Wednesday, December 23, 2009

David Lee is.... The Closer

For the second time during the Knicks' current homestand, with the game hanging in the balance and all the momentum with the road team, David Lee netted the game-altering bucket. This past Friday with past (and future?) Knickerbocker Marcus Camby and the Los Angeles Clippers making their lone pilgrimage to the Mecca, Lee tipped an Al Harrington miss to himself before tipping the ball into the hoop with 30 ticks to play. This bucket edged the home team in front by a lone point, 92-91. Prior to that make it looked like the Knicks' third quarter blitz would account for nothing thanks to their first quarter bed wetting. The fourth frame had been tight, with L.A. seemingly wresting back control of the game in the last few minutes. When Harrington's midrange shot clanged off the rim the game looked lost. At least, it did to me and my youngest brother sitting in the 300-level in a pair of aisle seats that we were not ticketed for. But then Lee, despite having poor position, got a hand on the carom. And then another to nose his side across the finish line and send the patrons out onto Seventh Avenue in high spirits (and not just because we'd ended up more intoxicated then we'd anticipated after twin beer towers at Fat Annie's Truck Stop on 32nd before the game).

Following another home dance with Larry Brown's Charlotte Bobcats -- during which noted hair product connoisseur Danilo Gallinari of the Mialnese Gallinaris conjured the game-winning plays (free throws made and a block to compensate for free throws missed) in the climatic scenes -- another game needed to be sloted into the W column by the Knicks' closer. After running out to an early, seemingly insurmountable lead over Chicago at home last night in the first half, coach Mike D'Antoni's charges found themselves surmounted in the second half. Playing the second of a back-to-back set, the Bulls shook off their early-game stupor and came charging back into contention in the third quarter. The Knicks fled like tourists in Pamplona before the onrushing beasts. After trailing, 53-31, at the intermission, Chicago pulled within 79-80 with 1:40 left on Joakim Noah jumper. Coach D'Antoni immediately called a timeout. Out of that timeout, Chris Duhon immediately missed a layup. And, the team seemed trampled and impaled on the roadside.

But then Lee drew a shooting foul on Noah, something he seems particularly adept at when playing young Gators (and therefore Bulls and Hawks), then sunk both free throws and the Knicks were ahead by three, 82-79. At this point, both teams seemed to lose the plot when the stakes were raised at the risk of losing the game. Coming out of timeout, following two missed free throws by Jared Jeffries, the Bulls had the ball, down by three and with just under half a minute to play, the experiences of the past decade of Knicks basketball one to believe that someone was going to sink a corner three to send this game to overtime. But Derrick Rose turned the ball over. D'Antoni called a 20. Gallo entered the game for Jeffries, spreading the floor. And then Lee hit that 17-footer that All-Star power forwards David West and Carlos Boozer regularly make to ice the game with five ticks yet to come off the clock. Inside and outside, Lee has gotten the crucial buckets during this homestand.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Just When I Think They Couldn't Possibly Be Any Dumber...

...the Knicks Win Two At Home and Totally Redeem Themselves

After twin come-from-ahead road losses last week (at Charlotte and Chicago, respectively) slowed the Knickerbockers headlong charge into Eastern Conference relevancy, sapping my confidence in coach D'Antoni, the team came home to the Garden and regrouped over the weekend. Well, not at first. Because, at first, they fell behind by 20 to the Clippers. But then, they did regroup and rally for a late win on a David Lee tip on Friday night. Then on Sunday, Danilo Gallinari hit (and missed) clutch free throws before icing the game with a blocked shot in the waning moments against Larry Brown and the Bobcats.

After opening the 2009-2010 campaign with a franchise-worst 1-9 record, the Knicks have hit 10 wins before 20 losses. Now, hop on the back of this moped, Isiah got it for a second rounder in 2008, and let's ride to the Eighth Seed.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Friends (and Family) in Low Places

Jets' Slim Playoffs Hopes Fattened By Browns' Win

It's still a longshot, the sort that only old-timey archers capable of splitting arrows in twain and desperate gamblers looking to get out of a hole might take. But the New York Jets are still alive in the AFC playoff hunt. And the defending-champion Pittsburgh Steelers are not, dealt a shock defeat by the Cleveland Browns last night on Thursday Night Football.

Heading into the game, the Steelers, favored by double digits on the road, were among the throng in the AFC sporting 6-6 records and camped out in the far-right "In the Hunt" column of each playoff graphic shown during broadcasts of games this past week. Also in the also-ran column are the Baltimore Ravens, the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets. These four clubs are chasing the Jacksonville Jaguars (7-5) and the Denver Broncos (8-4), who currently hold the Wild Card spots in the conference. In spite of the myriad tie-breaker scenarios in the NFL, the path to the postseason for the Jets is simple. Win. Win. Win. Win. And hope that these other teams lose. Lose. Lose. Lose.

With former Jets coach Eric Mangini at the helm, the lowly one-win, zero-hope Cleveland Browns upended Little Ben and the Stillers, 13-6, on blustery cold night at creatively named Cleveland Browns Stadium. QB-turned-WR-turned-RB-turned-Incredible-Untackleable-Beast-After-a-Freak-Gamma-Ray-Accident Joshua Cribbs dominated in special teams and on offense. He racked up 200 yards across all phases of the game, setting up the Browns' scores and securing a key first down late in the game. He seemed to be everything that the Jets' slender QB-turned-WR Brad Smith could never be under Mangini. As Deion said after the game, pay the man.

On the other side of the ball, the Browns' defense, coached by Rob Ryan - brother of Jets head coach Rex Ryan - threw a tightly-woven, mouth-breathing, flesh and shoulder pad blanket over the Pittsburgh offense to keep them warm on this wintry night with winds upwards of 15 mph and temperatures dropping below zero with the wind chill. The Browns sacked Roethlisburger 8 times and knocked him down 12. They recorded three passes defensed and made 10 tackles for a loss. They limited Rashard Mendenhal, Willie Parker and Ben to 75 yards on the ground on 22 carries and just 201 in the air on 18 completions. It was a suffocating performance and the NFL Network broadcasters were going out of their way to laud Ryan in the later stages of the game. I couldn't tell how much of this was meant to credit the defensive coordinator or to deflect the spotlight from Mangini.
The Browns' secondary was covering flawlessly as the Steelers made their last two, last-ditch drives to take the lead, and it might have been worth mentioning that Mangini was the secondary coach in New England before his rapid ascension to the head coaching ranks by way of the D-Coordinator gig under Bill Belichick. Some of those 8 sack were most definitely coverage sacks as well. I'm not saying that Mangini deserved all the credit, because he didn't, but I did feel like he was getting short changed slightly by the guys in the booth. Considering that the Browns haven't beaten their division rival in 12 tries there is a chance that this triumph goes a long way towards getting Mangini another shot at coaching this club. For all his personality problems and control issues, I do think the guy still can be a winning football coach. Like when he got that big win at Foxboro in his first year, he does seem to have a knack for rallying the troops against a favored rival. Regardless, the result was surely a nice early Chanukah gift (not as nice as Mark Sanchez but perhaps even nicer than Braylon Edwards) from the former Jets coach and the brother of the current Jets skipper. It sure is nice to have friends and family in low places when you're looking to squeak into the playoffs.

The Four One That Really Got Away
If (err.... when) Rexy's Midday Runners miss out on the Super Bowl playoffs, most fans will tap the twin losses to the Dolphins and the last-second defeat to the Jaguars as the key moments of the season. Those losses at the hands of two of the five clubs in contention for the last Wild Card berth in the AFC cost the Jets in nearly every tiebreaker scenario. For my money, though, the unfathomable overtime home loss to the Buffalo Bills is the game that I'll blame most.

The Jets were caught off guard by the heat and the hunger of the Dolphins in their trip down to Miami. They were outplayed in the trenches that night. They lost. Plain. Simple. There can be no second guessing when you lose that way to a division foe, even if the Jets kept the game close. In the return game with the Dolphins in North Jersey, the Jets were sunk by a superlative effort by return man Ted Ginn. I can't defend special teams coach Mike Westhoff's refusal to kick away from Ginn after the first run back but I also can't get too worked up over a loss in which one player on the other sideline had a career-best day. Again, those things happen. And they cost you games. With such a glaring breakdown in one of the game's three phases it's hard to make a case that the Jets should have won that game no matter how great the defense played. Perhaps the could have but Ginn secured it for Miami. The once-and-then-again draft bust was even named Meast of the Week over at KSK. And, against the Jaguars, the Jets just got beat. The defense couldn't get the big stop it needed down the stretch and the offense couldn't put enough points on the board to put it away when they had a chance. That game was a turnover fest and even Fireman Ed would be hard pressed to say that the Jets deserved that game. They certainly could have won it. But I'm not going to say they should have won it.

But, that loss at home to the Bills? Oh, boy. Now that game was a microcosm of that hoary, overused "same ol Jets" phrase on the tips of the tongues of every talk show host on your AM radio dial. The Jets should have won that game. Thomas Jones rushed for a franchise-best 210 yards. Leon Washington roared for 99 yards of his own. That's more than 900 feet of offense right there. On the other side of the ball, the Jets' defense concussed Bills QB Trent Edwards, knocking him out of the game. Darrelle Revis held Terrell Owens to just three catches for thirteen yards. The Jets mostly kept Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson in check, holding each to less than 65 yards on a ton of carries. But rookie heartbreaker Mark Sanchez tossed five picks in the game. Yet the Jets still were poised to win in overtime when Leon Washington and Thomas Jones plowed their way down to the Buffalo 22 in the opening possession of the fifth quarter. A holding penalty then backed the Jets up ten yards to the 32. Not a bunny but certainly a makeable field goal. Even on a murky, gray day. We never found out, though, as the snap was muffed by the holder who then threw a pick while trying to make amends. Buffalo ball. Several brutal-to-watch exchanges of possession later and the Bills kicked a game-winning field goal of their own. This side of Cleveland, few teams have ever done less than Buffalo that Sunday and managed a victory.

If the Jets don't eventually take advantage of the gifts bestowed upon them by the Browns (beating the Steelers), the Raiders (beating the Steelers last week), the Packers (beating the Ravens) and the Colts (beating the Titans) then I'll be looking back on that Sunday when Sanchez gave away a game to a Ryan Fitzpatrick-quarterbacked and Dick Jauron-coached team. For my money (and it was literally for my money as I dropped $100 on ticket in the 300-level), that's the loss that may ultimately doom this season. Oh, and that was also the game we lost nose tackle Kris Jenkins for the season. So, that certainly hasn't helped us down the stretch, either.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The Knicks Also Rise

"Well, I can't believe that just happened," muttered the floppy-haired, Old-Navy-dressed college-aged kid climbing over the back of his $10 (+ fees) seat in the last row of section 416 and into the aisle as the buzzer closed out the Suns @ Knicks game tonight. I would guesstimate that about 20 guys who own property in the Phoenix were similarly surprised by the night's action.

The 3 wins-and-14-losses New York Knickerbockers had just done to the 14-wins-and-3-losses Suns what the Saints had done to the Patriots on Monday night, romping 126-99 at the Garden. They took what that club was known for and just did it better and faster and then over again until the other team was shockingly and totally bludgeoned into submission. Mike D'Antoni's Knicks pushed the ball between the three-point lines, and scored at will for long stretches -- dropping in deep shots, stretching the defense, and then finding lanes to drive and seams to thread passes to cutting frontcourt players for dunks and layups. Mike D'Antoni's Knicks woodshedded Alvin Gentry's Suns by playing like Mike D'Antoni's Suns used to play.

For one night at least, Knicks fans got what we've were promised when Knicks President Donnie Walsh installed D'Antoni on the sideline.

Just like in the home win over the Hornets last month, the Knicks' effort was so complete and the team's talent so manifest that it almost obscured how rare of a performance this was for them. Like, they looked so at ease with their good play that it may have been difficult for someone watching this team for the first time to comprehend their longstanding ineptitude. For me, though, it was there, lurking. The knowledge of how poorly this team could play kept me in my seat until the shot-clock violation with less than a second left ended the affair. Because if any team was going to squander a 27-point fourth quarter lead it was going to be the Knicks. And if any team was going to get up and down and drop 45 in the fourth it was likely to be the Suns. But that didn't happen. The Knicks won. And they did so in dominating fashion over the team that started the night with the best record in the Association. So, yeah, there were a lot of people on hand and watching at home (or just seeing the scores tick across the bottom of their screen while watching the first night of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge) that most definitely couldn't believe what just happened.

As they did on Sunday against the Magic, the Knicks attacked the rim early, getting to the line and avoiding (with a clear-cut intent that strongly suggests it comes from D'Antoni) the early deficit that so often dooms them against an upper echelon club like Phoenix. The Knicks got two two-shot trips to the charity stripe, two layups and a dunk in the first five minutes of the game. Once the contest settled down and the Knicks were still alive (and remember this was no easy feat in the first half of November - or even on the West Coast last week) they looked to find their stroke from the outside. Which they did. Danilo Gallinari continued his first quarter sharp shooting and looked fluid and aggressive early on. And the Knicks were moving the ball - thanks to a standout performance by Larry Hughes. The home side had 11 assists on 13 made field goals in the opening quarter. For their part, the Suns played OK, certainly not badly. Amare looked dangerous. Channing Frye hit a few shots and showed the inside-out potential that caused the Knicks to tap the White Plains, N.Y. native with the No. 8 selection in the 2005 draft. Steve Nash had four dimes in the first quarter and started looking for his own shot as his team began to fall behind. But it didn't matter. No matter what the Suns did it just seemed like the Knicks did a little bit more. They were up by 11 after one quarter, by 13 at the half, by 24 after 3 and 27 when befuddled coeds were filing for the doors.

Gallo was the star of the night, exploding in the third quarter and swishing a deep, deep straightaway heat-check three-point shot (you know, that I’m-so-hot-right-now-that-I-might-as-well-just-try-this-ridiculous-heave shot that everyone but Kobe and Lebron misses) over Earl Clark that pushed the game out of reach. The kid was just incredible, doing all the things that we’ve been told he could do. Doing all the things that are supposed to make next year’s crop of free agents (Amare, I’m looking your way) want to come play with him next year. Again, it was night when sometimes suspect promises were fulfilled.

It’s no secret that Gallo can knock down threes (he’s got more than any other player so far this season) but he also played like he’s 6-foot-10-inches tall against the Suns. He didn’t get lost waiting in the corner for the ball like a second-string guard. He went to the rim. At both ends. He blocked shots, emphatically stuffing Jason Richardson at the end of the first half to set up a Harrington layup on the other end. Gallo finished with 27 points and 10 boards.

Aside from the waking of the Rooster, Larry Hughes was the other priced-to-move item of the night. I know that some Knicks fans (specifically my uncle and my buddy Ryan’s boss) really don’t like Hughes, but I think this has more to do with the idea of Larry Hughes (another veteran like Tim Thomas, Jalen Rose, Steve Francis, etc. acquired in a multi-player deal whose best years are behind him and is also not considered a model teammate) than with the actual play of Hughes. Because Hughes makes this team go. When he grabs a defensive rebound or takes an outlet pass he assertively turns upcourt rather than slowing down and just trying to look like a point guard like certain players on the roster. If possible, Hughes passes to a teammate in the offensive end before he crosses halfcourt. His tempo spurs his teammates into action with and without the ball (which leads to fewer trips when Gallo is just standing static in a corner). And, the former standout defender has the same effect on the other end. He covers his man well and he has an instinct for getting into passing lanes. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Hughes isn't a guy you build around, no how, no way, but he is a guy who you can run with. He's a ballplayer. He had ten assists in the first half and was the engine behind the club's 71-point effort through two quarters.

Duhon, meanwhile, would have been... uh, what's a vestigial part of an automobile? ... Duhon was the gas cap on the electric car. His play is so poor that it's really starting to turn me against D'Antoni who insists on sticking with him. There is no doubt that the regulars at the Garden have turned against Duhon. They are no saying Boo-urrnnns. Nor are they saying Doooo-haaan. They are booing him. Because he is the weak link right now. And has been. And was for the final third of last season. Not only is Hughes better at getting this team moving on the offensive end than the starting point guard but that starting point guard is almost never trusted to play defense on the opposing lead guard. Tonight, Duhon was spread out wide on Jason Richardson. That guy won two slam dunk contests and is 6-6. I'm not sure how that helps the team defense.

And, speaking of defense, the Knicks were the first team all year to hold the Suns under 100 points. By no means was this a defensive battle but it wasn't a total jailbreak either. Needless to say, Duhon's D on J-Rich was not the lynchpin effort. Rather it was having players actually challenging shots and denying the ball. It was Hughes jumping passes and others following suit.

Fire at will, Commander!

At various points deep in the second half of last night's Monday Night Football ambush between the New Orleans Saints and the New England Patriots, the expressions on faces of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and countless other Pats partisans was reminiscent of the look of impotent dismay on the face of the young Skywalker late in Return of the Jedi when the Emperor informed him that the second Death Star was, in fact, fully operational.

The smug self righteousness that Luke had begun the scene with drained from his face as the Death Star's green laser exploded rebel ship after rebel ship. Such was the dissipation of the Patriots' characteristic overconfidence as Saints quarterback Drew Brees fired laser beams at his receivers. Hitting them in stride as they tore up seams. Hitting them on the back shoulder as they ran preise routes. Hitting them anywhere they could get to and leading defenders anywhere he wanted with a look or a pump fake en route to 371 yards and 5 touchdowns in a dominating 38-17 rout.

Wow. Just, wow. Being a Jets fan, I've been mostly miserable in my life watched these Patriots play a lot and I don't remember them being so thoroughly undressed. All that was missing was Belichick turning wildly to his assistants after Bree's 75-yard strike to Devery Henderson early in the second quarter and yelling "It's a trap!"