Knicks vs. Wizards Leftovers

Last night's meeting between the Knicks and Wizards wasn't really a basketball game, so there aren't too many takeaways to be taken away, but you can see a few things and a few other things after the jump.

- Good job, Baron Davis! Baron played very nicely after the day off. The birthday boy drained his jumpers and drove into the paint for layups without collapsing or straining anything. We saw a couple horrid passes and one viscous posterization done unto Davis by John Wall, but Baron had a mostly positive evening. (By the way, check out Baron's splits with/without a day of rest. Not a great sample, but he has been better following a day off.)

- A weird number of Steve Novak's threes were actually twos, but he still hit 3-8 from behind the arc, including this one:

- I think the rest of this is just going to be nonsense if you don't mind. We begin with Clyde's introduction to Kevin Seraphin: "Last time we saw Seraphin he had his pants on backwards. He's come a long way."

- I didn't catch the full explanation for this, but I do know it had something to do with Clyde being a Southern Illinois alum. Whatever the case may be, I love it and I love Clyde and I love dogs.

- There were some very, very boisterous individuals sitting near the corner of the Wizards' end of the floor in the first half. Every time somebody attempted a three from the right corner, they'd shriek at 'em something fierce. By my count, the Wiz went 2-4 from that spot in the first half. Only Cartier Martin really appeared to be affected.

- I can't really mock it-- not after the type of play we've seen from the Knicks over the years-- but Washington's futility really was impressive. We saw shots that airballed by a matter of feet, shots off the side of the backboard, rebounds dropped out of bounds by two teammates running face-first into one another, and so, so many botched dribbles and passes. Even their successful possessions seemed accidental. Poor Wizards.

- There was a stretch of over twelve minutes in the second half during which the Wizards did not convert a field goal.

- Mike Breen went off on this really weird tangent about New York's coaching staff proclaiming that J.R. Smith has the strongest wrists on the team. I really don't know what to make of that.

- Thanks to those wrists, I suppose, Earl was really cookin' soup last night. He shot 9-15 and hit four of eight threes, which just makes perfect sense, considering the context.

- There was a 13-0 run by the Wizards in the second quarter. The Knicks had just stopped trying way too early in the game. This win could have set a record of some sort if not for that run.

- In a halftime interview with Jill Martin, the person they call "Swizz Beatz" (and he, a human adult, is totally okay with this) claimed that the Knicks had never lost a game that he attended. I never thought I'd say this, but can we get Swizz Beatz at more Knicks games just to test that out? Perhaps some courtside tickets for the playoffs? The bonus is that his sons are really good at doing dances.

- The Knicks are practicing today, so perhaps we'll hear more about Iman Shumpert's sprained ankle. It really didn't look like too, too bad of a turn, and he walked off the floor and stuff without vomiting. We shall see.

- Landry Fields quietly won a game of HORSE by swishing a floater from behind the backboard during a dead ball.

- Clyde's three dinner guests: Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and "the designer of the pyramids". This bro? As our friend mindfeck pointed out, that pyramid thing was totally the result of Baron Davis including King Tut among his choices.

- The Wizards did play some stretches of genuinely solid defense. And even when they didn't, they've got some mean shot-blockers. Seraphin and Jan Vesely fuckin' pied a few inside shots.

- Again, I'm surprised at our lack of sympathy, but Garden crowd chanted "FOR-TY SE-VEN" and "FOR-TY EEEEIGHT" when the Wizards had very few points in the fourth quarter. This confused Steve Novak to no end.

- My favorite moment came during Tina Cervasio's post-game interview with Baron Davis. She finished the interview with a "happy birthday, Baron!" and Baron responded with "happy birthday, everybody!". We are all Baron Davis.

- Ow.

- In a dual campaign to 1. be cruel and 2. make it seem like he makes zany misspoken errors all the time, Al Trautwig called them the "Washington Generals" after the game. Laaaame.

That's really it. The Knicks all played pretty well, and they more than handled a very bad team. Well done, all. More later.