AP Photo/Seth Wenig
The Knicks showed moments of promise, but ultimately fell to a superior Mavs team tonight at the Garden. New York kept pace with Dallas in the first half, but their awful shooting from the field (.359) and the free throw line (15-30) sunk them against the composed Mavericks. Game notes:
- I forgot to mention this at the time, but when I was at the Sonics game a couple weeks ago, I went to get a hot dog at halftime. Waiting on line, a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Hey, have you been here before?" I wasn't sure if he meant the Garden, New York, America, Earth, whatever, but responded in the affirmative. We then had this exchange:
Him:"What's a nish?"
Weird exchange. I don't think he opted for the knish, either, so I didn't really sell it enough. Oh well.Me:"A nish?"
"Yeah. Nish...Knish?"
"Ohhh, a knish. It's like...a fried potato thing."
"What connection does it have to a footlong hot dog?"
"What?"
Well, it's sold with a footlong"
"Oh, I dunno...they're both good?"
"Ok. Whatever."
- OK. Back to tonight's game. Avery Johnson is hilarious.They showed an interview with him before the game and it came off like an SNL skit. It's just hard not to laugh at his expressions and speech. He's like a cartoon character.I do a pretty good Avery Johnson impression.
- I don't really understand how the Knicks stayed in it during the first half. I guess it must've been their good offensive rebounding and lack of turnovers, but the interior defense was terrible and they couldn't get anything to go on offense. Nonetheless, the Knicks trailed by only 3 at halftime.
- Balkman, Jeffries, and Curry were all getting good looks, but just couldn't get a friendly bounce or soft roll. The good thing is that they were all fairly active. Humpty had a couple of steals with his 10 bounds, Jeffries had 9 boards, and Curry pulled down an uncharacteristic 12 himself. I was most impressed with Eddy. Even though his shots weren't falling, he stayed aggressive, got on the boards, and got to the line (where he shot 4-12 but what are you gonna do).
- Everything Carlos Mencia does makes me wanna eat my own arm.
WHY!?
- In the second quarter, Clyde did some shilling and killing (made that one up myself!) and commented that Mark Cuban could use some "Just For Men".
- Isn't it weird that someday Nate Robinson is going to be a grizzled veteran?
- Marbury's got a little stubble going. He could pull off a beard, I think.
- Some more hurtin' in this game. Channing took a Devin Harris thumb to the eye (and everyone knows that Harris has some sharp thumbs). The thing swelled up and Chan sat the rest of the game. A scarier moment came when Marbury scrambled for a loose ball in the fourth quarter and appeared to hurt some part of his neck/shoulder region. He was clearly in quite a bit of pain. We may be hearing more about that one tomorrow.
- At the halftime buzzer, Humpty threw a full-court heave that drilled the camera above the backboard. That camera got JACKED UP. I enjoyed that way too much.
- Jason Terry's little jet flight celebration makes me wanna eat my other arm. If I ever run into Terry and Mencia at the same time, I might not be able to do the blog anymore.
- Why is Avery Johnson's tongue blue? I think he's a reptile.
- MSG did a quick montage of all the celebrities in the house. Here's a recap of my internal monologue from that sequence:
"Steve Schrippa...Ooh Robert Randolph!...Billy Baldwin, LOL....Oh, Happy birthday, Spike! I didn't know he was 50 years old. He looks a bit youn---HOLY SHIT. NATALIE PORTMAN. GOOD LORD."
Yeah. That made the game worth it. I'm embarassed that the Knicks lost in her presence, though. - In the fourth quarter, Clyde was doing a little preview of the Portland game, and mentioned that Brandon Roy is "very ambidextrous." How exactly can one be "very" ambidextrous? Can Roy shoot with his feet?
- I'm sure I've said nice shit about him in the heat of the moment (the Washington game), but let it be known that Steve Francis is dead to me. I love all my Knicks, but Steve does very few positive things on the court.
