Knicks vs. Heat: Knicker-Blogger Preview

Home, sweet home. Can the confines of the Garden help the Knicks cool off the hot, hot Heat and put together back to back wins for the first time since, since, since before anyone had ever heard of Freddie Mitchell's hands?
--Super Snub: Can Stephon Marbury continue his recent scoring streak and will his recent exclusion from the All-Star game fuel his occassionally waning fire?
--Centers of Attention: Nazr was bullied and battered the last time he ran into He of Many Names, can he hold Shaq to modest 20/10?
--Losers, Repent! It being Ash Wednesday, one has to wonder if the Knicks will give up losing for Lent. Can they embark on a biblical winning streak that will last them 40-days and 40-nights?
--Beer Money: if any of the 1.67 people who read this site happen to be at the game tonight with a few extra dollars, I'll be sitting in section 302 and could always use another beer.

Most Overpaid Players

ESPN.com's "Page Two" has cobbled together a list of the top ten most overpaid players in the NBA. Not surprisingly it's like a summer bbq at the Dolan's: 6 members of the list are currently on the Knicks roster or were on it not too long ago, and just for good measure there is another guy on the list whose name keeps popping up in trade rumours.

TOP TEN MOST OVERPAID PLAYERS

Jazz force Knicks to Beat Them.

There was no way they could do this again. Was there? As the seconds of the fourth quarter ticked on, as the Knicks lead waned, it sure seemed like watching the final moments of Saturday night's heartbreaker in Sacramento all over again.

Tonight: Knicks vs. Jazz @ 9pm.

The woeful Knicks hit mormon-town looking to end the dismal road trip on a high note. They have lost every other game on this trip. I'm not going to the trouble to come up with any storylines for tonight's contest as, well, as it just doesn't seem worth the energy at this point. Still, the NY Knicker-Blogger will be planted on the couch come 9 o'clock with the remnants of the 6-foot sub from yesterdays Super Bowl fiesta. Hopefully there will be something worth writing about tomorrow.....

Knicks fall to Suns

I kind of boycotted this game (and by boycott I mean that I watched large chunks of it, but would keep my sanity by continuously seeing what else was on). I got my b-ball fix in other ways; by watching BC remain undefeated against Seton Hall; watching Notre Dame fall apart in the final minutes before a record setting crowd at the Carrier Dome, and attending the matinee Nets/Pistons game. And not that I want to spend any time at the NY Knicker-Blog talking about the Nets (unless we decide to pay homage to the late, great Drazen Petrovic), but there were a few noteworthy things about the game--which I did not pay to attend.

• Vince Carter was amazing; he ended up with 41 and was just scoring at will against the Pistons. I know that I didn't want him in a Knicks uniform, but he showed glimpses of his pre-dunk contest brilliance.
• The PA announcer at Continental doesn't have the chops to handle Vince: he kept awkwardly referring to him as "VC" and had nothing but lame comments like "Did you See VC!"
• Darvin Ham was the most popular player in the building: during the halftime shootaround he was joking with his teammates and with several of the Nets, by far the life of the party.
• The Nets didn't seem to like each other that much. While there was no Steph/Kurt Thomas bile on the court, you just didn't see them really joking around with one another. Vince Carter spent more time kissing Larry Brown's whistle at halftime than he did talking to any of his teammates.

Collapse, by the New York Knicks

Knicks--choking in final moments--lose to the Kings, 116-115

This one hurt, this one was like skinning your knee as a kid. Maybe you see a little blood, but you know that it's not so bad; you know you're ok, and yet you just can't help but cry at the surprise and indignity of it all.

NY Knicker-Blogger Game Preview: Knicks vs. Kings

The Kings have been hot as of late, but it is possible that Webber, Peja, Bibby, and Mobley could all be on the bench with injuries tonight. So, can the Knicks' starters beat the Kings' reserves?
--Fighting Words: apparently Steph and Kurt had a few heated moments at practice yesterday; do they hate each other or do they just hate losing?
--Steph stepping up: Steph hasn't played well in a while; can he score more than the 10 he put up in Denver?
--the King's Court: the Knicks haven't won on the road since 2004 and a Friday night crowd at Arco isn't exactly the best-case scenario to the break that trend.
--Doubting Thomas: Timmy should be back in the lineup tonight, but will he take back his starting job from Ariza.
--DEEFENSE: I know the Knicks don't seem to play any, can Herb get them playing some tonight?

Calling All Coaches

Is Isiah going to LA? Is Larry coming back home to New York? Did Phil just beat Marat Safin in a three-set tiebreak at the Australian Open? Confusion, rumor, and innuendo have not been this rampant in the NBA since the 1994 Sonics cheerleaders forced the team into those paternity tests.

It seems that so far everyone is denying everything, well, except for Phil Jackson who is open to coming to New York, open to returning to LA, and according to the Tuscaloosa Herald will be opening a home for wayward small forwards (his first guest will be Timmy Thomas).

After Larry Brown saw how bad the team was last week, I wouldn't think that he would be jumping at the opportunity to clean up this mess. Taking over these Knicks isn't exactly like heading to the Piston's; a team that had made the Eastern Conference Finals the season before he pulled the rug out from Rick Carlisle. Still, Larry Brown is the NBA's version of Kung Fu's Caine, roaming the open plains of the association looking for teams in trouble, and you can never count out his wanderlust.

However, if Larry leaves Motown I don't see him coming to New York. I think he would go coach the Lakers. I know that all the talk in the papers is about Phil Jackson returning to LA, hugging Kobe, tussling what's left of Mitch Kuptchek's hair, and taking back his job. I also know that few things can guarantee an event's occurrence better than the Larry Brown denial of aforementioned occurrence. Nevertheless, I really see Brown taking the Lakers position before Jackson does. Don't forget that Larry has lived in LA and been part of the city's basketball culture, having coached UCLA all the way to the NCAA championship game in 1979 (I think it was '79). Furthermore, the weather is a hell of lot nicer in LA than it is in midtown Manhattan, (since Brown grew up around here, we know that he knows that) and these sort of things matter to a guy in his late 60s who just had hip surgery.

More importantly, Jackson just left LA and wrote an entire book about how awful that last season was. Granted, Jackson seems like a megalomaniac and would probably write a trilogy of books containing his thoughts on the virtue of the double-knotting of shoelaces. Still, the mere fact that the Lakers want to bring him back does more for Jackson's cachet and reputation than anything else he could accomplish if he actually does go back. Having those guys come crawling back to him, begging his forgiveness for firing him, will do wonders for Jackson's ego. So obviously he isn't going to stop them from putting his name in the papers; each time an "unnamed source within the organization" floats his name to a reporter it gives Phil another I told ya so in the bank. Lastly, the best case scenario if Jackson goes back is that he turns the team around and in two seasons they win another title. Sounds good, right? Not really. Do you think Jackson really wants to legitimize Kobe as one of the all-time greats? Do you really think that he wants to let him within walking, or leaping, distance of the hallowed ground thus far only tread by Jackson's first love, MJ? I don't.

On the other hand, if Jackson comes to the Knicks he would actually have the chance to enhance his already mammoth reputation. The biggest knock against Jackson is that he has always coached guys who would make the First-Team All-Forever Squad; everyone (including the NY Knicker-Blogger) has at one point said something along the lines of

"Anyone could have won coaching Jordan."

or

"Hell, if I had Shaq and Kobe, I could coach that team blindfolded and high and still win at least one title."

For better or worse, the Knicks have no one on that level. This team gives Jackson a real chance to flex that brain of his that we all hear so much about. He would be able to give Bill Belichick a run for his money in the overrated, over-hyped coaching genius department. Also, coaching the Knicks would allow Jackson to take the job of his mentor and hero, Red Holzman. Jackson has long championed Holzman's place in the pantheon of greatest coaches.

Of course, coming to the Knicks carries with it the risk of sullying Jackson's pristine resume. This is a team that needs work, a lot of work, and someone as image conscious as Jackson would never let himself go out a loser. I don't know if the allure of having Holzman's job is enough to make him run the risk of it not working out on the biggest stage.

Now if we could figure out a way to trade Isiah and Bruno Sundov to the Lakers for the rights to Larry Brown's next erratic move, everyone would win, and Phil would have the time to get started on that shoelaces thing.

And onto the coaching news.....
NY Post: Knicks vs. Lakers for Phil; Post vs. News over Isiah; Vecsey
NY Newsday: Knicks over Lakers for Phil (I can't tell if it is good or bad to have Newsday agree with me)
Detroit News: Larry to stay, Isiah to LA
ESPN: Ric Bucher wants to watch while Phil and Kobe kiss

Ariza for Dunk Contest

The lone bright spot over the past few weeks has been the play, and more specifically the dunks, of Trevor Ariza. We need to get this kid entered in the slam dunk contest immediately. Someone track down Kenny "Sky" Walker and let's get the two of them working weekends to come up with something. I can't wait to see, and hear, Dikembe Mutumbo jump out of his seat and make the craziest Cookie Monster squeal when Ariza throws down All-Star weekend.

Rocky Mountain Low (or What Would Oakley Do?)

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.

NY Post: Worse than Ever
NY Daily News: Last Place

ESPN

WELCOME TO FEBRUARY!

January 2005 is officially over! Celebrate, bring on February on Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day, and hooray for Black History month! Good riddance to January, the worst month in the history of the New York Knicks.

Knicks vs. Clippers

This post was lost to the ether, as the NY Knicker-Blog short circuited when it was revealed that the inimitable Gerald Wilkens will be competing for his own show on ESPN. And you know what, I think it was a sign: from here on out, this game never happened.

Knicks vs. Cavs: A WIN!

Of course, the night that I sell my tickets they finally win. The past two games I've been to are lost at the buzzer, but tonight they go ahead and win.

Dos Billetas, Dos Billetas

It being a Friday night, the team in the midst of a Mets-esque freefall, and Lebron James sitting this one out with a bum wheel, I decided that I would rather not go to tonight's game. However, I'm still in possession of the two tickets that I had bought several months ago (on the first day tickets went on sale as a matter of fact) while under the clearly mistaken impression that this matchup would be an important one between two teams vying for the Eastern conference crown.

So, I asked around the office. No one was interested in the tickets. I asked my buddies. No one was interested in the tickets. I asked my brother. My brother asked his buddies. No one was interested. I put the tickets up for sale on Craigslist, and a few people seemed interested. However, when it came to arranging a time for them to buy the tickets, all of sudden, no one was really interested. As I left the office burdened by the extra weight of two tickets, it seemed there was only one available course of action. I would head over to the Garden and try to scalp the tickets. I didn't want to go the game. Still, I would rather go to the game by myself, inevitably spending another $50 on beer, temporary tattoos and novelty foam hands, than just let the money go entirely to waste. Not that I've ever sold tickets like this before, but how hard could it be...

Stepping onto the sidewalk at the corner of 33rd and Sixth the familiar chorus washes over me.

Need Tickets? Need Tickets for tonight's game? Need tickets?

It seems like this corner is taken, and, honestly, this has always struck me as a bad place for a scalper. I would never buy tickets an entire block away from the Garden. If I've learned anything from shopping with my mom (and to a lesser extent with my sister), it is that there could always be better deals ahead; never buy the first thing you see. I have the feeling that the guys selling outside the Manhattan Mall have been ostracized from the fraternity of impromptu ticket sellers for some unforgivable trespass. Trudging on through the slush I realize that I'm out of uniform if I'm hoping to join the army of scalpers: my jacket, while dark, is not puffy.

Arriving on the steps of Penn Plaza around 6:15 there is a light crowd milling about. Most of the scalpers congregate at the bottom of the stairs. Most of the teenagers too nervous to approach said scalpers pace around in attempts to look busy at the top of the stairs. Several of the scalpers ask me if I want to buy tickets. I decline. Apparently, I don't seem like competition. Being white, relatively young, and not the least bit intimidating I look more like the kids without tickets than the burly gentlemen selling them. I quickly decide that I need to use this to my advantage.

I move inside the Garden and head towards the ticket office. I find the long line, surprisingly long considering, people waiting to try to buy the last remaining tickets to tonight's game. The second half of the line is outside of the main box office area in the foyer where bags searched, where unsavory characters and attractive young women are frisked, and unnecessarily high-priced programs are sold by a guy old enough to have remembered when "Knickerbocker" was a topical reference. Unlike the area just outside this area has been cleared of competition by the purple-jacketed Garden staff. With a captive audience I go to the head of the line.

"I've got two tickets in the 300 level for face value. Anyone want two for face?"

A momentary silence, guys glance at girlfriends for approval, girlfriends look around for security, I look around for security....

"How much? Where are the seats?"

Two girls near the front of the line step forward and ask how much. I am asking for $70 each (face value plus all charges). They offer $60. They are smug and British, and tell me that I should take what I can get. I tell them that I've got plenty of time before tip-off and will come back if I don't get any better offers. Next up, some guy offers me $50 for the seats. I make my way towards the back of the line repeating my offer.

"I've got two 300 level tickets for face. Anyone, two for face?"

A young lady unhappy waiting in line drags her overwhelmed boyfriend out of line and towards me.

"Are these good seats?"

"They're in the 300 level, which ain't the top. They're pretty good. I like 'em"

"How much?"

"I'm just trying to get back what I paid for them, so $70 each."

The look at her boyfriend is as much a plea as it is a demand, but to no avail...

"Uh, I think that is a little bit more than I wanted to spend. Honey, I think we're going to just get the cheap seats."

I don't know who was more disappointed with this guy, me or his girlfriend. Regardless, there is another fella right behind him stepping up to inquire about the tickets. He walks up, stops about a foot in front of me, and just sorta stairs. I look at his girlfriend, she just looks back.

"No speak english. Speak Spanish?"

A smile crosses my face, and I decide this is too funny of situation to walk away from. Time to dust off the high school Spanish.

"Yo tengo dos bilettas para esta noche, setenta dolares"

The couple clearly enjoying my horrific spanish, seems grateful that I'm at least making an attempt to speak to them in their own language. They step out of the line and after about ten minutes of trying to communicate that it is $70 for each ticket, and this is, in fact, how much I paid for them, they buy the tickets for exactly $140. After pocketing the money, I attempt to wish them well, but by the looks on their faces did not succeed.

Knicks vs. Cavs: Knicker-Blogger Game Angles

you know the drill....
--The King and the Court: it's no secret that a lot of people bought tickets to tonight's game to see Lebron. Will he play despite injury? Will Jay-Z be disappointed at courtside if he doesn't?
--In the Knick of time: Will the return of Allan Houston and Penny Hardaway help stop the losing streak? How will they play? Will the crowd support them?
--Revenge Factor: all the numbers tell us that the Cavs should roll the Knicks tonight, but will the Knicks be extra (and by extra what I mean to say is "at all") motivated by the beatdown Cleveland handed them last time these two teams met?
--Battle of the Super-Subs: in my opinion the most exciting matchup of the game is between the Junkyard Dog and the brash Brazilian youngster Anderson Varejao. Who will hit the floor more? Who will take the greatest charge of the game?
--IS TONIGHT THE NIGHT?

Fantasy Rankings

FoxSports.com ranked the Top 200 players in the NBA according to their fantasy values. Here's how the Knicks (current and former) ranked:

Knicks
18. Steph
71. Nazr
82. K. Thomas
83. Jamal Crawford
105. Sweetney
148. Ariza
165. Timmy Thomas

notables
45. Camby
146. Lee Nailon
151. McDyess
153. Spree
180. Van Horn

There weren't any real surprises, as the upper echelon was made up of the usual suspects (sorry fantasy owners, but no hidden gems). And, of course, the top name on the list was a certain player, who doesn't need anyone else prostating themselves before him, from a certain team that will be visiting the Garden tonight.

No Knick with Knack for Leadership

Former New York Knick point guard and current basketball commentator, Greg Anthony has a column up on ESPN.com that dissects the Knicks utter lack of leadership.

Knicker-Blogger Fact of the Day

On Christmas day in 1960 the Knicks suffered their worst defeat ever, losing 162-100 to Syracuse.

As the Knicks current losing streak grows (possibly one day to become its very own Fact of the Day), it seems only appropiate to commemorate one of the team's most memorable losses.

AARP for Allan?

His ability to misdirect his opponents made him impossible to defend, and now it seems that Isiah Thomas is using that same ploy to hide his horrendous team up his sleeve. The Knicks are currently mired in a strech just as ugly as anything that happened under Layden's watch, their lack of effort is defenseless and their defense is clearly without effort, yet all anyone is talking about today is Allan Houston's retirement.

Isiah just happened to mention the possibility of Allan retiring sometime soon during a conference call with the media that was alleged to be about the return of Penny Hardaway to New York (he's been rehabbing in his hometown of Memphis) and hopefully to the court. Next thing you know, virtually every Knicks story in today's papers is about Houston.

Should stay or should he go? Is he selfish for staying, for trying to get back?

Meanwhile, where is the righteous indignation at the team's recent play? Where is the mob calling for Isiah's job? Who is questioning the effort of Brooklyn's golden child, Stephon Marbury?

NY Post: Retire Talk;

NY Daily News: Houston's Exit; Hou A Burden

*for those of you who didn't get the joke, AARP stands for the American Association of Retired People and this is the quasi-cult trying to convince your grandfather to take Viagra and never give up his driver's license.

DEE - FENSE(less)

Knicks pummelled by Suns, 133-118

Not satisfied with merely losing their seventh in a row, the Knicks made history last night. The 133 points scored by the Suns is the most allowed by any Knicks team since 1989! They allowed the Suns to sink a season-high 16 three pointers, which was good for all-time worst in the history of the franchise. Clearly, the Herb Williams Doctrine of Defense has yet to take hold. Instead they are just hoping that their plan of defending poorly and scoring less than the other team will eventually pan out.

Although the Knicks held a lead at the end of the first quarter it was clear that this was going to be a high scoring affair; it was inevitable that the Knicks couldn't keep that pace. Their only hope was that they could put the clamps on Richardson, who hit 7 three point shots, and Stoudemaire who was just too quick and too strong for our Kurt and Sweets.

The perimeter defense played by Marbury, Crawford, and company was just horrible. Given, the Suns make a ton of shots from distance, but 16 three-point goals is inexcusable. Marbury couldn't defend Nash of the dribble, and the defensive rotations along the perimeter couldn't have been slower if the teams had been playing at the bottom of the Hudson.

Nevertheless, with about 3 and a half minutes left Trevor Ariza provided a moment, albeit a brief one, of hope that they could pull this one out. After a great put-back dunk the Knicks were a few stops away from giving themselves a chance. However, they predictable couldn't get a stop when they needed one and the Suns regained their momentarily lost composure and pulled away.

It was during those brief moments of hope that the clearest sign of how far this team has fallen were revealed. When the Knicks needed a stop, Herb Williams brought in Jamison Brewer to defend Nash. While surprising and totally the right move at the time, it also showed that not even Steph's coach believes his claims to be the best point guard in the NBA (coincidentally, or not, the Knicks are something like 1-11 since he made those remarks). Steph hadn't been able to defend Nash off the dribble all night, and at times looked thoroughly overmatched on the defensive end of the floor. The final insult came when Nash drove, was turned away from the paint by a combination of Brewer's brawn and dreadlocks and then kicked the ball out to Quentin Richardson for another three. Marbury had been guarding Richardson. That basket sealed the loss.