Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Undeadblogging Knicks-Phillies

It's not liveblogging because it already happened and it's not exactly a postgame since I'm watching the Knicks in 60 without knowing the result, but hey, let's give it a shot. This should be a regular event here, by the way.

Some rambling thoughts:

Jesus, can Fred Jones dunk. The last several years have been very kind to that man's legs. I guess all that time at the end of the bench kept them well preserved.

Speaking of that dunk, since when do the Knicks get easy fast breaks? If anything shows they're playing more defense, that's it. There were a couple of great runs to the basket against Boston the other day that began with steals, including that one where Nate Robinson had the whole lane to himself aaaaaand....made a layup. Don't get me wrong, it was a pretty layup, and the papers the next day used it to rave some more about Nate's newfound "maturity," but come on. I was fully expecting a 360-through-the-legs-F-U-to-James-White sexplosion on the rim. These are obviously the kinds of moments Nate sees every time he closes his eyes. So don't leave my basketballs blue, Nate.

It's the start of the third and Zach Randolph just beat the crap out of three Sixers to get a rebound. No whistle (and no basket came of it) but damn I loved to watch the effort.

Clyde says the Knicks are making people "hurry and worry" with their new commitment to defense. Is that a new one? Are there any Clyde-isms since 1999 about Knicks defense? He hasn't exactly had much reason to come up with them. The Knicks are lazing and grazing on defense? The Knicks are an ineffective collective in need of a corrective (from my perspective)?

Jeffries is about the worst ballhandler I have ever seen and he clearly loves to bring the ball up the court. It seems hard to believe, but when he came to New York part of the now discredited spin was that he was so versatile he could even play point guard. Remember when the Iraqis were supposed to greet us with flowers and candy? It was sort of like that.

HOLY SHIT did Nate Robinson just make a layup with a foul. I am doing everything I can not buy this new paper-thin conventional wisdom on Nate without some results first, but damn, the dude can make the spectacular common.

Knicks 77, Sixers 64. Jeffries taking that charge to stop a fast break was worth at least twenty dollars of his contract.

Nichols hits a three. The last we ever see? And there's another one. "Coach you may want to think about it," says the announcer. What he meant was CUT JEROME JAMES.

There's Nate dropping another open three. I've been saying it a long while, but if Nate's chief role is just hitting open threes off of Curry and Randolph double teams and he can do it reliably, he will be extremely valuable for that alone.

Isiah's royal blue dress shirt under that checkered dark gray suit is making me fall in love with him all over again. If George Bush looked that good things might be different between us. Maybe that's the logic behind Dana Perino.

Knicks 100, Sixers 80 and the Knicks still are playing hard.

Is this the end of Jared Jordan too? A white guard on the Knicks is a mindfuck of a concept. We've had our lumbering Dudleys, Knights, even Longleys, before, leading up to THE white man, David Lee, but a white little guy? There's just no precedent without going back to the 70s.

So another great game, another GREAT defensive game. Amazing what a couple of wins can do for a team's image after mass despair following that blowout last week. If they can just play with this kind of passion during the regular season, they'll make the playoffs easy. People are starting to look like they know their roles on offense, especially Nate.

2 comments:

danvt said...

Paul Westphal 1981 to 1983

Dan Panorama said...

That's before I was born.