Knicks 103, Bulls 92

I gotta catch a plane early in the morning, so we'll make this quick. The Knicks, in one of their most convincing wins of the season, comfortably defeated the Bulls with 9 players. All of the bigs were in foul trouble, but New York obliterated Chicago on the glass (57-36) and the Bulls shot a miserable 3-18 from downtown. Eddy Curry pushed his Mean Streak to 2 games, scoring 20 with 6 rebounds. A few game notes:

- The Baby, the Knicks mascot I pointed out from a win against Washington earlier this year, was once again in the house. For those of you who haven't seen him, this kid must be about 2 years old (I'm no good at judging age), but he sits front row and dances and cheers throughout the entire game. It's magical. Well, Breen and Clyde spent a lot of time talking about this kid, and we found out that his name is Luca. I will continue to call him The Baby. Either way, the Knicks are 2-0 in The Baby's presence. They should keep him around the locker room like Pedro Martinez did with that little friend of his.

- Michael Sweetney is still the same old Michael Sweetney. He had 3 fouls in his first 3 minutes in the game.

- When Chan Frye got his 5th foul, he was LIVID. He had about a 5-minute flipout on the sidelines, stomping his feet and throwing stuff. I guess it's cool to see that kind of passion from the kid but...whoa.

- Eddy "Mittens" Curry actually did a great job of catching and converting some tough passes, even among double teams. Way to kill the nickname, man.

Skeets and Tas, where you at?
- I don't watch much Bulls basketball, but my guess would be that Ben Gordon is to Chicago what Jamal Crawford is to the Knicks. Some nights he can't miss. Other nights you scream "NOOOOO!!!!!" everytime he squares up for a 30 foot fadeaway.

- At the very end of the game, Tyrus Thomas couldn't find a man for his inbounds pass, so he just threw it to himself off David Lee's ass. Thought that was funny.

- Speaking of Lee...Shit, son. With Lee playing with such intensity and Frye so fluid in his shot, it's gotta be tough to distribute minutes. Isiah's handled it pretty well.


Anyway, this was a great win for a surely tired Knicks team (9 guys playing 3 overtimes over the last week). They have to play the Suns Sixers tomorrow night, but then get a nice 3-day break before taking on the Clippers. I'm gonna be out west until next Saturday so, as I mentioned before, I'd love if someone would write up recaps and/or summaries of the games this week and send them over. I'm probably not gonna be able to watch much.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Knicks-Bulls Tonight

The STREAKING Knicks take on the Chicago Bulls this evening at MSG. The Bulls have pretty much been the Knicks' kryptonite (who hasn't?), winning both of their previous contests this season by double digits. Hinrich, Deng, and Knick-killer Ben Gordon can all fill it up from downtown, which has been the downfall of the Knick defense. I'd be very impressed if Eddy Curry could stretch his Mean Streak to 2 games against the formidable Ben Wallace.

A few more things:

-In defense of Mardy Collins at TrueHoop.

- Feel Good Knicks? from Father Knickerbocker.

- A new blog called Thank You Isiah all about your-...Chicago Bulls. Ooh, that's low. Very funny stuff though. Go check it out. (Found on Blog-a-Bull)

Well, I'm gonna do my best to catch most of the game tonight, but I can't guarantee it. I'm gonna be peacing out for a little western vacation tomorrow morning, returning on the 30th. I'll try to get some posts up while I'm out west, but I can't promise anything. Get your comments up, and if anyone wants to write some stuff about any of the upcoming games against Philly, Detroit, and Phoenix (previews, recaps, etc.), feel free to e-mail me and I'll put it up. I most likely won't be able to catch all three of those.


Anyway, I hope everyone has a relaxing week. Have a great holiday and a happy New Year. Peace.

Knicks-Bobcats Crumbs

Sorry about the screw-up in the last post's title. It was past my bedtime. Here's what's floatin' around from last night's exciting game:

- Game summary from Live from Section 404.

- Jake Appleman of Slam's game notes.

And some additional game notes that I forgot:

- Derek Anderson is being paid to play basketball. Now I've seen everything.

- Eddy Curry's Mean Streak now resumes at 1 game.

- It's amazing how much the refs have slacked off the zero tolerance calls since the start of the season. I'm happier with the way it is now, but is it really acceptable for the league to adjust the rules that much within one regular season? It's like getting rid of the three-point line midseason, or changing the ball or something...

- More on that British guy...On one play, Ray Felton threw a reeeeeally high halfcourt alley-oop pass for Gerald Wallace, who reached up for it and came down with a ridiculous stuff. British guy: "Am I allowed to say that was good?" Me: "Yeah. Yeah, that was good."

- I called every single one of Channing Frye's baskets before it went in, except for his ugly hook shot that tied it late in the fourth. When Chan shoots without hesitation, he's unbelievably wet on his jumper. As soon as he gets to his spastic faking, the shots clang. Have confidence, friend. (Great game for him, by the way. Really looked fluid from outside, and had a few nasty stuffs.)

Anyway, tonight is TNT NBA Thursday. Cavs-Pistons followed by Wizards- Kings. Good stuff. The Knicks take on the Chicago Bulls tomorrow night at the Garden. Until then, Peace.

Knicks 111, Bucks Bobcats (I was tired) 109- 2OT

I'm so tired I can barely sit up straight. I was screaming and jumping throughout this entire, fantastic game. For those of you who missed it, David Lee won the game on a inbounds tip-in with .1 seconds remaining. Kind of an iffy basket, but awesome either way. Really fun game. Quick-ass game notes so I can sleep.

- I went to the game with my friend Al, and the guy sitting next to us was a very friendly British chap who was visiting the city for four days alone. This was his first NBA game, and he knew absolutely nothing of basketball. I was a bit disappointed in the showing these two teams were giving him when the Knicks fell behind early, but he was really into it by the end. We had a lot of fun and he got his money's worth, fo sho.

- At the end of regulation, and at the end of the first OT, Crawford blew chances to break the tie with awful fadeaway threes. I do not understand. Even the British guy knew that those shots were "bollocks".

- Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks, and Michael Jordan were all in the house. I wish I could've somehow instigated a brawl between them.

- We walked through the entire Gonzaga basketball team in Times Square. They play Duke at the Garden on Thursday. That was pretty cool.

Eh, fuck it. Great game, great night, but that took a lot out of me. I'll get back to you tomorrow. Go Knicks. Goodnight.

Knicks-Bobcats Tonight

I will be in attendance, holding down section 335 tonight, as the Knicks play host to the Charlotte Bobcats. It is their first meeting of the season. I've gotta run, but in lieu of a preview, I give you this amazing video that I found last night, which includes just about every memorable buzzer beater of the last decade and change. It's a fuckin chillfest, yo.


I want David Stern to watch this, and then tell me with a straight face that online videos are bad for the league's image. This made me wanna watch basketball for the rest of my life.

Anyway, recap of the live action coming later tonight. Peace.

Iverson to Knicks!

Kidding. Sounds like he's going to Denver, which should be extremely interesting.

Nothing much to discuss today. Just a few things.

Some really fantastic posts about the brawl-

-Henry Abbott at TrueHoop

- From the Fan House...Big Lead...Miss Gossip...Mutoni...Jones. The Fan House is the shit.

- Also, Nate Robinson apologized. If he means what he says, then his lessons will be a Gr8 help to a team that could use the better half of his energy.

Anyway, the Knicks won last night. No game tonight. Good times for now.


Peace.

EDIT: Can you picture AI in a Nuggets jersey? Weeeeeird. Also, what number is he gonna wear? DerMarr Johnson is currently rocking number 3.

Knicks 97, Jazzes 96- OT

Wow! If you haven't noticed, I'm easily excitable when it comes to the Knicks. I'm having a little trouble typing right now cause I'm still having some mini heart attacks, but let's get this recap on. First of all, for those of you who missed it, the Knicks, playing with only 8 men, started off miserably, fell down by 16, came back with some hyper defense, took the lead, and pushed it to 10 in the fourth. The Jazz then came back on a flurry of threes by Mehmet Okur and the absolutely cold-blooded Deron Williams. After Williams buried several more ridiculous shots, including one to take the lead with 3 seconds left, Marbury ran the length of the court to lay it in at the buzzer. Game notes:

- Keep in mind that these game notes started at about 7:10, long before tip-off.

- Isiah looks kinda like a Furby when he does press conferences. His eyes are wide open, gazing off into infinity, and his voice is light and carefree, no matter the meaning of his words. It's fucking eerie.

What the hell are you smiling about, you psycho!?
- (Again, this is pre-game). Maybe the Knicks should check out John Basedow for the coaching spot? The infomercials for his workout tapes show that he's really good for your self esteem and focus. Tell me the Knicks wouldn't benefit from that.

Coaching made simple?
- George Karl came right out and called Isiah a "jackass" for his actions. It's displeasing to see such hostility between coaches, but, what are you gonna do. You make risky decisions, sometimes you pay the price. And sometimes the price is a fat guy calling you a jackass.

- MSG had some interesting camera angles from the brawl, including both benches and the scorer's table. The Knicks bench were all on their feet (Balkman was trying to get in to the fight), except for Marbury, who was hunched over with a towel on his head up until Carmelo's punch. Also, there were two Nugget scrubs at the scorer's table when it happened, in case you thought George Karl really was trying to run up the score.

- Eddy Curry had 3 rebounds in 22 minutes. David Lee had 3 rebounds in the first 52 seconds of the game. Just a thought.

- (I've really gotta say all these mean things I was writing down at the beginning). One of the things I disliked about Larry Brown was that he let his ego control the team and make news. Isiah Thomas might very well be heading in the same direction.

- In the second quarter, Kelvin Cato had the chair pulled out from under him, but managed to bank in a reverse while falling on his ass. He was called for a travel, but that was great.

- Kelvin talks a lot of trash. He blocked Dee Brown in the second quarter and grumbled something that appeared to include the words "You...out...my...house" in Brown's face.

- Paul Millsap might very well pop a basketball. I like him.

- Is it just me, or is Channing Frye trying to grow a Marbury mustache? That's a bold move.

- My favorite play of the game, besides the game winner: After a missed three or two, Lee and Balkman got around 5 offensive rebounds, repeatedly hitting the glass hard and putting it back up. Lee finished it with an and-one off the backboard, followed by a huge fist pump and a primal scream from the enthralled Marbury. That is basketball.

- Walt Frazier used the phrase, "Draining and Paining" in reference to Derek Fisher's repeated buckets over the Knicks. I'm pretty sure I've never heard that rhyme from him.

- As someone who spent much of his childhood in the Museum of Natural History, and knows it pretty much by heart, I'm definitely gonna go see "Night at the Museum". I'm pretty fuckin excited. Stop laughing, you heartless bastard.

- Crawford missed his first 11 shots, but it looked like he was just a tiny bit off calibration. Most of those misses were in-and-out or unlucky bounces. It doesn't justify his gunslinging, but a little WD-40 on the elbows might've made that a 30 point game for Jamal. That's just the way he is.

- Deron Williams is GOOD at basketball. His D needs some work, but he showed some sweet touch around the rim, and some absolutely ridiculous clutchness in the closing moments. To recap, he hit an off-balance, contested game-tying three in regulation, a similar three that got a soft bounce in late in OT, and a deadly fadeaway two with 3 seconds left in OT. I was very impressed.

They were not kidding about this guy.
- I'm still baffled by Jamal Crawford. He missed a long 3 when he had plenty of time to pass or create, putting the game into overtime. He also bricked a 3 when the Knicks were up with more than 15 seconds left on the shot clock very late in overtime. He had a few nice plays, but you've gotta wonder what's going through his head during these moments.


- Lee- 17 points, 20 rebounds. Marbury- 29 points, 8 assists. The rest of the team shot a combined 20-62.

- If Marbury didn't connect on that layup at the end, I think I might've cried. D-Will, again deserves plentiful props for his performance down the stretch. Had the Jazz won, he would've been instantly famous for his clutch shooting. I'm glad that didn't happen.

What a game, my friends. What a game. For one night, it feels good to be a Knick fan.


Goodnight.

HOLY SHIT!

I need a little bit to calm down. Recap coming in like a half hour.

100 Posts!

In kindergarten and first grade, we used to celebrate the 100th day of school. We'd make structures out of 100 popsicle sticks, measure 100 footsteps down the hallway (it's so far!), and make baller-ass necklaces out of 100 Cheerios. All of this taught me the importance and majesty of that fine number.

Well, this is the 100th post here at Your New York Knicks. I didn't really think I'd come this far. This whole thing started on a whim about two months ago. I had some killer insomnia one night, decided to put together a little blogger setup, wrote my first post, slept on it, and published it the next day. (Little known fact: this site was "Knickler" for a few hours. I'm glad I changed that.)

Anyway, it's been two months tomorrow. For someone who was never really written anything worthwhile in his life, I'm pretty pleased with how this has turned out. Generally, somewhere between 50 and 100 kids stop by these parts everyday. It's a number that bows and quivers in the shadow of the basketball blogsmith titans, but it keeps me putting stuff up. Anyway, thanks for visiting, feel free to leave any suggestions, comments, and damnations you please.

Special thanks must be given to the Nugg Doctor, Deadspin, Bullets Forever, Suns on Fire, the Rising Suns, Knickerblogger, Pounding the Rock, Bench Renaldo, Slam Online, The Basketball Jones, Knicks Online, Yay Sports, Live From Section 404, Indy Cornrows, The Hype, Lowpost, and all the other important persons who have commented on or linked to this page. (Links to everyone I mention are on the sidebar in alphabetical order, another key lesson from 1st grade.)

Xtra Special thanks go to Ryan McNeill for having me on his Hoops Addict Podcast, the Knicks for being so goddamn whacky, and to James Naismith for inventing basketball.

And of course, no thank you would be complete without giving props to the Man Upstairs for inventing James Naismith, the Knicks, Walt Frazier, facial hair, churros, and gangsta rap.

Anyway, thanks again to all Knick fans, basketball fans, blog fans, and ceiling fans that visit the site. You stay classy.

Time to go watch me some Knicks basketball. Peace.

EDIT: Big thanks to the goddamn hilarious Suns Gossip too. I probably forgot more.

Knicks-Jazzes* Tonight

Well then.Nate's gone for 10. Mardy's gone for 6. Jared's got 4. Jerome James has 1. Isiah Thomas has 0. Feel free to remark in the comments, but I'm very much ready to move on from the brawl in this space. It was embarassing, we're gonna be somewhat shorthanded, but there's more games to play.

The Knicks take on Utah tonight. Don't be surprised to see Steve Francis magically returning to health and pushing back into the starting lineup (with Q moving back to the 3). Lost in the hullabaloo of Saturday night were fine performances by Lee and Marbury. Curry was weak on the boards (3), and Crawford completely shat the bed, hitting only 1 of 9 from the field. The Knicks really haven't lost too much to suspension, so it'll be interesting to see how these guys react to Saturday's events, and the interactions between the players and Coach Isiah. The general mood of the crowd is a complete toss-up at this point as well. Veeeeery interesting. Anything can happen.

* I am fundamentally against professional team names that aren't decidedly plural. They sound like NBDL or WNBA names. Before long, we're gonna have a pro sports franchise called the San Diego Spunk or the Albuquerque Awesome or something like that. Not cool. The Jazzes' name is made even worse and less appropriate by their move from New Orleans to Utah.

Don't wanna get yourselves confused with these guys.
Recap despues del partido. Paz.

Sunday Lookalikes

Your New York Knicks is officially done with the brawl. Back to normal.

Vladimir Radmanovic vs. The Geico Caveman!



Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the rock!

Brawl Crumbs

- It's starting to sound like Isiah might have called for Collins' hard foul on J.R. Smith. This seems possible because, A. Collins is kind of a well-mannered, quiet guy and B. He wasn't ready to fight after he did it.

- It pains me to admit it, but Nate Robinson is a punk. Tim Thomas might call him a fugazi. That was a fugazi move, Nate.

- Mike Breen made a great point on Sportscenter last night. He said that Nate's justification that the Nuggets were showing them up is coming from a guy that tried to bounce a dunk to himself a few weeks ago. Yup.

- It's hard to say anyone was in the right during this thing, but I don't think Jared Jeffries did anything out of the ordinary. I can't imagine myself letting Carmelo Anthony run away after he blind-sided Collins like that.

- The team should suspend Nate beyond whatever the league gives him. He needs to learn a lesson about composing himself like an adult if he's gonna play professional basketball.

- Can you suspend a coach?

Anyway, this was the lowest point of the Knicks' many struggles, not to mention a horrendous blowout loss. I'm ashamed of my favorite team, and hope that we can all put this incident behind us.

EDIT: Henry Abbott at TrueHoop has a very interesting response to the events.

And every now and again, after something like that, I'll hear some racist crack. Racists are always waiting for an opportunity to paint the NBA as a bunch of out-of-control black players. It kills me to have these highlights all over the TV, knowing racist idiots in sports bars somewhere are seeing them and feeling vindicated.

I'm totally with him on this. After the Pistons-Pacers brawl, I was nearly choked up listening to the things people had to say about the NBA as a whole. Last night, a friend of mine said, "This is only going to make my dad more racist". I hate things like this, that have to overshadow the everyday grace of the most entertaining and amazing group of athletes in the whole world.

EDIT2: If you've come here looking for video of the fight, you're not gonna find it. Turn on the TV.

EDIT3: Let me make one more thing clear. I've probably overreacted a bit because I'm not exactly an objective observer. I tend to think that fighting has its place in basketball (I've been calling for the Knicks to fight Bruce Bowen and Paul Pierce at various times), I just don't think this was the place. Also, when I call this a "black eye" for the Knicks and the NBA, I mean to say that the media is going to go back to work at calling the NBA a bunch of "thugs" and "hoodlums". I'm not justifying the media's response, I'm merely stating the facts. This kind of shit used to happen all the time (and is still commonplace in other sports), but it's blown out of proportion in today's NBA. This post at the Fanhouse has some solid points, from the über-intelligent Bethlehem Shoals and Marcel Mutoni. I do think that it's easier for them to be even-handed, because they're not chained to the Knicks paddywagon like I am. So go check that out.