Not so little things
One thing the Knicks (and other teams) often do is parrot the remarks of their coach.
If the coach, after a loss, uses a particular phrase to scold his team, you can bet his players will use the exact same phrase when asked about the game.
Take Friday's loss in Cleveland, for instance, when the Knicks said "little things," echoing Isiah Thomas, cost them.
Such as falling asleep after Stephon Marbury got called for palming and then pouted _ and Cleveland's Larry Hughes got an uncontested dunk.
Such as in their zone defense in the final quarter, against which the Cavs ran a play most teams run against a man-to-man, pick-and-roll. That left the Knicks scrambling and Daniel Gibson with the room to bury his four game-turning threes that Thomas insisted were adequately contested.
And when was the last time you saw a game, much less a season, open with the opponent producing a four-point play (Gibson again)?
His fourth-quarter threes, in particular, didn't seem so little.
But when the Knicks lumped their poor free-throw shooting into that "little things" category, that broke the mold. That wasn't so little last season, when they were the league;'s fourth-worst team from the line, and it wasn't Friday, when they went 14-for-23.
It also wasn't so little allowing the Cavs three offensive rebounds in the final two minutes and change as Thomas' team tried to mount a comeback.
It also wasn't so little that the littlest Knick, Nate Robinson, outplayed Marbury, particularly in the second half.
So let's get off the "little things" kick, for most of the above was big enough to cost them a chance to steal a victory on the road against the defending Eastern Conference champions.
And guys, particularly you, Mr. Eddy Curry, 0-for-5 Friday as the guy who may spend the most time for the Knicks this season at the foul line, could you figure out a way to make a few more from the 15-foot stripe?
That, plus a defense still in progress, could let this season slip away before it begins, no matter how efficient the offense looked Friday. The Knicks tried outscoring teams before under Isiah last season and even Larry Brown at times before that.
Didn't work then, won't work now.
OK... so since y'all can't criticize the Eddy and Zach combo you've found a new negative to focus on-- the "little things".
When the Knicks start winning I'm looking forward to seeing how creative y'all are with the nitpicking
Posted by: NYKat | November 03, 2007 at 06:18 PM