The Bluecheese Wonder Room: 2/14 - 2/22

Goodbye Metta World Peace. In a crazy week that saw Tim Hardaway and Carmelo Anthony put up incredible scoring performances over All-Star Weekend and Iman Shumpert and Raymond Felton somehow remain with the Knicks past the trade deadline, Metta's departure stands out as an unquestionable lowlight. After all, this is a man who gave us the headline Metta World Peace's favorite meal is beans. It's fitting that Metta's final game as a Knick came against the Magic, considering the highlight of his Knicks career: On December 6, 2013 World Peace was a +39 in the Knicks 121-83 win over the Magic, the highest +/- by a reserve in Knicks history! We'll miss you in New York, Metta. Please don't sign with the Heat.

Player of the Week - Carmelo Anthony

I'm a very selfish person. Over the past couple of weeks I've seen numerous comments begging Melo to leave because we all know he deserves to get away from Dolan's toxicity. But I'm going to ask the exact opposite. Please, please, please stay! Unlike Melo, I can't just sign a $100 million contract and suddenly be free of the Knicks. I'm stuck with this team for life. This year has been an unmitigated disaster, but watching Anthony play has been one of the few bright spots. I just don't think I'd be able to handle him draining 16-footers for another team while the Knicks circle the drain for the next decade.

Carmelo began the week by scoring 30 in the All-Star game, while setting a record with 8 three pointers made. Then came the brutal 4 games in 5 nights post-All Star Break stretch, in which he averaged 35.8 PPG and 7.5 RPG, while shooting 51% from the field. In the process, he became the first Knick with 42+ points in consecutive games since Bernard King in 1984. Most impressive of all, with a jumper early in the fourth quarter against Memphis, Anthony passed Eddie Johnson to move into the top 50 on the all-time scoring list. If he maintains his 27.9 PPG over the final 25 games of this season, it'll put him at 20,024 career points. If we do happen to fall out of the playoff chase, and sadly it's looking more likely every day, maybe Melo's chase for 20,000 points can give us a bit of excitement.

Opposing Player of the Week - Mike Scott

On December 1^st, Ryan Anderson was 7-11 from three point range en route to 31 points. Just under two weeks later, Louis Williams shot 6-13 for three in a 27 point effort. Two days after that, it was Martell Webster's turn. He shot 6-8 from downtown and scored 30. A little less than two months later, Jimmer Fredette came to the Garden and buried 6-8 triples as part of a career-high 24 point night. Finally on Saturday, it was Mike Scott's turn to go nuts, as he went 6-7 from three and scored a career-high 30 points. If I still remember basic math, that means that this season, the Knicks have allowed five separate bench players to hit six three-pointers in one game. Before this year, they had never allowed more than two players to do that in a season. In fact, it hadn't even been done against the Knicks by a player not named Alan Anderson in five years, when our old friend Steve Novak hit six threes for the Clippers. Do we have an acronym for allowing bench players to hit a bunch of threes in one game? (Uhhh...Knicks' Inferior Defense Allows Second-Stringer A Lot Of Threes? KIDASSALOT? -Seth)

Tim Hardaway Jr. is better than his father and Kobe Bryant

Tim Hardaway Sr. had a great rookie season. He averaged 14.7 points and 8.7 assists en route to a spot on the All-Rookie first team. On January 8, 1990, he had an incredible triple-double, with 19 points, 19 assists, and 10 rebounds. Kobe Bryant's rookie year wasn't quite as good, but he did have a few highlights, as he won the slam dunk contest and set a then-record with 31 points in the rookie game. Yet despite these performances, both men have been outshined by a young Knicks guard. With 36 points in New Orleans last Friday night, Tim Hardaway Jr. had more points in one rookie game performance than Kobe Bryant and Tim Hardaway Sr. combined!

Bluecheese's Rambling Stat of the Week - (WARNING! May not end in a coherent thought)

Tyson Chandler had 23 rebounds in the Knicks loss to the Hawks on Saturday night. The last Knick with at least 23 boards was Chandler, when he had 28 on February 27, 2013. Stephen Curry scored 54 points against the Knicks that night, while playing all 48 minutes. The last player before Curry to play all 48 minutes and score at least 54 points in a loss was Lebron James on March 20, 2005. The opponent's leading scorer in that game was Jalen Rose with 30 points. Rose and his father, Jimmy Walker, are 1 of 3 father-son duos to score 30 points in a game against the Knicks, the other 2 being Dell and Stephen Curry and Mike Dunleavy Sr. and Jr. (who else?). Mike Dunleavy Sr. made the NBA Finals as a rookie coach in 1991, where his Lakers lost to Michael Jordan and the Bulls. Jordan is one of three NBA players to score at least 54 points as an opponent in the current MSG, the other two being Stephen Curry and Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant scored 58 points on December 29, 2006, the last NBA game in which one player scored at least 50 points and another had at least 25 rebounds until February 27, 2013, when Curry had 54 and Chandler had 28, when he became the last Knick with 23+ bounds in a game...until he did it again on Saturday!

Last Week in Jared Jeffries History

On February 18, 2010 the Jeffries was traded from the Knicks to the Rockets as part of a three-team deal the netted the Knicks Tracy McGrady and Sergio Rodriguez. Those two paid dividends immediately. In his second game as a Knick, Rodriguez had 8 steals, becoming the first Knick was that many in a game since Chris McNealy in March 1986. Meanwhile, T-Mac scored 26 points in his debut and had the Garden crowd chanting his name. It was short-lived, but for a brief moment, it seemed like Rodriguez and McGrady could help lead the Knicks back from the brink of despair for the first time in years.

Last Week in Jared Jeffries Shot Tracker History

The Knicks Did it First

There were a few non-Knicks stats that would have been fairly impressive last week, had the Knicks not accomplished them first:

1. On Saturday, Anthony Morrow was 7-8 from the field, including 3-3 from three point range, for 18 points in the Pelicans 94-93 loss at Washington. The last two people before Morrow with those exact numbers in a road game: Landry Fields, in a win in Atlanta on April 22, 2012, and Charlie Ward, in a win in Toronto on January 17, 1998, both as members of the Knicks.

2. On Friday, Anthony Tolliver was 3-3 from the field, all of which were three pointers, in 17 minutes played, in the Bobcats 90-87 win over the Pelicans. The last player before Tolliver to go 3-3 from the field, all three pointers, while playing no more than 17 minutes in a win: Steve Novak, who did it in 15 minutes in a 95-82 victory over the Hawks on April 3, 2013.

3. On Thursday, the Heat played their 53^rd game of the season, beating the Thunder in Oklahoma City 103-81. The last team before Miami to win by exactly 22 on the road in their 53^rd game of the season: the '96-'97 Knicks, who beat the Kings in Sacramento 109-87. Like this year's Heat team, after 53 games the '96-'97 Knicks were also 39-14.

4. On Wednesday, Kevin Love had 42 points and 16 rebounds to a 104-91 win over the Pacers. The last two times a player before Love had exactly 42 & 16 in one game: January 13, 1994 and January 10, 1991, both times by Patrick Ewing.

5. On Tuesday, the Cavaliers beat the 76ers 114-85. The last Eastern team before Cleveland to win 114-85 on the road: the Knicks, who beat the Providence Steam Rollers by that score on December 6, 1947. The Knicks were led that night by Carl Braun, who scored 47 points.

Movie of the Week - Space Jam

This week ranked among the more difficult ones. The win over New Orleans was nice, but it was surrounded by bad losses to Memphis, Orlando, and Atlanta. Metta and Beno are gone, while Woodson and Felton somehow managed to stick around. But worst of all was the news that there was a Space Jam 2 starring Lebron James in the works. Fortunately, the rumor was debunked and we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Since we all spend approximately 10 hours a week watching nightmarish Knicks games, I think every one of us could use some entertainment. Here is a list of my 53 favorite movies (in alphabetical order). I hope you refer to this list when deciding what to watch when you're not tearing your eyes out watching inept basketball.

21 Grams, The 40 Year Old Virgin, American Beauty, American History X, Anchorman, Anchorman 2, Animal House, Batman Begins, Battle Royale, Bicycle Thieves, Borat, Caddyshack, Casablanca, Casino Royale, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Die Hard, Donnie Darko, Dumb & Dumber, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fargo. Fight Club, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Goodfellas, Gravity, The Hangover, Hotel Rwanda, The Impossible, Inception, Inglourious Basterds, Léon: The Professional, The Lion King, Lost in Translation, The Matrix, Mulholland Dr., Pan's Labyrinth, Psycho, Pulp Fiction, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, Schindler's List, Se7en, The Shawshank Redemption, The Silence of the Lambs, Space Jam, True Romance, Twelve Monkeys, The Usual Suspects, V for Vendetta, Winter's Bone, Zero Dark Thirty.