New York Knicks: What We Learned From Game 1

In case you missed it, the New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics last night, 106-86. Even though the Knicks had a very disappointing preseason opener, there are a lot of take aways from last night’s game. As fans, we caught a glimpse of the potential lineup, we were able to see some new faces in action, and we saw the triangle offense for the first time in New York uniforms.

Player Analysis:

–Jose Calderon looked good for the most part. He did what he was supposed to do: hit open jump shots and control the offense. When he was in the game, the Knicks looked a bit more fluent on the offensive end than when Shane Larkin or Pablo Prigioni was running the point. Calderon finished with 9 points and 4 assists, and was (only) -3 compared to Larkin’s -10 and Prigioni’s -22.

–J.R. Smith got the nod at shooting guard in the opener. This shouldn’t have come as a shock as Iman Shumpert was out with a hamstring strain. Smith seemed to buy into the ball movement of the triangle as he consistently hit the open man. Although he was only 3-8 from the field, Smith was not taking wild shots; most of the shots were within the flow of the offense. He got beat a couple times defensively on back door cuts and needs to focus on seeing his man and the ball at all times.

–Carmelo Anthony didn’t look as comfortable as we were all hoping. Although he had 10 points, 3 rebounds, and a team leading(!) 4 assists in 21 minutes, he seemed out of the flow of the offense. You saw the “I haven’t touched the ball in five straight possessions” three pointer a couple of times which is understandable. Melo was actually making all the correct cuts and rotations on offense, the problem was only some of his teammates actually knew what they were doing out there.

–Andrea Bargnani got the surprise start that I don’t think anyone saw coming. After watching him for 19 minutes, I’m hoping that was his last start as well. Bargnani looked like he had no idea what the Knicks were trying to do within the offense. On multiple occasions, Bargs held the ball and then dribbled directly into three guys for a charge. When has that ever been productive? It comes as no surprise that he had 0 assists because I don’t think he made a pass the entire night. Bargnani also was absolutely torched by both Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk.

–Samuel Dalembert played hard and actually had a presence in the paint defensively. He finished the game with 3 blocks in 18 minutes to go along with 6 points and 4 rebounds. If he can continue to defend the rim like he did last night, he could be in for a minutes increase next game.

–Amar’e Stoudemire actually looked really good. There are a lot of STAT haters out there, but tonight you have to give him some credit. While his stat line won’t impress that much, he looked very smooth with his post moves and had his moments defensively. He was also only one of two Knicks with a positive plus-or-minus (he was +2). STAT was rewarded with his play by replacing Bargnani in the starting rotation for the second half of the game.

–Tim Hardaway Jr. was fun to watch. He led the team in scoring and did so rather efficiently. In 21 minutes, Hardaway had 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. The good news: he attacked the basket and proved he is not simply a jump shooter. Hardaway finished 10-11 from the charity stripe on the night. The bad news: he turned the ball over way too much with a team leading 5 turnovers. Still at the end of the day, Hardaway led the team in plus-or-minus at a whopping +6.

-Shane Larkin did not look sharp in his debut. We’ll chalk it up to the rookie jitter (even though he is in his second year), but he looked like he was on a completely different page than everyone. It was great to see him getting the nod ahead of Prigioni, but he will most likely retain his back up role due to Prigioni being even worse than Larkin was. More turnovers than assists are never a good statistic, but at least he was trying to play up tempo. He’s a very good player, but as we saw last night, needs a lot of time to develop.

–Travis Outlaw seemed disinterested and didn’t want to be there. He almost had a night of zeros until a ball bounced to him for a steal. If there is any guy on a guaranteed contract that could get cut, it will most likely be him.

-Pablo Prigioni looked old. He had four assists, but he was consistently torched by Celtic guards. He could have retaken the back up point guard spot tonight if he had done anything, but instead he was -22. Wow.

–Quincy Acy brought a lot of energy to the game and some solid production. He did have 5 points and 5 rebounds to along with a block and a steal. His 1-6 shooting wasn’t very good, but at least he is one of the few guys trying on defense. He was only -4 on the night. Little victories.

-Cleanthony Early hit his first three and that was virtually it. In 18 minutes he managed to not pickup a rebound or an assist. He is going to have to be more effective next time to see an increase in minutes.

-Travis Wear was a pleasant surprise off the bench. Wear had 6 points and 4 rebounds in just 11 minutes. The undrafted free agent showed a soft touch from the outside hitting a couple of jumpers, and a three at the buzzer that ended up not counting. He needs to hit the weight room to be able to defend the bigger players in this league. He made the most of his minutes though.

–Cole Aldrich might be the slowest human being ever. He grabs rebounds right to him, but other than that, he is an insurance policy for the Knicks at center.

Coaching Analysis:

It’s a growing process. The Knicks need to get used to the new system, and Derek Fisher needs to get used to his new players. Mixing and matching his lineups last night didn’t really work out come the end of the game. Fisher elected to go five-in-five-out for his substitution pattern for most of the game. While this allowed everyone to get more playing time, this also showed just how weak the Knicks’ second unit is. Part of this problem is due to the fact that the Knicks were missing two significant players in Iman Shumpert and Jason Smith.

The starting lineup will most likely see a change next game. With the return of Shumpert, you will most likely see Smith and Hardaway on the second line, or even Shumpert and Hardaway. Smith is the most complete player of the three, so it may be a better option to place Smith with the second unit to keep them in control. Bargnani should be removed from the lineup immediately. Stoudemire showed enough promise to give him a shot and leave Jason Smith to anchor the second team defense.

This is still virtually a tryout for playing time in the eyes of Fisher. He is getting a live look at who excels in what areas and in what situations. The Knicks are far from a finished product, but they have the chance to be very good if they can smooth out some of the ball movement problems. The good news was that the Knicks were happy to pass tonight. The bad news was that a lot of them were ineffective passes in the result of 28 turnovers. The Knicks were also only 5-24 from 3 point range. If the Knicks want to be good this year, they need to make the most of their open shot opportunities. The open looks were there, but they just didn’t seem to fall for them last night.

Another observation from the Knicks last night was the robotic feel to the offense. It was almost as if the Knicks were trying so hard to follow the new system that they forgot how to improvise. This will all come over time as the flow of the offense will improve day-to-day. The offense also really seemed to slow down when the Knicks tried using dribble hand offs at the top of the key. Maybe this will get better over time, or it could just be that they were using it with two of the wrong guys.

It’s a long season and it will definitely have its ups and downs. No need to panic; it’s only game one of the preseason! There will be plenty of time for the Knicks to improve as a team.

The Knicks return to action on Saturday in a rematch against the Celtics at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.