Sunday, November 25, 2012

What to Watch For: Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks November 25


Sunday, November 25, 2012
Pre-Game News and Notes
Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks

The Knicks are coming off a very disappointing stretch of six quarters in which their defense was non-existent, giving up 196 points over that span.  The Knicks will look to get back on track Sunday afternoon against the 3-10 Detroit Pistons, a winnable game that the Knicks cannot over look with a big matchup with the Brooklyn Nets the following night.

-Get Back to Basics

The Knicks have suffered severe lapses for parts of the past six quarters and it has hurt them, as they are on their first two game losing streak since Mike Woodson took over as head coach.  Role players such as Chandler Parsons and Omer Asik dominated the Knicks Friday night in addition to the big name players Jeremy Lin and James Harden.

The Knicks need to get back to trusting each other on defense, as there was no help defense given Friday night.  Tyson Chandler needs to get back to his Defensive Player of the Year ways, as he has become Charmin Soft in the middle at times this season. 

Chandler has a lot of his plate, as Woodson has not been matching up his players well at points, leaving Chandler as the only big on the court a large portion of time.  Chandler has not been protecting the rim well recently either, as foul trouble has deterred him and caused him to be less aggressive.

-Crash the Boards

One glaring problem Friday night was the thumping the Knicks took on the boards, as the Rockets out rebounded them 49-30.  That is a trend that needs to change even though the Knicks have been successful thus far this season with an 8-3 record.

The Pistons sport a huge front line in Greg Monroe and Jason Maxiell in the starting lineup and have Andre Drummond coming off the bench.  Monroe is becoming a household name in the NBA and Maxiell has been a menace on the boards since entering the league.  Drummond has been quite impressive thus far in his rookie campaign, averaging 5.2 rebounds in only 16.2 minutes per game.

It will take a team effort from the Knicks to win the rebounding battle, as the Pistons are not going to just roll over; head coach Lawrence Frank will have his young team ready to roll Sunday afternoon.

-Offense Needs to Flow

The Knicks offense does not garner a ton of assists because of the post-ups that Woodson runs for Carmelo Anthony and Rasheed Wallace; that does not mean the ball movement is always there though.

The ball has been stopped multiple times in the recent games, as Anthony has turned the ball over seven times in each of the last two games.  Anthony was featured heavily Friday against the Rockets because of matchups, but teammates became spectators and were standing around watching most of the game, causing for a stagnant offense.

If the Knicks can get the ball movement and flow back in their offense this should be a relatively easy game before heading to Brooklyn Monday night. 

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