to catch glimpses of what he was capable of — in transition he could be amazing. Too many days he settled for threes (early in the clock), but when he attacked he could score or dish as well as anyone.
He’ll try to come back, but it’s hard to be optimistic. I’ll miss him. I’ll miss Boom Dizzle. I’ll miss the beard.
Reuters
Ty Lawson is at the heart of the Denver Nuggets’ future. That much was clear as the Nuggets played gutty, fun basketball and pushed the Lakers to seven games — Lawson averaged 19 points a game on 51.4 percent shooting and added 7 assists per game as the point guard.
After his fourth year in the NBA Lawson is now up for a contract extension and both sides want to work one out that keeps Lawson playing in the mile high city, reports the Denver Post.
Asked about possibly getting a contract extension from the Nuggets this summer, Lawson told The Denver Post: “It’s definitely a goal. I want to be here long term. I’m pretty sure my agent and Masai (Ujiri, the Nuggets’ executive vice president of basketball operations) will talk this summer.”
Asked Sunday about Lawson, Ujiri said: “He’s going to be a big part of the Denver Nuggets. We’re excited. Ty is going to grow even more. He made a little jump, and he’ll continue to make jumps as he gets older.”
Lawson will be back with the Nuggets either way, he either works out an extension or comes back for a fifth season then will try out the market as a restricted free agent next summer.
But if you’re committed to a guy and want to make him happy, you do the extension (they can talk about it after July 1). Denver has already done that with Danilo Gallinari (four-years, $42 million). I expect we’ll see the same here.
Lawson is not a max deal guy but he can get some long-term security and Denver can lock down Lawson for five years at what might be below market rate in a couple years (if Lawson keeps taking steps forward). While the numbers will be different, think of what Danny Ainge did in Boston locking down Rajon Rondo at a price he could no longer get.
Some work needs to be done to fill out the rest of the Nuggets roster if they are going to take the next steps forward, but Lawson will be part of that future.
JaVale McGee, on the other hand, is a restricted free agent this summer and it will be interesting to see what the market will bear for him.
Getty Images
The Atlanta Hawks were able to pick up a victory in the opening game of their NBA Playoffs series against the Boston Celtics, but after watching Sunday evening’s game, it seems as though that might be the only win they post this postseason. The Celtics were able to get their offense going from the get-go and, unsurprisingly, it got ugly for Hawks’ fans soon after as Boston cruised to an easy victory.
There was a lot of optimism pre-game for a competitive contest when it was announced that Al Horford would return from injury and Josh Smith was good to go after missing Game 3 due to injury, but that optimism was all for naught, unfortunately. Boston got out to an amazingly hot start and couldn’t miss a shot — in spite of solid defense — and kept their foot on the gas on the resof the way en route to a 101-79 victory and a 3-1 lead in the series.
The Celtics moved the ball well in the early-goings, the jump shots were falling and the writing was on the wall at the end of the first quarter. For reference, the Celtics made six field goals in the first quarter whereas Rajon Rondo dished seven of his 16 total assists in the same stanza … and it didn’t get any prettier the rest of the way for Atlanta.
The Hawks’ offensive-isolation woes that have plagued them in previous games were there from the outset — they dished just two more assists as a team than Rondo did himself — and they were unable to get any sort of significant contributions from their best offensive players: Joe Johnson scored nine points on just eight shots, Jeff Teague had seven points and a less-than-stellar defensive effort while Smith returned from injury to score 15 points and grab 13 rebounds, though his six turnovers were a problem and he looked less mobile than he was prior to Game 2′s injury.
As far as Boston was concerned, really, it was just really good basketball. Rondo was able to penetrate and pass at ease after establishing that his jumper was falling early, opening up everyone else for good looks before the Hawks eventually just threw in the towel. It didn’t hurt, however, that Paul Pierce was amazing once again despite a knee injury that sent him to the locker room early in the first half. In less than 17 minutes of playing time, Pierce went 10-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, to score a game-high 24 points while Rondo added 20 himself amidst a solid scoring output that saw four other Celtics end up in double-figures.
The Hawks are headed home for Game 5 on Tuesday night, but after watching them have no answer for Boston on Sunday night, it’s hard to believe this series will last any longer than that contest. If it does, however, it’ll be because Johnson earns his max contract, Smith is healthy and Horford is able to play more minutes as he returns to health. Unfortunately for Atlanta, though, even those three players might not be enough if Boston’s offense is working as well as it did in Game 4.
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Apparently the Charlotte Bobcats coaching job is in a lot more demand than I expected… that or right now it’s the only job out there so nobody will burn that bridge.
Some bigger names than one might expect have been thrown out there to take over the worst team in NBA history, one stuck in a small market with an owner who has yet to prove himself (as an owner, as a player MJ was pretty solid as I recall).
Former Trail Blazers coach (and North Carolina guy) Nate McMillan told CSNNW.com that he would consider taking on a rebuilding team like the Bobcats.
“The plan in Portland, when I got there was to rebuild and we were lucky to draft some really good players. Injuries just put a damper on things. Coaching is coaching. It would be a new beginning for me. Young team or a veteran team….If you’re saying, ‘I’m just looking for a veteran team,’ that’s not true.
“Depends on the opportunity. It takes two to agree to a deal and we’ll see whenever that happens. I won’t just take anything, it will depend on the situation.”
McMillan would be a coup for the Bobcats, a coach much better than the first-timer they are expected to have to take on.
But they may have their eye on former Jazz head man Jerry Sloan, according to Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News. Which would be an interesting choice for a rebuilding team — he is an old-school harda** who would bring some discipline to the Bobcats. But he has clashed with players like Deron Williams in the past and would he really want to come back to the NBA at age 70 to rebuild from literally the bottom? My guess is no, if he wanted to be back in the NBA he would be, he’s had teams reach out before.
Either way, the Bobcats have their goals set high.
Reuters
The theory going into this series was that the Knicks would win a game or two simply because Carmelo Anthony and maybe J.R. Smith or Steve Novak would just get hot.
But the Heat’s defense this series has doused any spark before it could catch fire. The result is the Heat have cruised to a 3-0 series lead and look likely to close it out in a sweep at Madison Square Garden Sunday.
The Knicks are suffering plenty of indignities — they now have lost an NBA record 13 straight playoff games. Three losses to the Heat, all by double digits. And it hasn’t been that close. Knicks fans are making Amare Stoudemire the scapegoat for a playoff collapse but the Knicks problems are in a roster built of names and stars with little thought to chemistry and fit.
The Heat had some of those problems last year, but they have overcome them. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have figured out how to compliment each other, Erik Spoelstra came up with a system that fits what the Heat want to do.
New York has no idea how to make Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony work together. Mike D’Antoni couldn’t do get them to do it; Mike Woodson has made this ‘Melo’s team and left Stoudemire on the periphery. It may be moot today as Stoudemire is a game-time decision due to the left hand he smashed into a fire extinguisher case in frustration…
Actually, it’s moot either way.
The only question left in this series is if Sunday can be the Knicks can have that one insanely hot shooting day. Probably not, the Heat have proven they can take ‘Melo out of his comfort zone.
Then New York can start to focus on how to make this thing actually work.
Reuters
The old model wasn’t going to work anymore.
Mark Cuban has read the new CBA that the owners and players signed off on after the lockout, and he saw the increasingly punitive taxes and penalties on big spending teams. He looked at his business model of the last decade — which was to win by spending like the ATM machines that are the Lakers and Knicks — and knew things had to change.
Flexibility became the watchword. Starting this season Cuban started to look to the future reshaping the roster with younger free agents — ideally both Dwight Howard and Deron Williams at the time — and made hard choices. Dallas didn’t bring Tyson Chandler back. Or Caron Butler. Or J.J. Barea. Or DeShawn Stevenson.
Combine that with the roll of the dice on Lamar Odom that flamed out, and the Mavericks didn’t have the depth, didn’t have a different guy who could step up every night as the second star. Last season they had depth and matchups that could confound anyone. Last season those guys were key behind Dirk Nowitzki — and the team leader himself showed up this year with a championship hangover not ready to play at his peak. His shooting percentage dropped from 51.7 last season to 45.7 this season and there was nobody there to consistently pick up the slack.
The result was the defending champs getting unceremoniously swept out of the playoffs by the up-and-coming Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Dallas defense was still solid this season, but their Mavericks offense fell from eighth best in the league (109.7 points per 100 possessions) the year of their championship to 22nd best this season (103.3 points per 100).
It was the price of flexibility.
This coming summer Jason Terry likely is gone. Jason Kidd may come back but not at the price he’s asking. Shawn Marion and Brendan Haywood will be moved if Dallas can find takers, although Marion’s defensive value may keep him in the fold. Any player not born in Germany is not safe on this roster going forward.
Flexibility.
It is Nowitzki and the chance to chase Deron Williams this summer that is the drive. The original goal was to lure Williams and Dwight Howard, but Howard chose to spend another year with Orlando (even if the Magic decide they need to trade him the Mavericks do not have the assets anymore). Williams is the target, but he does like the idea of Brooklyn and staying with the Nets. Even though that franchise has little shot at Howard or another big name either. Here is what Marc Stein wrote at ESPN.
One source well-acquainted with Williams’ thinking told ESPN.com this weekend that the Mavericks, in their current state, have no better than a “50-50 shot” of getting D-Will’s signature in July …
Even if Dallas does not land Williams, it has landed cap space and the ability to make moves and evolve this team into a future winner. Cuban saw what Jerry Buss did with years the Lakers — make moves too early rather than too late — and saw the new CBA rules and made his move. In a couple years we may look back and see it as brilliant.
But this season it came home to roost on the court in a first round playoff sweep at the hands of the Thunder. It was the price paid for a gamble. Cuban tried for the half-court shot of trying to rebuild on the fly and not take a step back, and that missed like half-court shots usually do.
But the Mavericks got their ultimate goal. They have cap space and flexibility. Now we’ll see what they can do with it.
You see this quite a bit in other sports, but you almost never see this in the NBA. Late in the first half of Sunday’s Game 4 between the Lakers and the Nuggets, a woman wandered onto the court, seemingly aimless in her intentions. Thankfully, security picked her up before she was able to make contact with anyone involved in the contest, and play resumed shortly without incident.
This person apparently had a history with the Denver Nuggets organization, as Craig Sager reported during the TNT telecast (as transcribed by Deadspin):
“The woman apparently randomly walking on to the floor. However this lady has a history with the Nuggets. I talked to a couple detectives, Detective Todd Eriksson who grabbed her and walked her off the court. Said several years ago she was found stalking, following several players, basically banned from the arena. She got in tonight. Taken off. Taken over to the security area back here where — where, supervisor of the police department, Sergeant Larry Subia, obviously handled the case.”
She was arrested and cited for trespassing, before being released.
Having been in many NBA arenas with an all-access media pass, I can tell you that overall, the security inside is far from what it should be. The majority of the people who would be the ones to stop you from gaining access to places where you don’t belong range from the elderly to the disinterested, with the majority of these folks being easily distracted.
Luckily, nothing came of this situation beyond the brief but embarrassing video clip you see above. But it should serve as a wake-up call to arena security around the league, especially as the playoffs progress to the point where the game’s biggest stars are involved, and the national television ratings are at their high point of the season.
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Mike Malone has been one of the hottest names among NBA assistant coaches for years — his experience is why Golden State made him the highest paid NBA assistant coach at $750,000 to come in and be on the bench with the inexperienced Mark Jackson last year (and he reportedly turned down being a Lakers assistant to take the Warriors money).
But it’s very possible his time to move to the big seat will come this summer. And maybe with the Bobcats, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo.
Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Malone is scheduled to interview for the Charlotte Bobcats head-coaching vacancy on Tuesday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Malone will meet with Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins and general manager Rich Cho.
This would be a good hire for Charlotte.
First, Malone a defense first coach and the Bobcats need that. (They need offense, too, but one step at a time.) He was the lead defensive assistant in New Orleans and Cleveland when they locked teams down. Secondly, reports are that players respect and will play for him. Finally, he will take what is not going to be a high-paying or highly coveted job — for your first NBA gig you can’t be picky.
There are likely other interviews in the pipeline — Nate McMillan will listen — but Malone would be a good hire if Cho and owner Michael Jordan choose to go that way.
