Minnesota Sports Forum

That is part of the storyline for tonight's game. NY's D has looked good so far this year. Chandler's good play and Shubert starting has alot to do with the good D. Woodson probably plays a big role as well.

That said, NY's offense so far this year has been miserable. If we score 95+ points we are going to win this game.

If Brewer can do to Carmelo what he did to Durant, we will win the game easily. They just don't have the fire power to make up for Carmelo not being able to get the ball.

I expect D-Will to pull minutes this game for what he can add on offense on the second team. Assuming that he doesn't make dumb mistakes early, he should get 25+ minutes. He also matches up well with Carmelo (on a relative scale).

Stoudemire is a wildcard here, but shouldn't impact too much due to limited minutes.

Early in the game, we should get the ball inside and get Pek to get Tyson to foul him at bit. Tyson in foul trouble would help us a bunch.

We don't need all of our scorers to have good games, but we do need atleast 1person other than Love to carry the scoring load. If we have 2 other scoring well, we should win this game with some room to spare.

I don't expect this game to the break out game for Martin. Shubert's job will be to shut him down.

I expect us to win this game, enough of our offensive options will come through and they won't be able to keep up. It will be a good road win.

thoughts?

I liked the Wolves a lot going into the OKC game, but I think they take their first loss. You framed it right, markkbu, it's offense against defense...and defense usually wins. It's interesting to me to see the respect that the Wolves are getting with the linesmakers, as NY is only favored by 3 1/2. I also think the Knicks won't be looking past this game.

So, how can the Wolves prove me wrong? Here are my keys:

1) Anthony always owns the Wolves. Brewer needs to blanket him like he did to Durant.

2) Pek and Love need to get Chandler in foul trouble early.

3) I recognize that Shumpert can be an effective defender, but Martin needs to have a breakout game.

Do all three of these and we go to 3-0. It's a tall order though.

By the way, NY has been playing a lot of 3-guard rotations ala Orlando, but will start big today with Bargnani at PF. Stoudemire will not play today.

Markkbu, who were your referring to when you mentioned "woodson"?

I don't think NY is a good matchup for us besides Love and Ricky. Pek generally struggles against length and Tyson is a very long and athletic defender. Even if Pek gets post position he's going to struggle to get a ball to the rim. Also Melo is much more comfortable than Durant posting up which means Brewer is going to struggle against his size. Love is going to have to score in bunches and our bench is going to have to outscore their bench by a lot. It should be a good game, but I can definitely see what would cause our undoing if we do lose.

Right now, this is a fairly even match up. NY at home a light favorite. By the end of the year the Wolves will be a better team than the Knicks.

LST, I agree that , if we hit your 3 points, we win. Mike Woodson is (i believe) in his first year of coaching the knicks, and he normally pus together pretty hard nosed defensive teams.

I am pretty sure Woodson took over for D'antoni two seasons ago. He has been known for his defense, although with Melo and Bargnani starting with Felton, I have to wonder how tough they can be defensively.

sjm34 wrote:I am pretty sure Woodson took over for D'antoni two seasons ago. He has been known for his defense, although with Melo and Bargnani starting with Felton, I have to wonder how tough they can be defensively.

Those guys may stink at defense but with Chandler, Shump, Kenyon Martin, and Metta on their squad they can shut down almost every position when they need to