(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The Knicks are contagious! Playing on their home floor, the Washington Wizards caught some New York Fever and played like the Knicks at their very ugliest. Leads were lost, mistakes were made, and the second unit may have even out-performed the starters. While Nate Robinson and friends got hot at just the right time, Washington squandered a late 7-point lead and completely collapsed in overtime. Game notes:
- The best way I can describe Clyde's shirt/tie combo is like a mint ice cream cone as viewed through a kaleidoscope.
- Good to see Zach is keeping with his mantra. When asked what the Knicks need, he replied "just W's. We need W's."
- Nate and Eddy have a very extensive, fairly girly handshake that they managed to do twice before tipoff.
- Andray Blatche doesn't really have a goatee. It's more like a pair of hair-horns on his chin. My guess is he's going for this.
- With 8:18 remaining in the second quarter, Jared Jeffries hit a jumper in the corner. In a marsh somewhere in the northeast, a hatching duckling suddenly stopped and returned to its egg.
- Someone please please please introduce David Lee to the pump fake.
- Randolph very nearly dunked in the second quarter. Off a nice dish from Nate, he finished at the basket and actually got his fingers above the rim. We're getting there.
- The Knicks help defense is sometimes comically bad. On one play, Deshawn Stevenson beat Crawford on the baseline. Randolph took a step towards him, pursed his lips and bent his knees like he was about to jump, and then abruptly dove in the other direction. Though completely wrong and ineffective, it was one of the more athletic things I've ever seen Z-Bo do.
- To be fair, Crawford needs to stop letting guys by him. Clyde makes a good point that at 6'5'' and with long arms and quick feet, there's no way Jamal should be beaten that badly on a regular basis.
- Theory: When Darius Songaila looks in one of those stretchy funhouse mirrors, he sees Oleksiy Pecherov.
- Clyde (with help from the production truck) called a Quentin Richardson putback a "Q-tip". Cute. Or should I say Qt.
- Richardson and/or Jeffries played very nice D on Antawn Jamison, but I'm still puzzled at the dinoplacode (if you haven't been around since the YourNYK days, dinoplacode is my sweet abbreviation for DId NOt PLAy: COach's DEcision. Go ahead and google it. DNP-CD is lame.) for Renaldo Balkman. Let Humpty spin.
- Fred Jones, a former slam dunk champion, bricked a wide open dunk attempt in the third quarter.
- I don't know if I've mentioned him before, but there's a guy on my floor who comes into my room all the time to talk to my roommate. Invariably, I'm watching the Knicks and he stops to ask 75 to 100 questions about the game. Some of tonight's inquiries: "How many points is a half-court shot?", "Are there any Asian players in the NBA?", and "Is this a playoff game?".
- MSG showed a very elderly white dude in the crowd performing a dance that involved a higher quantity and quality of pelvic thrusting than I've ever seen. Clyde's reaction was the best: "I'd like to know what his diet consists of."
- The fourth quarter comeback was great for one reason: driving to the hole and drawing fouls. That's how you do it.
- With 19 seconds left in a tie game and with one defensive stop needed to force overtime, the Knicks took a timeout and did what any mature team does: yell, splash one another with water, and throw towels. Nate, Q, and Zach got into some sort of shouting match in the huddle that ended with Randolph splashing water on Nate and Nate responding with a thrown towel. Said Robinson of the incident, "But he started it!".
- As SML noted in the game thread, Antonio Daniels' play on the final possession was eerily reminiscent of Jamal Crawford. He dribbled out about 14 of the 19 seconds and then heaved up a long, off-balance 2-pointer that bricked badly. If it wasn't before, this is now called "pulling a Crawford."
- In overtime, the Wiz were at their absolute Knicks-iest. They couldn't defend the pick-and-roll (or anything for that matter) and the Knicks were 6-6 from the field in the extra session, including a couple easy dunks by Lee and at least one wide-open three-pointer. One of those 6 field goals was an ill-advised Jamal Crawford three (from the tittie) early in the shot clock. To quote Mike Breen, "Why would you shoot--oh." Yeah. Shit was just falling in overtime.
- His D was shabby, but Randolph was hot, shooting 9-18 from the field for 24 points and 10 boards.
- Ditto Lee, who finished with 19 (7-8) and 7 rebounds (and 2 steals, but don't be fooled).
- Eddy Curry: 15 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 0 smiles.
- Nate was a cold from the field until the very end (5-13), but played pesky defense, hustled quite a bit, and put up a very nice line with 19 points, 5 assists, and 8(!) boards.
- Player of the game goes to Quentin Richardson, who put up a throwback performance. He played frustrating D on the difficult Jamison and shot 6-12 from the field, including 3-7 from downtown, to finish 19 points and 6 boards.