Man, what a great atmosphere it was at Madison Square Garden last night. Knicks fans were so goddamn hyped they litterally gave Melo a standing ovation upon hitting his first jumper… in warmups! The building remained electric through the final buzzer. Numerous “MELO” chants rang out over the course of the night. I’m definitely not sold on this team’s ability to compete with the big dogs in the East, but I’m damn sure sold on their entertainment value. Expect plenty of Knickerbocker sightings in future games to watch posts.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Paul George catches a lob from Darren Collison. Kevin Love slams the putback. Blake Griffin denies David West. DeMaR DeRoZaN turns the corner and drops the hammer. Rudy Fernandez with one of the more ridiculous saves I’ve ever seen. Andrea Bargnani mans up and throws down. Chauncey Billups goes AND1 mixtape on Carlos Delfino. LaMarcus Aldridge goes hard in the paint. Kevin Durant takes off from long distance. Manny Harris tosses a lob to Jamario Moon. J-Rich throws it in reverse.
- The Carmelo Anthony era in New York is off to a winning start. Melo led the Knicks with 27 points and 10 boards in a 114-108 win over Milwaukee, although he did struggle a bit with his shot, going just 10-25 from the field. I don’t think anyone’s looking at the dude’s field goal percentage in his first game with his new team, nor do I feel that they should be… so nice debut for the Melo Man. New York gave up 108 points to the Bucks, which is the only reason I’m not calling this a great win, but they looked great on the other end. Chauncey Billups hit Amare Stoudemire with a beautiful pass early on that led to an and one… the play just oozed of instant chemistry. Billups finished the game with 21/6/8, and upon first glance it looks like he’s going to fit in swimmingly. The other three new additions–Brewer, Carter, and Williams–played their roles prefectly, giving out a multitude of congratulatory high fives from beginning to end. Toney Douglas was huge off the bench in 29 minutes… he knocked down 10 of 12 shots as he scored 23 points. Amare Stoudemire managed to put up 19 before fouling out in just 34 minutes. He also picked up another T, which puts him just one away from a suspension. The Knicks shot 50 percent from the field and knocked down 26 of 28 freethrows. As for the Bucks… they were able to hang around because they were draining threes all night… 11 of them on 23 tries, to be specific. Every time I watch Brandon Jennings I’m reminded why he shoots such a poor percentage… the guy takes nothing but difficult shots. It’s all threes, floaters, and contested takes to the rack.
- Joakim Noah returned, Derrick Rose scored 32, and the Bulls put 113 on the board in Toronto. One would think this would result in a win… but this is why they play the games. The Craptors got 24 a piece from DeMaR DeRoZaN and Andrea Bargnani as they picked up their first win against a team not named the Clippers, Kings, Timberwolves, or Cavaliers since December of 2010. Amir Johnson connected on all eight of his shots for 17 points and my main man Sonny Weems added 12 more on 4-5. The fact that the Craptors shot 58 percent, made 32 of 34 freethrows, scored 118 points, and still only won the game by five pretty much explains why they win so rarely.
- A mystery player by the name of Baltche scored 16 points for the Wizards, but Washington still took a 94-117 L in Philly. No, it wasn’t Andray Blatche, the guy’s jersey clearly read “Baltche”. See for yourself:
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Baltche was effective in 29 minutes of play, but he had to leave early with a strained hip. John Wall added 21/12 in the losing effort, and man-beast Trevor Booker added 21 more on 9-10 shooting probably mostly dunking. As for the Sixers, they had seven guys in double-figures and killed the Wizards in almost every statistical category.
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Dwight Howard dropped 31/17, but his teammates bricked 20 of 28 triples in a humiliating 105-111 loss to the Tyreke Evans-less Queens. After the game, Dwight publicly voiced his displeasure with the way the rest of the roster has been playing. Via the Orlando Sentinal…
He exploded on his team during a timeout in the second quarter. He harped on his team in almost every huddle. Even between whistles he’d bark words at his teammates. After the game, Howard was tired of talking. “I’ve said everything there is to say,” said Howard. “That’s it. I’ve talked every timeout, when we’re in the huddle, in the locker room… What, you want me to Tweet about it? I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do as a leader.”
“If guys don’t want to play, they’ve got to sit down,” Howard said. “We just can’t have guys or anybody out there not playing hard. Everybody on the team has to step up and play hard,” he said. “I’m not singling anybody out; I’m not calling anybody out. But as a team, if we don’t play hard we’re going to lose every night.”
- Nice to see Dwight get serious. Now his teammates need to do so. I think it might be time for a coaching change in Orlando. Someone needs to constantly remind these idiots that offense works better when it goes inside-out. Stan Van Gundy clearly isn’t getting the job done, because far too often I watch Orlando play and I see Dwight beasting, the rest of the team bricking, and Orlando losing.
- The Spurs took a 13-point lead into the lockerroom and ended up beating the Thunder 109-105. OKC ended up taking a two-point lead in the fourth, but they were outscored 6-2 in the final two minutes. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Jeff Green accounted for all but 20 of OKC’s points. The Spurs, on the other hand, got double-figures from six of nine players who saw the court. Gary Neal, one of this season’s most surprising performers, scored a team-high 19 points off the bench. The Spurs were cookin’ from beyond the arc with 13 long-range makes on 21 attempts (62%).
- Kobe Bryant dragged the Lakers to an OT victory in Portland. The Mamba was responsible for four of LA’s final six buckets in regulation as they came back from a ten-point defecit over the final 5:45. Bryant continued his dominance in the extra period as he scored LA’s final eight points, single-handedly stretching a one-point lead into a five-point lead. He finished up with 37, although it did take him 31 shots to get there. I suppose what really matters is that he knocked ‘em down when LA needed ‘em most, so props to Kobe on a clutch performance. LaMarcus Aldridge was in beast-mode early on (29/14), but he disappeared late and went scoreless in the fourth quarter as well as OT. The Blazers could’ve used a little clutchness from the big man (or anyone else, for that matter)… they failed to score in the final 4:20 of regulation. Ron Artest had a rare good game, scoring 24 points and grabbing six boards on 8-13 from the field.
- The Other Games: Brandon Rush got a game-winning dunk in a 102-101 Pacers victory over the Pistons. Tyler Hansbrough had a big-time double-double with 21/12 off the bench. Chase Budinger and Kevin Martin dropped 30 each in a 124-119 Rockets W over the Crapoliers of Crapland. If I heard NBAtv correctly, Kev Mart and Air Bud were responsible for Houston’s final 24 points. Chuck Hayes had 13 offensive boards… and 17 boards total. At 6’6 with very little athleticism, this proves how far a bit of effort can carry you when it comes to defense and rebounding. The T-Wolves shot 37 percent in a 95-104 loss to the Grizzlies. Zach Randolph did what Zach Randolph does (24/10), and in the process did what Zach Randolph almost never does:
- See the 2:00 mark, it really happened. The Jazz lost their fifth in a row, this one to the Mavs, 118-99. Earl “The Pearl” Watson didn’t come through with his greatest D-Will impersonation of all-time… he clunked 8 of 11 shots and turned it over four times. Channing Frye dropped 20 for the third straight game as the Suns beat the Hawks 105-97. Chris Paul did 19/10 in an 11-point Hornets win over the Clippers. Blake Griffin had 21/13 in the loss.
Quote of the Day: Mike D’Antoni on Melo’s debut…
“This was ordinary for him, and that’s the highest compliment of what he does. You drop him in any place, any playground, any place in the world and he’ll put up 27 points and 10 rebounds. That’s what he does for a living.”
Photo of the Day:
From L to R: Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Chauncey Billups. Not Pictured: Defense.
