Felton and Stoudemire becoming lethal combination
Amar'e Stoudemire of the New York Knicks high fives teammate Raymond Felton. (Nov. 30, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
Watching Raymond Felton smoothly execute the pick-and-roll with Amar'e Stoudemire with such success lately, you might say he's beginning to do a nice impersonation of the Suns' Steve Nash.
But, for the record, the Knicks' new point guard doesn't want to hear it.
"No, man, don't compare me to Steve Nash," Felton said after the Knicks beat the Nets, 111-100, Tuesday night for their seventh victory in eight games. "Steve Nash is a great point guard who did what he did who's still doing what he's doing.
"I don't want to be compared to nobody. I want to be Raymond Felton. I'm my own person."
As inherently unfair as the comparisons to Nash might be, it's still an inevitable one, considering how Stoudemire blossomed as an athletic scorer while playing by his side in Phoenix.
Now Stoudemire is trying to develop a similar rapport with a new point guard in Felton, someone whose playing style is decidedly different from Nash's. It's not hard to see that how quickly they come together will go a long way in determining how much success the Knicks have this season.
On the heels of their recent string of victories, both players are understandably happy with their progress.
"Myself and Ray, we're starting to really understand what it takes to play that pick-and-roll," Stoudemire said. "You know, setting a screen a certain way, rolling hard, guys getting better spacing. It opens the court a little bit so Ray has better options as far as passing angles, so it's starting to really come together."
The best example of their development as a pick-and-roll tandem came during the Knicks' win over the Nets Tuesday night, when Felton and Stoudemire combined to produce several productive half-court sets. Most notably they closed the first half with an alley-oop dunk off a top-of-the-key pick-and-roll.
"There's a timing between the two that they need to kind of develop," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "You never know if they will, but they have, and I think it will keep getting better."
D'Antoni has constantly praised Felton as "a tough kid," and he appreciates how serious Felton has been taking their practice sessions designed to help him get the intricacies of their pick-and-roll sets down pat. "We can show him on film what he's missing, what's out there, and he picks it up and puts it in his game," he said.
During the Knicks' recent 7-1 stretch Felton has been a catalyst on offense, averaging 21.5 points and 8.5 assists. The Knicks' next game comes Friday in New Orleans where Felton will face off against Chris Paul, someone who could potentially replace him as the team's point guard in 2012.
"I've got a tough matchup every night," Felton said when asked about going up against Paul. "Point guard ain't no joke. It'll be a tough battle, but we're going there to get a win."
