Friday, December 21, 2007

It's Alive: Knicks versus Bobcats in real-time

Preamble: It's a Friday night. It's the start of the holiday break for students and white collar workers alike. And, I'm sitting at my desk with the television on ready to live-blog the Knicks/Bobcats tilt getting set to tip off in Charlotte.

The Knicks are coming off their most impressive win of the season (it is more impressive than the home win against Denver because of all that has transpired since then) against the reigning EC champs, the Cavs. David Lee was dominant. He put up 17 in the first half off the bench and finished with 22/11. Q actually made all those shots that he is force fed in the early going. Nate actually saw some playing time and comported himself well. And, of course Jamal scored some points. Win or lose, that kid will score some points. Waking up the morning after that game the questions abounded for both teams. Was this a significant win for the Knicks? Was this a significant loss for the Cavs? Or was this just a largely meaningless regular season NBA game? For their part, the Cavs assuaged some concerns last night be beating the Lakers in a game where Lebron contained Kobe in the fourth quarter.

Now, it's the Knicks turn. This team hasn't won a game more than 20 miles from the Garden. They are 1-9 on the road with their only road victory coming at the Nets in NJ.

1st Quarter

Tip-Off: And, we're off. Bobcats control.

The B'cats are all springs and speed and the Knicks are all cotton balls and bricks so far. It is amazing how complacent this team can look in the early going of games. Whether after the big loss against the Celtics a few weeks back or after the big win against the Cavs the other night, both games were followed up with sluggish first quarters. They are clearly not mentally prepared when they take the floor.

And, yes, David Lee is on the bench. Nazr Mohammed and Okafor each have offensive rebounds already.

Jamal Crawford has gotten the Knicks to the first timeout with a one-point lead thanks to 9 quick points in the early going.

20-19

The teams are just trading baskets right now. Defense amounts to defensive rebounding, which the Knicks aren't doing. I probably feel good about a just trading buckets because we've got better shot-makers. But they are getting too many offensive boards for that to really work out in our favor. We are trading buckets but they're getting two shots for our one per trip.

Ah, David Lee finally checks in with about 3 to go in the quarter.

And, the Bobcats counter by bringing in their white guy, Matt Carroll of Notre Dame.

Okafor is calling for the ball inside. The B'cats have several straight buckets in the paint and lead 22-30. In other words, things are going right to script. It's so frustrating watching teams attack us this way so consistently. It's like being a fan of the Major League version of the Indians and watching pitchers just throw curve after curve to Cerrano. Or, actually it is like watching the Cardinals throw curves to the 2006 Mets in the playoffs.

Jared Dudley checks in, finally, with about 30 seconds left in the 1st!

2nd Quarter

Dudley, the rookie out of Boston College who looks soft but plays harder than most, starts the second and hits a bucket to give the B'cats a 24-36 lead.

28-42

Yup, it's happening again. One-dimensional jump shooters (Matt Carroll) are killing us because the Knicks can't seem to rotate on defense or cover the open man. Meanwhile, the B'cats bigs are 8-12 and Gerald Wallace and Jason Richardson are quietly working towards their averages.

Jeff McInnis is popping (and hitting) jumpshots early, early in the shot clock. Jason Richardson is trying to posterize Curry (who thankfully fouled him) and Isiah is subbing 4 at a time. Thankfully he went with the pull everyone but Lee strategy.

There is house-bottle of "Christmas" whiskey downstairs and a reason to drink up here. This "live-blog" could be short-lived.

Insult/Injury = Knicks missing easy shots/Nazr cleaning up the glass with 8 early boards.

Salt in wound (from previous overstylized metaphor) = Nazr quick turnaround jump shot over Curry. Nazr has 8 and 8.

31-49

With about 3 left in the half the only important question is whether or not the Knicks fall behind by 20. There are such things as moral victories.

36-58

There are also actual, literal losses. The Knicks already have many of these.

So, Isiah predictably calls a timeout after the lead balloons to 22. And, then the best part of the night occurred. MSG goes to commercial and their is Alien versus Predator commercial that has David Lee offering some commentary. His money is on the Predator.

Halftime: 44-67
Gus Johnson informs me (and the other seventeen folks watching) that this is the worst defensive half of the Knicks very, very bad defensive season. They gave up 67 points. I guess I'm taking Alien. Sorry. David.

3rd Quarter

"That's the advantage he has in the matchup. Nazr can face the basket and hit a bucket. Eddy can't do that."
-John Andriese on the ways in which "The Franchise" pales in comparison to a journeyman center.

44-70

Q just got pulled from the game and started jawing at Isiah as he walked over to the bench. He was clearly angry and letting his coach hear it. In a less than respectful manner. Isiah got up to walk down to Q at the end of the bench and Herb was quickly up to stay between them lest this encounter get any friskier.

And, with the Knicks in Nate Robinson and Fred Jones Survival Mode (NRFJSM is where these guys just try to keep scoring to keep the route from being too embarrassing) there is no sign of David Lee and we're about halfway through the third quarter. Isiah seems bent on alienating every single one of his players but Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph.

51-75

There was a time a few seasons back when I was campaigning hard for Nazr to be a reserve on the All-Star team. His knifing-through-the-lane finger roll makes me remember that. He's got a double-double already.

David Lee finally checks in with less than four to play in the third. He's in for Zach Randolph who just picked up another foul. Would he have come in at all if Randolph had stayed foul free? Why are we even conserving fouls at this point?

Lee has a putback dunk that gets the score under 20. It's Lee's first bucket. Of course, the Bobcats score immediately to put them back above the twenty-point threshold.

62-83

4th Quarter

The Knicks are down 19 to start the fourth. They real question is whether they lose by 27 or by 9? They third unit, lead by Nate, has brought some life to the squad. Losing by 9 is actually a possibility!

77-90

OK. They're two buckets and two stops from being right back in this game. 4 plays. They're also four plays from being down and out in another laugher.

77-94

The Bobcats make two plays. Their lead is comfortable again considering there is less than five to play yet they've got the starters on the floor. The Knicks have Malik Rose on the floor.

But the Knicks do have Nate Robinson out there with Malik. He grabs a defensive rebound, flies down the floor and hits a three. It's a ten point game. With three and a half to play.

84-94

Nate flies down the floor and gets fouled going to the hole. He's got the team on his shoulders right now. He misses both free throws and we're all reminded that Nate's shoulders aren't that wide. He's actually kind of small. Still, he's the best we've got right now. He's got 20 points in 26 minutes. Meanwhile, Curry, Randolph and Q are all on the bench.

Whenever a team is trying to come back late in a game I always remember something I heard Reggie Miller say many years ago when he was the best endgame player around not named MJ. He said that if a team could just cut the deficit to six points at the two-minute mark that they were on pace to come all the way back. For whatever reason I have always believed this.

The Knicks are down by 11 with 2:45 to go.

The Knicks are down by 13 when the game goes under 2 minutes remaining.

The Knicks do cut the lead to 10 and Nate is pinballing around the floor with the sort of energy that some of his teammates seem impervious to.

91-101

And, they're right on target for my "losing by 9" call of about an hour ago! This is a good thing. Remember moral victories?

93-103

Gus and John are impressed by the unit on the floor (Nate, Lee, Crawford, Chandler and Jones) and with good reason. They've brought the team within 9 and even if that is meaningless they've played with heart and passion and intensity.

Argh! Lee just missed two free throws when he could have sewn up my 9 point prediction!

Final Score: 95-105

The Budweiser Play of the Game involves Nazr Mohammed. Of course it does.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

"They Were the Champions (of the Eastern Conference), My Friends"

And, the Knicks beat them down last night, 108-90

I am ashamed to admit that I watched the Knicks thoroughly outplay the Cavs with only faint amusement and even less enjoyment. Actually it was more like b-musement than a-musement. There was no high-fiving or extra-rounds-on-me drinking or any such jubilation. I was eating a sandwich and drinking some inexpensive red wine. There was a kitten biting my foot and I really wanted to watch the latest movie to come from Netflix.

It was actually frustrating to sit and watch this game knowing what tomorrow likely brings. It was frustrating to sit their with non-Knicks fans and say, "see, we are good!" knowing that they didn't believe me. And shouldn't believe me. Because on a nightly basis this team isn't actually good. Even though it could be. I swear it to them.

For all the brief moments of exhiliration, there were longer, more thoughtful periods of exasperation as I watched David Lee score 17 points in the first half. He is the most active player on the court and makes Lebron's 15 points in the first half seem quite pedestrian. To put it simply, David Lee is playing like a star. Again, he had come off the bench and again he was the player who brought the most potential onto the floor. And, I'm not talking about Curry-type potential, the sort of potential that a real estate mogul sees in a pristine piece of undeveloped property that they can erect condominiums and golf courses on. I'm not talking about potential that needs wealth and resources and time to potentially extract if your risk/reward investment pays off. I'm talking about the sort of potential that exists in a battery or with a J. Crew gift card that you recieve as a Christmas present from your boss. There is a specific and very practical potential in those objects and it is the responsibility of the person who holds the object to make use of that potential. Use the battery in your television remote and enjoy a long, lazy college bowl season without getting off the couch. Or use the gift card to go buy a nice cable-knit sweater to keep warm through the long winter. However, how many wallets have old gift cards stuck between CVS discount cards or Border rewards cards or whatever else fills our Costanza-esque appendages? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? Businesses love the invention of the gift card because so many go unused, meaning that they are taking in money in exchange for no goods and/or services. David Lee is that unused gift card, wasting away on the bench.

Seeing Lee lead the team in a win like this is all the more reason to fire Isiah Thomas. A win like this shows that there might be something salvageable here if we remove Isiah from the equation. This team has the horses to compete on any given night with almost any team and if you got them to the playoffs (and up to a 6 seed) then who knows what could happen in the AAA league that is the Eastern Conference. At the very least you buy some time and some goodwill for the new coach and the new general manager. You might also get a chance to really test the mettle of this group (under better conditions) before you hold the fire sale that we all know is coming and will cost us our better players along with our bad ones.

And even if the team doesn't turn it around after Isiah is removed they will still be better off. We'll be in line for a top pick in the draft and can draft one of these frosh phenom guards to be Steph's understudy for one season before taking over when his contract comes off the books. We'll be at the front of the line in the coach/GM searches when the season ends and every coach and exec out in the world will have all season to ponder if they want to throw their hat in the NY ring. Moreover, we'll have a chance to give Herb Williams a shot at coaching the squad and hopefully the sample size (if Dolan acts soon enough) will be enough to make a yay/nay decision on him for next year. We'll have the same chance to evaluate these players anew as well. What happens to this team if Isiah is gone and Lee and Balkman start? What happens to this team if Eddy Curry becomes a one-dimensional scorer who is deployed strategically off the bench? Who knows what could happen with a different coach and a different approach? I don't know. I hope it could be better and I think it is important to find out before we blow this whole thing up.

Therefore, a win like this shouldn't be something that "saves" Isiah's job or stays his execution. A win like this is all the more reason to fire him. Immediately.

The Recaps:
ESPN
The Times
The Post
The News

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Tick...tick...tick....

"We don't grind and we don't compete like we should for 48 minutes and I've never ... a lot of things that can be said about me and teams that I've coached and the way I played, but I've never been accused of not having heart or competing. Tonight was very discouraging to me because we didn't collectively play with heart and compete like I know I do."
-Isiah Thomas on the Knicks performance

....Boom!

These comments from Isiah immediately following the latest debacle at the Garden (full write-up to follow in the AM with links to the papers) make it seem like there is a chance that the "Fire Isiah" chants are still off the mark. Listening to these sentences spill forth in monotone it seems like Isiah might not be fired tonight (but he sure could/should be), but he just might quit tomorrow instead. Six of one half dozen of the other. I'll take it either way.

He sounds like he has finally stopped his (good) habit of accepting blame for his team's poor play. Tonight he pointed his championship ring wearing finger right at the team that he put together. Unequivocally he called them heartless and gutless. By and large he is right. Tonight was a debacle. In the search for absolute zero we have a new benchmark.

Regardless of his robotic and colorless delivery (this was no Denny Green or Jim Mora post-game talk) the words are clear and they will be indelible in the papers tomorrow. They will not be the glue for this fractured squad. And since this team clearly isn't about to be shamed into playing better (as someone who has been at the Garden a lot thus far I know this because we've tried) it would seem like Isiah might be poised to dump this team before he can be dumped.

And, I couldn't really imagine his departure going any other way. Isiah is too egomaniacal to let Dolan even get a line in edgewise during his protracted death scene. When that scene comes it will be a monologue. Arduous and delivered with a wink and smile as if it is a victory rather than defeat. Meanwhile, Dolan is too inept and spineless to turn up with any sort of definitive action. If he were a man of action he would have acted. If he were a man who built things he would not have stood as more scaffolding was erected around such a shoddy frame. But he is not a man accustomed to action or to building, rather he is just someone who oversees what has already been built and holds in trust the gains of those who have acted on his behalf and that is why it is likely that he will just sit slumped in his courtside seat and let history happen around him.

Monday, December 10, 2007

The Fantlantic

Or, A Fantasy Basketball League that Simulates the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference

One of the many (legitimate) knocks against Isiah Thomas and the current incarnation of the New York Knickerbockers is that they've been built like a fantasy team rather than like an actual team. The team starts five scorers and has no defensive-minded role players in that first unit. The team has no chemistry and is chock-full of me-first fellows. Every single player in the starting lineup could put up thirty points on any given night. And, they all want to every single night. Yep, that does sound like a fantasy team to me.

And, perhaps if the NBA somehow bent the rules and allowed the Knicks to start Balkman and Lee every night along with the other five guys in some sort of "Utility" positions then, just maybe, the team would be able to compete like they were truly intended.

Scouring the world for such illogical means for hope and burdened with an overabundance of free time when not at work I set about creating the Fantlantic. The Fantlantic is the Fantasy Atlantic Division and it includes all five teams from the Atlantic Division (Boston, NY, NJ, Philly and Toronto) of the NBA's Eastern Conference. Each team is composed of the players currently on their roster and all players are active nightly so that all stats count.

The Fantlantic lives on the Yahoo Fantasy Sports website and is a rotisserie league, meaning that rankings are tabulated by comparing the stats accumulated by each competing team in a variety of categories. The categories being scored in this league are field goals made, field goal percentage, free throws attempted, free throws made, free throw percentage, three-point shots made, three-point shooting percentage, points, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, total rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and turnovers. This is the maximum number of categories that Yahoo allows.

The Fantlantic has been accumulating and compiling stats since the season tipped off last month. I waited until now to share this with the home-viewer because the "conference season" for the Atlantic didn't really kick off until this past week. The Knicks played at NJ last Wednesday and then had the double-dip with Philly this weekend. Meanwhile Boston also played Toronto on Friday. We've now got enough of a sample-size to see what this all looks like.

Standings
1. Celtics (55.5 points): The C's lead the fantasy league in FG%, DReb and steals. They are second in FTM, FT%, 3PTM, 3PT%, points, and assists. They are not last in any category and are the most balanced and consistently dominant team.

2. Raptors (48 points): Toronto ranks first in more statistical categories than anyone else, leading the Fantlantic in FGM, FT%, 3PTM, 3PT%, points, assists and turnovers. However, they show weaknesses in the other stat categories with last place rankings for FTA, FTM, OReb, Reb and blocks. They actually have fewer blocked shots than the Knicks. Impressive.

3. Nets (45.5 points): Oh, mediocrity. Thy home is the Meadowlands. Thy smell is tire fires. The Nets hold, or share, 4 first place ranks (FTA, FT, DReb and Reb) while being last in four other categories (FGM, FG%, steals and turnovers). And, not surprisingly, they rank right in the middle (3rd) in every other category.

4. 76ers (39 points): They're bad at most everything. They have a safe lead in the blocked shot department and that's about it. They're also last in all the 3PT shooting categories showing that offensively and defensively their strength is closer to the rim.

5. Knicks (37 points): The Knicks aren't much worse off than the Sixers from a fantasy standpoint, no matter what happened this past weekend. However, they are currently at the bottom of the Fantlantic. Most embarrassingly they rank last in points scored. For a team that starts five score-first players with offensive (in both terms of the word) reputations this must be particularly galling. The only bright spot is their top ranking in offensive rebounding. However, the fact that they miss so many shots (2nd worst FG%) probably helps make this possible.

Thus far, everything has played to form. The Celtics are good. The Knicks are bad. No surprises yet.

Therefore, the most interesting aspect of the league has been the ability to see the rankings of the individual players and how they compare to one another from a fantasy perspective. The Celtics have three of the top four fantasy ballers in the Fantlantic and their entire starting lineup figures in the Top 25. Conversely, the Knicks don't have anyone ranked in the top ten. Jamal Crawford is the highest rated Knick at 13 and David Lee isn't too far behind him. Meanwhile the Nets have two players in the top five and they still are an awful underachieving team.

Top 15 Fantlantic Players (overall NBA rank according to Yahoo):
1. Kevin Garnett (3)
2. Richard Jefferson (21)
3. Paul Pierce (31)
4. Ray Allen (34)
5. Jason Kidd (41)
6. Andre Iguodola (44)
7. Jose Calderon (50)
8. Carlos Delfino (56)
9. Chris Bosh (57)
10. Anthony Parker (66)
11. Samuel Dalembert (69)
12. Vince Carter (71)
13. Jamal Crawford (93)
14. Jamario Moon (94)
15. David Lee (99)

..and other notable players include...
18. Louis Williams (118)
20. Andre Miller (126)
23. Stephon Marbury (146)
29. Quentin Richardson (186)
30. Eddy Curry (190)
33. Nate Robinson (213)
35. Zach Randolph
36. Fred Jones (220)
48. Jared Jeffries (318)
52. Mardy Collins (362)

The battle for the worst fantasy baller in the Fantlantic is currently being waged between two NJ Nets big men: Jason Collins and Jamal Magloire.

Each week I'll give an update on the latest standings in The Fantlantic to see how much of a correlation there is between fantasy sports and reality sports. We'll find out if Isiah Thomas is any better as a fantasy sports manager than he is a reality sports manager. So far, it doesn't look like it.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

"You see ethics are...business ethics can be seen as..."

The death of a family member reminds all the fans and reporters out in The City that Stephon Marbury is a man just like any of us. He may be wealthier and taller and less educated than some of us but he is just a guy who gets paid to play basketball. I get paid to edit and write and make occasional photo copies. One of my roommates gets paid to appraise real estate. The other roommate, he gets paid to cook. Stephon gets paid to play basketball. For certain, it is good work if you can get it but on a fundamental level it is just a job the same as ours. Even if those in the stands (myself included) fail to bear that in mind most of the time. You always hear from the players and coaches that "it's a business," and for them that's exactly what it is. It is a career. Same as yours. Just harder and easier and more demanding and probably more fun and, oh yeah, much better compensated. This will never fully make sense to fans. The things we see them do nightly seem so amazing to us at home that we struggle to relate to them.

In the wake of Sean Taylor's tragic murder and with the Jimmy V Classic playing on the television right now it reminds me that it is really only in moments of tragedy that we remember athletes are actually like us. They come from somewhere. And they'll likely go back there once their amazing physical skills dull with age and over-use. Stephon Marbury is from Coney Island, New York. The spot where all those subway lines end. It's the wrong side of four sets of tracks and Stephon was the youngest of seven children raised by Don and Mabel Marbury. He was named the National High School Player of the Year by Parade Magazine during his senior year at Lincoln High. He was a member of the 1994 US Junior National Team that won a Gold Medal. He wore number three at Georgia Tech because all of his older brothers wore the same number. Drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Don's baby son went on to put up historic stats as he showed himself to be one of the more impressive players in the professional ranks. Stephon also signed up to play for his country again in 2004 when so many of his peers were avoiding the commitment at all costs. Up until his numbers took a hit in NY during the last few seasons, Marbury was the only player in league history other than Oscar Robertson with career averages over 20 points and 8 assists. In spite of his much publicized demise, his career averages have only "sunk" to 19.8 and 7.9 per game.

Off the court Don and Mabel's youngest child was also named to The Sporting News's prestigious "Good Guys in Sports" list in 2001, 2002 and 2005. He also teamed up with a discount clothing retailer to release an affordable basketball sneaker. He was the first big-name basketball player to buck the trend of over-priced shoes marketed at inner city kids. Steph came from the neighborhoods were kids were killed for Air Jordans and parents, like Don and Mabel, worked night and day to get their children such shoes.

Now, we can be sure that Stephon's charitable work does not make him a saint. In testimony (painfully and naively honest testimony) during Isiah Thomas's sexual harassment trail Marbury revealed that he had an extramarital tryst with an MSG intern. Barry Bonds is now facing federal jail time for choosing to be less forthcoming when asked for such embarassing honesty. In addition, Steph has had confrontations with former coaches and teammates but so have Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant and innumerable players whose maturity didn't yet equal their talent. A man with works both bitter and sweet, he is just as conflicted and contradictory as the rest of us. He just takes his bows and his brow-beatings on a larger stage and with larger stakes.

In spite of any missteps in his personal life, Marbury has been an NBA ironman. He came from hard-working people and brought that work ethic to the basketball court. He didn't miss a game due to injury from April 2001 until January 2006. He couldn't lift his arm over his head but it was still a struggle to get him out of the game where he finally gave in to the pain. No matter what anyone thought about his performance he kept showing up night after night. But that is not enough. It never is. He isn't as good as we want him to be. And he probably never will be. He falls short of our expectations. And he always might. He hasn't lead a team to postseason success. And it seems like he might never "lead" a team in June. He has had some high profile problems with coaches and teammates. He hasn't turned into a pass-first point guard that we wish he could be and hasn't made the teammates to whom he should be passing more often any better. He hasn't replaced Walt Frazier in the hearts and minds of New Yorkers liked everyone said he might when he was a teenager. But let's not forget that Zach Randolph is no Dave DeBusschere. Eddy Curry is not Willis Reed. Jamal Crawford is not Bill Bradley. And Isiah Thomas is not Red Holzman.

Isiah Thomas is just the man who kept Stephon from his dying father's side. The coach who has allowed Marbury to become the scapegoat for the mess that he created is the man ultimately responsible for the fact that Stephon continued to play in an early December basketball game while his beloved father was suffering and being rushed to the St. Vincent's Hospital where he would expire.

Can you imagine if your boss knew that your father (or mother or brother or sister or spouse or best friend) had been rushed to the hospital and was having a heart attack and this boss neglected to tell you until you finished the project you were working on?

If my father was been taken suddenly to a hospital in an ambulance would it be strange to think that I would drop what I was doing to accompany him? Would it be wrong? Even if Steph's presence couldn't have kept Don Marbury's well-worn and well-used heart beating, he still could have been there during those last moments. Lives and relationships are defined and fortified in such moments. Old wounds are mended, bonds reaffirmed. They can provide solace for the grieving and perhaps peace for the fading.

Considering the hectic life of a professional athlete it is remarkable that Stephon was even in the same state when his father's heart failed. But he was in the same state. He was in the same city. He was even in the same building and the same gym. But he had no idea. I can't even begin to comprehend how miserable and helpless and isolated it would make someone feel to know that a loved one who needed you was within bounce passable distance and that you had no idea. This is the worst sort of pain that I can imagine adding on to an already awful situation.

The fact that no one told Stephon Marbury about what was happening is far and away the most despicable and selfish act perpetrated by this wretched Garden hierarchy. This is worse than an inappropriate firing of an employee. This is worse than creating a hostile workplace. This is worse than mismanaging the finances of an organizations because of ineptitude and ignorance. This is worse than turning your back on a tradition that was never yours to begin with. This is worse than treating lightly that for which others toiled tirelessly for a lifetime, yet was gifted to you. This is worse than insulting the very people upon whom your livelihood depends. This is worse than anything that has happened to anyone at the hands of the Garden.

How can Stephon ever trust Isiah Thomas? How can he ever trust any single member of the coaching staff? How can he ever trust any member of the security staff? Some person or persons in that group knew what was happening. Someone had called the ambulance. Someone had helped Stephon's suddenly stricken father from the arena. Someone fielded the call from either the ER or another member of the Marbury family. Someone had to do those things. That person likely asked their own supervisor what to do. Perhaps that person subsequently asked theirs. Perhaps that person asked MSG President Steve Mills. And maybe Mills got word to the head coach. Or, maybe this news never made it up that far in the chain of command. Frankly, I don't know. And I don't care. If someone felt like this news to be kept from Steph than likely they were doing what they thought that their boss (Isiah Thomas) would have wanted.

I can't imagine many things more devastating than having a parent need me and not being told until it was too late. And, all of that pain and doubt and self-recrimination for what? For a win in December? To play in the fourth quarter? This is not the case of the athlete making the sacrifice of family and selfhood during the Finals. This isn't heroic. It is tragic. Marbury was never given the choice to make any sort of sacrifice. That choice was made for him. His last moments with his father weren't sacrificed, they were stolen.