The Journal-News’ Mike Dougherty reports New York will be without the services of Zach Randolph tonight against Miami, as the Knicks forward is dealing with the death of his grandmother.

Cynical persons will note the last time Randolph left an NBA club on “bereavement leave”, he choose a rather curious venue for mourning.

Peter Vescey penned a longish love letter to Renaldo Balkman (“acrobatically gifted and awfully self-motivated”) in Sunday’s New York Post, concluding with the following passage :

In the game against the Nuggets on Tuesday, Balkman, who played almost 28 minutes, scored 11 points, going 5-for-6 from the field and 1-for-2 at the line. He also had four boards, one great pass in traffic at crunch time to Curry for a layup and three blocks, one downright fascinating at the expense of a shocked Linas Kleiza who thought he had an uncontested 3-pointer with 39 seconds to go in the third.

Marveling at the moment, George Karl said, “You don’t see too many guys capable of blocking a jump shot coming from five feet away.”

How many “Where Amazing Happens” parodies are we going to see? Probably a few more by Christmas, I reckon.