3/30 - So here we are...

I haven't been posting as frequently lately. Before getting back to business, I am going to attempt to make some excuses about this matter:

• School is winding down. With the end of the semester in sight, I have been turning a good amount of focus to my classwork, and this has led to missing a couple games. It has been hard to manage my time between the two.
• Playoffs seem out of the picture at this point. Call me a pessimist, but this team is too decimated by injury to limp into the playoffs. With the talent that was on the roster 3 weeks ago, I would have thought the Knicks could stick it out. Marbury has been carrying the team, but he is wearing down, just like half the team...more on this later.
• NO ONE reads my blog. I know off hand of less than 10 CASUAL readers of my blog. I have attempted to register it with many sites, but it has been constantly denied. Why this happens, I am noot sure, but I have an idea. I don't have enough content on the site. I have attempted to reach out to other Knicks fans for help, but no one has seemed up to the task so far. I have a good system going here, with articles, links, and video. This summer I am looking to take the site even higher, hopefully with some help.

I said it once I will say it again, this is a young site with a lot of potential. Anyone that has clicked the link on the right to visit Matthew Cerrone's MetsBlog knows what I mean. Three years ago MetsBlog has a weaker interface than I currently have, but Matt brought on some good people to help him along, and now it is one of the top five baseball blogs on the internet. My goal is nothing less.

SO WHO CARES ABOUT THAT, WHAT IS UP WITH THE KNICKS???

The New York Knicks have went 2-6 since giving Isiah Thomas a multi year extension. Yes, they are riding a nice win courtesy of the Cavs, but this team has been decimated by injury. A few key points:

- Crawford's absence has killed Eddy Curry. The man that had a knack for finding Eddy in the low post probably won't get a chance to hit the court again this year (barring an amazing playoff appearance. To make matters worse, Curry is beginning to feel the burn of a full, solid season. He isn't used to surviving this deep into the season with this many minutes each game. He is visibly tired and has been complaining about calls to try to get some help from the zebras. It's not going to happen. Curry has taken a huge step forward this season, but he still won't be treated like a veteran. I hate to look to next year, but hopefully he has learned some key lessons to go into a monster year next year. P.S. Eddy - Drop 15-20 more pounds again, don't be lazy and slack off in the offseason.

- Q-Rich won't play again this season. Normally this would be bad news, but it's not. Richardson's back has been a sore subject for all Knicks fans. He sits out games periodically, and when he is on the court, he can't post up due to soreness. Finally, the problem that has plagued him for 2+ years will be addressed. Hopefully Q can have his surgery, go through rehab, and come back next year 100%, with the same fire that he jumped out of the gate with this year.

- Steve Francis is a cancer. It's obvious he doesn't want to be here, so the countdown has begun to the offseason. Francis will most likely end up being the biggest embarassment of Isiah Thomas' time as Knicks GM (yes, more than Jerome James). He was brought it to appease Larry Brown at the trade deadline last year, but has only shown flashes of his All Star years. He has complained about playing time (obviously jealous of Marbury), and miraculously returned to play just two days after declaring he would miss the season about a month ago. The sad part is, the entire league knows he will be bought out, so the Knicks won't be able to get ANYTHING for him. Maybe Kevin McHale in Minnesota would bite on something, but he will most likely be bought out...a complete waste of a year and a half.

- You have been invited to Renaldo Balkman's coming out party. The Incredible Balk has been playing great lately in the absence of Q-Rich and David Lee. Hopefully he works on a jump shot this summer and then we'll talk. If you're like me, you tend to tune into some Knicks Summer League games in Vegas. It should be fun watching Balk lead the Knicks young guns (including Mardy Collins and new acquisition Randolph Morris, more later).

- Speaking of David Lee, the Knicks free spirit is still rocking the suit on the bench. How much do you miss him?

- Randolph Morris. Yeah, we signed him fresh off an NCAA Tourney loss. It'll be interesting to see if he gets any significant minutes for the rest of the season. He saw 7 mins. against the Cavs and hit a FT. I'm only going to view it as an early draft pick...talk to me next season.

- Speaking of a Free Throw, can anyone on this team hit one?

OK, 11 GAMES LEFT...

After a nice win, the Knicks get rewarded tonight with a virtual automatic loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The only slight hope will be if Dirk's injured ankle slows him down. Speaking of ankles, Steve Francis is nursing an ankle injury as well, and most likely won't play tonight. You know what, he most likely won't play in a Knick uniform ever again. I can't even express how much of a disgrace he is. That leaves the guard rotation at Marbury, Robinson, and Collins. You will have to shield your eyes when Jared Jeffries is forced to play at the 2.

After tonight, next three games:

Philly

Minny

Bucks

All winnable, all must win if we're serious about the playoffs.

We are 31-40, One and a half out of the 8 spot. It's now or never.

I'll be back soon, I promise (and by soon I mean Sunday/Monday)

3/21 - No Big Surprise / Wed.'s Links

Well, no shocker last night as the Knicks fell to the Mavs. Bad play all around I thought. Curry's decent numbers don't reflect his terrible free throw shooting, and the whining he did up and down the court all night. Balkman had a decent game to follow up his stellar play on Sunday, but still showed Knick fans he has a lot to learn before he will become a legit player. Steve Francis was nowhere to be seen again, besides his bad passes and bad shots as usual.

If Crawford and Q are out, and Marbury is not shooting out of his mind, this team is going to fail. There isn't one shooter present on the court (okay, maybe Frye) who can knock down jumpers to stretch the defense. Why do you think Curry was harassed all night in the paint? The Mavs were playing off the perimeter and GIVING those shots to the Knicks. Look how many times Balkman had open shots...that's a smart team knowing who can and can't shoot. The Knicks have one of their infamous back-to-backs starting tomorrow with the Thurs/Fri matchups being the Blazers and the Cavs. I'm starting to get nervous. Can we say that this Blazers game is the 15th must win of the season so far? haha...

I need to study for a test tomorrow, so here's some links:

• Not only did the Knicks lose, but the Post is reporting that Frye's poke to the eye could be somewhat serious, and Marbury's shoulder injury might slow him down.



• The Daily News is starting to hurt watching all these losses, and Mark Cuban is surprised that the fans in NY put up with the Knicks' management.



• Mark Cuban really likes the Starbury shoes...so much in fact that he claims they were one of the best business ideas of 2006.

peace...

3/20 - Tuesday's Links

• The event I have always wanted to attend, Knicks Bowl, looks like it was another big success at helping charity in it's 8th installment.
• The New York Times tries to make it sound like Channing Frye was forced out of the offense. We all know I feel the opposite way, but...to each his own.
• Over at the Post, Isiah Thomas is already making excuses about tonight's game vs. Dallas. A Must read, especially if you are anti-IT.
• There's a great article over at Newsday, citing the fact that the Knicks have given up on European players since the Fredric Weis catastrophe. There's also an interesting list of foreign players that the Knicks have passed on in the draft.
• The Daily News caught up with Dirk Nowitzki during practice at Columbia yesterday. Some good quotes from a classy player.

3/20 - VOD - Starbury as Stephen A. Smith

In case you haven't seen it yet, here is a clip from the end of Stephon Marbury's new talk show where he impersonates Stephen A. Smith. Smith was reportedly angry when he first heard about it, but later admitted it was funny when he finally got a look at it. I didn't realize Marbury had a funny side.

3/20 - Back for the home stretch

Well I'm here. I was on Spring Break last week and I worked a lot, which caused me to be away from my apartment and computer. I apologize to those who have come to support the site, and now I'm back.

With that said, what's been going on with the Knicks?

This team has continued their up and down ways, losing to the Raptors and the Hornets (pathetic), only to come back and beat the Raptors by 20 on Sunday afternoon. Now the best team in the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks, come into the Garden looking to avenge their humiliating loss to the Knicks last season. New York has improved since then, but so have the Mavs. So let's look ahead to the game that could turn out to be a real smackdown, with hopes that the Knicks have another miracle in store.

No D-Lee and no Q-Rich still. Q's back problems have become a real pain in the rear for Knicks fans lately. Not only have other teams figured out he can no longer post up like he used to, but his own team isn't even sure when he'll be able to play. On another note, I am really starting to miss David Lee. If it wasn't for Stephon Marbury stepping it up and putting this team on his back, the Knicks would be dead in the water without Lee's energy.

Steve Francis was starting to grow on me a bit, but then I remembered how much I despise him. Despite contributing some nice assists, Francis still makes decisions with the ball that make Jamal Crawford look like Steve Nash. Passing into traffic, jacking up bad jumpers, and whining on the court are just a few of the things I will not miss from Stevie after he is bought out in the offseason. Here's to hoping he can continue to at least do minimal things to help this team down the stretch.

My main man Balkman is coming off a sick 15 and 12 against Toronto, and his confidence continues to rise. I still remember draft day when every analyst called Isiah an idiot for drafting him. I bet every GM out there wishes they would have gave him a look. Balkman will be key tonight on the defensive end, hopefully shutting Josh Howard down. Big task for the rookie...

Speaking of defense, Jared Jeffries needs to have the game of his life tonight, most likely guarding Dirk Nowitzki. Jeffries has shown some nice snapshots of play on the defensive end, but he'll need to dig as deep as he can to at least hold Dirk under 20.

I'm not stressed out about tonight's game. I have forced myself to look at it like a loss, that way a win would be the most exciting thing ever, if that makes any sense. With that in mind, this is one game where I really miss Jamal Crawford. It's the type of showdown where you expect him to take bad shots, maybe go 6-18 from the field, only to hit the game winning jumper as the 4th quarter expires. Maybe Marbury can have this superstar type of game tonight.

The Knicks are only a half game out of the 8 spot, with positions 7-10 currently all separated by a half game or less. The upcoming six games are ugly:

Tonight vs. Dallas
Thursday vs. Portland
Friday @ Cleveland
Monday 26th vs. Orlando
Wednesday 28th vs. Cleveland
Friday 30th @ Dallas

With the exception of Portland, those are all quality teams. The Knicks are going to need to prove their talent in this stretch, or else they could easily go 1-5 in the next six. You have to figure they need to go .500 for the rest of the season to at least have a shot, so this could be the beginning of the end for this team. I sure hope not.

Have fun watching tonight, and I'll leave you with this unselfish quote from Renaldo Balkman, courtesy ESPN.com,

"I get the guys going and that's what I want to do," Balkman said. "I might go out there and get one rebound or I might not even score a basket."

3/12 - VOD - It's been a crazy year...

This highlight video of the top 10 buzzer beaters from this season really reminds me of how exciting of a season it has been. You never know what to expect when watching a game. (Some of these are just from the end of a quarter). Enjoy!

3/12 - Monday's Links

• The Daily News finds it no surprise Isiah is coming back next year, and that he deserves his extension.
• Marc Berman at The Post thinks it is about time Isiah got some respect around the league for the job he has done with the Knicks.
• The Times says Steve Francis is full of surprises, much like this team has been all season.
• ESPN reports that Isiah is happy with his extension, as is Eddy Curry, even if around 67% of the "sports nation" believes he should be gone.
• KnickerBlogger is indifferent to the idea of Thomas coming back, but it doesn't seem like there are any other standout candidates that could have taken his place.
• At Knicks Knacks, Mike Dougherty is slightly worried that the motivation to win will be gone now that Isiah will be coming back and the pressure is gone to preserve his job.

3/12 - The Isiah Era Will Continue

Various New York papers have reported this morning that James Dolan has given Isiah Thomas a multi-year extension to continue his stay as the Knicks coach and general manager. Dolan feels that the team has made enough progress to live up to his preseason ultimatum, and the Isiah Era will continue.

I feel that this is a good decision. Sure, Isiah has done some things to make Knicks fans cringe, but the team has made progress from last season. There is still a long way to go before I say he has done a good job, however. With the Knicks in the hunt for the playoffs, this decision should have been made after the season was over, especially with the Eastern Conference being as weak as it is.

In the same respect, there really are no other options. All the players on the team love and respect Thomas, and it is unknown what their reaction would be if he was not around next season. We all saw how Stephon Marbury reacted to Larry Brown's reign, who knows how he would deal with a new coach. Eddy Curry already stated that he would want to leave the team if Isiah was not back next year. I can't see any coach stepping in at this point and earning the team's respect. Isiah has built this team to what it is, and he will surely manage the situation until the final whistle.

3/11 - Video of the Day

So here it is, Steve Francis hitting the game winning shot last night against the Wizards. We'll see how long this video stays up before the NBA gets to it. Hopefully they will post a version of their own (a legal one).

3/11 - So, Steve Francis still plays basketball?

Just when most NBA fans forgot that Steve Francis still played in the league, he hit a three pointer at the buzzer to propel the Knicks over the Wizards; a game that was played in Washington, one of the hardest places to win in the NBA.

I'm not going to write too much about this today, but there are a few things that have been bothering me. For one thing, if Francis misses that shot, that is an embarassing loss. The Knicks were missing free throws down the stretch AGAIN! As some of you may know, this really bothers me since I feel there is no excuse for a professional basketball player to shoot below 80% from the line.

Also, good for you Stevie, but chill out. His celebration after the shot was uncalled for. He jumped on the scorers' table and folded his arms like he just hit a shot to win the NBA Championship. Dear Steve, this shot was the first positive thing you have done for the Knicks since coming here a little over a year ago. Don't let it go to your head. There's a long way to go here, which brings me to my next point.

At printing time, the Knicks are currently tied for the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference!!! I really think this win could be the one to bring this team to the next level. We have two games against Toronto coming up soon, and I want to win both! It would be a huge statement to take down the Atlantic Division leaders TWICE towards the end of the season. This team might actually begin to look legit.

Sorry this was an all around terrible posting with basically no structure, but it's the weekend. I'll be back tomorrow with some new stuff. Now get back to the tv and wait for those NCAA brackets to come out. P.S. - I'm picking Texas...shhhh....