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The New York Knicks made some serious progress on Sunday night in Portland. Did they win? Helllll no. They did something for more important -- they finally sat their hobbled superstar forward, Carmelo Anthony, for the entire second half of a 101-79 loss to the Trail Blazers.
The Knicks have now lost __ games in a row. Ten? Thirty? I'm not going to look it up. The important thing is that they keep it up. And sitting Melo was a good start.
So good hustle, guys. I look forward to many more Melo benchings to come. Please do not disappoint me.
Notes:
- The hook shot was not working for Cole Aldrich, who finished with 12 points on 16 shots. While that is far from ideal, he did fill up the stat sheet in other areas, with two assists, four steals, one block and 19 rebounds. Derek Fisher removed him with two minutes remaining and 20 boards within reach. In a related note, Derek Fisher is the goddamn devil.
- Pablo Prigioni just doesn't care anymore, which is simultaneously sad and understandable. He was launching threes from roughly half court towards the end of the game, which I have no real problem with.
- Nor did I have a problem with Quincy Acy chucking threes -- he took two and made them both. Acy is now 3-5 from beyond the arc this season. He's shooting 60 percent! That would be the best single-season three-point shooting performance in league history, as long as he starts taking about 10 triples a game from now until the end of the season in order to qualify. I'm rooting for Quincy to break J.R. Smith's team record for threes in a game on Wednesday against the Clippers.
- I got bored during the game and tried to put together a Quincy Acy diss track on Twitter:
"They call me Quincy, but I'm not the M.D. Bustas recognize we got more wins than Philly." -Quincy Acy diss track
— Joseph Flynn (@ChinaJoeFlynn) December 29, 2014
"You can block my jumper but you can't block the streets, I drop the rhymes and Jason Smith drops the beats." -Quincy Acy's diss track
— Joseph Flynn (@ChinaJoeFlynn) December 29, 2014
"I'm the NBA's number-one beard styler ...who once got traded for Jeremy Tyler." Quincy Acy diss track K, I'm done now. Sorry everyone.
— Joseph Flynn (@ChinaJoeFlynn) December 29, 2014
I stand by my work.
- Tim Hardaway fell down a great deal on defense -- getting leveled on screens, chasing after Wesley Matthews, etc. I guess that means he's trying harder???
- The Knicks gave up only 12 free throws to Portland. That was good, as it made the game go by quicker.
New York will play another West Coast game on Wednesday. As Walt Clyde Phraser so eloquently put it, there are 1000 ways the Knicks can (and will) lose out there. You can watch them play if you'd like; it's a free country.