The Knicks had finally a good offensive game on their last game when they decided to use their small lineup once again. They had a season-high 25 assists and a season-low 12 turnovers for a great 25/12 A/TO ratio! The Knicks gained ability to stretch the floor and they had a lot of pick and pop plays with Andrea Bargnani that Charlotte couldn't defend, allowing Bargnani to shoot 11-25 FG! As always, the Knicks' offense was perimeter-oriented, but they had a proper floor spacing this time. It was very easy for the Knicks to defend Charlotte's offense, with the Bobcats having another poor 4-16 3pts on another subpar outside shooting game for them. As Charlotte has an one-dimensional offense, they had to attack the rim, but the Knicks' defense packed the paint waiting for them, heck even Andrea Bargnani had 5 blocked shots!
J.R. Smith will make his season debut today and with him, the Knicks have another crazy shooter but who will still be much better than Tim "Shoot" Hardaway Jr! The Knicks will then create some problems to San Antonio that will have Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter on the frontcourt. I believe that sooner or later Gregg Popovich will be forced to use a small lineup on his own as well. San Antonio keeps winning games, but always with some problems. Their key has been their excellent defense and they only struggled defensively at Portland. No wonder they lost that game. However, the Spurs has been struggling a bit on 3pts defense and they are indeed #30 on spot up defense and also #24 on pick and roll roll man plays! These two kind of plays are a huge part of the Knicks' offense so the Knicks offense might have an edge in here! On the other side, the Knicks' defense won't be dealing with the lowly Bobcats again. San Antonio has in Tony Parker a PG who will penetrate into the basket and force the Knicks to collapse into the paint, something that will give space to San Antonio's shooters that are much better than Charlotte's shooters! The Spurs are coming from three subpar games on this area with 4-16, 6-16 and 5-19 3pts, but I expect some improvement on this area tonight.
I have a small lean on Over in here, but the line doesn't allow me to put the trigger in here. I'll be passing on this game.
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