Game Preview: Knicks at Hornets- 1/28/2020

The games keep on coming and the soft focus will narrow. Every terrifying question became a distinct possibility on Sunday. A distant what if burst into a chaotic what now. The immediacy of now of course means there is a game to play.

For me all Sunday I was just reading and reminiscing on Kobe. Nothing broke from the time i found out until my dog sheepishly asked for dinner. It had gone long past her 5:00 witching hour. The game was about to start I suppose.

She had been very patient with me. She gently pawed my cheek and stretched with her paws using my hip as a post. Then erupted with joy when I said, “come on”. Spinning and bouncing. I noticed her impressive four way footwork to get downstairs to the bowl. Each step a masterclass in efficient, swift and powerful movement. No wasted step or motion. Tapping the cupboard with her nose where we keep the kibbles and elegantly bounding backward, poised into an anticipatory crouch. Nose the dish in case I forgot where to put it. She gets three scoops, she always noses my leg assertively between scoop two and three. It’s her free throw routine.

Projected Starters

After such an immense and abrupt loss in the NBA family, it’s perfectly reasonable for anyone to sit out for personal reasons. I’ve seen it suggested elsewhere, but I truly believe the NBA needs to drop a game from the schedule for each team this year. Representing the historical 81 points Kobe tactically assessed to the Raptors.

The basketball world stopped when it heard the tragic news. Poetic license is there for the taking. Kobe was nothing if not maniacally precise. I hope this symmetry is obeyed.

Keys & Predictions

If the players minds are somewhere else tonight, you simply cannot blame them. I was shocked that they were able to summon the strength on Sunday. Nevertheless, taking to the courts and playing your troubles away sounds cathartic.

With that, call on your Mamba powers to guide you. Be your absolute best self and do not, under any circumstances, settle for a marginally lesser being. Lay it all on the line for the legend.

Knicks by 61.

Warm Up Music

I’m sure you’re already scoping out the courts and scheming on how to give the cosmos buckets. We’ll feel your galactic pull for several generations that have yet to spin on this blue green rock.

Rest easy Gigi and Kobe. Alyssa, John and Keri Altobelli. Payton and Sarah Chester. Ara Zaboyan. Christina Mauser. Whatever this life is, it’s effects can be stultifying. Live fully, everyone. Celebrate the lives you hold dearest, be their champion. Help raise the next generations up to have love and kindness in their hearts. It’s our only salvation and purpose.