Perhaps the only thing less likely than the undermanned Knickerbockers beating the team with the NBA’s 2nd best record in OT on Monday was tonight’s double OT thriller against the lowly Bobcats. Not only did New York erase a 17 point halftime deficit (and survive a brutal shooting night by Stephon Marbury), but the frontline of Eddy Curry (29 points, 9 rebounds), Channing Frye (30 points) and David Lee (a ridiculous 19 rebounds) showed uncharacteristic poise and toughness. David Lee’s game winning tip-in from a Jamal Crawford inbounds pass with 0.10 seconds remaining has to rank up there with Trent Tucker’s 3 pointer on Martin Luther King Day, or Larry Johnson’s 4 point play against Indy in the ’99 playoffs on the scale of Knicks’ can-you-believe-it moments.
If you’re near a TV this morning, one of the best shots on the highlight shows displays Knicks fans giving Michael Jordan some grief (good naturedly, I’ll assume) after Lee’s bucket. One of the worst shots from the same highlight programs has Ahmad Rashad sitting next to MJ. Can’t win ’em all.
I’ll throw this question out to anyone up this late who cares to answer it : New York had 8 bodies available Wednesday (9 if you count Jerome James). With Quentin Richardson and Stevie Franchise injured, Collins, Jefferies and Robinson suspended, what is preventing Isiah Thomas from signing someone (perhaps Tulsa’s Cheyne Gadson, currently averaging better than 20 PPG in the D-League) to a 10 day contract?
New Jersey’s 113-111 decision over Cleveland maintained the Nets’ 1 and a half game advantage over the Knicks in the Atlantic Division. If you thought that was funny, well, that’s how I intended it. If it struck you as a dull recitation of a basic fact, well, you’re right, too. Vince Carter (38 points) won the duel with LeBron (37), though both players went to the line so many times, you’d have thought there was a mandate about protecting superstars or something. VC hit a pair of free throws and made a key steal in the final seconds, but please, don’t put Grandma on the phone.
Dallas’ 103-95 win at Seattle might prove costly, and not just because Avery Johnson forgot the words to the Dehumanizers’ “Kill Lou Guzzo” on the bus ride to Key Arena. Chris Wilcox landed on his Dirkness’ right ankle during the first quarter trying to pull down a rebound, while the Sonics’ Rashard Lewis injured a tendon in his right index finger moments earlier after his hand was stuck in the net attempting to block a shot.
While Allen Iverson sat out tonight’s cancelled Suns/Nuggets tilt by giving Stephen A. Smith one final scoop (ie. claiming he’d never asked for a trade), Rep. Chakka Fattah (R) of Pennsylvania’s 2nd Congressional District is keenly focused on the most issues most important to his constituency.