Knocked Out Cold
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The Knicks blowout lost made everything easy for the Denver Nuggets.
"Before that game we were walking around thinking we won something before we won anything,"Carmelo Anthony said. "It was a blessing. The way they beat us? We learned a lot from that."
The Nuggets were fantastic against the Knicks, and they've showed their a top contender in the Western Conference.
They have the talent, and many believe they'll compete for the NBA Championship. With Anthony, Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, and others it'll be enough to be competitive against talented teams.
"It ain't easy coming in at 2:30, 3 o'clock in the morning, and then come in and run in this altitude," Kenyon Martin said. "It ain't easy for us to do it, so it's harder for teams who don't play in altitude on a regular basis."
No excuses, the Knicks had their chance. They weren't motivated, and couldn't stay confident enough. Getting "murdered" and "stabbed" to death isn't acceptable from the Knicks, they've played better before.
"We were in foul trouble most of the night and we wanted to try to speed the game and the pace up a bit," Isiah Thomas said. "We didn't finish, we didn't do what we were supposed to do."
Thomas always says foul trouble is the problem, but its the defense. Allowing the Nuggets to score 115 points isn't impressive, and that means the defense isn't good. Their defense should improve, but it probably won't. Thomas fails to realize the Knicks problems, and his players gave zero effort last night against the Nuggets.
"Sometimes in this game, the schedule beats you," Thomas said. "The guys tried to play with as much as they could. The Nuggets beat us tonight and it was a combination of them and the schedule. Tough night for us."
Thomas has nothing but excuses, and never says "defense." The Knicks will only improve if Thomas realize defense is the problem, because its been the issue for five seasons. The schedule was tough, but it doesn't mean the Knicks couldn't win.
"These are times to pull together," Lee said. "We are pulling together. We need to pull further."
Pulling together isn't going to work, because nobody understands the problem. The Knicks are "horrible" at defense, and they refuse to realize that. The Nuggets were "killing" them, and the Knicks probably enjoyed it. Many Knick players expected to lost, because winning wasn't going to happen on their four game losing streak.
The Nuggets turned everything around, and started to excel after losing to the Boston Celtics. Now they've won four consecutive games, and they're improving every step of the season.
"That's the worst one I've been a part of in my 12 years," Iverson said. "But we left that game in Boston. Coach (Karl) always says during the course of the year you're going to have games where you can't do anything right, you can't stop nobody and you get blown out. But you've got to leave that game right there."
The Nuggets did a great job of forgetting about their game against the Celtics, and they've showed it against the Knicks.
"We've taken that loss and turned it into a win," Karl said. "That's a sign of a pretty professional team."
Karl has the talent, and he's helping this team improve. The Nuggets are better then ever. "The more games go by, more minutes, I'm being more consistent," he said.
Iverson was helpful, and his presents has been important for the Nuggets. He had 23 points, but suffered with 4 turnovers.
Anthony performed the best, and he's been valuable. The Nuggets wouldn't be successful without Anthonys play. He had 24 points with 6 assist, and 2 blocks.
Camby has been rebounding effectively, and it's helped the Nuggets. Having a defensive force brings less pressure for others; he had 18 points and 20 rebounds.
The Knicks couldn't score, and that's even worse. Everyone was under 16 points, and only three players scored in double figures.
Mardy Collins scored 10 points, but wasn't effective anywhere else. He couldn't produce enough, and he shouldn't be in the starting line-up.
Zach Randolph is dealing with tough times, but he still managed to help out. He had 16 points, and 11 rebounds. "This has been a very emotional week for him," Thomas said.
Eddy Curry had 12 points, and continues his inconsistent rebounding efforts.
