Game Thread: Footraces, Slam Dunks, 'n' Three Pointers

I'm here in Colorado with a TV in front of me and laptop in hand. Here's your spot to talk about the Barkley-Bavetta showdown, the Three-Point Shootout, and, of course, the Dunk Contest. Root for Nate to prove to all the haters that he really can throw down with the best of them (on the first try). It's gonna be a fun night. Backatcha later. Peace.

EDIT: If you're a hardcore NBDL fan who wants to discuss that All-star Game, feel free to do that as well. Wouldn't wanna leave anybody out...

Your 2007 Rookie Game MVP

Congratulations to Knick sophomore DA-VID LEEEE for dropping 30 points (14-14 from the field!) to win the MVP of the Rookie-Sophomore game as the Sophs gloriously destroyed their younger counterparts. Lee was nothing short of entertaining, adding his own tomahawks to the healthy supply of stuffs from Rudy Gay, Monta Ellis, and Paul Millsap.

The real entertainment, of course, was watching TNT's Ernie Johnson try to converse with a hungover Charles Barkley and a visibly buzzed Kenny Smith and Craig Sager. (By the way, did anyone see when Kenny was talking with Murs for about five minutes? Fuckin A! That made me wanna be in Vegas.)

That's it for now. I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow, so I'll try to post after the dunk contest and such. Peace.

Knicks Mix Video

As we head into the All-Star Break, not much is going in the Knicks world. David Lee is competing (to use the word loosely) in the Rookie-Sophomore game tonight. Should be fun. For now, I give you a fun little mash-up of past and present Knicks that I found today. Enjoy.

I'm gonna be in Colorado (not Vegas, but close) as of tomorrow afternoon, so my posts might thin out a little for the next week or so. I'll try to keep up to date with news, All-Star activity, the trade deadline, and upcoming games, but might not get a post up every day. As with the last time I was away, if anyone wants to write something- an all-star recap, a game recap...anything- over the next week, I'd be more than happy to read it through and possibly post it. Think about it. Anyway, enjoy All-Star Weekend and I'll be backatcha whenever. Peace.

Thursday Crumbs

Here's what floating around the internet the day after the Knicks' "Wait, we have a game today!?" game...

- It's TNT NBA Thursday. Mavs-Rockets followed by Cavs-Lakers. Both solid games. I'm more interested, once again, to see what Charles and Kenny have to say in reaction to these new developments regarding homosexuality in the NBA. It'd make me happy to see Chuck outright trash Tim Hardaway on national television.

- Speaking of the notorious Mr. Hardaway, I laughed for a solid minute at this bit from a Yay Sports! post:

We’ve been searching and searching for anything that’ll lead to where this hatred came from, but have come up with nothing. We’re assuming he’s deeply religious or something boring like that, but hold out hope that like he was captured by a gay gang who like kept him prisoner for days at a time and like made him watch Cabaret for days on end.

Hilarious. This Hardaway business is awful, but it sure has been fun to watch him go down in flames. For more, check out Marcel Mutoni's post at SLAM (the first place I read the news), and the entire comments section. Interesting discussion.

- "Hey, maybe the Eddy Curry deal wasn't so bad!" Henry Abbott at TrueHoop breaks it down.

- The Father Knickerbocker recap of last night's meltdown

- David Friedman at Hoopshype.com has an article about Knicks assistant, Mark Aguirre. The second part is about his training of the Knicks' big men.

That's it for today. Enjoy the TNT games, and feel free to leave your comments on the Knicks, the Eddy Curry deal, or on Tim Hardaway. Back tomorrow. Peace.

Warriors 120, Knicks 101

Dammit. Just when you thought the Knicks had turned a corner, they never showed up for a blowout loss to the Warriors. It was the ultimate trap game: second of a back-to-back, night after a great win, last game before the all-star break, sub-.500 opponent playing without its two stars, and the Knicks were completely unprepared. They woke up sometime in the third quarter (I said I was going to bed then, but I snuck a little watch in at the end) and actually cut a 31 point deficit to 9, but ultimately shat the game away in typical Knicks fashion. Their play was weak, slow, sloppy and disgusting to watch. Only two players did anything even resembling basketball, and they were Nate Robinson and Renaldo Balkman, who led the aforementioned high-flyin', jersey-poppin' run in the second half. I wrote down some game notes from the first two and a half quarters. Here they are:

- Pre-game: Have you ever noticed that when the camera goes to Clyde during the pre-game show he always begins his statement by rocking side to side on his heels? Oh, well he does do that.

- Jerome James was STILL starting, which meant either he or Mittens was guarding Al Harrington. I guess when you don't play any defense, mismatches aren't really an issue.

- James actually looked like he was gonna abuse the significantly shorter Harrington on the offensive end, but managed to get his shot blocked twice. He then sat for the rest of the game, as usual. Imagine how good he would be if he could run and jump!

- Malik Rose was the first guy off the bench, and he came out with a flurry of what I think were intended to be 18 foot jumpers. Well...they were from 18 feet out...and he jumped...but that's about all they had in common with the jumper you and I know. Malik took 6 shots in 8 minutes, which is about 6 too many shots and 8 too many minutes for him.

- Here's a fun quotation from the AP report.

In the first quarter alone, Thomas used 11 players -- or two more than Warriors coach Don Nelson had in uniform. Thomas said his club matched up poorly with Golden State, and it showed while the Warriors roared to a huge lead.

Neat.

- I once thought that Nate Robinson had the quickest spin move in the league, but Monta Ellis has him beat. Speaking of those two, they have very similar stature (small) and a somewhat similar game (shoot, jump real high, annoy people), but they're polar opposites in the way they carry themselves. Nate is all energy: yelling, jumping, jersey-popping, chest-bumping. Monta is as cool as can be, regardless of the situation. Both had very solid games.


- On more than one occasion, Mittens was boxing out so badly that it actually got him the rebound. Like, the shot would go up, and he'd turn his back to it and head down court. But then the shot would miss so badly that it actually fell into his hands at the three-point line. Maybe he knows something we don't. For what it's worth, Eddy's calf was clearly bothering him. I hope he gets some R & R during the break, so he'll stop resting on the court.

- There's a reason they call Stephen Jackson "Jack", and it ain't his last name. He shot anything and everything available, and somehow made a preposterous 16 of the 26 shots he took. Great game for him.

- Don Nelson was wearing a blue Warriors polo under a gray suit jacket. Just thought you should know.

- In the second quarter, Mike Breen wanted to give Clyde some Valentine's Day chocolate on camera, but Eddy was standing in the way of the shot and Breen told him to move his ass outta the way (in nicer words). It was that kind of night for young Mittens.

- Quentin Richardson was pissed about a non-call in the second quarter and figured, "Hey, we're gonna lose this thing anyway, and I really wouldn't mind some Taco Bell right now!", so he started arguing with the ref (Sean Corbin, I think.) Once he got T'd up, Q kept arguing, politely noting that it was "fucking bullshit". Then he got tossed. Ejected players are supposed to leave the arena, but Quentin could be seen standing in the tunnel in the fourth quarter with a chalupa in either hand. Smart man.

"Carrrrne asada!"
"Yo, man. Snag me a Gordita while you're there."
- Isiah probably knew what was up. During his pre-game interview, he had curiously mentioned how tough it would be to win the game.

- Other news...Hey, remember how much you hated Tim Hardaway during those Knicks-Heat series in the 90's? Well don't stop hatin', my friend! Tim's back to remind us what an asshole he is! His comments about John Amaechi make Shavlik Randolph look progressive and liberal. Tim's just bitter because MJ never returned his phone calls.


Anyway, this game sucked ass. I guess we shoulda seen it coming that the Knicks would follow a gritty road win with an unspeakable loss. Almost nobody played well, and it's a really sour taste to have to take into the all-star break, but oh well. We're 23-30 with 29 games left to play. These kind of games can't happen, though, if the Knicks wanna make any sort of gesture towards the playoffs. That's all for now, kids. Peace.

Forget it.

It's 81-51 Warriors in the third quarter. This is disgusting. I'm going to bed. I'll post two and a half quarters of game notes tomorrow morning.

Game Thread- Knicks at Warriors

The Knicks play their last game before the All-Star break tonight, taking on the Golden State Warriors. I got a chance to watch a full game of Warriors action when they played the Bulls the other night and, let me tell you, they are fast. Even without Baron Davis, who is having his annual knee problems, guys like Monta Ellis, Derek Fisher, Mickael Pietrus, and Andris Biedrins (AK-47 Lite), get this team up and down the floor. They can score oodles of points in a matter of seconds, and have no shame about firing away from downtown. The recently acquired Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington are two more offensive threats and matchup problems for the Knicks to worry about.

The Warriors play small, so it's Eddy Curry's night to shine. The team plays no semblance of defense, save for the shot-blocking Biedrins, so the Knicks might be best suited to slow it down, drive, and feed the big men. This is an ideal game to demonstrate our dominance of the paint and ownership of the glass. Of course, by saying that, I probably jinxed everything. Either way, road games don't come easy, but if the Knicks can reproduce their effort from last night, they should be able to beat the Warriors. Heading into the break with two straight road wins would be a fantastic boost for this squad.

Once again, this is a game thread, so any comments about the game, tarot cards, Nat King Cole, see-saws, salmon, and "Jungle 2 Jungle" go here. The more comments, the better. (There were 2 comments on the Jazz game thread and 18 on the Lakers game thread. Those games were a heartbreak loss and an exciting win, respectively. Coincidence? I think not.) I'll be back with some twilight game notes. For those of you that commented until the wee hours last night, I thank you, and would love more of the same. Go Knicks. Peace.

Happy Valentine's Day from Your NYK.

Spread the love!
Knicks-Warriors game thread coming later. Scroll down for last night's Knicks-Lakers recap. Peace.

Knicks 107, Lakers 106

Wow.

Wow. What a game. Totally worth the late night fever. I thought about holding this recap off until daylight, but I might as well use this victorious buzz as fuel, eh? Anyway, the Knicks equaled their win total from last season and, hot DAMN, number 23 was a good one. The game was close throughout, starting sloppy but finishing with some fantastic possessions (and tough calls) for both teams. The Knicks won on a David Lee offensive rebound that turned into a Crawford-Curry alley-oop. Lamar Odom airballed the potential game-winner for the Lakers. More on that later. Here are your game notes:

FIRST HALF
- MSG was hosting its three-man crew tonight for the telecast, with Kenny Smith accompanying the usual Breen-Clyde tandem. I, for one, am a fan of the three-man crew. As much as I love Clyde, most of what he says is repetition. He has a trademark line for almost every scenario. Kenny is much more conversational. Because he's younger, he can better relate to today's players and encourage banter amongst the broadcast crew. I like having the two color guys, because you get just enough of each one's personality. Your NYK reader, Rodge, on the crew: "Cramming three good announcers into one booth and waiting for them to announce well is the Knicksiest thing they could've done." Touché.

- Jerome James has GOTTA be out of the starting lineup by after the all-star break, right? His presence fucks up all the defensive matchups and he throws off the rhythm of the offense. It's like a 5 to 10 point handicap built into every game. If he's just gonna sit after 2 minutes (which he's done in, I believe, every single one of his starts), then he might as well not start at all.

- Speaking of the matchups, we saw James guarding Odom, Marbury guarding Radmanovic, Marbury guarding Odom, Q guarding Smush Parker, etc. early in the first quarter. It just ain't right. Isiah played 10- TEN!- guys in the first quarter because of all the mismatches.

- New York had only 17 points in the first quarter, mostly because they were taking far too many threes. Luckily, the Lakers were doing the same, with equal incompetence. The Knicks shot 35 percent in the first and the Lakers 29 percent.

- Nate made a 6 minute cameo in the second quarter after supposedly playing extremely well in practice yesterday. I was impressed. He played under control and had one gorgeous dish to Curry for a dunk. And of course, when Nate sat down he was nothing but electric in cheering on his teammates. It's easy for the media to harp on his immaturity, but his utter energy, no matter the situation, is what makes him such an asset.

- Eddy was way too much for Bynum and Turiaf to handle early on, but got in foul trouble and had to sit for stretches.


- I'm gonna add a little to my oft-repeated Law of Frye. When Channing Frye does not hesitate, he does not miss...unless it's a three pointer. Not his shot.

- Steve Francis sighting! The man they used to call Franchise showed up to play. He got to the line and even crossed up Sasha Vujacic to drive to the hole on one play. Even Steve looked surprised after that one. He looked pretty healthy, and was actually getting some lift on his shots. He's starting to look less expendable, especially with Marbury hurting.

"Wait...where am I? How did I get here!?
- Marbury's still hurting, and did some more damage to his big toe later on in the game (shoes?), but had 9 assists, and was really making the offense flow in the first half.

- Kobe, who was surprisingly quiet in his first and last meeting with the Knicks this year, hit an impossible fadeaway three at the first half buzzer to put L.A. up by 5.

SECOND HALF
- Q had missed his first few shots, but got very hot. He's another guy who brings a great amount of passion, no matter the situation. He willed himself into a few timely threes and picked up a technical after arguing a call. You'll take the tech when he's bringing that kind of heat to his performance. Q does so much for this team.

Fire and desire, my friends.
- Clyde, pressed for time while sharing the color commentary duties, pulled off one of the most robust, flowery, Clyde-ish sentences of all-time. I might have the order of the words slightly wrong, but it was basically, "Kobe isn't shaking and baking or wheeling and dealing right now, but he is posting and toasting." That's THREE Clydeisms in one sentence. Can't stop. Won't stop.

- Fordham University in the house, y'all. Mike Breen (a Fordham alum) repeatedly pointed out the presence of fellow Rams, Smush Parker, Denzel Washington (courtside), and radio announcer, John Andariese.

- Jordan Farmar (Jewish, no?) trimmed down his troll hair, and he looks pretty slick now.

- One more reason to love the Hawks' Joe Johnson. He was in the house to catch some NBA Action on his off night. I love seeing stuff like that.

- How on earth does Steve Francis shoot such a good percentage on his free throws? He puts the strangest rotation on the ball. It looks like he's throwing sliders when he's at the line.

- Phil Jackson kinda reminds me of Gene Hackman in the Royal Tenenbaums. Probably the glasses.


Yup.
- Stevie played a big role in the fourth quarter when Steph was aching. At one point he threw a shit-diculous over the shoulder pass to a spinning David Lee for the lay-in. On another occasion, he put a hard foul on Smush Parker, which got called a flagrant 1. To Steve's credit, he immediately tried to brace Parker's fall on help him up. The mood was about right for a brawl sequel, so it was a good veteran move on Steve's part.

- Final plays of the game...Knicks have the ball with more than a shot clock remaining, and Q misses an ill-advised three. David Lee, however, grabs the O-bound and, as mentioned, Crawford throws a thunderous alley-oop to Eddy with 7 seconds remaining. The Lakers call timeout. The way things have been going the last few weeks, I assume the Knicks are going to lose. Inexplicably, the best the Lakers can offer is Lamar Odom dribbling out the clock and putting up a contested fadeaway as the buzzer sounds. If I'm a Lakers fan, I'm shitting in my britches right now.

- My player of the game award (I think I'm gonna start doing this) goes to Jamal Crawford. Jamal played about as well as he can play without dropping 52 points. He shot a solid 9-17 from the field and hit 2 of 5 threes to score 24 points. More importantly, he was getting into the outer paint (his "hot zone") and sinking some floaters, rather than attempting long fadeaways. I guess "sinking some floaters" is a bit of an oxymoron, but you get the point. Also he proved to be a burden for Kobe to defend, which may have contributed to the Mamba's relative quiet on the opposite end. Props to Jamal for a fine, balanced performance.

JC in the Hot Zone. Sounds like a porno.
- Other stat lines: 19 points (3-8 from downtown) and 12 bounds for Q. 14 and 7 for Frye off the bench. 19 and 7 for Curry. The Knicks shot 23-32 from the line and only turned the ball over 11 times, compared to 21-24 and 15 for Los Angeles.

Anyway, this may have been my favorite win of the Knicks season. A sloppy first quarter surprisingly evolved into a fast-paced, back-and-forth spectacle with the underdog Knicks emerging victorious. The Knicks, for the most part, stuck to their game in the second half, driving to the hole, and either kicking, finishing, or getting to the line. They've got 23 wins, and boy does it feel good. Goodnight, everybody. Warriors tomorrow (today). Peace.

Game Thread- Knicks at Lakers

The Knicks are in Los Angeles tonight to take on Shammond Williams and the struggling Lakers. L.A. has dropped its last 3 straight and sure doesn't wanna lose a fourth to the New York team that narrowly beat them in January. The key difference is that Kobe Bryant (and Williams, of course) will be involved this evening. His absence in the last game put the reins in the hands of Lamar Odom, who was a matchup nightmare, but ultimately could not lead the Lakers to victory. Kobe relishes these games against the Knicks, and will certainly be looking to bury his recent struggles. The Lakers have two solid youngsters at center- Andrew Bynum and Ronny Turiaf- who can make some noise, but have trouble containing Eddy Curry. If Mittens stays out of foul trouble and remains patient, he can put up some great numbers. Anyway.

The Knicks need a win like whoa. Either tonight or tomorrow against the Warriors (if not both), we really need to get to that 23-win benchmark, put Larry Brown's treacherous ass behind us, and make a run at the postseason after the all-star break. All of this lollygagging- a win here, two losses there, two wins here, another loss- is not going to amount to a playoff berth. I want more than anything to see a killer instinct and a chip on the collective shoulders of these Knicks. Everyone is healthy, no one is suspended, and the schedule only gets easier, so there are no excuses left to make.

For more on the history of the Knicks-Lakers matchup (including video of Shaq-Fu demolishing a totally unexpecting Chris Dudley. By the way, remember the three Chrises- Dudley, Childs, and Mills? Didn't Chris Dudley go to Yale? Whatever happened to Chris Mills? He wasn't too bad. Kind of a fatty, though. Is this the longest parenthetical interruption ever? Possibly.) I reccomend stopping by The Association Blog for a good read. This is a game thread, so leave any comments on the game, Chris Dudley, jackals, shoeboxes, "Biodome", and skinny dipping as the night goes on.

Milk Dud wants you to leave comments!
It's a late game (10:30), and I tend to get more emotional when tired, so I'd appreciate the company whilest I exult or weep. Game notes cominatcha later. Go Knicks. Peace.

EDIT: Big news in the blog world. TrueHoop is going big league, and hooking up with ESPN. Congratulations to Henry Abbott and to the worldwide leader for signing on such a great blogsmith.

EDIT2: Knicks fans should swing by Bench Renaldo. Mutoni's got a Knicks rap video from 2000 (I think). In a related story, I still have a "Knicks 2000" license plate frame that I don't know what to do with.

Monday Crumbs

Here's what's floatin around the internet after the Knicks' Salt Lake heartbreak...

- "Do you think Dwyane Wade masturbates?" It's the Basketball Jones' 100th Podcast! It's a fantastic ep, with tons of calls and clips from the past 99. Congratulations to Skeets, Tas, and JD. If you don't listen to Basketball Jones, then you are missing out, my friend.

- The Knickerblogger breakdown of the Utah game.

- The 41st Carnival of the NBA is up at LOY's Place.

- Jim Dolan: Isiah Thomas doesn't have "anything to worry about right now". Zeke's job is safe for the time being.

That's it for today. Back tomorrow with some preview-age of the Knicks-Lakers game. PEACE.

Sunday Lookalikes

Andrei Kirilenko vs. the American Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)



P.S. Shoals at the Fanhouse has the scoop on Eddy Curry's new tattoo that I noticed before. It's a response to his all star snubbage. Kinda weird.

Jazzes 104, Knicks 102- OT

In heartbreaking fashion, the Knicks lost their first game of their West Coast road trip to a vengeful Utah Jazz squad. The Jazzes, with Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur returning from injury, delivered a real gut punch, winning by 2 in overtime. The Knicks (all wearing headbands for one reason or another) led by as many as 10 midway through the fourth quarter, but "Sam the Eagle" Okur almost single-handedly shot the Jazz back into the game, despite crippling dehydration from a stomach virus. Jamal Crawford was blatantly fouled on a game-winning attempt, but no ref had the rocks to make the right call. (Obviously, this has gone the other way for the Knicks in the past, but I'm biased.)

Crawford led the Knicks with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Steve Francis returned to score 13 off the bench, but Stephon Marbury was off, hitting only 2 of 10 to score 7 points. Eddy Curry had 27 and 8, but 8 turnovers. Overall, it was a game the Knicks were close to taking, which made the loss even harder to bear.

All of this leads me to my question. Isiah Thomas seems to have only 2 plays down the strech. 1. Crawford shoots a floater, which has a decent rate of success, and 2. Crawford inexplicably shoots a 3, which almost never works, including last night. So I leave this to you, the reader. You're Isiah Thomas (lucky you). It's a tie game and you have the ball with less than a shot clock remaining. What's your call? Leave answers in the comments. I'll put up some Sunday Lookalikes tonight. Peace.