I'm sitting in my kitchen about 100 miles away from Madison Square Garden digesting a late-night snack and all that transpired tonight. What keeps coming back to me is the shoes.
Money, it's gotta be the shoes.
Jamal Crawford and I have this thing going about his sneakers. I didn't like the kicks that Reebok sent him at the start of the season, especially the black ones for away games. But in January he received a new set and, quite frankly, they're even worse. Think of wrestling shoes in orange and blue.
But free grip is free grip. That's what Reebok sends him, that's what he wears. Truth be told, Crawford prefers the first pair. "They're comfortable," he said. The new ones, which have that cool Reebok Pump thing? Crawford just shook his head.
Mardy Collins, who also has a Reebok hook-up, grinned and looked down at the floor, where his pair lay. Clearly he doesn't like 'em either.
But Jamal just dropped a Fiddy-Deuce against the Miami Heat with those goofy-looking things. Something tells me he might have a place in his heart for them after tonight.
I might have to greet him with a little Mars Blackmon tomorrow.
Oh sweat! Reebok you gotta hook me up! Please baby, please baby, baby please!
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To the anonymous comment from my previous blog entry that promoted Eddy Curry for an all-star bid, I am very aware that Curry is not as good of a rebounder as he could be and that he's quite inconspicuous on defense. If you have followed this blog since the start of the season, you would have read such analysis just about every time I mentioned Curry's name (my personal favorite was when I passed out New Year's resolutions and Curry's read: "Help defense is an attitude, not a plea." That kind of quality you don't see in other Knicks blogs).
But aside from his rebounding (he is, however, averaging over 7 a game, which is decent, but he can do better) and his weak defense, Curry's dominance on the offensive end is enough to justify a spot on the East all-star roster. For argument's sake, if we're judging Eddy for his all-around game, then should we debate Gilbert Arenas' defensive abilities and his assist statistics?
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By the way, the Norbit ad is still hanging off three corners of MSG. And only one of you has bothered to toss in some suggestions to my Top 5 BBW list from a few blogs ago. Is it that difficult? What about Jennifer Hudson from Dreamgirls? She might knock Queen Latifah off the chart.
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The Bucks may be without Michael Redd (knee) and Mo Williams (shoulder), but they've remained competitive with Charlie Bell, Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva. OK, who are we kidding. They've lost 11 of 12 in the month of January and are plummeting like the mercury in my patio thermometer (the damn dog needed to go out, so I got to feel what 27 degrees is like at 2:30 a.m. in a pair of basketball shorts and a fleece).
If you're Isiah Thomas, do you rest Eddy Curry in this game just to make sure his left calf strain gets a little more time to heal before more critical games such as Tuesday against the Lakers, Wednesday against Emeka Okafor and the Bobcats and Saturday against Dwight Howard and the Magic?
Let Jerome James bang with Bogut on Sunday afternoon. Plus, I just want to see Big Jerome bring it behind his back on the break one more time. That dribble was so high off the ground it almost got pulled into orbit.
I'll check in Sunday from Milwaukee.
Comments (7)
gilbert arenas averages more steals per game than jason kidd (2.0 vs. 1.8). assists: arenas 6.3 apg, marbury 5.6 apg.
jamal has been on a tear, 23 vs. miami, 29 vs.phx, 52 vs. mia, keep feeding the hot hand.
Keep Crawford in the starting lineup, Isiah. I think that’s becoming obious to everyone now.
Also, please take Q out of the starting lineup and put Lee/Balkman in instead!
Balkman is becoming a difference-maker and Isiah must play his more.
I would give Curry the game off. I don’t think against this team, the Bucks, Curry’s presence would be needed. Play it safe for one more game. I think when it’s all said and done, Curry will tab an All Star berth as a reserve.
By the way, why hasn’t anyone discussed Lee in the All Star game? The guy is averaging a double-double, mainly off the bench, in just his second season. Pretty impressive.
I don’t want to see any letdowns by the Knicks tomorrow. The Bucks are a team we need and should beat.
Norbit Posters? I thought those were Jerome James promos.
Say this much for Isiah. He certainly does have luck. Every time he's about to run out of excuses he gets a game like this.
Setting the bar at being better than last year is a crock. How about measuring the Knicks against teams that have been rebuilding for 3-4 years.
Thanks David Stern for blacking out the game. Looks like Crawford finally cooled off,9-24. This was a game we probably should have had.
Yeah, none of us got to see the game and once I found out we lost, I decided not to bother watching.
Looking at the boxscore, it makes you wonder why Balkman's playing time is so little, how soft Frye is, and what a bust Jeffries is.
19-27, Isiah Must Go!
Right you are Jeff.
There is not a real good upside or future with this squad. And to make matters worse, Isiah is coaching only. He's not GM'ing at all. His days of throwing good money after bad are over. So now what? If you really want to feel lousy, compare this team to the Lakers who've been rebuilding for about as long.
'That's what Reebok sends him, that's what he wears.'
DO you guys feels like putting in a few bucks and going with Jamal to buy him a pair of shoes?
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Eddy Curry is a very flawed player. DEFINITELY not the type that will help win (hey, lets be real...we are hoping simply to be mediocre again like we were before Thomas took over)
But lets be honest, how many centers in the east are worthy besides Howard (who IS the kind of player that will win a championship one day)?
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Dino, not having Thomas GM is a blessing.
You want to be more depressed? Read up on the Raptors.
Since Colangelo got there near the end of last season from the Suns, he revamped the whole roster by adding 9 players, getting rid of the egos (the Magic is also a team which was transformed when the cancers were excised) and locker lawyers (of course, we ended up getting Jalen Rose and Francis!) and me first guys.
He didnt resign Mike James who had great numbers on a bad team because James is not a PG.
Basically, he did exactly the opposite of hte Knicks (maybe Thomas should take a chapter from the G.Costanza book and do the OPPOSITE of what his gut tells him.. It cannot be worse)
Are they a great team? C'mon, there aint such a thing in the Atlantic.
But they offer one thing to their fans that we dont have.
Hope.
In less than one year on the job, in a market that american players try to avoid like the plague (even thought Toronto is identical to any US city), Colangelo did an assesment of the situation and took action.
We on the other hand have more money than Trump, a city which players are attracted to and we are told that it takes t...i....m...e.
Toronto is young but they dont allow youth to be an excuse, they play a fan friendly game and their fans have H-O-P-E.
What do we have?