Knicks vs. Magic Leftovers

Good morning, parasnoopers. Last night's win over the Magic was a fine one, and I'd like to follow up my recap with a few extra notes, links, videos, and maybe a picture of an otter.

- First, an Atlantic Divison standings update, because it's getting close:

Mmhmm. Conference wise, the Knicks are now a game a and a half ahead of the Bucks and, obviously, a game behind seventh-seeded Philadelphia. They remain closer to the fourth seed than they are to the sixth.

- From Steve Popper:

Carmelo said afterward how impressive it is that Tyson Chandler is doing this with a fractured hand. Knicks quickly deny that. We'll see.

Hey now. So, either Carmelo Anthony is just strangely misinformed about Chandler's injury, or Chandler's more injured than we've been told (though a little fracture could be pretty minor) and is absolutely dominating anyway.

- I think I forgot to mention it last night, but there was a pretty important moment in the early third quarter in which Howard barreled into Chandler's chest and got called for a charge. They each had three fouls at that point, so the call going on Howard (who'd pick up his fifth later on) and not Chandler was pretty nice.

- When I say "dominating", I mean stuff like this. In related news, I would like to be fed to Tyson Chandler. It would be an honor.

- Toney Douglas was a big fan of the full-court pressure he and the Knicks played at the beginning of last night's fourth quarter. Noted.

- And whatever's working for Toney is worth repeating. He was an important factor last night, even before his high-scoring fourth quarter.

- Neat stat from Jonah Ballow: Not only are the Knicks 3-0 following losses in the Mike Woodson era, but they're rebounding HARD. They've won those bounce-back games (against Detroit, Cleveland, and Orlando) by an average of 18 points.

- A few videos from last night, beginning with some homemade footage of Iman Shumpert's big ol' putback dunk at the end of the first quarter:

- And here's a fairly silly and-one Melo had at the end of the second:

That's one from the "things Melo usually does with some regularity, but hadn't been doing until a few weeks ago" department. It's a pretty big department. They have their own floor.

- And here's Landry Fields mowing down referee Bill Kennedy, who ended up being fine. Note that, as with all bad things, this was Dwight Howard's fault.

- J.R. Smith's usual evening photo shoot caught Iman Shumpert in repose, eyes shaded, mouth agape and Carmelo Anthony throwing a substantial-looking pile of money down on the card table.

- Here's that otter. Be very quiet.

Yeah! 'Twas a wonderful game, and I hope to get more video up later on. In the meantime, the Knicks (and we) get two days off before a Sunday afternoon game against the Bulls. I guess we have to, like, do things on Friday and Saturday night?