NBA Recap 01/04: Charlotte Bobcats @ New York Knicks

Charlotte at New York							Advanced Stats		4 Factors
Teams	1	2	3	4	T		PACE	Offense	EFG%	TOR	ORR	FTR
CHAR	30	32	26	30	118		96.50	121.41	0.59	12.93	19.44	20.00
NY	26	26	26	32	110			114.81	0.56	15.34	26.83	17.65

What's wrong with the Knicks?

I watched last night's NYK vs CHA game and it was funny to watch the public booing the home team already on the 1st half of the game and then chant "We want Shumpert" when he went to the bench in the 3rd quarter! The main reason for such disapproval from the crowd was the pathetic defensive performance of the Knicks, who allowed 118 points to a marginal talented team.

Charlotte offense Shot Locs:

At Rim			3-9 Feet			10-15 Feet			16-23 Feet			Threes
FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%
17	26	65%	3	11	27%	6	8	75%	14	29	48%	7	11	96%

Defense is a team concept and not something that you can individualize. You just can't put Tyson Chandler on the floor and hope for the best. Basketball isn't a "Batman and Robin" kind of thing. It's a team concept where you want to maximize your strengths and diminish your weaknesses. That's why Tyson Chandler can't produce now what he apparently produced back in Dallas or Deron Williams can't play half as good as he played in Jerry Sloan's offensive system back in Utah.

The biggest problem of the Knicks defense is their ridiculously bad team help defense. In Dallas, Chandler helped the small players in rotations because their teammates knew when to switch and stay with their man. In New York, this isn't happening. Last night, the Bobcats shot 55% from the field, but note that they "just" went 17-26 FG at the rim, with a good but not superb 65.4% eFG! The damage was made from the perimeter, where the Bobcats shot 6-8 FG from 10-15 feet, 14-29 FG from 16-23 feet and 7-11 3pts! The Bobcats didn't feel any pressure on the ball handler and they just moved the ball and found the right spots on the perimeter. At one moment, they were so confident that they made several contested shots when the shotclock was expiring! 

It's really nice to see Carmelo shooting 12-24 FG or Amare 10-19 FG, but when their individual matchups Gerald Herderson and Boris Diaw shot at the same time 10-13 FG and 12-15 FG, the team can't go anywhere. The Knicks don't have any depth, so they need Amare, Carmelo and Chandler to play big minutes at every game and if we add the fact that their defense is basically non-existent, then the Knicks are heading into big problems because outscoring other teams isn't a long term solution on this specific season.