This post is sponsored by T-Mobile.
As I mentioned at the outset, part of the fresh sponsorship will be a new weekly feature called "T-Mobile Player of the Week" in which we look back at the week that was and pick the Knicks' best performer. I'll usually run these on Mondays, but waited to make sure the sponsorship was full steam ahead to post this. It is, and there are plenty of ticket contests to come, including another easy one (since we missed a chance to predict leading scorers) for Knicks-Lakers tickets.
Anyway, the Knicks were fairly busy this week, going 2-2 over four games (I'm not including the 1/11 loss to the Thunder, because this post will usually run on Mondays and that game sucked). During a stretch when the Knicks hit a few snags, David Lee would be my choice for best of the bunch. Check out Lee's last 4 games:
| Jan 18 | vs. DET | W 99 - 91 | 35 | 4 - 10 | 0 - 0 | 3 - 3 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| Jan 16 | @ DET | L 90 - 94 | 46 | 9 - 19 | 0 - 0 | 8 - 8 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 26 |
| Jan 15 | vs. TOR | L 104 - 112 | 48 | 11 - 22 | 0 - 0 | 3 - 5 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 25 |
| Jan 13 | @ PHI | W 93 - 92 | 45 | 10 - 20 | 0 - 0 | 4 - 6 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 24 |
Sure, that's sub-50% shooting for a guy who's in the top 10 in field goal percentage, but Lee was still offensively solid, at least through three games. In Philadelphia, Dave made up for a tough shooting night by nailing a mid-range jumper in the final minute and hitting a tough right-handed layup to win the game. Though he continued to shoot below his usual clip on Friday and Saturday, Lee flirted with his first career triple-double twice, notching 25, 14, and 9 against the Raptors and 26, 17, and 9 in Detroit. While the shots still weren't falling yesterday, Lee's 15 rebounds and 5 assists were crucial in the Knicks' MLK Day win against the Raptors.
Really, though, Lee gets the award for earning one of the best technical fouls in recent memory. After Andrea Bargnani followed a few scores with rather demonstrative celebrations, Lee got a bit frustrated and flailed out his feelings.
Ladies and gentlemen, your T-Mobile Player of the Week.