Novak with 19 points tonight in win over Jazz

[Wade for President]

Without Amare and Melo, Steve had his best game in a Knicks uniform (still cringe at the sight of him playing for New York).

Novak's great night was overshadowed by Jeremy Lin (the former Asian Harvard guard), who had 28 points and 8 assists.  Little used Lin had 25 points on Saturday.

I hope Steve's performance tonight will give him more playing time in the future.  

[LloydMooresLegs]

Lin's no longer Asian?   

[mr.MUskie]

Lin's no longer Asian?   

+1

[MU82]

Novak was in at the end of a loss last week, serving as a decoy to just stand outside the arc. The ball was deflected to him and he had to throw an off-balance shot at the buzzer. The ESPN highlight yahoo said he never heard of Novak and couldn't figure out why he was being used as a decoy in the final seconds.

Ignorance is not bliss. Novak has so many limitations it's hard to count them, but he simply is one of the best shooters anywhere ever. You have to know where he is on the court, and that opens things for others ... as he proved again tonight.

[Buzz's Tin]

Really happy to see him hit his shots. He was struggling the past few games. Great night for him though, 5-8 from deep

[MU_LOL]

Novak was in at the end of a loss last week, serving as a decoy to just stand outside the arc. The ball was deflected to him and he had to throw an off-balance shot at the buzzer. The ESPN highlight yahoo said he never heard of Novak and couldn't figure out why he was being used as a decoy in the final seconds.

Ignorance is not bliss. Novak has so many limitations it's hard to count them, but he simply is one of the best shooters anywhere ever. You have to know where he is on the court, and that opens things for others ... as he proved again tonight.

Yes, thank you for pointing this out. It absolutely blew my mind when he mentioned that. Ridiculous.

[Windyplayer]

Novak was in at the end of a loss last week, serving as a decoy to just stand outside the arc. The ball was deflected to him and he had to throw an off-balance shot at the buzzer. The ESPN highlight yahoo said he never heard of Novak and couldn't figure out why he was being used as a decoy in the final seconds.

Ignorance is not bliss. Novak has so many limitations it's hard to count them, but he simply is one of the best shooters anywhere ever. You have to know where he is on the court, and that opens things for others ... as he proved again tonight.

I thought that play was designed for him. And the inbound wasn't deflected to him. Fields intentionally passed it to him hoping he'd have an open shot after getting around a baseline screen. The screen was terrible and Novak didn't stay close to the screener so the play blew up, but it certainly looked like the play was designed for Novak. Melo and Stoudemire were just standing at the corners atop the paint.

[PGsHeroes32]

Novak raining again tonight!!!

[BossplayaOtto]

15 points already with 2:42 to go in the half.  5-7 from 3 with 4 boards and a block.  Make it Rain "Machine".  That's what we used to call Novak as he was automatic like a 3-point shooting machine.

[tower912]

They seem to have figured out Steve's one trick.   His man is not leaving to help when the Knicks' guards drive. 

[BossplayaOtto]

His plus/ minus is currently at +20 for the game.  Not too shabby.

[MU82]

Knicks winning last few games without Carmelo and Amare in great part because of the Lin-Novak connection!

[MU82]

Novak is shooting 50 percent from 3-point range. And take away a relatively bad 2-game stretch (3-for-12) in late-January, he is at 59 percent.

Even with his defensive and rebounding shortcomings, he is an almost ideal court-spacer. Any opponent that doesn't account for where he is will pay dearly.

[JD]

Let us not all forget, he was number 10 i believe on the 50 most USELESS players in the NBA.

[avid1010]

They seem to have figured out Steve's one trick.   His man is not leaving to help when the Knicks' guards drive. 

which is just as important as knocking down three's...hope the coaching staff sees it as a way to keep a double off of melo/amare...

[MarsupialMadness]

which is just as important as knocking down three's...hope the coaching staff sees it as a way to keep a double off of melo/amare...

this is such a huge part of his game.  that's why a tall body with a precision long range shot is such a value in the NBA.  sure, he doesn't have the skillset to be a starter for most teams, but he still has great value to teams.  he stretches out that defense and makes the bigger defenders play off the basket to allow lanes for others.  then once they collapse... well, we all know how that goes.

[greenman]

Novak raining again tonight!!!

Just came across a video. Looks like he went to the "DJO School of Pump Fakes" on one of his made 3's!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbJhFeWzCo4

[APieperFan3]

His plus/ minus is currently at +20 for the game.  Not too shabby.

This board loves and hatesb plus/minus whenever it's convenient...

[jmayer1]

This board loves and hatesb plus/minus whenever it's convenient...

On a game by game basis I don't think it's a great measure, but it can be useful over a full season. I'll refer to Henry Sugar though, he's much more of a statistical guy than I am.

[Henry Sugar]

On a game by game basis I don't think it's a great measure, but it can be useful over a full season. I'll refer to Henry Sugar though, he's much more of a statistical guy than I am.

I'll defer the criticism of this to Dave Berri. 

"measures like plus-minus and adjusted plus-minus – which are not based on the box score – are not very consistent across time.  This suggests these measures do not accurately capture the performance of an individual player."

Essentially, plus-minus is really inconsistent, even when you control for things year over year or changing teammates.  There's a more thorough response at the link.  I don't think it's a useful measure and personally never use it.

http://wagesofwins.com/faq/

[Wade for President]

Just came across a video. Looks like he went to the "DJO School of Pump Fakes" on one of his made 3's!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbJhFeWzCo4

GAAAWD...I miss that jumper!  That.  Was.  Awesome.

[BossplayaOtto]

Ultimately, I guess I dont really care about the statistical validity of the plus/minus rating or how it compares to other statistical measures, but I quoted it when I looked up the box score to see how Novak's stats looked at that point in the game and the +20 certainly jumped out.   I am happy that due to injuries Steve Novak has received some P.T. in the last 2 games and has done well with it.   He is one of my all-time favorite Warriors and I am happy to see him still plying his trade in the NBA.  2 solid back-to-back shooting games in which his team appeared to have played well when he was on the floor.

[JTBMU7]

Having another good game tonight. Lots of PT. Actually playing decent post D on Pao.
Also they have him taking their technical free-throws. Good for steve!

[LloydMooresLegs]

Fun watching Novacl, Lin and Shumpert together.

[tower912]

Not surprisingly, having an agile 7 footer closing on him seems to disrupt his shot.   A solid game, though.