In their first showing of the year the Knicks beat Armani Jeans Milano 125-113 in a turnover ridden eurofest. Although it was just the first preseason game there are a few noticeable things in the win.
-Amare Stoudemire is a BEAST!! As much as Knicks fans loved David Lee, the difference between him and Amare is glaring. Amare is stocked with an array of various spin moves, dribble drives and rim rattlers. He was simply dominate in this one netting 32 points in only 28 minutes.
-Blocks, blocks and more blocks. Even though the Knicks gave up a sad 113 to AJM, there were very few uncontested drives to the basket, something that haunted the Knicks last year. Between Anthony Randolph, Timofey Mosgov and Ronny Turiaf look for the Knicks to climb out of the cellar in the blocks per game department.
-Danilo Gallinari will get all the opportunities to be the number two guy to Amare. He had plenty of open looks off of the Raymond Felton, Amare pick and roll set. He did shoot too much from the outside(5-11), but look for him to assert himself going to the rack as the preseason moves on.
-Silent Wil scored the quietest 17 points I've ever seen, I was in shock when I saw the box score after the game. He didn't look like he was going full speed yet as he gets his legs under him after offseason surgery, but he looked good attacking the basket and hitting the mid range jumper.
-If your playing the Knicks this season be prepared to be violated by Toney Douglas and Raymond Felton. They will be all up in your shorts for 48 minutes and I love it. They both played fiesty and aggressive on defense, something that has been evident in training camp.
-Speaking of Raymond Felton, on offense he didn't really look for his shot(2 of 5), it looks like his focus is getting into the offense and getting guys shots(8 assists). Look for him to be more aggressive as the preseason progresses.
-Timofey Mosgov and Anthony Randolph are young talents that still need some work but will have an immediate impact on the team. Mosgov looked as mobile and smart as advertised but will still need to work on positioning and staying out of foul trouble. Randolph was definitely looking to score this game scoring 16 points on 7-11 shooting, perhaps a little too much as Mike D'Antoni expressed with a classic "pass the F*&$^n ball".
Overall there were tons of turnovers(28), something to be expected in the first preseason game, but there was certainly promise. I will curb my enthusiasm and reserve predictions until they start playing NBA talent.
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