[05] KNICKS [17-12]: Season 1 over!

[Leander]

NEW YORK KNICKS - A new era begins!

Settings:

NBA Live 2005
All-Star
4x10 minutes
My own sliders & rosters, both based on Andrew's releases

The difference between my dynasty roster and the roster I released in the Live 2005-section is that A) all players wear the same shoes as I didn't like the pink reflections of the real shoes-update and B) the ratings of some Knicks players are fixed. I had increased them too much so I tweaked them again.

Story:

This is the story of the New York Knicks. Once a good team notorious for its bone-crushing defense a bunch of unmotivated players and a horrible GM named Isiah Thomas have turned the Knicks into a joke over the last seasons.

All old glory is gone. A ridiculous little something at the bottom of the league remains. The fans are annoyed. The team gets booed at home games. Madison Square Garden, your good days are over.

...

"Hot news from New York!"

"GM Isiah Thomas has just been fired. The new GM is a complete no-name: Leander Leitner takes over duties in New York.

Moreover, Patrick Ewing has announced his return to the Knicks. Leander Leitner will waive Jerome James and sign Ewing as a free agent in the next couple of days."

Q: "Mr. Leitner, what are your plans?"
A: "I will turn the Knicks into a playoff contender again. Both lack of defense and motivation must not have a place in the team."

Q: "Nobody thought that Patrick Ewing would come back. What are the reasons? Will he be able to contribute to the team despite his age?"
A: "Pat's heart has always beaten orange and blue. He couldn't sit and watch the miserable situation in New York any longer. Of course he is old and has become slow...experts say that his overall ratings have dropped from above 90 to 67...but he has definitely not forgotten how to grab some rebounds, rejects some shots, score some points. He will not be one of the best players on the team but come off the bench with all his heart. His presence on and off the court will have a high impact on our players. I'm sure he will motivate Eddie Curry, Zack Randolph and the other guys."

"A new era has just begun. Basketball will be back in New York City."

Ewing is back and already practices daily!

[Leander]

ROSTER



STATS

(29 games played)

[Leander]

TRADES

Preseason: waived C J. James (47 OVR), signed FA C P. Ewing (66 OVR).

TRAINING CAMP



This preseason's training camp clearly focused on defense. Quentin Richardson practiced hard and improved his ratings well.

[Leander]

Three games have been played so far. With concentrated and motivated players the Knicks were able to win all of them. Nevertheless, it was tough and a lot has to be improved.

GAME 1 @ Washington Wizards







Zach Randolph with two of his 20 points.

Player of the game was S. Marbury. He showed that he is the best point guard in the league (joke!) and hit 9 of his 10 shots.

Washington's star G. Arenas was held to 20 minutes and 12 points because of foul trouble.

[Leander]

GAME 2 VS. Portland Trailblazers







Stephon Marbury went hot for 21 points, 8 assists and 4 steals.

It was a difficult game. At halftime the Knicks were behind by 10. Only by a spurt in the fourth quarter could the game be won.

[Leander]

GAME 3 @ New Jersey Nets







What a game! The Knicks wore their alternate jersey to celebrate their third game of the dynasty, hoping game three would bring the third win. With high morale and the will to fight New York could reduce the damage suffered in the first period quarter by quarter. Zach Randolph again struggled on the offensive end of the floor but Crawford's game-high 23 points kept the game close over the last couple of minutes. Vince Carter who had 7 (!) blocks and Devin Harris upset the Knicks' defense. The Nets pulled away. Knicks down by five. New York fought back. The lead...but only for some seconds. The game is tied. Nets ball. A pass...intercepted by Ewing. A pass...another pass...Ewing gets the ball and slams it home. What dunk with two seconds to go. Nets ball...nothing....the game is over. Knicks win by two!

[Leander]

RECAP AFTER THREE GAMES

Areas that need improvement:

Freethrows! Especially the first game was a nightmare from the line with 54%.
Marbury and Randolph get fouled often and therefore have to make their freethrows.

Rebounding. Portland grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, New Jersey 14.

Veteran Patrick Ewing needs to concentrate better as well. 3-10 is a shame.

Zach Randolph was ice-cold in the first three games. Bad scoring, bad rebounding. 41% from the field.

Marbury who had been on the "get rid of him"-list before the start of the dynasty proved that he is important to the team. 17.7 PPG...shooting over 65%. Well done.

Nate Robinson had some clutch three-pointers and some important moves but missed many shots. Needs to improve his shooting, which is not that easy due to his "size".

NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE

There are rumours that certain NBA players like boxing too much in their spare time. Rip Hamilton, Tracy McGrady and Shaquille O' Neal all miss between 10-14 days with a broken nose.

In addition, the Houston Rockets will not only have to play without McGrady but center Dikembe Mutombo as well. He will not see NBA action for five (!) weeks because of a bone spur in his ankle.

[Leander]

GAME 4 VS Boston Celtics







Eddie Curry rises for the dunk. He had a bad day though, grabbing just 3 rebounds while turning the ball over 4 times.



Patrick Ewing played a season-high 18 minutes and had a huge game on the defensive end with six blocks. One of his victims was Sam Cassell whose layup got blocked from behind.

After three games and three wins the Knicks hosted today's battle against the strong Boston Celtics. With shooters like Allen and Pierce and Kevin Garnett in the paint this team was hard to beat. The first half was a nightmare. The Celtics forced many turnovers with their good defense and an offense led by Rondo held the Knicks to just 16 points in the first quarter. The second one was not much better, giving Boston a huge 63 - 37 lead after 20 minutes of play.

The Knicks did not give up. The third quarter turned the game with huge points by Marbury and Crawford. Stephon who had struggled from threepoint-line the first three games went 3 - 3. Veteran Patrick Ewing showed that he still can reject shots and collected six of them.

New York could reduce the gap from 26 points to 4 but fell behind again in the fourth quarter.

50% from the freethrow-line and many turnovers sealed the win for Boston.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE

Minnesota signs FA C M. Olowokandi for 1 year.
Washington signs FA Z. Planinic for 1 year.

COMMENT FROM THE GM

The season is good and bad at the same time. Marbury averages 17 PPG with 5 APG and 3 SPG. Crawford has over 20 PPG. Randolph's rebounding was not good enough in the first three games. He stepped up his game in the loss against Boston but then Curry only had 3 boards. Ewing's D is great. His FT shooting horrible.

The Knicks will hire a FT coach soon.

IMPORTANT!

Please note that the second post of this thread will always be updated with the current record and stats.

[Leander]

GAME 5 @ Atlanta Hawks







Nate Robinson shoots over Mike Bibby for three.



New York celebrated a big win after the final buzzer. The Knicks again proved that they are tough fighters. In the first half they only shot 37% from the field. Nevertheless, the game was close all the time. Rookie Al Horford had 15 points and 18 boards while Bibby and Johnson scored 19 apiece.

Knicks guards Crawford and Jones struggled on the offensive end, both with season-lows of 13 and 0. Curry could not find his touch either. Nate Robinson chipped in 13 points off the bench and both Ewing and Lee had good games as well. Malik Rose appeared in his first game of the season, scoring 4 points and grabbing 3 boards in just 5 minutes of play. Stephon Marbury led New York's offense with 20 points along with 6 assists and 6 steals.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE

Utah will have to play without D. Williams for 8 weeks due to a broken bone in his leg.

COMMENT FROM THE GM

Guys, you need to practice. Nobody stands in your way, nobody guards you...you just have to make those freethrows. The percentage must be above 70%. Again only 62%. And work on your boxing out. Too many offensive rebounds by our opponents. I have just hired a rebounding and freethrow coach. For the next game I want to see results.

[Leander]

Any comments?

[Mayerhendrix]

Good stuff, but make some trades.

[Lamrock]

Dynasties where the player just wheels and deals < Dynasties where the player actually uses the roster and gives players a chance rather than just making a super team.

Keep it up man. Your on fire! (for the Knicks)

[Mayerhendrix]

Yeah but there's actually moves to be made. If it was me, I'd ship out Zach Randolph and get a more defensively oriented team. Defensive teams always rape in NBA Live, or so I've seen, while offensive teams usually score 100+ but allow way over 100+ to the point where it's close.

[The Milla]

nice dynasty, you're winning that is good. maybe you should try trade randolph and marbury.

[Lamrock]

http://www.nbaliveforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=35716 Best Knicks dynasty on this site ever because he didn't wheel and deal.

[Leander]

No trades so far. I want to develop the real Knicks. I followed this year's season closely and want to play with "my" players.

GAME 6 @ Dallas Mavericks







Quentin Richardson came off the bench for the first time this season as David Lee had his debut as a starter. Richardson had 8 points.

New York continued their tough series on the road. The freethrow coach hired before the game payed off. 17/22. The Knicks played well but not well enough to find a way against Jason Terry's 30 points.
Too many turnovers spoiled the win, including several calls for 3 in the key.

Comment: maybe I should turn it off. I get 2-3 calls every game. I pass into the paint and get the call after one second because the player has already been there before. But how should I know? Most of the time I didn't even see him because of the camera and zoom factor.

SCOUTING REPORT

Two scouts have been sent out to have a closer look on two players. A young center and a shooting guard with excellent potential. Here is the report. Note that the low difference between the players' weight is quite strange.



A good shooting guard would be just fine. The team also needs a center because Ewing will definitely retire after this season.

[Leander]

GAME 7 @ Seattle Sonics





Text accidentally deleted.

[Leander]

CURRENT RECORD

5 - 2

STATS

[Pistol]

Nice writing and creative bringing back Ewing...but isn't he like 100 years old?

[Lamrock]

Agent069, Gerald Wallace looks like a fucking retard in the pic you have of him. Also; why the name change? And Ewing is only 97.

Leander, Great start to the season! Somewhat unrealistic though how you are 5-2, and Eddy Curry is averaging 8 RPG (IRL he averages just under 5 because he is garbage)

Can't wait for more updates!

[Pistol]

Lam what is up? You know I kinda missed you...and the name change is because on the website I write for my screen name is Agent0 and this is the closest I can get here...And Wallace looks fat in my pic doesnt he!?

[Leander]

Thanks for your comments!

Ewing is old and slow but can still reject some shots. The Knicks do not have many good defensive players and Ewing plays an important part because of this.

I have a 5-2 record now as I adjusted my sliders. I was tired of losing each game in the same manner. With my first dynasty´s sliders I would be 2-27 at the end of the season.

Eddy Curry has a defensive rebounding rating of 80. I know that he is bad at rebounding in reality but I just kept his ratings. He had it in Andrew´s NLSC roster.

I doubt that his RPG will go down if I lower his ratings. Live is not just about ratings but also user rebounding skills and - important! - positions. Centers and power forwards are under the basket most of the time. Even a center with rebounding ratings of 50 grabs many rebounds if he plays his position and has some size.

It was even worse in Live 2003. Any C or PF averaged 10 RPG. I experimented with player positions and ratings...with the result that SF - SG - SG - PG - PG on the court were not bad at rebounding. In this example the SF grabbed most of the rebounds, then the SG playing PF and so on.

[Leander]

GAME 8 @ Golden State Warriors





The Knicks withstood Baron Davis' 31 points and sealed their sixth win of the season in the final seconds. Trailing in single digits throughout the first three quarters New York fired up a season-high 42 points in the fourth quarter. Stephon Marbury hit four crucial freethrows with a minute to go, Golden State did not go for three to tie the game but kept driving the to hoop (AI bug!) and Zach Randolph hit another big shot of his game-high 25 points.

Shooting only 41% in this game New York was still ahead by one with 20 seconds left on the shotclock. A timeout should let the team inbound the ball at halfcourt but unfortunately, no timeout was left. Technical foul! The Warriors made the freethrow to tie the game and still possessed the ball. The did not inbound it from halfcourt but from the default line, tossed a fullcourt-pass and committed a turnover.

Knicks ball. 10. Marbury bringts the ball. 8. Marbury passes to Crawford. 6. Crawford to Marbury...4...Marbury dribbles, passes back to Crawford...2 seconds to go...Crawford rises with a hand in his face...shoots...the ball floats towards the hoop...buzzer...nothing but net.

The game is over. Jamal Crawford's buzzerbeater give New York the 107-104 win.

Notes: Eddy Curry pulled down a season-high 16 rebounds. David Lee lost his role as a starter and had a terrible game off the bench, shooting 1/7.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE

The Detroit Pistons have placed Rasheed Wallace on the injured list due to a broken bone in his foot. Out for 14 days.

[jonthefon]

Looks like you've gotten those sliders right, so do you still need mine?

You're moving along well: the AI was kinda stupid but nice buzzerbeater, I don't think I've gotten any from about eight tries

[Leander]

I don't know if I still need yours. I played an exhibition game with Andrew's sliders (NO adjustments) and 12 minutes per game and only lost by 2 points. I got better. Some weeks ago I kept losing by 20.

My FG% was ok. Rebounds were great. I shot 3-22 from 3p-line. LOL That sucks. With my sliders the game is a bit too easy and I do not get enough rebounds. To get a good number of rebounds I would have to adjust some sliders but then the FG% would be too low. It's not easy to tune the sliders that all stats are realistic.

10 minutes are not enough with my sliders. 11 are too many.

PS I played the 48-minute-game with a adjusted Eddy Curry. I decrease his off. and def. rebounding by 10. Still he led my team.