Knicks Head to D-Town to Try and Derail Early Slide

via NY Post

Tonight the Knicks head to the Motor City hoping to snap out of their early season doldrums.  Their opponent is a Pistons team that is also struggling to meet expectations after a busy offseason that included the acquisitions of Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith and the return of former Piston great Chauncey Billups. With both teams sitting at 3-6, and in need of a win, expect this game to be intense and scrappy.

The Knicks are going up against the gigantic frontcourt of Greg Monroe, Andre Drummond and Josh Smith, meaning rebounds will be at a premium. It will be interesting to see if Coach Woodson starts Kenyon Martin alongside Andrea Bargnani and Carmelo Anthony to add some much needed toughness. With Metta World Peace already ruled out Amar’e Stoudemire will have to bring his best game and make an impact in his limited minutes. Adding Martin to the starting lineup allows Melo to match up with Josh Smith who is no easy cover by any means but it saves Anthony the punishment of banging with seven footers Monroe or Drummond all game.

n the backcourt the matchup to watch out for is Brandon Jennings versus Raymond Felton (if he plays). Felton hasn't looked good to start this season and has had trouble guarding elusive point guards. Woodson may throw Shumpert, Prigioni or newfound rival J.R. Smith at Jennings. 

The Smith-Jennings feud is easily the best storyline heading into this game after the two traded shots on Twitter. Jennings has always played good against the team that passed on him in the ’09 Draft, but this feud might fuel J.R. to break out of his early season rust and light up the building. J.R. always has the potential to shoot the lights out of the gym just as much as he can shoot his team out of the game. If he regains that balance of driving to the basket and launching from downtown expect a huge game from the reigning Sixth Man of the Year.

This game will be a grind no doubt and the frontcourt has to come with its A++ game against that huge Detroit presence. If Bargnani can replicate what he did on Thursday against Houston and Martin’s energy and toughness frees up Melo to not worry about banging down low the Knicks are in good shape. 

JR's Back At It: #THERETURN

Love him or hate him he’s entertaining and on Sunday the reigning Sixth Man of the Year J.R. Smith returned to the court.  We all know and rather not speak about the massacre that was the Spurs game, one that saw the Knicks down by almost 40 points in a performance that hasn’t been seen in the Garden under Coach Woodson’s watch. Smith had little impact in his first game back going 1-for-9 from the field for five points and team high four turnovers per NBA.com.  It would be foolish to get carried away with Smith’s less than spectacular performance. If anything is consistent about J.R. is that he will look like the second coming of John Starks on some nights and other nights look like Stephon Marbury 2.0.

The key thing to take away from Smith’s return is the countdown to the possible exit of fan favorite and virtually the team’s only asset sans Carmelo Anthony; Iman Shumpert.  Frank Isola of the Daily News thinks Shumpert might be closer towards a Garden exit than the starting lineup. In his the column he reports “The rest of the league seems to value Iman more than the Knicks do,” said one Eastern Conference executive. “And his value is high.”

It will be interesting to see how Woodson uses Smith, Shumpert and neophyte Tim Hardaway Jr. The early success of the rookie has made someone available and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. It’s no surprise that Woodson and Smith have a great relationship and Woodson has gotten the more out of Smith than any coach he has had while in the league. These factors set up for an interesting next couple of months. If Smith plays like the reigning Sixth Man than adios Shumpert, but if Shumpert flourishes both Smith and Woodson might be given a pink slip at year’s end.  Damn it’s great to have J.R. back!