Photo. Jonathan MannionLifestyle Editor Christian’s night at the Knicks/Nuggets game…
I left Dime Central early so I could run home and grab a bite to eat before heading to Madison Square Garden, because I knew this night was gonna be a long one. Turning on the news at my crib, the first thing I saw was a segment on the Knicks/Nuggets brawl from last year — the whole reason why there was so much hype surrounding this game.
I was at the game last year, right on the floor near where the fight started. At the time it just seemed like another instance of the Knicks getting 20-pieced by a better team, until Mardy Collins laid his goon hand on J.R. Smith. I don’t need to go into what happened after that, because we all know. Needless to say, it was crazy.
On my way to the MSG yesterday I overheard a lot of fans talking about the brawl: one elderly gentleman was saying something about “Melo’s bitch move.”
The press entrance was packed, way more than usual. An hour and a half before tip, the arena was buzzing, and all anyone wanted to talk about was the brawl. TVs in the Garden were replaying Melo’s punch — but NOT the whole fight — over and over; the propaganda was being laid on thick to rile up the Knicks fans. And it worked. Once the Nuggets came out to warm up, you could hear fans shouting, “F*** Denver!” and “F*** Melo!” During the player intros, the NY faithful gave Melo and George Karl the business. From a crowd standpoint at least, it was a hostile environment.
But that was just coming from the fans. If the players had any ill will toward each other, you couldn’t really tell. Both teams did come out GUNNING, though. Q-Rich drilled a three to start things off, then dropped in a little 18-foot jimmy to notch a quick five points. A.I. and Starbury were going at it like it was 1996 Georgeotwn/Georgia Tech all over again. Iverson had a sick reverse, and Marbury came right back down and muscled Allen for a layup.
The first half was fast-paced. ‘Melo and A.I. handled most of the scoring load for Denver, while the Knicks were sharing the ball pretty well. NY fell behind big in the second quarter, and with the fans in a rabid mood, that earned them some boos — they even booed NY Jets Thomas Jones and Jerricho Cotchery when they were showed on the Jumbotron.
Of course, the Nuggets having a big lead was the beginning of the brawl last year, but when J.R. Smith checked in, he wasn’t booed nearly as loud as I thought he’d be. At one point in the third, J.R. even had it on a breakaway with Denver up big — and everyone started having flashbacks. Nate Robinson had to foul him, but no incident happened. It wasn’t the Mardy Collins horse-collar foul, and after Nate actually helped J.R. from falling, the two just went their separate ways. Who says athletes can’t learn from their mistakes?
Other than that, the third quarter was the A.I. Show. With Steph on the bench in foul trouble, A.I. hooked Nate up to the I.V. and was giving him the DRUGS. Steph came back in at the start of the fourth, and he and Renaldo Balkman sparked a run to cut the lead to three. E-City and Z-Bo got in on the action, too, getting buckets on Camby, Nene and Najera down low. (K-Mart was sitting this one out; Denver has the Celtics tonight, and they’re not playing Kenyon in back-to-backs yet.) With two minutes left, the Knicks grabbed the lead, and held on for the 119-112 win. Four Knicks scored 20-plus (Crawford, Zach, Eddy and Steph), nobody got hurt, and the front-row fans were safe. Other than the Nate foul on Smith, the only noticeable residue from last year was when George Karl avoided shaking Isiah’s hand afterwards.
So who said my Knicks couldn’t turn things around? I know, I know … it’s only three games into the season, but you’ll see …
November 7th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Scoob says:
I was at the game last nite too. They played well offensively, but defensively they looked bad. They can get away with that nonsense against the nuggets, but what about the more elite teams in the league? If they play some solid team defense, they’ll go deep in the playoffs. Yes people, the Knicks are that damn good and they will make the playoffs.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:31 am
DOC says:
they might but yall notice one day yall talkin about yall can make a run then the next its back to reality.Yall gonna lose the next game by 15
November 7th, 2007 at 10:31 am
rob stewart says:
You could say the exact same about the nuggets. Plenty of offense, no defense. It seemed like the Knicks either dunked the ball or layed it in for an and-one every time they scored. terrible Defense all around. But very entertaining. A.I. is amazing, at 32 he is still the most athletic player on the court. WOW!
November 7th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Christian Grant-Fields says:
Yeah Scoob,
I’m glad to see there is someone that feels me. This Knicks team can make noise if they focus on D. They CAN go deep into the playoffs.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Gee says:
Hey for real I applaud both teams and especially the Knicks for the win. Congrats and everything was impressive.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
A Zapata says:
I’m glad I live in Texas, that way I don’t have to see shitty basketball like ya’ll in the East Coast (except Boston) …. Go spurs
November 7th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Myrie in NY says:
My beloved NYK finally one a decent match. About damn time. However, there defense is lousy…LOUSY. It hurts my stomach to watch them defend the pick-n-roll. Their guards (lazy ass Marbury) always goes under and the bigs never step up. Isiah…fix this dammit. Me and my lil sister can run pin downs, pick n pops on the Knicks all day. Terrible defense. Ugh!!
Anywho, my blood type is still NYK. As for the playoffs, hell…if you cannot be at least the eighth best team in your conference, you have a sorry ass bunch. Think about that ppl….you don’t have to be the best or number 1 or even 2….alls you have to do is be the eighth best team in your conference. Think about the simplicity of that.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
MiCkeY MoNDaY says:
it was a good game, the knicks were the better team on this particular night but im not sold on them yet….
November 7th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Captain America says:
It would be good for the NBA if the Knicks can get in the playoffs. If so, it will be because of Lee, Balkman, and Nate. These guys are fun to watch.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Gee says:
A Zapata says:
I’m glad I live in Texas, that way I don’t have to see shitty basketball like ya’ll in the East Coast (except Boston) …. Go spurs
Gee says back:
I am glad you live there too lol. You acting like Texas always been on it. I am a Rockets fan homey but don’t act like the Spurs, Mavs and Rockets even have been ballin out of control all the time. Check yo history pimp and go back and find the years where they struggled and couldn’t win ish! Then holla at the East Coast. Mind you I aint even from or in the East Coast. I am just saying ballin is global, cause their are a few East teams that can possibly run up in any of them Texas teams. Still at the end of my day…Go Rockets lol.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Reed Ewing Frazier says:
I can’t wait till you Knick haters have to bend over and kiss Coach Isiah Thomas’s ass at the end of the season. There are going to be ups and downs this season but we are on the upswing plus we play better defense than PHX so I’m not worried that will be addressed during this season. We should have kept Demetris Nichols and got rid of Fred Jones and Jerome James but oh well
Knicks Up All the rest down!!!!! 0.667 pct!!!!
November 7th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Mike says:
If I ran a franchise, I’d trade the entire Knicks roster for Melo.
That being said, I can’t front on the NY crowd cussing at him because that slap and back-pedal act he pulled last year was the p*ssiest thing I’ve ever seen at an NBA game.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:07 am
sharpe says:
American Gangster was a great movie. Unlike similar ghetto tales such as, “State Property”, the story line was more believable. Frank Lucas became more powerful than the Italian mafia and no black had been able to accomplish what the Italian mafia had accomplished in years. It was a great documentary. Who said that crime doesn’t pay? It payed for Frank Lucas until he served 15 years in prison. Now his lifestyle is being turned into a movie and BET is paying him to be interviewed for the “American Gangster” show that has just begun its second season. Great review boyz!