All right, first let's set the facts straight: Fish puked first. I only puked because I saw him puke - you know, like a gag reflex thing?
J/K
Let it be known that we started chanting for Jackie Butler DURING the national anthem - not even after, during. It soon became obvious that that was going to be to no avail. No matter how many times we said, "Now wouldn't it make sense to put Jackie in NOW?" No. Nothing. No Jackie all evening. Naturally.
Notes on the Knicks. They actually played hard tonight and had good spirit. We were impressed with their intnsity. Two things stood out - they were moving the ball inside much more often than in recent games. It really picked up the whole team's intensity. Craw and Marbs can get the rest of the team much more into the game by continuing to do this. Also the team D was much more inspired. And not just JYD and Ariza. Everyone was digging in (well, almost everyone, but we'll get to Mo T in a moment
).
Notes on individual players:
Marbs played a good game. He looked strong, for the most part took good shots, drove and dished, didn't get too caught up in macho battles with Hinrich but did get pissed at the pest Pargo. It did become obvious to us what a bummer it is when he breaks down the D only to then flip the ball back out to KT instead of someone cutting to the hoop.
Craw played a pretty solid game. As Briggs has mentioned, it makes an entire world of difference if he sets his feet and shoulders before a jump shot. You can really tell immediately from the motion in his body if a shot's going to go in or not. As always, he was much more effective in his game when he moved closer in to the hoop. Fish mentioned about his long arms and ablility to get steals in the passing lanes, and he then IMMEDIATELY came up with one.
Sweets - this is for you, Bonn - yes he's freaking HUGE!!! Oh my god you could set a table for 4 on that butt!!! He looks like Tractor Traylor's BIGGER brother!!! But regardless, going to him in the post is still the best offensive play for the Knicks to run. Both Fish and I had the impression that his size is not necessarily holding him back that much, He's very clever around the rim and uses his size to establish position and move people around. His biggest bugaboo is still those dumbass help fouls out on the perimeter. He's ADDICTED to that stupid move!!
Mo Taylor - I swear, if he was 2 inches taller, he'd be Eddie Curry. We were busting just watching him pretend to play D. Fish was counting the seconds that he was just standing outside the key watching Ariza battle on the defensive boards while he watched. Once when he got caught he started faking like he had gotten hurt!!!
He does have some nice footwork in the post, but personally I just find the guy tough to take.
Okay, a few notes on the Garden. They keep working the Knick City Dancers more and more suggestively into every fan-participation stunt. You come down from the stands and dance and grind with the Knick City Dancers. You come down and play tic-tac-toe with the Knick City Dancers twirling the x's and o's over their heads while they bump and grind. We noted that we're just about a year away from the contest being to come down onto half-court and SCREW the Knick City Dancers!!
HALFTIME: Fish and I tell each other stories about all the derelict things we each did when we were teenagers. Jeez, a couple of clean-cut looking guys like us! Must have been all the Hendrix music we both listened to!
Notes on the Bulls:
We watched Chandler closely. The guys's offense is totally nonexistent. It's unbelievable, like he never played the game of basketball before. His only scores were when he ran the floor and got fed dunks. Every now and then he asserted himself on D and was quite formidable. But man, he took LONG periods of time off when he just hung around and did nothing. He really didn't show the intensity and sustained defensive dominance I had expected. He did not look too good.
Nocioini - what a tough character. He's kind of cool, like an old school Knick. He just loves to smack people, push people and annoy people. I thought Rose was gonna haul off on him. And he was pulling it with Taylor, JYD and Sweets too. Good physical borderline-dirty player.
Gordon - The guy's just a natural, but he does shoot too much. The few times he drove he was devastating, he should do it so much more often.
Adrian Griffin - holy crap, where did this guy's offense come from??? We remembered him as the defensive specialist from Dallas, where the hell did he get this offensive game from????
Antoinio the old warrior. Can't help but respect him. He can really school a lot of these young guys on professionalism and effort. We appreciated his game.
Hinrich - we compared him to Stockton for a while, then Hornacek. Man the guy just has it together. I admit it, I NEVER expected him to be this good of a pro.
Well, of course, the Knicks lost, so all's well that ends well. Although, I have to be truthful, we were rooting for the Knicks to win. We both admitted it's impossible to actually go to a game and not root for them to win. The crowd was good - the Garden was much more full than I thought and the energy was good. The Knicks earned it because they had good effort.
Had a great time hanging with Fish. Final note: when I got home, my daughter said, "So how was your blind date?" I had to tell her the truth - "I've had worse."
4/9/2005 8:57 AM