Hughes is Huge During Win Streak
Winners of four of their last five, including three in a row, the Knicks are
playing fantastic basketball all around. While there are many heroes during
their recent surge, Larry Hughes’ impact on the team is undeniable as he has
been a major catalyst for New York righting the ship during the month of
December.
Over the last five games, Hughes is averaging 15.6 points, 5.4 assists and
4.2 rebounds, including back-to-back 20-plus point outings his last two games
vs. the Nets and Blazers. He is shooting 45.0-percent from the floor and has
been aggressive on the offensive end, matching his career-high in free-throws
made with 14 against New Jersey.
Hughes started the season with two DNP-CD’s before lighting it up during the
Knicks home opener. His versatility has proven invaluable, as he has been
both a starter and a reserve while playing both guard positions.
“He’s been playing great on both ends,” said Head Coach Mike D’Antoni. “
(He’s hit) timely shots and he’s another guy that can run the pick-and-roll
when (Chris) Duhon is a little tired. We go over to him and he runs it.”
Hughes credits both his personal and the team’s turnaround with D’Antoni’s
decision to tighten the team’s rotation.
“Starting out the season, we were kind of up and down,” said Hughes. “We
didn’t know who (was) going to play and how we were going to play it. We
were just trying to find ourselves. As the season goes along, I think we will
get better.”
Posted by Ricky Henne on December 11, 2009 at 3:00 p.m., ET
Every good basketball team has a player who is willing to do the little
things to win games. The Cavaliers have Anderson Varejao, the Nuggets have
Chris Andersen and the Rockets have Shane Battier.
The Knicks? Well, they have Jared Jeffries, who never seems to fill up the
box score but still finds himself in New York’s starting lineup during the
best run of the season.
“I think he adds a lot of intangibles to the team,” Knicks head coach Mike D
’Antoni said. “The charges that he took disrupting the other team’s
offense you don’t see all the time.”
D’Antoni was talking about the five offensive fouls Jeffries drew and the
five steals he recorded in the Knicks’ previous two games against the Nets
and Blazers. Since he returned to the starting lineup last week, New York has
won a season-high three in a row to get back in the early playoff race.
“He was a victim of me jumping around with the lineup and changing up people
and getting to a slow start,” D’Antoni said. “I put him in the spot where
his value is seen a lot more if he plays more. He just needs time to be able
to disrupt.”
D’Antoni also acknowledges that there are times when Jeffries struggles
offensively, but what he brings to the Knicks especially on the defensive end
is too important not to have him on the floor.
“A lot of the times what I do is not going to be recognized,” said
Jeffries, who is averaging 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per
game. “But I try to do my best to help us win games however I can.”
Jeffries isn’t the only player beginning to really find his niche this
season. It is often a tricky situation for players to find their role in D’
Antoni’s unique run-and-gun system, but Jeffries and his teammates seem to
be on the right path at the right time.
“I think that everybody has to find a way to win games,” Jeffries said. “I
think you can fit into a system, but you have to find that way to win games.
I think right now we got everybody – myself, Al (Harrington), Larry
(Hughes), Will (Chandler) and Gallo (Danilo Gallinari), especially, D-Lee
(David Lee) and (Chris) Duhon – finding their way in this system.”
http://www.nba.com/knicks/features/knicksnotebook.html
Jeffries' Little Things Coming Up Big
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