Kidd is over the hill. He is now what Bibby was last year. He is a liability defensively when playing quicker players (Stevenson qualifies). Since his man gets by him it always causes a double team that then leaves someone else open. Copeland has that stretch the floor ability. When the team is struggling to score an especially can’t drive due to Hibbert’s shot blocking abilities, it’s a no brainer to add Copeland to the rotation. He is a very poor perimeter defender but not a bad post defender so just make sure to play him at the 4 and not on Paul George at the 3.
The last suggestion I had has not been taken up yet. They need to insert Camby into the rotation at the 5 when Chandler is on the bench. There are very few opponents that I would suggest this for but the Pacers are one of them. Martin is strong enough to guard most centers. But in this case, with Hibbert at 7 foot 2 inches tall, he just doesn’t have the length to guard him down low. He can’t stop the hook. Camby could.
The Pacers are just a bad match up for the Knicks. Melo at the 4 is also something that usually works but it doesn’t work well when you have a big tough opposing 4 (David West) who has a good inside offensive game. Nevertheless, if the Knicks can somehow pull out an unlikely upset in Indy on Saturday the play a Game 7 at home on Monday. If JR Smith (who is being persecuted by the refs) somehow rediscovers his shot, this series could continue. . I’m not optimistic about beating Indy in Indy but as they say “on any given night”. Realistically I see the season ending Saturday but hope I’m wrong.
Side note: The one positive that will come out of this horrible playoff for Smith is that he just went from out of their free agency price range to back into it. When the season ended he was in line for an $8m+ annual contract. Now he potentially could be had for $5.5m. That is the most the Knicks will be allowed to pay him next year per the rules. The opposite may apply for Copeland. They may not be able to keep him.