Experience the Excitement!

How bout that shit? I missed parts of that game, but I'm pretty sure they coulda won it even with Shaq in there. The Knicks brought pretty much the same formula that got them a victory against Washington. It took solid outside shooting, ball movement, creating turnovers, and defending the 3 to beat both teams. I'm impressed. Other notes:

- The Jerome James revolution begins....NOW.

UNGH.
-Actually, that was my only note.

Tonight, the Celtics come to town (I'll be there), and this sort of formula should work against Boston too. A balanced attack with a strong defensive effort from the guards should be enough to get a win at home. The Celtics are coming off a very nice win, however, and must not be underestimated. One plus is that none of our guys got more than 28 minutes last night, so they should be relatively energized in this SEGABABA, as Pounding the Rock would call it. As in the other games, keeping the star (Paul Pierce this time) relatively in check is vital to success.

Tough matchup for Quentin Richardson.
Go Knicks.

EDIT: Remember to bring a can of food tonight if you're going to the game. Help the needy, and stop Channing Frye from making commercials. It's a good cause.

Knicks-Heat Tonight

The Knicks head to Miami this evening to take on the Heat. Shaq appears to be returning for tonight's game, and the Heat have a few dangerous three-point shooters, so this is gonna be a tough one. One thing to look for is Frye/Lee's job on Udonis Haslem. He's a good midrange shooter and a tough rebounder, making him very dangerous to a sloppy Knicks defense. U needs to be shut down. Oh yeah, and that Wade guy. I'm gonna miss most of the game tonight, so feel free to post comments on the events. If the Knicks win I'm definitely gonna hit up Knicks in 60, because I really hate the Heat.

And that's why I'm not a Heat fan.
Two things to read:
Very interesting post from Knickerblogger on Eddy Curry.
Article on Isiah Thomas from TrueHoop.

Peace.

It's TNT NBA Thursday

Bulls-Rockets followed by Warriors-Kings. Two fantastic games to watch this evening.

By the way, the Knicks won last night. WU-TANG!

Mmmm.
See ya tomorrow.

Knicks 102, Wiz 82

Ahhhh. For once, the Knicks played a relaxing game, defeating the Wizards handily. And for once, I have few complaints about the team as a whole. Guys played their roles well (Some of you are saying that Steve Francis sucked right now. Steve Francis's role is to suck, so shut it), and Isiah was just about on the money with his substitutions. Anyway, my game notes:

- Hair update: Mike Breen has got some pretty promising stubble going there. Really looking forward to a goatee in the future. Channing Frye's disgusting peach fuzz has blossomed into a man-stache. Very impressed, I'm glad he stuck with it despite my scorn. Finally, David Lee's current mop is really coming along nicely. I'd like to see him let it grow, until it is a shoulder-length mess of hair, sweat, and old Bit O' Honey wrappers.

- Bill Simmons called Q-Rich fat in his season preview. Q-Rich is not fat...the man is fucking jacked. He might have the most disproportionately massive pythons in the league right now.

- "Man, put down my papaya!"

- The Knicks showed some improved defense on the perimeter, including the novel appearance of Marbury fighting over screens. Some of Washington's useless three point shooting can be attributed to this. Some of it is just due to the fact that there are no bona fide longball shooters on the team.

- Channing's inflection when he says "We don't always get to eat" in the letter-reading food drive commercial haunts me in my sleep. He has no future in announcing.

- Speaking of which, remember to bring some unperishable food items if you go to a game in the upcoming weeks. I'll be there with my lima beans on Saturday.

- You know how they say guys like Zach Randolph and Mike Sweetney have "soft hands", cause they're good pass-catchers and have a nice touch around the rim? Eddy Curry has hard hands. That's my new phrase. Make it stick.

- Either the players or Isiah is not great at running plays out of timeouts.

- The third quarter substitutions, in particular, were very well executed.

-Renaldo!!!! He and Lee must have put in about 10 O-bound layups. I love it. Great effort.

"Just watch me do the Humpty Hump..."
- Gilbert Arenas, leaving the court in the third quarter, heard saying "Why me!?" He threw up a stinker.

- I'm gonna look for pics, and help me out, but the Knicks have a new official mascot. He is a child of no more than 2 years, who for now will be known as simply "The Baby". He was sitting courtside, and even way past his bedtime, was going absolutely bananas. He pretty much led a "Let's go Knicks" cheer at the end, and was clapping and raising the roof non-stop. Get him some sneakers and a trampoline to dunk on, cause he's going out on the court during timeouts. The kid is awesome.

- Stephon Marbury, leaving the court for garbage time, heard saying: "Fuck yeah!" Atta boy. Great job distributing and getting to the basket, to go along with some solid outside J's.

You can always tell Steph's gonna shoot if he has his mouth wide open. Swear to god.
Anyway, great game. I'm really proud of the team for putting a win together. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go dwell on it for a little while. More tomorrow.

EDIT: Someone just pointed this out to me...The Knicks are 3-0 on Wednesdays. They have 21 Wednesday games this year.

Knicks-Wiz Tonight

The Wizards come to town tonight, including one of my personal favorite players, Mr. Gilbert Jay Arenas. This is gonna be a fun-ass game. Basically, it boils down to the play of Arenas. If he's shooting lights-out, the game's over. The Wizards, though, do not have a real offensive post presence, and don't have many other shooters, so if Arenas is off, our Knicks certainly have a chance. Yes, I am banking on the struggles of one of the league's best players for the Knicks to win. We're 2-6 kids...don't kill my dreams.

Anyway, far more interesting, in my mind, is this bit of news. As you've surely heard, Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight stirred up some controversy by slapping the face of one his players when said player didn't make eye contact with him. He claims that he was just trying to get the attention of the player, but the media thorougly dissects everything he does, because he's fucking loony. Whatever.

What's important to this Knicks fan, is the response of Isiah Thomas, a former player under Knight. Isiah was all for Knight's attention-getting strategies. He suggest that if a player is tuning you out or hanging his head, the coach must do something to get the player's attention. Hmmm. Does this increase the possibility of Jamal Crawford or Eddy Curry getting slapped this year? I have trouble believing that it wouldn't help. We'll see.

Just give him the sacktap!
Finally, this article from the NY Daily News shares the feelings of Stephon Marbury. A glimpse:

"It's been kind of tough, but it's an adjustment," Marbury said yesterday after the Knicks' 2-1/2-hour practice in Greenburgh. "I know what I'm capable of doing on the basketball court. But playing the way I have been playing is not the way I play. I have not been playing as aggressive as I normally play on the basketball court. And that's just from trying to get everybody involved and into the game.
"I've gotten turnovers because I've been trying to distribute the ball a little bit too much."

My problem with Marbury this year hasn't been so much in his physical play, but in his attitude. When he came to New York, he was a fanatic. Not only was he playing out of his mind, but his effort and enthusiasm were clearly present. He smiled, he celebrated, he jumped up and down...not unlike Nate Robinson's intensity these days. This is all I ask of Marbury. He is unquestionably the most talented and valuable player on the team, and even if he's in a funk, he needs to show us that his heart is in the game. I truly believe that he can will himself back into the action, but he needs to show the team and the fans that he's giving everything he has. Body language matters.

Smile, dude.
By the way, what the shit does "playing the way I have been playing is not the way I play" mean? It sounds like something Dr. Seuss might say.

Anyway, I'm gonna watch the whole game tonight, so look for a recap in the postgame. Go Knicks.

EDIT: Look it! I found a fantastic and delightfully relevant post at Jones on the NBA. Go check it out.

Vote for Which Players You Want to Get Arrested!

So the 2007 NBA All-Star Ballot (which looks as if it were co-designed by the makers of Grand Theft Auto and Bejeweled) came out today, and voting began. This announcement served to produce one of the most sincere yet awkward pictures of sports history.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's Greg Anthony, Wayne Newton, a slut, Shawn Marion, Brad Miller, Mayor Oscar Goodman, and another slut.
As you've surely realized, the game is in that outpost of American debauchery and delinquency, Las Vegas, Nevada. I placed my votes accordingly, and urge you to do the same. Vegas is known as an "anything goes" city, so I voted for Ron Artest, Gilbert Arenas, and Zach Randolph, among others. It's also famous for it's all-you-can-eat buffets, so Eddy Curry got my vote for Eastern Conference center.

"Circus Circus, bitches!"
Anyway, I encourage you to do your part to make All Star '07 interesting. Vote for excitement, kids.

P.S. David Lee for write-in!

EDIT: A night of sleep has reminded me that Anthony is a Vegas native and attended UNLV. Marion went to UNLV as well. Brad Miller has no connection to Vegas or the University, but one might consider him a "Runnin' Rebel" simply for his backwoods living and gunslinging ways. So there.

Knicks News

Quick update today...This article brings up a fact I missed: Frye didn't play at all in the fourth quarter last night. Despite his solid start, Isiah kept him benched for all of crunch time, leaving David Lee on the floor. It's hard to argue having Lee in there, but it's kinda rough that there's no room for Frye on the floor in these situations. It's almost as if the Knicks have too many players. For instance, what's gonna happen when Jared Jeffries gets healthy? What does that do to Q's role? Balkman's? How could a team this bad have such a wealth of players? I'm befuddled.

Another thing I forgot...Al Trautwig interviewed Dustin Hoffman courtside during last night's game. I've always liked Hoffman, and he was patient during some technical difficulties and relatively friendly. I was happy to see that a celebrity was still willing to see a Knicks game. Maybe he was just there for those 45 seconds. Who knows. (By the way, I sorta wish Dustin Hoffman was a Nuggets fan, so he could say "K-Mart sucks" more often. Knowing Isiah, he might get that opportunity here in New York.)

"Get a life, bro."
Marc Stein's weekly Power Rankings came out today, with the Knicks making the graceful leap from 29th up to 27th. To all you Grizzlies, Celtics, and Bobcats fans out there, SUCK IT. LOL.

It feels good to be on top.
Anyway, 2-6 is rough, but the schedule's been a bitch. Oh well. Wiz tomorrow, so expect some preview action in the afternoon.

Cavs 102, Knicks 96

Well, for the first time this season, the Knicks almost deserved to win a game...and of course they could not do so. My thoughts:

- I was happy to see Frye back in gear. One thing though...Why does he fake so much? Every time he catches the ball, he immediately throws this half-assed ballfake that fucks with his rhythm. It's completely useless and awkward. Good game overall, though. He buried a few jumpers, and finally had some nice catches and dunks around the basket.

Channing, Rim. Rim, Channing.
- Maybe I'm just bitter, but I was not impressed with the Cavs' sportsmanship and overall demeanor. Damon Jones excels in showboating and prickishness. Lebron is a marvelous player, but all his winking and grinning isn't cute. Finally, this is nitpicky, but Sasha Pavlovic elected to put in a wide open reverse dunk at the end of the game, when it didn't matter. I guess you take whatever you can get when you're Sasha Pavlovic.

- Everyone on the Knicks' bench drinks Gatorade, except for little Nate, who drinks Gatorade All-Stars. I couldn't make this shit up.

Special juice for our special boy!
- The "comeback kids": Robinson, Lee, Balkman, and friends, need to get in earlier in the third quarter.

- WOW. Crawford and Robinson repeatedly made tough shots around the basket, always drawing contact. Not once was a foul called. I'm surprised they didn't complain, because it was flat out ridiculous.

- The perimeter defense continues to suck balls.

- Give credit to the Cavs for hitting every big shot when the Knicks needed a stop. They weren't all open shots, either.

- Man, do I dislike Damon Jones. If you haven't noticed, I generally don't like players who are only good at one thing. I'm very touchy about the NBA, as it is my favorite pro sports league, and it upsets me that guys can make it in the L without actually being good at basketball. Damon Jones is not good at basketball.

- I don't know what gets Eddy Curry mad, but someone needs to find it. The CIA or NSA or whoever needs to be hired to investigate Curry and determine what his most valued possessions are. For instance, say they find out tomorrow that Curry has a beloved pet rabbit named Eddy III. The rabbit should immediately be shot in the face, with a note left next to the cage that Etan Thomas did it. I guarantee that Curry will come out fighting when the Knicks take on the Wizards this Wednesday.

ETAAAAAAAN!
More tomorrow. Sleep well.

Knicks-Cavs Tonight

Alright, alright. The Knicks take on Peter Stormare, Al Roker, and the Cleveland Cavaliers this evening, and for some reason I'm really pumped. Lebron James is one of my favorite players in this entire league, so much so that I can enjoy his play even in the context of a Knicks-Cavs game. He's that good. (He's really the only one. I was so incensed when Dwyane Wade hit a game-winner over Trevor Ariza a few years back, that I wrote a venomous, spiteful letter to the Heat organization, only to rescue it from the mailbox the next day.) That said, I'd rather that the Knicks beat the ever-loving shit out of him, and he continues his streak of poor offensive performances at the Garden.

Sigh...
In further news, the NBA is finally investigating Bruce Bowen for his ankle-spraining antics. It's also become apparent that Isiah meant to fire up his team by yelling at Bowen. As I've said, I'd rather that the players were sticking up for themselves...but whatever works. Letting Isiah chew out Bowen is kinda like letting your Daddy scare the bully at school.

Finally, some things to check out...

"How to Fix the Knicks" from Knickerblogger

More on tonight's game and Bowen from Yay Sports, including his own questions about that odd blue pin of Zeke's.

New Carnival of the NBA at Rising Suns

Recap tonight or tomorrow. Peace out.

EDIT: I forgot that LBJ dropped 36 at the Garden last year. Whoops. Kid's pretty good at basketball.

Sunday Lookalikes

Renaldo Balkman vs. Humpty!




My name is Balkman, pronounced with an "Alkman"

EDIT: The hair is kinda up Dermarr Johnson's alley though, isn't it?

Spurs 100, Knicks 92

I have almost nothing new to say about this game. Same problems: bad start, perimeter defense, and interior presence. And that's only on the defensive end. Some notes:

-I think Channing Frye's struggles are more important than it might appear. He's really the Knicks only mid-range shooter. His current non-threatening status really clogs up the court for cutting guards. If he started making his usual 18 footers, you'd see more open threes and slashes to the basket because one or two guys would have to follow Frye.

-The Knicks got some measure of redemption at Bruce Bowen. When Bowen pulled his signature move (if he were a pro wrestler this would be called the "Thundercut", but he's not so it's just "douchey") on Crawford, Zeke got visibly upset and had a mini verbal altercation with Bowen. Both got T'd up quickly and it was over. I would've rather seen Nate bite him or something, but I guess this will have to do.

You'll get yours, Bruce.

- Why, Eddy Curry, why? If I ever meet him on the street, I swear in the name of Charles Oakley, we will have a talk. I don't even worry that I'd piss him off by doing that. What's he gonna do, foul me?

- Pounding the Rock has some true, some just not-nice things to say about the Knicks after last night's game. Let me just say that the Knicks have plenty of "shooting" guards, they just don't have enough "making" guards. I have made it clear that I think Jalen Rose's roster spot should be filled by a white gunner, though.

Anyway, Cavs on Monday. Sunday Lookalikes coming a little later. Peace out.