Knicks bow to Nuggets, 96-7
Another road game, another okay start, another awful finish, another loss. Once again, things started well, just like the Clippers game, but eventually fell to pieces.
In the early minutes, when teams feel each other out, the Knicks' talent always keeps them close and usually even gives them the lead. However, towards the end of the first quarter most teams usually move to a higher gear and really start to compete. This is the point, as soon an opponent decides to assert itself, that these Knicks fall apart. This point came last night after a Marbury shot gave the Knicks a 21-20 lead: the Nuggets went on a 5-0 run to end the 1st quarter.
The second quarter was predictably horrendous, no one was getting their hands up on defense, no one was getting back in transition, and no one could even manage to post up the diminutive Early Boykins. The Nuggets were driving to the basket at will and their dunks were as common last night as Knicks losses were in January. And oddly enough no one seemed more perturbed by the lack of defensive intensity than MSG announcers John Andariese and Mike Breen. Every time K-Mart would throw down another dunk and pound his chest as he skipped up the court, Andariese would get infuriated. Moreover, he kept making clear that he wasn't upset with Martin, rather he kept calling out the Knicks big men for letting themselves be embarrassed. Possibly with the exception of Tommy Heinshon up in Boston, I don't think I've ever heard an announcer who wanted to see someone get knocked to the floor so badly. In spite of his growing dementia, you just knew that Andariese was right on the money when he asked,
"How do you think Charles Oakley would have reacted to that?"
And let those be our watchwords from now on, some people ask themselves what would Jesus do, others what Oprah would do, but here at the NY Knicker-Blog we will always ask ourselves What Would Oakley Do?
With a little over ten minutes left in the game, just after Martin scored his 26th and 27th points of the game (on another dunk), with Mike Breen blasting apart the Knicks effort, I ask myself
What Would Oakley Do?
I believe Oak would have turned this game off and seen what was playing on Cinemax. So, I turned off the game, and, not having Cinemax, went to go check out ESPN News.
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