Summer League Thread

Game Five Final: Phoenix 89– New York 70

Knicks

Jonathan Givony

Nate Robinson

Two good plays, and one bad. That was the story of Nate Robinson in the first half. When he was focused on being a point guard and getting everyone involved he made some great [Swearing is not permitted at Clublakers. You must edit this post prior to submitting.] in traffic to feed cutters or thread the needle to a briefly open man for an easy basket. When he wasn’t though, he was very wild, forcing the issue and running into brick walls, losing his concentration and making foolish decisions all-around. Robinson’s talent is there without a doubt, he just needs to settle down and keep his focus.

Robinson never really got back into the game in the 2nd half. He took some bad shots and made poor decisions. This wasn’t a game he will want to remember.

Channing Frye

One of the bigger disappointments in a pretty disappointing first half for the Knicks, Frye did not look like his head was in the game at all and appeared to be intimidated from the first minute by the presence of Amare Stoudemire. He was outmuscled and outhustled on both ends of the floor, not going after rebounds, failing to get out and defend the jump-shot, getting his hands on rebounds briefly but not being able to come down with them and not really trying to make his presence felt inside the paint. He got some points by knocking down his trademark mid-range jumper, but may have settled for it a little too much. His body language doesn’t look very good so far.

Two minutes into the 3rd quarter, Frye went down in a scrum at half-court holding his ankle and did not come back after that.

David Lee

The lone real bright spot for the Knicks in the first half, David Lee was all over the place trying to make up for the shortcomings of his teammates. He hustled non-stop and got all over the glass on both ends, coming up with a number of tip-ins and putbacks and scrapping the entire way through. He didn’t try to shoot any jumpers, but did put the ball on the floor once very nicely and swooped in for a very emphatic finish. When a shot wasn’t there, he never hesitated to release a very intelligent pass.

David Lee continued to be the best player on the Knicks team in the 2nd half, hustling his way all over the floor and translating that into quite a few points as well. He ran the court like a madman and finished again and again in transition with a series of outstanding dunks. While his teammates for the most part threw the towel in, Lee continued to make sharp cuts to the basket and nice catches before finishing wonderfully with his combination of athleticism and intelligence. He hit the glass extremely hard and made a very nice living off of offensive rebounds alone on his way to a very efficient night.

Renaldo Balkman

Balkman had a solid game. He played good defense, grabbed a bunch of rebounds, did a little bit of ball-handling and generally did all the little things the way he usually does. He’s a smaller and less intelligent version of David Lee, but he hasn’t embarrassed Isiah Thomas so far in this summer league.

Mardy Collins

Mardy Collins doesn’t look very good in this summer league so far. It’s gotten so bad that he even shot an airball from the free throw line. Let’s just leave it at that.

Suns

Eric Weiss

Amare Stoudamire

Stoudamire is doing more interior work in this game and really has his team performing at a high level. Not too active defensively or on the boards, but everyone is chipping in and making a concerted effort to make smart, quick decisions with the ball.

NewYorkBaller7 wrote:Bulkman seems to be prosmising in terms of knowing his role which is a great thing. We have enough offensive power so defense will be something they will have to be high on.