In The Paint Inside Practice
Crawford Returns to Practice
by Tom Kertes


GREENBURGH, NY, Jan 13, 2005 -- Who’s faster, Stephon Marbury or Trevor Ariza? While the team was running sprints toward the trail end of practice -- every time someone missed a free throw every player would tear full speed the entire 94 feet -- the superb veteran point guard and the ebullient 19-year old rookie were engaging in a one-on-one sprint of their own. Those of you who voted for Ariza’s young legs were wrong, if only by an inch or two. Supersteph, it seems, is super-fast as well.
Playfulness reigned at the winding down of a very serious practice -- the mood was lifted by the evident healing of many of the team’s walking wounded. Michael Sweetney, out for three games with a sprained right ankle, pronounced himself “feeling great and ready to go.” Allan Houston, still in the recovery stage after his long absence, was moving like butter. Even Jamal Crawford, out since Dec. 22 with a right turf toe and not expected back for another week or so, participated in practice for the first time and claimed he might be ready to return in one of the upcoming two games against the Bulls.

“It felt good,” said Crawford. “No pain. Of course, I haven’t tested it in a contact scrimmage yet. That’s tomorrow. But sure, I’d like to play against Chicago. Those were certainly dates I circled on my calendar at the beginning of the season.” Chicago, of course, just happens to be Crawford’s previous team. “Do I feel any pressure to get back?” he smiled. “No, certainly not from anyone in the Knicks organization. If there’s any pressure, it comes from within. My team needs me. I want to play.”

Thing is, the last thing the Knick players and coaches want to do is use injuries as an explanation for the team’s recent inconsistencies. But when your second top scorer (Crawford), starting small forward (Tim Thomas), promising young off-the-bench power broker (Sweetney) are all out at the same time -- AND your starting two guard (Houston) is still playing at less than one hundred per cent -- the team is bound to be affected.

“Do those guys being out make a difference?” the very Dog-ged Jerome Williams asked the rhetorical question. “They make a HUGE difference. Guys like that demand double teams. They are hard to guard. They change the other team’s defensive schemes.”

“We’ve been limited in the things that we can do,” Coach Lenny Wilkens added. “That’s one of the reasons we play great in one game -- then the next game it’s like we’ve forgotten what we did. We need to acquire that consistent approach. Getting Jamal, Sweet, and Tim back will make a huge difference. Great as the Junk Yard Dog has been playing – and he’s been unbelievable – there are certain things I can do with Michael or Tim that I can’t do with JYD. Plus, many of the injured guys’ mere presence help spread the floor. Jamal, in particular, can get into seams -- and that helps Stephon and even Allan get better shots. Once you get that chemistry going, you throw the ball up court more confidently.”

Crawford had a similar observation from the bench. “I think we need to get more easy shots,” he stressed. “Against Miami, we had 94 points -- and only 2 came in the open court. That means we had to grind it out for 92, on all the other possessions. And you just can’t do that. That’s too much.”

The Dawg has also been too much -- in a very different, very positive, manner, of course. “His energy really is contagious – it can lift the entire arena,” smiled Crawford.

“One of those baskets he scored against the Hornets -- when he missed the free throw and then dunked the rebound in one motion -- I have never seen anything like that in my entire life.”

On his own part, a smiling JYD is doing his best to deflect the attention. “It’s not about me,” he says. “It’s about helping the team win. If my energy is contagious, well, so much the better. I might talk to a guy here and there individually, sure. But, mostly, you just lead by example. You just try to keep a positive, enthusiastic attitude going and hope it’s catching. You can’t really be in another guy’s head. I accept every one of my teammates for who they are -- just as I hope they accept me for who I am. We all do the best we can.”

The Dog, meanwhile, actually sat out the practice-ending sprints -- and that’s something you NEVER see. “My Liz and Frank tendons in my right foot were having some marital problems,” he said. “So they went for some counseling. But they’ll be fine. Have no worries, slick.”

when your second top scorer (Crawford), starting small forward (Tim Thomas), promising young off-the-bench power broker (Sweetney) are all out at the same time -- AND your starting two guard (Houston) is still playing at less than one hundred per cent -- the team is bound to be affected.

I think everyone except Briggie and maybe TMS realizes that