Rockets 97, Knicks 90

The Knicks decided to put a little twist on their most recent loss. It fit the usual template- starters suck, bench comeback, giving up threes, can't close out- but added in was some fairly solid off the ball defense. Lee, Robinson, Crawford, and even Curry at times, caused a lot of deflections, steals, and blocks.I'm all for a little more gambling on defense. Steals and blocks are certainly conducive to the fast break offense that Isiah originally wanted to run. The perimeter defense is gonna have to be more reliable before the guards start gambling a lot though. Anyway, I loved that McGrady and Yao were denied the ball during certain stretches. It's a good way to go. Game notes...

- I wrote on my notepad that Eddy Curry needs to develop a face the basket game, and he immediately buried an 8 foot jumper. After that, he was completely useless.

- Speaking of Curry, I've decided on a nickname. I'm fairly proud of it, but if you've got better I'd love to hear it. Ready? "Mittens." Eddy "Mittens" Curry. The reasons are fairly simple. Have you ever tried to make/throw a snowball with mittens? It slips everywhere and you have no control. This is how Eddy Curry handles a basketball. He drops, it throws it every which way and has it stripped out of his arms. It's as if he's wearing mittens. I think the name also insinuates his general softness of demeanor. Make it stick.

Mittens!
- Now that Eddy Curry has a nickname, David Lee needs one. He cleans up messes, but "The Custodian" is already taken. Hmm. He keeps balls alive...I need help with this one.

- There are times when I think Frye needs to get a motivational speech from the guy who played Yul Brenner in Cool Runnings. Speaking of which, the actor Leon (Derice Bannock) was at the game.

"I see pride! I see power! I see a badass mother who don't take no crap off of nobody!"
- Man, Marbury and Francis look old. The effort is lacking, but these guys look as if they've actually lost the skills that made them famous. They both simply cannot get to the basket. The physical strength and agility is completely missing.

- Question: When they have commercials for TV's and stuff like that, the images on the televisions are often these really generic sports scenes. Do they stage fake football and basketball games with guys in two-color, nameless jerseys solely for these commercials? I need to know.

- Yo, Vagisil Vassilis Spanoulis needs a comb and a razor like now.

Ew, dude.
- Finally, The Block. Wow. For those of you who missed it, Yao Ming went to shoot a turnaround J dunk in the post, and Nate Robinson came flying out of nowhere for a righteous stuff. Yao bent over and grabbed his face like a little bitch, and David Lee got a nasty dunk at the other end. Great sequence, one of the filthiest defensive stops in NBA history. No picture or video of this yet, but let me know if you see anything.

Anyway, an aggravating loss, but nothing new when it comes to 2006 Knicks basketball. Oh well. See ya tomorrow.