Raymond Felton (along with a whole bunch of other players) had a big game last night in the Knicks’ dramatic two-point loss to Boston. This was easily the most exciting and intensely played game I’ve seen so far this season. Aside from the Celtics being in the lead when the final buzzer sounded, the game came out exactly how I’d hoped: a hard-fought, high-scoring nail-biter. Had Stoudemire’s last second three counted, the Celtics would’ve been forced to acknowledge NY’s rivalry talk… which would’ve made things more interesting. Still, I think even in losing the Knicks got their point across. They did more than just compete against the East’s defending champs. New York, welcome to NBA relevency… it’s been a long time.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Jordan Hill with a one-handed hammer. Raymond Felton beats the halftime buzzer. Nicolas Batum catches an airball and reverse dunks it. Danilo Gallinari throws down a sick reverse dunk. Danilo Gallinari sick dunk #2. Rudy Gay nasty alley-oop. Dwyane Wade dunks while being tackled by Joey Graham. CDR denies Richard Jefferson at the rim. Steve Nash finds JRich for a dunk. Steve Nash goes behind-the-back to Channing Frye. Dwyane Wade drives and dunks. Spencer Hawes stuffs Blake Griffin twice. Pau Gasol with an unusually strong dunk. Amare dunks on top of Semih Erden.
- Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce got a switch on a pick and roll, leaving Amare to try to stop Pierce’s patented step-back jumper. Stoudemire was unable to do anything about the nearly unguardable shot, and Pierce scored the two most important points of his season-high 32. The Knicks were left with .4 seconds to make some magic happen… and for a second it looked like they had done just that. Amare Stoudemire freed himself up for a straight-away three and knocked it down, but his hands were still on the ball as the buzzer sounded and New York lost the game 118-116. I knew the shot wasn’t going to count as soon as he released it. He took a moment to set his feet after catching the ball, and with just .4 seconds on the clock there was no time for that. Not only were the final 12 seconds exhilerating, the first 47 minutes and 48 seconds left nothing to be desired. If I had to sum this game up in two words other than “intense” an “dramatic”, I’d go with “tough shots”. Both teams shot 52% or better, but not due to a complete lack of defense. Guys simply made some undefendable offensive plays in this game. Amare Stoudemire’s jumper was falling, which made him essentially unstoppable (39 points). He dropped 17 of those 39 in NYK’s 32-point opening quarter. Wilson Chandler had 10 of his 18 in the same period. Raymond Felton hit some highly-contested threes and converted on tough takes to the basket. Felton finished with 26 points and 14 assists. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen played like their young selves and attacked the basket multiple times. Ray had a dunk, and Paul got fouled trying to dunk. Danilo Gallinari went scoreless in the first half, but morphed into a prime Vince Carter during the break. On two occasions he drove baseline and finished dunks in traffic (one of them being a nasty two handed reverse that made me say WTF). Basically, if you missed this game, you FAILed. I don’t care what you were doing… this game was better. KG summed it up nicely with his usual eloquence: “It was a great Eastside barnyard knockdown, backyard scuffle, if you will. Good basketball, though.”
- Manu Ginoseli took two steps and a jump to set himself up for a game-winning jumper at the buzzer that got the Spurs their 21st victory of the season. Aside from the blatant traveling violation, nice play. If I was Scott Skiles the referees would’ve had to either call that sh!t or have me forcefully removed from the court by the security crew. Tough loss for the Bucks, they’d won three in a row and were in position to take the league’s best team to OT. Chris Douglas-Roberts got his first start of the season and led Milwaukee with 21 points. Gino led the Spurs with 26. Tim Duncan and Andrew Bogut both blocked seven shots.
- Miami led the Cavs by just two points entering the final quarter, but Dwyane Wade made damn sure LeBron wouldn’t take an embarassing L to his former team. Wade dropped 17 of his 28 in the 4th, leading the Heat to a six-point victory. Dwyane and company had to overcome 26 points from Boobie Gibson and 18/15 from Andy V to get their 10th straight victory. Cleveland’s still headed in the other direction… this was their ninth loss in a row.
- The Suns gave up 122 points to the T-Wolves, but it didn’t matter because they scored 128 themselves. J-Rich scored 24 of his 29 in the first half, and Channing Frye took over in the second. Frye dropped all 21 of his points on seven second-half triples. Five other Suns scored in double figures, and Steve Nash dropped 19 dimes. Kevin Love led the Wolves with 23/16.
- I thought Tyreke Evans was going to sit out a couple games, but apparently I was misinformed. Evans suited up last night and registered 22/7 against CP3 and the Hornets… but his efforts weren’t enough to earn the Kings a rare victory. Marcus Thornton, who’s hardly played all season, scored 19 points (including a key tip-in that put the Hornets up 93-88). Might as well get some rest, Tyreke. Plantar Fasciitis is a nagging injury that needs time to heal… and your squad’s going to lose with or without you.
- Carlos Boozer scored 34 points and grabbed 12 boards as the Bulls beat the crap out of the Craptors, but the news isn’t good in Chicago: Joakim Noah will miss about eight weeks due to a thumb injury. That’s a really tough break for the Bulls, who have been playing very well lately (seven wins in a row). Chicago’s frontcourt was at full strength for a total of just nine games. As for the beating they put on the Craptors, it was of the 17-point variety. Derrick Rose scored just six points on nine shots, but with Toronto shooting just 44% and giving up 62 points in the paint, his presence wasn’t even necessary.
- The other games: Kobe and Pau scored 31 and 28 points respectivly to lead the Lakers to an easy 15-point win over the Pacers. Eric Gordon failed to score 20 points for the first time since November 18th as his Clippers lost to the Suxers. Blake Griffin tied his career high with 18 boards… Spencer Hawes dropped 16/12 and swatted five shots for Philly. OJ Mayo dropped 24 off the bench as Memphis beat Charlotte by 23. The Bobcats shot 41% and turned the ball over 20 times. Kevin Durant poured in 32 as the Thunder won (by 12 over the Rockets) for the 4th time in a row. As a team, OKC shot 57.7% and scored 117 points. Lamarcus Aldridge put in a season-high 35 big ones, but didn’t get much help… his Blazers dropped their third in a row. This L was by five to the Mavs.
Quote of the Day: Jerryd Bayless is having a hard time adjusting to playing the Craptors’ way. By the “playing Craptors’ way” I mean being bullied and humiliated on most game nights…
“It’s embarrassing and I don’t like it. I’m not used to it and I’m not going to stand for it. We’ve got to get better.”
Good luck with that last part.
Photo of the Day:
From LBJ at the line with Mo and Jamison in the background to Jamison at the line with Boobie Gibson in the background… the appearance of that FT-line-good-players shot, or whatever you want to call it, certainly has changed for the Cavs. That’s rough. Hang in there, Cleveland.
