So we have seen over the past 24 hours:

• the Knicks coming into the Suns game with the WORST RECORD IN THE NBA
• Jerome James suspended indefinitely for "conduct detrimental to the team"
• Penny leaving town (Texas) to get "back into shape"
• Ariza being surprised to find out he was left out of the rotation after being "out played" by Lee & Woods moments after Brown told the press, via a Knick public relations representative
• A rotation annouced by Brown that was actually utilized in the Suns game
• A HUGE hard fought, yet flawed, win against a very good team in the LONGEST GAME IN MSG HISTORY

Who knows what will happen. We could be in for a major letdown, since we don't play again until Friday, and we have been notoriously inconsistent. But then again, after a 3 OT game maybe they could use the rest and they can take that momentum into practice and work on things like FREE THROW SHOOTING. Good God....I want to make a comment regarding that as well.

I think it was in either OT 1 or OT 2, but Nate had gotten fouled by Eddie House while trying to drive to the hoop. I think he either cursed/seemed frustrated when he first went to the line, missed the first free throw and cursed after he missed it, or only cursed after he missed the first free throw...but anyway the point is that this guy shot 80% in college and has a routine at the line. Anyone who knows about good free throw shooting knows that you have to seperate yourself from the moment when you are at the free throw line and focus on the routine. Nate was mad at himself, lost his composure and it was highly predictable that he would miss the second. Someone has to tell him that if you miss or something bad happens, when you go to the line you have to clear your mind, take a deep breath, or whatever it takes, so you are focused on the FT shot and nothing else.

Curry and Lee also need to come up with some kind of routine, and build their confidence when they step to the line. Lee strikes me as a confident player, which makes me wonder why he is such a poor free throw shooter. He doesn't have much of a jump shot, but you would think that with his maturity he could be a good FT shooter. Curry looked, surprisingly, great at the end of regulation at the line, but I think he needs to bend his knees more. However, at this point in his career it may be too late to change habits like that.

Will Marbury gain respect again?
Will Crawford be a consistent player?
Will the rotations stick?
etc. etc.

We'll see how this all pans out. This was a good win to build on, but I expect plenty of bumps along this road...



[Edited by - PresIke on 01-02-2006 11:43 PM]

Agree on the ft shooting. When I saw it was Curry stepping up to take those 2 crucial ft's my heart dropped. Dunno how he made them, but hopefully he can go on from here.