New York Knicks: Erasing An Era

[VincentB]

Matchup Preview *|* November 4, 2003
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New York Knicks (0-0, 0-0 Away)		Sacramento Kings (0-0, 0-0 Home)
Projected Starters Stephon Marbury Point Guard Mike Bibby Allan Houston Shooting Guard Anthony Peeler DerMarr Johnson Small Forward Peja Stojakovic Tim Thomas Power Forward Chris Webber Dikembe Mutombo Center Brad Miller Injury Report Game Notes First regular season game.

The New York Knicks will have to travel to Sacramento and one of the toughest venues in the NBA, ARCO Arena. The Kings are once again led by Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic who averaged just under 20 points per game last season. In order to be successful, the Knicks must slow the game down and receive big contributions from Stephon Marbury and Allan Houston. During a brief shootaround, Stephon Marbury was confident in his team's chances: "This is the first game of the season and we would have loved for it to have been at MSG, but I guess we have to take care of business on the road first. This will be the first of many victories this season."

[VincentB]

New York Knicks at Sacramento Kings
Nov 4, 2003	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
New York (1-0)	18	31	25	34	108
Sacramento (0-1)	19	39	22	18	98

New York Knicks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Stephon Marbury	42	6-15	1-1	6-6	4	15	2	0	3	19
Allan Houston	38	7-13	4-8	2-2	1	3	0	0	0	20
DerMarr Johnson	28	6-12	0-1	0-0	2	0	2	0	2	12
Tim Thomas	22	6-11	2-2	1-2	6	1	1	0	1	15
Dikembe Mutombo	30	3-5	0-0	2-3	1	4	0	1	1	8
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Kurt Thomas	26	5-10	0-1	1-2	6	2	0	1	0	11
Anfernee Hardaway	26	7-10	0-1	0-0	8	1	1	0	0	14
Mike Sweetney	3	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	1	0	0	0	0
Frank Wiliams	6	1-1	1-1	0-0	1	1	0	0	0	3
Nazr Mohammed	15	1-4	0-0	0-0	4	2	0	0	0	2
Shandon Anderson	4	2-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	4
Vin Baker	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		44-84	8-15	12-15	34	29	6	2	10	108

Sacramento Kings
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Mike Bibby	40	8-18	2-7	1-4	5	6	0	0	5	19
Anthony Peeler	33	3-9	1-4	0-0	2	0	0	0	1	7
Peja Stojakovic	40	6-12	3-6	5-5	12	3	0	0	1	20
Chris Webber	39	9-17	0-1	6-8	7	6	1	1	0	24
Brad Miller	39	8-11	0-1	0-0	7	1	1	1	2	16
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Vlade Divac	9	1-3	0-0	0-0	1	2	0	1	1	2
Gerald Wallace	17	1-6	0-0	1-2	6	0	0	1	2	3
Bobby Jackson	8	2-5	0-1	0-0	0	1	0	0	2	4
Doug Christie	15	1-2	1-1	0-0	1	2	1	0	0	3
Jabari Smith	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Rodney Buford	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		39-83	7-21	13-19	41	21	3	4	14	98

The Knicks got a big win against Sacramento on the road. Stephon Marbury was brilliant as he led the Knicks to a double digit victory to begin the season. "My teammates helped me look good tonight. All of those assists were because Allen, Tim and the rest of our guys consistently hit shots. We finished the game strong and played great defense as a team in the 4th quarter. Hopefully we can keep this up going forward."

[VincentB]

Matchup Preview *|* November 5, 2003
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New York Knicks (1-0, 1-0 Away)		Cleveland Cavaliers (0-1, 0-0 Home)
Stats Comparison 108.0 Points Per Game 82.0 .524 Field Goal % .430 .800 Free Throw % .786 .533 3-Point % .273 34.0 Rebounds 42.0 2.0 Blocks 4.0 6.0 Steals 4.0 10.0 Turnovers 10.0 98.0 PPG Allowed 83.0 Projected Starters Stephon Marbury Point Guard Jeff McInnis Allan Houston Shooting Guard Kevin Ollie DerMarr Johnson Small Forward LeBron James Tim Thomas Power Forward Carlos Boozer Dikembe Mutombo Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas Injury Report Mike Sweetney / Torn Abdominal Muscle 1 month Shandon Anderson / Fractured Nose Day to Day Game Notes Second regular season game.

The 1-0 Knicks travel to Cleveland today to take on the Cavaliers. The Cavs lost their season opener last night to the Miami Heat by a score of 83-82. As a team they shot poorly from 3 only going 3-11 so expect the Knicks defenders to sag off and give them the deep ball. Of course the focal point will be LeBron James who had 22 points and 6 rebounds in his NBA debut. It will be interesting to see how well DerMarr Johnson and Penny Hardaway can defend him.

[VincentB]

New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers
Nov 5, 2003	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
New York (2-0)	22	35	19	24	100
Cleveland (0-2)	23	21	22	13	79

New York Knicks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Stephon Marbury	39	8-15	2-5	0-0	7	5	0	0	4	18
Allan Houston	35	11-21	2-8	0-0	3	3	1	0	0	24
DerMarr Johnson	30	2-12	1-4	0-0	2	0	1	0	0	5
Tim Thomas	26	6-11	3-4	0-0	1	2	0	0	0	15
Dikembe Mutombo	28	3-6	0-0	2-2	9	3	0	5	0	8
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Kurt Thomas	22	1-4	0-0	0-0	8	1	1	0	1	2
Anfernee Hardaway	27	5-9	1-2	5-6	4	3	0	0	0	16
Frank Williams	9	2-5	0-1	0-0	1	0	2	0	1	4
Nazr Mohammed	20	3-5	0-0	0-0	6	2	0	1	1	6
Shandon Anderson	4	1-2	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Vin Baker	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		42-90	9-24	7-8	42	19	5	6	7	100

Cleveland Cavaliers
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Jeff McInnis	34	2-10	0-2	3-4	4	6	0	0	1	7
Kevin Ollie	33	4-7	0-0	2-4	2	2	0	0	0	10
LeBron James	34	12-21	0-3	1-2	3	2	1	0	2	25
Carlos Boozer	34	8-12	0-0	4-4	9	3	0	0	1	20
Zydrunas Ilgauskas	34	1-10	0-2	2-2	13	6	0	2	2	4
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Tony Battie	14	1-5	0-0	0-0	4	0	0	2	1	2
Jason Kapono	14	1-3	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	1	1	2
Eric Williams	14	1-2	0-1	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Mateen Cleaves	26	2-6	0-0	3-4	3	3	0	0	2	7
Ira Newble	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lee Nailon	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS		32-76	0-8	15-20	41	22	1	5	10	79

It turns out the Knicks plan of playing loose defensively paid off. The Cavaliers shot 0-8 from 3 and the Knicks took better care of the ball on the offensive end of the floor. Veteran point guard, Stephon Marbury was pleased with his team's performance tonight. "We played great on both ends of the floor. I turned the ball over a little too much, but the rest of my teammates remained positive and I'm very grateful for that." Coach Lenny Wilkins chimed in with his thoughts as well: "For the second straight game we played stifling defense in the fourth quarter. Dikembe played great defense with five blocks and really made the Cavaliers players hesitate when driving to the basket."

[shawnydee]

how did you get those rosters ?

[VincentB]

Matchup Preview *|* November 7, 2003
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New York Knicks (2-0, 2-0 Away)		San Antonio Spurs (1-0, 0-0 Home)
Stats Comparison 104.0 Points Per Game 96.0 .494 Field Goal % .469 .826 Free Throw % .833 .436 3-Point % .250 38.0 Rebounds 38.0 4.0 Blocks 3.0 5.5 Steals 16.0 8.5 Turnovers 16.0 88.5 PPG Allowed 85.0 Projected Starters Stephon Marbury Point Guard Tony Parker Allan Houston Shooting Guard Manu Ginobli DerMarr Johnson Small Forward Bruce Bowen Tim Thomas Power Forward Hedo Turkoglu Dikembe Mutombo Center Tim Duncan Injury Report Mike Sweetney / Torn Abdominal Muscle 24 Days Shandon Anderson / Fractured Nose Day to Day Game Notes Third regular season game.

The Knicks have gotten off to a quick start, and after their first two games Stephon Marbury is tied for 2nd in the league with 10 assists per game. "He's playing well and he's a big reason why we've had success so far. I know we have only played two games but he's establishing himself as the leader of this team." - Allan Houston

[VincentB]

New York Knicks at San Antonio Spurs
Nov 7, 2003	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
New York (2-1)	20	24	22	22	88
San Antonio (2-0)	32	23	26	14	95

New York Knicks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Stephon Marbury	41	3-16	3-6	3-4	5	4	0	2	2	12
Allan Houston	40	7-19	5-11	3-3	2	3	0	1	1	22
DerMarr Johnson	27	2-15	0-9	0-0	8	4	0	2	0	4
Tim Thomas	36	3-9	1-4	4-4	9	2	0	0	3	11
Dikembe Mutombo	30	10-13	0-0	0-0	11	2	1	1	1	20
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Kurt Thomas	12	2-3	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	1	4
Anfernee Hardaway	29	2-6	1-1	0-0	2	2	3	0	1	5
Frank Williams	7	0-1	0-0	0-0	2	1	1	0	0	0
Nazr Mohammed	18	5-6	0-0	0-0	6	0	0	1	2	10
Vin Baker	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		34-88	10-31	10-11	48	18	5	7	11	88

San Antonio Spurs
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Tony Parker	33	5-10	0-3	0-0	2	7	1	1	2	10
Manu Ginobli	40	9-20	2-6	1-4	10	5	1	1	3	21
Bruce Bowen	36	6-8	0-2	0-0	5	2	0	1	1	12
Hedo Turkoglu	32	5-11	1-2	1-1	6	2	3	0	2	12
Tim Duncan	37	8-12	0-0	1-2	11	4	0	3	1	17
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Radoslav Nesterovic	11	3-5	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	6
Devin Brown	20	6-8	1-2	0-0	3	1	0	0	0	13
Jason Hart	15	1-6	1-2	1-2	0	2	0	0	1	4
Robert Horry	16	0-4	0-2	0-0	5	0	0	1	0	0
Anthony Cater	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Malik Rose	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		43-84	5-19	4-9	42	23	5	7	10	95

The Knicks were given a reality check when they went up against last year's NBA champions, the San Antonio Spurs. The SBC Center was rocking and filled with 18,539 fans that were excited to watch their hometown Spurs. San Antonio started the game on an 11-0 run and by the final buzzer all five of their starters scored in double figures. To no ones surprise it was Tim Duncan that controlled the game with 20 points 11 rebounds 4 assists and 3 blocks. Dikembe Mutombo had the daunting task of guarding last season's MVP and he had a solid outing as well, but he was quoted saying: "Tonight, the Spurs were too good." Here's what Lenny Wilkins had to say about the loss: "They executed better than we did. They shot the ball better and they were a bit more patient when running their offense. They moved the ball around more than us and they got high percentage looks because of it. I think we did well in some areas and poorly in others. We shot far too many 3-pointers when they weren't falling and that caused us to let the game slip away from us."

[VincentB]

Matchup Preview *|* November 9, 2003
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Memphis Grizzlies (0-3, 0-3 Away)		New York Knicks (2-1, 0-0 Home)
Stats Comparison 78.3 Points Per Game 98.7 .376 Field Goal % .458 .685 Free Throw % .853 .299 3-Point % .386 44.0 Rebounds 41.3 6.0 Blocks 5.0 7.7 Steals 5.3 18.3 Turnovers 9.3 96.0 PPG Allowed 90.7 Projected Starters Jason Williams Point Guard Stephon Marbury Bonzi Wells Shooting Guard Allan Houston Mike Miller Small Forward DerMarr Johnson Shane Battier Power Forward Tim Thomas Pau Gasol Center Dikembe Mutombo Injury Report Mike Sweetney / Torn Abdominal Muscle 3 Weeks Shandon Anderson / Fractured Nose Day to Day Game Notes Fourth regular season game.

When comparing these two teams statistically, this seems like it should be a walk in the park for New York, but in the NBA you can't write off any team. In a recent interview coach Wilkins gave his response to these claims: "We know it's not going to be an easy night. Pau Gasol and Mike Miller are capable scoreres and they will command attention when they are on the floor. We will look to establish Allan early and have the rest of our guys feed off of his hot hand on our way to victory."