For the New York Knicks all the good feelings and optimism about opening night went out the window rather quickly as the Chicago Bulls man handled them Wednesday night. The Knicks had a strong start, but things quickly unraveled once the reserves began shuffling in, as the Bulls benched took control of the game and shifted everything in their favor. This is a marathon not a sprint for the Knicks, as they cemented the fact that this will be a process trying to get everything clicking. They will not have much time to recover from this one, as the Knicks will be right back at it Thursday night, visiting the Cleveland Cavaliers for their season and home opener.
Player of the Game: None
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With how poorly the team played tonight, no one stood out as worthy to receive this nomination. It is only the first game of the season, but there weren’t many encouraging things to take away from it if you’re the Knicks.
-Calderon Can’t Go
In a surprising situation, Jose Calderon was unable to play tonight. It was expected that Calderon would be in the starting lineup, but during warm-ups something must have went wrong regarding his calf injury and he was sidelined, not even suiting up. In his place, Shane Larkin started at point guard. It was a struggle for the second year guard, as he was unable to stay in front of Derrick Rose most of the night, who got into the paint with ease. Stopping opposing offenses at the point of attack looks like it could be an Achilles heel for the Knicks once again.
-Poor Bench Play
As it was stated earlier, the Knicks actually started the game off strong. The starting lineup looked cohesive, forcing turnovers and getting easy baskets. But that all unraveled once the second unit came into the game, as they struggled to get anything going on either end of the court.
The Knicks second unit is loaded with players dependent on players whose offensive games impact their effort on the defensive end; namely J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. Both struggled, and the second unit faltered along with them.
Oct 29, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Pau Gasol (16) drives to the basket against New York Knicks center Jason Smith (14) during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
They were not the only ones to blame on the second unit, as the bigs, Quincy Acy and Jason Smith, got worked by Taj Gibson. The Bulls’ bench outscored the Knicks’ bench 55-37 and was the real turning point for the game. The plus/minus ratios are eye-popping, as the Knicks had six players at -15 or worse, and the Bulls had no negative player, with Joakim Noah being the lowest at +3.
-Paint Play
The Knicks front court was dominated in the paint tonight by the Bulls revamped front court that now features Pau Gasol. Tonight Gibson was the catalyst, as his play in the first half got the Bulls going and it carried through the rest of the game. Gibson finished with 22 points on 10-12 shooting with eight rebounds in 28 minutes. Gasol, making his Bulls debut, finished with 21 points on 7-11 shooting with 11 rebounds in 29 minutes.
The Knicks big men off the bench are who struggled, as Acy and Ja. Smith were no match for the Bulls interior players. Samuel Dalembert and Amar’e Stoudemire battled though, as they had the two lowest plus/minus ratios for anyone who played double-digit minutes for the Knicks.
-Work In Progress
Like the Knicks have been saying all along, this is a process that will take time and it showed Wednesday. It did not help that they were starting the season against a Bulls team many people expect to challenge for an NBA title this season, but nonetheless it was an ugly performance.
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Offensively the Knicks struggled, looking timid and not comfortable with what they were doing. Too often you could see players thinking too much about what to do, not reacting to what was going on in the flow of play. This resulted in stagnation and little cohesion as the Knicks too often went into one-on-one play. There were some bright spots, but the negatives easily outweighed the positives. On the night, the Knicks shot 35.7 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from downtown.
On the defensive side of the ball, things weren’t much better. After a strong start, the Bulls blitzed the Knicks as they had plenty of uncontested shots and made the most of it, knocking down 50.7 percent of their shots. Rose and Aaron Brooks were able to break the Knicks defense down and get into the paint with too much ease, leaving their teammates with wide open jump shots or easy dunks and layups at the rim.