Ahhh. Sorry I didn't recap last night guys, but I think watching "300" and an electrifying Knicks victory on the same night may have caused my immune system to implode. I'm still feeling like ass, but I did take some game notes for you last night. The Knicks didn't play their best basketball ever, but some good rebounding and last-minute grit allowed them to steal a close one away from Washington. Steve Francis, whose grandmother was sitting courtside, ran the length of the court and buried a buzzer-beater three to give the Knicks the one point victory. Here are my game notes:
- Actually, first, a little disclaimer. Possibly the only downside, for now, of this new blog is that pictures are a real bitch to put up. As you might know, I like to pepper my game notes with some silly photos. For now, though, it's gonna be relatively photo-free, because I'm still learning the rules about AP photos and the exact methods of posting them. Back to the game notes.
- It's about time that Eddy Curry really hurts someone. I'm not advocating outright dirty play, but someone needs to get bloodied by an elbow to the face. It has to happen.
- This trend wore off later in the game, but the Knicks look pretty dismal coming out of timeouts. They often end up with a bad shot or a turnover. It's as if Isiah isn't even drawing up plays.
- I think whistles cure Steve Francis' tendinitis. In the last two games, he's had at least 2 or 3 filthy dunks that came after a blown whistle. I'm gonna start the campaign right now: Steve Francis for Dead Ball MVP.
- On one of those aforementioned post-whistle dunks, Steve tore open a huge gash in his wrist. The refs didn't notice, even though he was gushing blood and needed medical attention, so he actually got to stay in the game a little while until stitches were finally needed.
- Why is Just For Men just for men? Don't women get gray hair?
- Clyde was on fire last night. He started some extended metaphor that behind the arc was "the suburbs" and in the paint was "the hood", and that Gilbert Arenas needed to get his ass back into the hood. Clyde might've been making a veiled comment about the NBA as a microchosm of American society. That or he's senile.
- More funny Clyde shit: The answer to the Nissan Trivia Question (Last time 3 teammates averaged 20+ ppg) was Run TMC. Clyde quickly went down the list of those three guys. "Chris Mullin is running that organization. Mitch Richmond works with the organization. Tim Hardaway is keeping his mouth shut."
- Entering the game in the second quarter, Mardy Collins momentarily forgot to take off his warmups. MC had a pretty solid game. I take back almost everything I said about him after bad losses.
- In that Ellen DeGeneres American Express commercial, the bird operating the typewriter with his beak is hilarious. That little guy gets me every time.
- During an MSG scoreboard graphic at the half, a shot of some highway in D.C. was shown in the background, and one car BLATANTLY cut off another car, nearly causing an accident. These are the kinds of things I notice.
- Chan OWNED the beginning of the third quarter. He had a gorgeous dish to Curry, a filthy one-handed reverse dunk (that caused Nate to fake-faint on the sideline), and a wet jumpshot to break the Wizards' momentum. Not a bad game for Mr. Frye.
- Clyde after Curry hit two free throws: "No hocus pocus, you can see Curry's focus." He then turned to Mike Crispino and said "YOU'RE TOO CLOSE MON!" and started strangling him.
- LOL moment: Brendan Haywood converted a putback dunk, and then celebrated all the way down the court, very pleased with himself. Unfortunately for Brendan, Curry RAN all the way down the court, and completed a wide-open alley oop in transition.
- OK. End of the game. It looked as if it was gonna be another night in which free throws did us in. The Knicks as a team were only 16-28, and both Jeffries and Francis missed important ones down the stretch. With 5 seconds left, however, Andray Blatche made one of two to give the Wiz a 2 point lead. With no timeouts, Francis raced down the court, spun around Antonio Daniels and STUCK a running 25 footer at the buzzer. And then jumped up on the scorer's table. And then gave Nate a piggy-back ride. And then kissed his grandma. While this was going, I opened the front door and bellowed "8TH SEED!!!!!" to the entire street. Yeah. It was an amazing finish. I'll try to get video of that in the upcoming days.
- Some Knick performances: Francis finished with 26 and 7 rebounds...Marbury shot poorly but had 15 and 5 assists...Mittens looked very solid, putting up 19 and 9. I was most impressed with Eddy's performance.