NBA

Knick fans: Don’t despair..at least not yet..

Posted by fantasyfurnace on May 22, 2013
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 comments

So the ‘season of hope’ is over. The Knickerbockers gave it a ride didn’t they? Look, at the beginning of the year I really thought that the Knicks were going to be playing “wheelchair basketball” with all the AARP members on board!

Kurt Thomas, Marcus Camby, Rasheed Wallace and Jason Kidd have already begun to fill out their applications for Medicare! If you would have told me before the season started that this bunch, which by the way included an injured Amare Stoudemire and an Iman Shumpert coming off of major knee surgery, that they were going to win 54 regular season games and finish first in their division, I would have signed up for that in a heartbeat.

The signings of Jason Kidd & Kurt Thomas along with Marcus Camby & Rasheed Wallace, turned the Knicks into the NBA's oldest team last season. Photo: ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The signings of Jason Kidd & Kurt Thomas along with Marcus Camby & Rasheed Wallace, turned the Knicks into the NBA’s oldest team last season.
Photo: ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

And while the majority of Knick fans are frustrated, upset, or depressed, they’re missing the bigger picture. Besides 1st place in the East, they also garnered the 2nd seed and made it through game six of the second round of the playoffs with some of their players going up and down the court in walkers and casts!

I don’t recall reading before the season began, that this Knicks team was the favorite to win the NBA Finals Championship…do you? Should they have beaten the Pacers? In the words of Sarah Palin, “You Betcha!” ‘Sheed and Kidd were instrumental in the Knicks opening the season at 18-6 but Wallace took himself out of basketball and Kidd just ran out of gas, needing a GPS to find the basket.

Stoudemire, who was averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds in March before his other knee gave out, didn’t have enough stamina in the post season and was limited in minutes on the floor. Tyson Chandler, who lost 12 pounds from a severe strep throat at the end of the season was just a shell of the defensive player he was last year and couldn’t keep up with the superb play of Roy Hibbert.

We know all the reasons why they couldn’t finish off the Pacers but in the opinion of many, the tide and momentum of the playoffs changed right after J.R. Smith’s ejection after stupidly elbowing Jason Terry. The Celtics probably get swept and the energy would have carried over into the series with Indiana if Smith had kept his cool.

#8 J.R. Smith's shooting woes began when he returned from his one game suspension for elbowing Jason Terry. Photo ; COREY SIPKIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

#8 J.R. Smith’s shooting woes began when he returned from his one game suspension for elbowing Jason Terry. Photo : COREY SIPKIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The Pacers you’ll recall never ‘blew out’ the Knicks unless you consider losing by 7 to 11 points a ‘blowout’. If J.R. doesn’t introduce his elbow to Terry’s chin, we would have more than likely seen a different result in that 2nd round.

The point is this team, as constituted today, should be a competitive bunch in the 2013-2014 season. However there will be some tweaks made to this roster before next year begins; a year in our opinion that will be the last before its key players are purged and a rebuilding process gets underway…yet again.

With the 24th pick in the first round of the next NBA draft, and perhaps through trades, the Knicks need to find a backup point guard to replace Pablo Prigioni who will take his family back to Spain to finish out his career. Hopefully he’ll be a quick guard who will bring some speed to the second unit. Kidd is NOT that guard.

They also need another big body to play the 5 off the bench so that Amare doesn’t have to. You can’t say enough about the excellent job that K-Mart did for this team but the club needs a taller, younger, and more agile player than Kenyon especially at this stage of his career.

Because of the new CBA, the odds are that the Knicks will not keep both J.R. and Copeland. And to all those that are calling for Smith’s head, that’s all well and good as long as you can find another player that could put up the kind of numbers he did off the bench. The problem in the series with the Pacers is that J.R. who admittedly still hadn’t found his shot, played way too many minutes as Woodson forgot that there was a Chris Copeland on the bench…

Many feel that #14 Small Forward Chris Copeland spent too much time on the bench in the Pacer series and not enough on the floor. Photo: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Many feel that #14 Small Forward Chris Copeland spent too much time on the bench in the Pacer series and not enough on the floor. Photo: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

We say ‘Don’t despair’ because there still is one more run, we believe, in the majority of this group. It is not a great team! It can’t be when you only have one future Hall of Famer playing major minutes. And at 40 years of age we’re not counting Jason Kidd who will be a lock for the Hall but clearly is not a major contributor anymore. How many do you have on other teams who made it into the 2nd round of the playoffs? Well, there are at least three in Miami and the same in San Antonio alone!

So Knick fans, come back off the ledge! It was a nice run but it was with a team that simply overachieved in the regular season. Be hopeful that Glen Grunwald will make that 24th pick a meaningful one. Pray that he’ll find a player who can finally know how to take a charge. Someone like Anderson Varejao for example. And let’s all hope that there is at least one more ride for the Knicks and their fans…

About these ads

The Knicks need to stop the nonsense and use their ‘Sixth’ sense!

Posted by fantasyfurnace on May 2, 2013
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 12 comments

What’s happened to the Knicks? How could they been up 3-0 and then lose the next two? Can they even close out the Celtics in this series? And, more importanly, could we be witnessing the 2004 “Boston Red Sox-like Celtics” vieing to become the first NBA team in history to come from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series? Will history repeat itself?

This year's Celtics are trying to repeat what the 2004 Red Sox did; coming back to win a series after being down 3-0. Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

This year’s Celtics are trying to repeat what the 2004 Red Sox did; coming back to win a series after being down 3-0. Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Think about this stat: Just 11% of all NBA teams who were down 3-0 even make it to a game 6!  This is what the Celtics have already accomplished and all we want to do is break down some of the reasons why and  how we have gotten to this point.

For openers, we were at Game 1 at the Garden and can tell you that the Knicks played with a bit of a swagger, especially in the second half. That confidence extended into games 2 and 3 as the Celtics never scored 80 or more points in any of those games.

And then, with a comfortable lead near the last half of the 4th quarter of game 3,  J.R. Smith got suckered into losing his cool after jawing with Jason Terry for most of the game. He elbowed the veteran, got ejected, and received a one game suspension from David Stern. The swagger left the court along with J.R. Smith and hasn’t returned in spite of the Knicks amazing comeback from being down 20 in game 4 to force the Celtics into OT.

#8 J.R. Smith shortly after elbowing #4 Jason Terry during game 3 on April 26th, 2013. Photo: Gettyimages

#8 J.R. Smith shortly after elbowing #4 Jason Terry during game 3 on April 26th, 2013. Photo: Gettyimages

That act of pure stupidity by Smith, with his team up by double-digits at the time, was reminiscent of what took place with the Knicks in another heated rivalry back in 1997. The Knicks were up 3-1 in that series with the hated Miami Heat when, in game 5 P.J. Brown took offense over Charlie Ward’s attempt to gain position for a rebound. Brown flipped Ward over his head and body-slammed him, and a melee ensued.

The Heat's P.J. Brown after slamming Knick Charlie Ward to the floor during the 1997 playoffs.

The Heat’s P.J. Brown after slamming Knick Charlie Ward to the floor during the 1997 playoffs.

Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Alan Houston and John Starks left the Knicks bench and when the smoked settled, Ewing, Houston and Ward were suspended for game 6 and Johnson and Starks for game 7. The Heat went on to win games 5, 6, and 7. That series, as this current one with the Celtics, was viewed as unwinnable at the time these actions took place.

Did Pat Riley tell P.J. Brown to instigate a brawl in the hopes of having the Knicks players lose their cool and face probable suspensions? Was Jason Terry ‘urged’  to incite a loose cannon like J.R. Smith? You be the judge.  

This much is for certain. The Knicks wearing black at last night’s game 5 vs the Celtics, as if they were dressing for Boston’s funeral, did incite and infuriate coach Mike Woodson as well as a lot of Knick and basketball fans alike. The Knicks should stop the nonsense, put their collective noses to the grindstone, and do their best to try and win this series.

They have no reason to act so cocky. They ain’t won nuthin’ yet so maybe they should just settle down and play the same kind of ball they did in their first three games. And for those who think that the Knicks might have lost the last two because  Chris Copeland didn’t play or Steve Novak didn’t play enough, give that a rest as well.

Chris Copeland has played a combined 24 minutes in this series shooting 0-5 with 1 rebound. Steve Novak has only been on the court for 31 minutes; 4-6 shooting for 10 points. (He also came out of last night’s game because of back spasms).

No, the Knicks need to remember what got them to 3-0 at the beginning of these playoffs in the first place;  hard nosed defense, distribution of the basketball, and that ‘swagger’. All of which was lost to some extent with Smith’s suspension.

 If you’re a Knicks fan, all you can hope for is that this series will not be the second coming of the 2004 Red Sox vs Yankees World Series, and that the team will not fall into any ‘traps’ during the remaining game(s); verbal or physical… otherwise history will just might repeat itself…

The Knicks need to avoid scenes like this in their remaining game(s). Photo: Gettyimages

The Knicks need to avoid scenes like this in their remaining game(s). Photo: Gettyimages

  

Game #1: Knicks vs Celtics- Our take & notable stats after being at the game…

Posted by fantasyfurnace on April 21, 2013
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

The Furnace scored some tickets to see the Knicks take on the Celtics, a heated rivalry to be sure,  and was fortunate enough to witness not only a Knicks win on Saturday, but a Garden revival-  full of the ‘Pomp and Cirumstance’ that has helped to make Madison Square Garden “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” It brought back many memories of when the Garden was the hottest ticket in New York!

The Madison Square Garden marquis. Photo: Fantasy Furnace

The world famous Madison Square Garden marquis prior to game-time. Photo: fantasyfurnace.com

Stephen A. Smith, broadcasting for ESPN just prior to the game at Knicks legend Walt Frazier’s restaurant, Clyde’s Wine & Dine, was heard urging Knick fans to be at the game early, before the intros, and to show the team that the time is NOW! He begged his listeners not to be like the fans in South Beach who traditionally don’t show up for a Heat game until a half hour after it’s started. By game time Saturday, about a third of the seats were still empty but shortly thereafter, the sellout crowd of 19,763 was there in full force and all in attendance, save for a small smattering of Celtic diehard fans, were urging their team to “Play for Now!” The Knicks ‘theme’ for the 2012-2013 season.

Photo: fantasyfurnace.com

Photo: fantasyfurnace.com

To say that the Garden was rockin’ would be an understatement. It helped re-defined the words “Playoff atmosphere.” However, there was the awkward moment before the game began when Carmelo Anthony and Paul Pierce were introduced before they made a couple of  short comments on the Boston tragedy. They came out from opposite sides of the court and never looked at each other nor shook hands.

The body language between Carmelo Anthony & Paul Pierce says it all... Photo: fantasyfurnace.com

The body language between Carmelo Anthony & Paul Pierce says it all… Photo: fantasyfurnace.com

During the game the fans outdid themselves with chants and expletives. They roared when John McEnroe was given a screen shot. Same for newly Hall of Fame inductee Bernard King, and likewise Larry “Mr. 4-point play” Johnson. However the loudest ‘boos’ of the evening came when a shot of Jets QB Mark Sanchez sitting court side appeared on the live big board screen. It was so loud that all Sanchez could do was put on an embarrassing half-smile.

And then there were the throngs of fans who were totally disenchanted with many of the refs calls & miscalls which prompted a hearty rendition of “These refs $#@&!” “These refs &%$@!” These refs @#$&!” It must have worked because in the fourth quarter there were hardly any calls made to speak of on either side.

The last 2:30 of the game found most of the 19,763 on their feet roaring their approval for a win that was imminent and then when the last few seconds ticked away, the big Garden board look like this:

The Madison Square Garden Bid Board showing the final score in Game 1 of the 2013 playoffs. Phoro: fantasyfurnace.com

The Madison Square Garden Big Board showing the final score in Game 1 of the 2013 playoffs. Photo: fantasyfurnace.com

Then came something New York Knicks fans haven’t seen in quite some time. As soon as the game ended, the Garden floor began filling  with players, photographers and fans swelling in droves from all angles as if it were a game seven victory in the NBA Finals. It was a welcome sight for the much beleaguered team that hasn’t had much to cheer about in many post-seasons over the past decade.

Swarms of players and fans burst onto the Garden floor following the KNicks game 1 victory. Photo: fantasyfurnace.com

Swarms of players and fans burst onto the Garden floor following the Knicks game 1 victory. Photo: fantasyfurnace.com

We took away some interesting and random observations as well as some stats that you might enjoy reading. Here are a few of them…

1. Raymond Felton missed four lay-ups. If he makes them the Knicks probably win by 15!

2. A rusty Tyson Chandler,playing in just his 4th game in the last 21, could only muster up 5 boards & 0 points in 20 minutes.

3. Iman Shumpert stayed in foul trouble throughout most of the game.

4. A nervous Chris Copeland, playing in his first playoff game, looked tentative shooting 0-3 from the floor with one steal.

5. Jason Kidd, the Knicks’ future Hall of Fame point guard, has played more postseason games (147) than any other player in the Eastern Conference. In the whole NBA, only Derek Fisher, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker have seen more postseason action. His playoff smarts during game one helped the Knicks from letting the game get too much out of hand by his contributions which included eight points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

#5 Jason Kidd was a key factor in Saturday's game one Knicks win over the Celtics. Photo: Jim McIsaac

#5 Jason Kidd’s experience was a key factor in Saturday’s game one Knicks win over the Celtics. Photo: Jim McIsaac

6. Kenyon Martin’s near double-double (10 points -9 rebounds) plus his tenacity & experience, helped the Knicks hold the Celtics to just 25 second half points and only 8 in the final quarter.

7. The last time the Knicks lead in a playoff series was April 29, 2001 vs Toronto with players like Othella Harrington & Felton Spencer on the club.

Apparently the Knicks are indeed “Playing for Now!”