The marquee at Madison Square Garden continues to declare that "The Excitement Is Back," as it has since the Knicks traded for Stephon Marbury three weeks ago. And with the Pacers in town, that's no lie.
There's also the fact that the All-Star reserves were announced earlier in the day, and Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury wasn't named to the squad. Not hard to believe, given that he only played a third of his games in the East. But you know he'd play like he had something to prove, and, with Reggie Miller in the building, things were bound to get heated anyway. Anyways, onto the notes.
-- Pacer coach Rick Carlisle wouldn't spill his whole All-Star ballot, but he did mention that he had voted for LeBron James and Chauncey Billups. "I was surprised there were no Detroit players besides Ben Wallace," he said. "If I could have voted for more guards I would have voted for Rip Hamilton, too." Guess there's no bad blood between him and the Piston players, at least.
-- First-time All Star Ron Artest sits in his locker quietly answering questions. In celebration he has a close-cropped fresh cut to go with his thin ("Old man," Khalid says) mustache. Got the new Jordan XIIs, too.
-- Reggie Miller is in a chair in the middle of the floor reviewing tape. This is a guy with more experience and as much ability as anyone, and he's still always shooting or studying. Young players take note.
-- The Knicks have signed DerMarr Johnson to a 10-day while Allan Houston is on the injured list, Not only is he in the building (and the only Knick wearing a headband), but he's good to go. No minutes, though. Interesting to note that he's listed at 6-9, 201, while Jamaal Tinsley is listed at 6-1, 199. Eat something DerMarr!
-- Some things never change -- Spike Lee is nowhere to be seen, but someone still screams "REGGIE SUCKS!" in the middle of the national anthem. He also gets wildly booed during introductions. Haven't the Garden faithful realized that he LIVES on this?
-- The Pacers start off the scoring as Artest grabs a defensive rebound and takes it coast-to-coast. Nice defense.
-- For the Knicks, Steph scores first, then doesn't even consider passing the next two possessions, hitting a long two and bricking a long three. It's times like this when we understand why some people still think Steph is selfish. It doesn't happen much, luckily.
-- Whistle. Foul on Kurt Thomas. Someone in the 300s yells "LET THEM PLAY THE GAME!" It's the first foul. And it's 2:30 into the first quarter. I love these fans.
-- Reggie hits his first basket, a three from in front of his own bench. I've probably seen him play live -- no lie -- 50 times, and his release will never cease to amaze me. It's so ugly, yet you can never doubt it.
-- Best play of the game involving Shandon Anderson: Reggie drops a bad entry pass in to Jermaine which he misses. Someone on the Knicks picks it up and throws an outlet to Shandon who -- already headed upcourt -- doesn't see the ball OR Reggie, who has cut in front of Shandon to try and intercept. Shandon runs over Reggie and gets called for the foul, despite the fact that he has no idea what's going on. The 400 level does NOT approve.
-- Can someone please pony up and buy Isiah a seat?
-- Do you think Stephon ever imagined he'd be running screen and rolls with Michael Doleac?
-- Second-best play of the game involving Shandon Anderson: He gets called for a foul on Austin Croshere. He's headed towards the bench already, so he just keeps jogging, holding up three fingers to signify his third foul. Lenny gets KVH up, and Shandon, never breaking stride, sits right down.
-- Jamaal Tinsley picks up his third foul to go with his zero points.
-- During the halftime talent show, a 12-year-old girl from Pennsylvania sings a Christina Aguilera song. No joke necessary.
-- Jermaine O'Neal plays despite a strained neck. Judging by the way he's playing, maybe he shouldn't be.
-- Jamaal Tinsley hits a three and pounds his chest. Which is nice and all, until Penny hits one 10 seconds later.
-- Method Man, in the front row, claps along to a Knicks City Dancers routine, AND chows down on a bag of cotton candy. From that, we're guessing he left the fangs home.
-- As Khalid points out, Dikembe Mutombo may know six languages, but he doesn't know the word for "foul" in any of them.
-- With nine minutes to go and the Knicks up three, the "REGGIE SUCKS" chant starts again. Doesn't anyone know better? This is the same guy, after all, who scored nine points in under 10 seconds to beat them once. I mean, hate him all you want, but he certainly doesn't suck.
-- Down the stretch. People on their feet, Steph urging them on. Reggie doesn't have the magic, and Jermaine just doesn't have anything. Knicks win, 97-90.
-- Meth, Fat Joe and Peter Vecsey politic on the sidelines immediately afterwards. Will Pete join the Terror Squad? Stay tuned. Also, Sam from The Lord of the Rings movies stakes a spot in the Knicks locker room and greets all the players.
-- Carlisle afterwards: "We said before the season that we weren't going to be an excuse team, and we're not."
-- Meth exchanges hugs and pounds with Penny.
-- As soon as the Pacer locker room opens, Knicks assistant Mark Aguirre is in there. "I gotta see my monsters." Isiah is quick to follow, giving a long hug to Tinsley and even saying what's up (by name!) to Primoz Brezec. Holla! He then goes and hangs with Reggie in his usual back-room spot for a minute.
-- Jeff Foster and Scot Pollard (who's more disappointing for his lack of wacky facial hair than his underwhelming game) take the fastest showers in the history of mankind.
-- Ron-Ron: "My whole family's New York fans anyway."
-- Jermaine has got the suit game on lock. Got the ill gray number with matching gators tonight.
http://www.slamonline.com/links/wkfeb2_04/index1.html
There's also the fact that the All-Star reserves were announced earlier in the day, and Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury wasn't named to the squad. Not hard to believe, given that he only played a third of his games in the East. But you know he'd play like he had something to prove, and, with Reggie Miller in the building, things were bound to get heated anyway. Anyways, onto the notes.
-- Pacer coach Rick Carlisle wouldn't spill his whole All-Star ballot, but he did mention that he had voted for LeBron James and Chauncey Billups. "I was surprised there were no Detroit players besides Ben Wallace," he said. "If I could have voted for more guards I would have voted for Rip Hamilton, too." Guess there's no bad blood between him and the Piston players, at least.
-- First-time All Star Ron Artest sits in his locker quietly answering questions. In celebration he has a close-cropped fresh cut to go with his thin ("Old man," Khalid says) mustache. Got the new Jordan XIIs, too.
-- Reggie Miller is in a chair in the middle of the floor reviewing tape. This is a guy with more experience and as much ability as anyone, and he's still always shooting or studying. Young players take note.
-- The Knicks have signed DerMarr Johnson to a 10-day while Allan Houston is on the injured list, Not only is he in the building (and the only Knick wearing a headband), but he's good to go. No minutes, though. Interesting to note that he's listed at 6-9, 201, while Jamaal Tinsley is listed at 6-1, 199. Eat something DerMarr!
-- Some things never change -- Spike Lee is nowhere to be seen, but someone still screams "REGGIE SUCKS!" in the middle of the national anthem. He also gets wildly booed during introductions. Haven't the Garden faithful realized that he LIVES on this?
-- The Pacers start off the scoring as Artest grabs a defensive rebound and takes it coast-to-coast. Nice defense.
-- For the Knicks, Steph scores first, then doesn't even consider passing the next two possessions, hitting a long two and bricking a long three. It's times like this when we understand why some people still think Steph is selfish. It doesn't happen much, luckily.
-- Whistle. Foul on Kurt Thomas. Someone in the 300s yells "LET THEM PLAY THE GAME!" It's the first foul. And it's 2:30 into the first quarter. I love these fans.
-- Reggie hits his first basket, a three from in front of his own bench. I've probably seen him play live -- no lie -- 50 times, and his release will never cease to amaze me. It's so ugly, yet you can never doubt it.
-- Best play of the game involving Shandon Anderson: Reggie drops a bad entry pass in to Jermaine which he misses. Someone on the Knicks picks it up and throws an outlet to Shandon who -- already headed upcourt -- doesn't see the ball OR Reggie, who has cut in front of Shandon to try and intercept. Shandon runs over Reggie and gets called for the foul, despite the fact that he has no idea what's going on. The 400 level does NOT approve.
-- Can someone please pony up and buy Isiah a seat?
-- Do you think Stephon ever imagined he'd be running screen and rolls with Michael Doleac?
-- Second-best play of the game involving Shandon Anderson: He gets called for a foul on Austin Croshere. He's headed towards the bench already, so he just keeps jogging, holding up three fingers to signify his third foul. Lenny gets KVH up, and Shandon, never breaking stride, sits right down.
-- Jamaal Tinsley picks up his third foul to go with his zero points.
-- During the halftime talent show, a 12-year-old girl from Pennsylvania sings a Christina Aguilera song. No joke necessary.
-- Jermaine O'Neal plays despite a strained neck. Judging by the way he's playing, maybe he shouldn't be.
-- Jamaal Tinsley hits a three and pounds his chest. Which is nice and all, until Penny hits one 10 seconds later.
-- Method Man, in the front row, claps along to a Knicks City Dancers routine, AND chows down on a bag of cotton candy. From that, we're guessing he left the fangs home.
-- As Khalid points out, Dikembe Mutombo may know six languages, but he doesn't know the word for "foul" in any of them.
-- With nine minutes to go and the Knicks up three, the "REGGIE SUCKS" chant starts again. Doesn't anyone know better? This is the same guy, after all, who scored nine points in under 10 seconds to beat them once. I mean, hate him all you want, but he certainly doesn't suck.
-- Down the stretch. People on their feet, Steph urging them on. Reggie doesn't have the magic, and Jermaine just doesn't have anything. Knicks win, 97-90.
-- Meth, Fat Joe and Peter Vecsey politic on the sidelines immediately afterwards. Will Pete join the Terror Squad? Stay tuned. Also, Sam from The Lord of the Rings movies stakes a spot in the Knicks locker room and greets all the players.
-- Carlisle afterwards: "We said before the season that we weren't going to be an excuse team, and we're not."
-- Meth exchanges hugs and pounds with Penny.
-- As soon as the Pacer locker room opens, Knicks assistant Mark Aguirre is in there. "I gotta see my monsters." Isiah is quick to follow, giving a long hug to Tinsley and even saying what's up (by name!) to Primoz Brezec. Holla! He then goes and hangs with Reggie in his usual back-room spot for a minute.
-- Jeff Foster and Scot Pollard (who's more disappointing for his lack of wacky facial hair than his underwhelming game) take the fastest showers in the history of mankind.
-- Ron-Ron: "My whole family's New York fans anyway."
-- Jermaine has got the suit game on lock. Got the ill gray number with matching gators tonight.
http://www.slamonline.com/links/wkfeb2_04/index1.html
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