THAT WAS......UNEVEN. AND THAT'S NOT GOOD. True.Yes it was a 10 point win. No it was never in doubt in the 4th quarter. We knew that Portland was due for a let-down after the huge win over the Rockets. It is hard to get up for a 10 win team, even if the Knicks had won their last game at the Lakers. Yet we had a sense of what kind of night it was going to be when the Blazers started the game with a careless turnover to start the game.

People often think that coaching is just a matter of telling a team what to do. It is far more than that. Successful coaching means creating repeatable good habits, both individually and as a team. Prime Tim Duncan San Antonio had a way that they were going to play under Popovich, every game, regardless of who was in the line-up. We know that this version of the Blazers have a limited ceiling. They are not championship caliber. They have produced a decent record at 24-17 at the half-way mark. But on too many nights we see inconsistent play. Shooting comes and goes. Defensive plans and execution are something a team can control. Effort is something a team can control. Executing plays and responding to defenses is something you can control. But the play was up and down all night.

The defense achieved adequate results tonight: A bad-shooting New York team shot badly at 40%. A team that is not good from behind the arc only shot 30%. Their one guy who can go off and get tons of buckets, Hardaway, Jr., ended up with only 5 points on 2-12 shooting. All good.

But from the moment Nurk crashed into Vonleh at the 3 point line on a pump-fake, it was clear that the Blazers' heads were just not that into it. On the 5th game of a long road trip, all you have to do is stay in front of your man, and let them miss when the legs go. Instead, Portland was shredded by drivers all night. Instead, Portland hacked and fouled all night.

On offense, Portland was faced with double-teams off the pick and roll from a weak defensive team. This is the type of plan that the Blazers are likely to see in the play-offs, but not nearly as tough. Yet the Knicks eliminated Dame from much of the game, and also did not get exposed when one simple pass made the play 4 on 3. When Portland pushed their 10 point 3 quarter lead to almost 20, all that should have been left was some PT for the rookies. Instead, the starters played like garbage in garbage time and won a less than convincing victory.

WELL THE BENCH PLAYED GREAT TONIGHT. False.所有5储备得分,每一个威胁reach double figures. Curry hit 3 threes, Turner and Layman each had 10, Leonard 9 and Collins 7. 49 points from these guys is a great night. Yet they surrendered 49 points as well. Kanter is a tough cover, but he bullied the bench all night on the way to 18 and 14. For Portland's bench to be the spark that is needed for a great season, their defensive effort and execution must be much better.

NURKIC是迄今为止最好的大个子在球场上。Best, but not by much.Portland started the game by feeding Nurk and he responded with 6 instant points on some sweet moves. Jusuf had 20 points on 7-9 shooting and collected 8 boards. He could impose his will any time regardless of who guarded him. Yet he limited his time tonight with silly fouls. He was neither effective at helping on the shooter on the pick and roll nor as a rim protector. Nurk also got bullied by Kanter, and he had no answer for Vonleh. Both of those bigs basically match Nurkic's production, with Vonleh tossing in 16 and 14 in addition to Kanter's numbers listed above.

FINAL GRADE: Portland continued to share the ball, gathering 25 assists. The Blazers won the rebound battle 51-48, but somehow lost on fastbreak points to a tired New York team by 28 to 8. Good for Vonleh as he is making himself a key cog after failing his brief audition in Chicago. Layman had his best all-around game, with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Jake is going to play for the foreseeable future. Dame had his 2nd straight game with CP3-type numbers, with 17 points and 9 assists. There is an ideal balance for Lillard between his own scoring and play-making and it is probably less than 27 a game. But prime Dame needs to be in the 24-25 point range. 47% shooting and 36% from deep are good numbers on their own, but this was at home. Against the Knicks. Getting a win out of this game was the tantamount goal, so they accomplished that. But the next 2 home games need a better performance if Portland wants to create winnable habits that they can take on the road. C+