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New York State of Mind

How low can things get in NYC? After barley beating a LeBron-less Cavs squad Friday night, the Knicks get trashed by the Pistons last night. A team with a backcourt of Jamal Crawford and Steph should never score 61 points in a game. We expect some sort of shake up in the next couple of weeks at the latest. Days seem more likely than weeks. Somehow Kurt Thomas is going to end up on another team and somehow we don’t think that is going to upset Kurt Thomas. ... Carlos Arroyo is going to have to join the mask rage. Arroyo broke his nose in the third, will have to have surgery and will have to join teammate Rip Hamilton with “the mask.” … We didn’t mention Vince’s big night a couple nights ago (and caught some flack for it), but after doing it in two straight we’ll give him his due props. Carter put 30, 10, and 8 and the Nets dismantled the Jazz. The Nets shot an absurd 53 percent from the field. How deep is Jersey though? Rodney Buford went down with a sprained ankle and Rod Thorn looked like he was about to hyperventilate. Buford did walk off on his own power. Former Jayhawk and current 50 year old rookie Billy Thomas may have bought himself a second 10-day contract. … We give the play if the night to Franchise. Steve Francis split the double team and threw a filthy cram over Antawn Jamison. Sick. Francis had himself a night of highlights and the Magic beat the Bullets (yes, we said the Bullets. You wear the jerseys, you become the team) 103-97. … How smoking hot is Gilbert Arenas? Arenas dropped 37 last night, giving him an insane five straight 30-point games. There are a couple of fantasy owners out there who think Arenas is great too. … Gotta give some love to Philly for going into Dallas without AI and coming away with a win. The Mavs didn’t shoot the ball well at all, and had their chances to win the game in the fourth, but we’ll give credit to the Sixers. They got after it hard last night. The Answer actually shot around before the game and is close to returning to the lineup. ... Welcome to the Dallas Mavericks Erick Dampier. Big man had his best game as a Mav going for 26 boards and 7 block shots. … How is this for a ringing endorsement of fill in point guard Jason Hart? Bernie Bickerstaff called the Bobcats recent good play without Brevin Knight a "grand illusion." … How does Pitt lose to Bucknell and beat Syracuse? We’re just asking. … Pound for pound, talent for talent, we don’t see anyone matching up with UNC. We are not saying the Tar Heels win the National Championship. We’re just saying that if they played like they did last night against Virginia, nobody in the country matches up. … Any road win for Boston is a good win, but dropping the century mark on a hot Chicago team and finishing strong in the fourth impresses us a bit. Ben Gordon looked like Vinnie Johnson last night. For those of who don’t get the reference, study a little history. Gordon just had one of those microwave nights off the bench for the Bulls. … Hysterical mistake in Smack yesterday. Don’t know if you caught it but we called Matt Bonner the "Russian Rocket" and not the “Red Rocket.” The Russian Rocket is of course Pavel Bure. Which we of course only know because of the countless hours we played NHLPA Hockey 8 years ago (when Hockey existed). …The Chris Duhon snub emails just won’t stop. The Bulls front office deserves to be recognized for a great draft. Duhon, Deng, and Gordon? Impressive ... We’re out like the Knicks morale.