Oh yes. Fresh off a disappointing loss, the Knicks rebounded to defeat Miami 99-93, in most dramatic fashion. The game was back-and-forth throughout, with neither team leading by more than 9. Jamal Crawford's three pointer sealed the deal in the final minute, as the Knicks won their 6th straight at home. Game notes:
- You know those Dunkin Donuts commercials that are narrated by John Goodman? I always picture him in a recording booth, sitting Indian style as he lays down his voice-over, surrounded by a piles of half-eaten donuts and cookies. Maybe that's just me.
- Q Rich seems to have mislaid his touch from outside, but he brings so much posting up, on the glass, and on defense, that he demands minutes. I really like that about him. I wouldn't mind seeing him post up smaller 2's and 3's a little more often.
- Interesting sequence...after a timeout, the Knicks were inbounding with 2 seconds on the shot clock. The predictable alley-oop attempt to Eddy Curry was broken up, but the tip went directly to Malik Rose, who calmly sank a jumper.
- Speaking of Malik, he came out and really delivered for the Knicks on the defensive end. He pestered Shaq constantly, drawing a charge or two and getting in his ear. Great effort from the "White D-Lee", as our boy Barnesgasm would call him.
- The alley-oop play didn't work more than once this evening, actually. Crawford kept slamming his passes off the backboard. It was strange.
- Clyde reacting to a shot of the Knicks City Dancers: "The hooplah and pageantry of the NBA!" That wasn't what I was thinking...but whatever. Oh, Clyde. How do you manage to be so cool and so uncool at the same time?
- Little note: Nate fucked up his complex free throw routine at one point the second quarter. He forgot to rub his tattoo! Nate hit the free throw anyway.
- The Knicks did not commit a single shooting foul in the first half. The Heat took ONE free throw on a technical foul. For the game, the Knicks took 39 free throws to the Heat's 8. Somewhere, Pat Riley is complaining.
- Shaq surpassed 25,000 points for his career midway through the first quarter. Good for him. In the third quarter, I hit 70,000 farts for my lifetime. Press conference tomorrow afternoon.
- Clyde on Shaq's 25K: "Imagine how many he'd have if he could shoot free throws!"
- At one point, Shaq and Eddie Jones went for the same rebound, and ended up giving it away. Shaq gave EJ a death stare that would make most grown men pee and poo at the same time. Mike Breen reminded (find, found...bind, bound...remind, reminded...you explain that.) the viewers that Jones and O'Neal had some beef back when they played in L.A. Forgot about that.
- Two of my favorite plays of the game came at the expense of Alonzo Mourning, who was preening and posturing for the crowd all night. Play Number 1: Mittens posts up Mourning, who responds by repeatedly pulling Eddy's arms, grabbing his arms, and kicking him. Despite all this, Eddy catches the pass and calmly sinks a hook shot in his face. Play Number 2: Mourning dunks over Mittens and runs back down court making some kind of celebratory ruckus. Marbury takes the inbounds pass, goes coast-to-coast and shoulder-checks Mourning to the floor while dropping in a layup. That was sweet.
- It was a tale of two quarters in the second half. In the third quarter it was all Curry, as he dropped in 16 points. In crunch time, though, the guards took over. Marbury put up 18 and and Crawford 10 in the fourth.
- Jason Kapono was seen quizically stroking his neck stubble after a dubious foul call. (By the way, I think Kapono is officially a Knick-killer.)
- Clinching play of the game...with the Knicks up 1, Malik Rose throws a pass that gets tipped by Udonis Haslem. The loose ball rolls right to Jamal Crawford, who sinks an uncontested three from the corner. Boo-yah.
- More important on that final play, however, was Channing Frye's reaction. A shot of the bench showed an ecstatic Frye (6'11'') jumping onto the back of 6'5'' Mardy Collins. Mardy didn't really seem to mind. Moral of the story: Chan needs to hit the weight room a little.
- Hmm..since we haven't had a photo in a few lines, who's up for a little more hooplah and pageantry?
- Some stat lines for y'all to nibble on...Curry had 28 and 11, including 10-13 from the line...Marbury had 25, including 3 three-pointers...Crawford had 20 on 5-10 shooting...Kapono led the Heat with 24, including 4 three-pointers.
- Final note: some ch-ch-ch-changes are going on in these parts. I'm currently working on something that's gonna make this blog bigger, prettier, and better for you readers. I won't give it away yet, but big changes should be coming in the upcoming weeks.
That's it for tonight. The Knicks are nearing that 8th seed, and picking up some wins over this upcoming stretch of sub-.500 opponents could be the push that it takes to get to the playoffs. New York needs to stop letting teams hang around though. Halftime leads must be expanded upon, to avoid letting teams hang around, as happened tonight. Either way, I'm happy for now. Back tomorrow. Peace.
5 comments:
Look at Nate in the background of the picture up top. He looks like Isiah just took way his Tonka truck.
Congrats on reaching that fantastic fart milestone, but your FPG average has yet to surpass "Tractor" Traylor's all-time leading clip of 17.7 per game. Keep on truckin'.
nate looks like he's jealous that he didn't get a hug from Zeke
Robert Traylor is a legend among men. I dare not include myself in the same company as his excellence.
here's an interesting statistic...the knicks are 18-1 (!) when they lead at the half. they're 2-27 when they trail at halftime. of course, most teams have better records when they're ahead at halftime, but no team has a difference that's nearly as dramatic as the knicks. don't know what it says about the team, but i just thought i'd share. great blog, by the way :)
Post a Comment