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Good evening! The Knicks, if you can believe it, play another game tonight. They'll be without Carmelo Anthony and may or may not be without Tyson Chandler against the Blazers. LaMarcus Aldridge might not play, but Damian Lillard and a bunch of shooters might be all Portland needs to handle the Knicks. Without the ball being forced into a gimpy Melo and with a somewhat lesser opponent than the previous two, I hope the Knicks might be able to steal a road win. Shit, just making a game out of it would be a step up from this week's previous horrors.
But yo, all of that pales in comparison to the return of Raymond Felton. Melo's return to Denver last night was emotional and interesting, but two years after the trade, contrived to a certain extent. The vitriol Felton's about to get in Portland is REAL and it's going to make last night's Pepsi Center reception look like a standing ovation. They HATE Raymond. Look at Blazer's Edge right now. Look at this shit. And look at this! Ray's totally into it! This is terrific!
Portland fans have plenty of reason for their disdain-- Felton showed up to camp several radii out of shape and played very poorly last season (Edit: He was also pretty consistently a dick. I forgot that part.)-- but the degree to which he has been made the scapegoat and the mascot for mediocrity is remarkable. That's their thing, though. I won't begrudge Portland fans their spite. I just can't wait to see how Felton responds. Given Ray's disposition, I don't see this being any old game for him. There's no doubt he'll get lit up by Lillard, but will he have a big offensive night? I really, really, really hope so. I'm gonna be disappointed if we get anything other than a heedless chuck-fest from Felton tonight. It'd be amazing for him to go off for 30+ in front of a crowd that despises him and, honestly, equally amazing for him to go down in flames trying. Perhaps you differ, but the Knicks are too much of a mess right now for me to really get worked up about whether they win or lose. I love the penguin and all his foibles, and I'm ready for him to go Full Felton in Portland tonight.
As of right now, still no word on Chandler. I'll update when I see something. Tip-off's at 10:30, so a game thread should be up around 10. For now, feel free to comment along with the early games and tell us about what you ate for dinner.