Watching the game against the Lakers on Friday, I couldn’t help but feel that the Knicks had achieved a moral victory of some sort. The Knicks went shot for shot and blow for blow against the best team in the league. Neither team had more than a 6 point lead until the 4th quarter. It wasn’t until the 4th quarter that the inevitable occurred. Pau Gasol asserted himself in the paint and subsequently disposed of Lee, Jeffries and Chandler, who all took turns trying to D up the big man. Heck, even when the loss was apparent, I felt okay about the Knicks’ overall effort and moxie. I didn’t even mind David Lee getting repeatedly denied by Gasol (who blocked or altered numerous shot attempts) in the fourth. At least the Knicks attacked. At least the Knicks fought and gave the Lakers—and the fans—all they had.
It was a strangely satisfying loss. I even thought about writing a post entitled “If ever there were a moral victory…”
And then the Dallas loss happened. And, yes, it felt like a punch in the face.
But, really, should it have? The aberration was the fact that the Knicks were able to stick to the Lakers as well as they did with the same lineup, and with the kind of PG play the Knicks have been getting out of Chris Duhon. Somehow it feels like the moral victory against the Lakers blew up in their faces. The Knicks came out chemistry-less, passive and overconfident and it resulted in the most embarrassing loss of the season.
The most remarkable part of the Dallas game was that Jared Jeffries had 14 points in the first half. But, even that makes some sense if you think about it because no team in their right mind actually D’s up JJ. It just so happened that yesterday, Jeffries, in some Bizarro World vortex, knocked down his first half chances. While Dallas gave non-threats Jeffries and Duhon space, they intelligently suffocated Lee, Chandler, and Gallo who were all taken out of their games.
After the first half, it seemed a gift to be down only 16. I figured the Knicks would come out with spark after an embarrassing first half and make it a game. Nope. Duhon once again looked like he was playing a pick up game after being awake for 72 straight hours, clumsily turning the ball over and missing shots. Barea effortlessly drove around him time and again on the pick and roll, while it never occured to Lee and Chandler come over and help, and maybe knock him on his ass to at least make life a little bit difficult for Dallas. Drew Gooden played as if he had a vendetta against David Lee, blocking his shot and dominating him as if he were Pau Gasol. And symmetry in the universe was restored when Jeffries missed layups and had rebounds bouncing of the back of his head.
Anyway, it’s easy to blow this loss out of proportion. But what is absolutely crystal clear, and what can’t be exaggerated is just how desperately Mike D’Antoni needs to bench Chris Duhon — NOW. I don’t care if Nate is injured. I don’t care if we need to make a D-league call up. Duhon is crippling this team in a way that puts the rest of the season in jeopardy. Every fan in the Knicks’ universe sees this. Literally, every fan. It’s simply too much for the Knicks (who start Jeffries and Duhon) to begin every half of basketball 3 on 5 on the offensive end. And, I can actually live with JJ out there. He’s our defensive stalwart and he manages to deflect enough balls and keep things fluid on the offensive end. But, Duhon may single-handedly be sinking the Knicks hopes of competitiveness all by himself.
Which leads us to Marc Berman teasing us with this: Knicks president Walsh still has eyes on Rubio. Really, teasing us with any hope of landing Ricky Rubio, especially now, is downright cruel. But, if there is ANY way for the Knicks to pull this off without trading Gallo, I still maintain that if must be done.
