SU did its due diligence last night and tuned in to catch some of the Knicks’ game against the defending champion Cavaliers. SU, a life-long Knicks fan up until the Isiah Thomas era, really needs to be won back over to the orange and blue. And truth be told, as long as Carmelo Anthony is here, it’s unlikely to happen unless he decides to change his game and become more team oriented. SU’s early, early season thoughts:
- These guys have never played together before. It’s a total makeover. This is going to take some time.
- I really couldn’t tell exactly what the Jeff Hornacek style of play is. There was some Mike Woodson in there (give it to Melo and have 4 players do their statue imitations) and some Mike D’Antoni (get the rebound and run).
- The problem is that Hornacek is supposed to be more like D’Antoni and if that’s the case, we all know that Carmelo does not like to play that way. Something has to give there and if the team is smart, a trade could be in the offing.
- I thought Derek Rose looked good in spurts but as long-time SU subscriber T. Potter pointed out, he had 1 assist in 30 minutes (and he took 17 shots). Not the formula for success.
- Porzingis had a few plays run for him but not enough for my taste. SU cannot watch this team unless he is featured.
- I did like what I saw from the two new European players: Kuzminkas; and Hernangomez (we need Clyde Frazier to come up with some shortened nick names for these dudes and soon). As a fan, I would much prefer to see them log more minutes – youngsters with upside who will probably even pass the ball.
- Noah beat the rush and is already hobbled with injuries.
Bottom line: you need to give it time but it’s hard to see where the scoring is going to come from. If that is the case, then Melo will take it on his shoulders to score more which then creates a lot of other problems which in the end equals “unwatchability.” But we won’t know until January what you have here.
Meanwhile, Golden State got blown out by the Spurs at home. SU says too many All-Stars on one roster will ultimately turn into discontent. Me thinks that team will also need some time to hit their stride but of course, that is just a matter of time. But they will miss Andrew Bogut’s passing and the loss of some key role players.
Finally, Terry Francona is either really smart or he is now reading the Joe Torre handbook on how to mis-use your relief pitchers (see Tanyon Sturtze and Scott Proctor). Andrew Miller threw about 45 pitches last night. SU thinks he knows tonight’s game will be rained out and thus will have an extra day of rest before game 2. If so, he’s a genius. If not, it would be dangerous to put him out there again tonight.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Tough draw for the Knick’s season opener but I agree with your early season assessment. I didn’t see the game but I did go to the box score and picked up pretty much on the same things you mentioned. 1 assist by the PG; limited minutes by Noah; traditional Melo stat line. Porzingis had a decent but not off the charts line. Team stats showed 17 assists for the Knicks and 31 for the Cavs.
Right, Mark. The Cavs move the ball just like Warriors which often ends up with a wide open 3-pointer. I actually think Cleveland shoots too many of them at times and you can probably get an open closer shot within the same sequence of passes. But only a handful of teams put up those types of assist numbers (Spurs are in that group).
There should be some rule which is subject to the umpire’s determination on whether an attempt is made at all by the batter to move out of the way. It’s a tricky call which I’m sure will be debated once a call is made, but Cleveland’s batter who coincidentally lead the league in being hit by a pitch instead of attempting to move out of the way it appeared he moved his back leg into the pitch so he’s get hit… a thus a run scored. The Yankees had a guy who I believe is the all time leader in being hit by a pitch. He never moved.
It was mentioned this morning that after examining the calls the umpire made on the inside of the plate against lefties he was pretty much accurate in his calls overall. Lester’s pitch was a couple of inches further outside thereby not getting the strike call. Kudos for the umpire’s consistency. I wonder if they will ever have it perfected that a human does not have to stand behind the plate to call balls and strikes. It would certainly take the subjectivity out. Is that good for baseball?
Andy, that guy Guyer had been hit 31 times this year which is crazy. I actually thought that pitch was way inside so it would have been hard for the umpire to overrule it. But you are right that there are plenty of cases where the pitch is barely off the plate and the batter doesn’t move or even leans in to get hit. Given that tennis can now pick up line calls to within a millimeter at speeds of over 130 mph, you have to figure that baseball could easily implement a technology based system right now for balls and strikes. I think it would be fine but you would really have to adjust the box for each batter given their height and stance. That may be a bit more complex to do – I don’t know. At a minimum, it would speed up the game as you wouldn’t be able to argue. I find the box reviews annoying during the game as we don’t know just how accurate they are.
I didn’t see the HBP last night, but the rules do allow an umpire to keep a batter at the plate if he believes there was no attempt to avoid the ball. That said, it’s a VERY difficult call to make, and the benefit of the doubt almost always goes to the hitter.
Agreed, Shep. While Guyer didn’t move, the pitch was well inside and it was one of those sliders aimed at the back leg like Andrew Miller throws. Really could not overturn that one I don’t think.
Rose did get to the basket a lot but had trouble finishing- Cavs just seemed to be playing at a different speed in the second half.
Rose especially needs time as he missed most of training camp. Just have to hope that he doesn’t get hurt. I think he is the key to them being remotely competitive. Needs to play at a high level. Porzingis is ready to take a step forward but I don’t think he will see the ball enough from this group to do it.