Yeah, but they should have creamed them. No excuse for all the turnovers and missed easy shots. If it hadn’t been for Meyers Leonard stepping up, they would likely have lost. Scary moment for Wesley Matthews.
Actually, according to Wikipedia he was born in New York and his family moved to Baltimore when he was 8. Sorry I don’t know who I was thinking of.
As an Atlanta resident who actually goes to Hawks games and supports the team, I soooo do not want this to happen.
Atlanta is certainly surprising by their record, even more so that they beat 4 straight West teams. As much as I like to gloat about the West, having good and fairly equal conferences is best for the NBA. I hope the top of the West still keeps their gaudy records though, disparity is the only thing that will even slightly motivate the owners to change how the playoffs are done and I for one would want a good West team to get in rather than a bad East team.
I still have no faith in Atlanta though, sorry. They just haven’t shown that they can put it together for a playoff run. They haven’t even been out of the 2nd round in a long time so until that happens, I think they’ll prove to be an interesting out, but ultimately fizzle again
Seems pretty unlikely.
Yeah, but those teams were not Coach Mike Budenholzer teams. Believe me, I know their history and reputation. This team has a different feel. This team does not wilt. Tonight the Memphis Grizzlies punched back again and again, but the Hawks won a really scrappy game. This season they are 10-2 against the West Conference.
Hope they don’t break my heart, but I’m starting to believe. 
And now they’ve added away victories against the Mavs and Spurs for the longest current win streak in the NBA. The Spurs have injury issues and needed a bonehead play at the end to lose, but the Pistons dominated the Mavs. I think it’s still just a blip in what will end up being a poor season, but it certainly makes things interesting.
And Smith’s value continues to drop.
So the rumor is that Carmelo only continues to play because the All Star Game is in New York and the team wants him to be a part of that. After the ASG he’ll have season-ending knee surgery. Does anyone have a problem with this? Doesn’t seem like something Phil Jackson would condone. Why put the extra miles on your only star, who is supposedly part of your long term plan?
Derrick Rose needs to shut his damn mouth. Between his big mouth, and the idiocy of the NFL and the Bears, Chicago sports radio is intolerable.
Melo shouldn’t be a part of anyone’s long term plan, he will be in decline long before New York approaches anything resembling a contending team.
I agree, but just 6 months ago the Knicks signed him up for 5 more years.
On Chicago, hey at least you’ll have the Cubs this year!
Is this regarding his recent comments about being sick and tired of his team losing? I think that is just frustration left over from his year and a half on the bench for injuries plus all of the people questioning him. If he can make it through this year healthy, I fully believe he’ll be capable of being the MVP caliber player he once was. He just seems to have some kind of mental block due to his injuries and can’t get over it.
I don’t think Melo’s quite as bad as he seems to be this year. Probably that knee injury and being on a bad team with a new coach is not doing him any favors, but if he’s healthy next year, he can get back to being an all star. Its not like he works tremendously on defense, his style of play doesn’t require too much strenuous activity. Give him a couple of outside shooters and a low post guy and I can see the Knicks being back towards the top of the East next year or the year after.
I think it’s the irony of Rose almost throwing his team under the bus calling out their effort when this was the guy who had to miss game so he wouldn’t be sore while sitting in meetings in 20 years.
I don’t think he is bad at all, but he is going to be 31 this year and the Knicks are a good five years away from being able to put a decent team together if things go right. Signing Melo was probably a way for them to give the fans something to watch while the team blows rather than an actual piece of their future.
5 years? Come on, that’s a bit harsh. Unless you mean through the draft only, which precious few teams have ever tried to do, I think a good free agent and a couple of lucky breaks with guys they are developing is all it takes for them to get back to contending for the top of the East. You might be thinking of the OKC model where they got all their great players through the draft and waited like 4 years for them to develop, but I don’t think NY even has more than a couple draft picks in the next few years.
If somehow Marc Gasol comes to NY next year, and maybe a couple of Ray Allen type shooters, you can’t tell me they wouldn’t be favored in the East.
A couple of perhaps the greatest shooter of all time don’t exist. Gasol would be nice for NY. I know the knock on them now is that they’re guard-heavy, but the problem is their guards suck.
It’s not just the lack of picks, a bad team crippled by a huge bad contract is not an attractive free agent destination. The Lakers are in the same exact boat, they thought just being the Lakers was enough to attract stars (or hell keep the ones you got), but they were dead wrong. The Knicks are going nowhere until the Melo/no picks era is done. Gasol is not even going to consider the Knicks as a possible destination.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Amare’s contract comes off the books at the end of this year right? Other than him, the Knicks have no big contract with the exception of Melo on the cap next year and beyond. They’re pretty much a clean slate. If they overpay for a couple of free agents, I can see a few decent guys going there for the money and making a decent run at the conference title with a healthy Melo. Gasol’s obviously the big one, but there are probably scads of mid-tier guys who would take the max to play in NY.
Over paying for a couple free agents doesn’t make them a desirable destination for good players, it just makes them a bad team with bad contracts and no picks. I just don’t see any scenario in which NY is a place good players are going to want to be for the next few years.
Just once I wish the Blazers would start a game like they actually want to be there. They should have beaten Boston, even without Aldridge in the game, and the bench players seem to be the only ones with any energy. At least Ro-Lo should be returning soon. Batum being out isn’t a loss at this point; he’s really been off his game with that sprain.