SummerHornets 82, SummerKnicks 79

Hey team, whats crappenin'? I had a bad feeling going into this game, and the SummerKnicks didn't disappoint to disappoint. There was something about that flat effort the SummerHornets put forth and the drubbing we gave them on Monday. I just didn't expect the Hornies to feel like they weren't disrespected. Thirsting for revenge apparently suits a total dirtbomb like PJ Hairston, and sadly our pure and virtuous youngsters couldn't persevere.

-Tim Hardaway Jr had some moments both beautiful and hideous shooting the ball. He took the very first shot of the game and airballed it by some 3-square feet. A few possessions later he tossed up another stinking air biscuit. He played the two middle quarters mostly cleanly, if occasionally overzealous, and bookended those early air buds with one more fetid air born monstrosity with just over 2 minutes left that kinda made the Horndogs' 10-point lead too much to overcome.

-In those middle quarters Tim worked a little more within the flow, knowing when to take control and when to get others involved. He still thought to shoot first (and fast), and had a little tete-a-tete with Coach Fisher about it late in the second quarter after going rogue and trying to blast his way through the entire Charlotte defense three times in 20 seconds.

-Tim also got involved in a perceived violation of human rights with the dark cloud of PJ Hairston midway through the second. On a baseline out of bounds play, Hardaway power dribbled into Angry Hairston shoulder first, and Angry went flailing 10 feet backward. Despite getting the call, Hairston mocked the official for finally giving him a call. More like whine-ally, am I right? Tim trailed the referee for a moment, allowed him to talk with the scorer's table, and then politely queried the kind fellow about this play. If thats not veteran savvy, your name's not Steve Javie. A few plays later, Hardaway got the benefit of the doubt for an and-1 (on none other than PJ Hairston) to tie the game after being down by as much as 15.

-Jeremy Tyler was heavily involved in this game, logging 26 minutes, and was a bungling fool for the most part. In a set of sequences early in the game, Tyler clunked a dribble pull up 19-footer, fouled a 3-point shooter, fell on his tuchus like a giant toddler with the ball in his hands (though miraculously got an assist), then moved a screen right through some fool. Later in the game he couldn't let Jordan Henriquez grab a board alone, so he leapt into action. As they lost control, Jeremy saved the ball underneath the basket. Luckily Shane Larkin came out of nowhere to snare the ball away from the Hornet that was probably about to ram on Jeremy's lazy mug.

-Tyler seems to have mostly lost track of what the triangle wants him to get done. He still feigns the passes off the initial cuts and sort of follows the action, but generally lets it float by him and settles for wild spinning drives or 17 foot wing pull ups. That don't work. Learning the triangle is very much about self discipline, and you gotta wonder what Jeremy needs to spur him on that path.

-I "fell asleep" for two minutes in the first quarter 'cus my dog slammed her body into me and forced me to swing around into a cuddle to assume any sort of comfort. She probably wanted to shield my eyes from the atrocities the bench Knicks were about to vomit onto the Thomas and Mack Center floor.

-Langston Galloway was pretty bad at everything, except getting his dunk attempt thrown in reverse.

-Thanasis Antetokounmpo played the least inspired game we've yet to see from the kid. Got in and pretty instantly lost his man on a back door cut for a baseline jam. Clanked some open threes. A negative 15 plus/minus. Not a great 6 minutes for the kid.

-Jordan Henriquez kinda looks like all three villains in Superman 2 smushed together.

-Shannon Brown was possibly the most annoying Summer Knick of the day for my purposes. Maybe he didn't like the way his teammates were reading the defense, but Shannon was definitely out to get his. Repeatedly refusing to swing the ball on a stymied sequence, then calling for a high screen, or just driving recklessly toward the hoop. Maybe he can score on these Summer Leaguers, but that wild nonsense does not justify a roster spot!

-I liked these notes I took on a Charlotte player, and will reprint them for you exactly as they were written:

some stinky charlotte big man starts off the quarter taking 5 steps on his way to the hoop and is given an and-1. shameful.

same stinky guy sets a wild moving screen clean thru galloway and then throws his elbows all over the place and gets another and-1

I'm sure he smelled like Selson Blue and Irish Spring. But they don't sponsor me. Thusly he is just some stinky guy.

-Since we're talking about Charlotte now, I wish Jamie Skeen all the best. Really like that guy!

-Mitch McConnell drilled a Dirkly one-footed triple near the end of the half, and I was just like: Of fuckin course, man. Shane Larkin kind of matched that shot in the fourth quarter as time expired. All for naught, sadly.

At halftime i read this:

Hey Knicks twitter! Was just at a discussion of harassment of women online & want to give you props for being lady-friendly always.

— China (@chiniqua) July 19, 2014

-In the third quarter, PJ Hairston (aka the Human Dirt Crusted Elbow), decided to fake all types of funk. First he pretended to need to hop over the scorer's table to "save" a loose ball. Next he elected to dive on a loose ball he could have just as easily walked up to and bent down to pick up. Later Samuel got a pretty nice dunk, and proceeded to aggressively jam his shoulder into Tim Hardaway Jr. purposely knocking him to the floor for the second time in the quarter. Thankfully Ewing gave him the hook for that.

-Did I say hook? Noah Vonleh basically sealed the deal for the Hornets with two pretty left hand hook shots down the stretch. Lots of tools, not much of a handle on them. That kid has potential.

-The guy who made the most noise through it all was our own Shane Larkin. Watching this guy is like a wild game of pinball, where everything is going pretty good, and then you get an extra ball, and then you get the multi-ball! Larkin really just plays with such momentum, and it happens on both sides of the floor! He's really been a pleasure for the SummerKnicks! As Clyde said in the pregame, "The precocious neophyte has been a delight!"

-Shane had some wonderful highlights, bouncing around and streaking into passing lanes and creating havoc. Nailing threes, penetrating and dishing. Even Prigioni'd an inbounds after a basket late in the game. Hometown crowd is gonna love this kid.

-Cleanthony Early played wonderful ball, and dunked all over Samuel Peterson Hairston's fat head, and I think thats where we should leave it.

All in all, the Knicks starters were an effective group, but they had to dig the team out of one too many holes, and just ran out of steam at the end. Lots of luck to those who aren't going to make the regular season roster. Hopefully we can hear from some of them in Westchester.