New York 120, Chicago 112 - Game Notes

Is Korver trying to get his hands on the Cock?!?! Read more to find out!!

Hard to hate on Raymond Felton at all after the game he had tonight (20 points on 7 for 11 from the field, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers) but man, I wish he was a better pick and roll point guard. I mean, Mike D'Antoni's offense only calls for pick and rolls on almost every single play! He barely ever looks for the roller. But he was definitely finding the spot up shooters beyond the arc off the pick and roll tonight. If he keeps playing like this, I'm going to stop making Felton fat jokes! Psych. Felton is so fat, Eddy Curry is wondering why he's not playing! I got more! I swear.
God, I hate when Steve Kerr makes comments during basketball games. After Derrick Rose's magnificent two handed flush in the 1st quarter, Kerr says "He's the only point guard in the NBA that can make that play!" Did Russell Westbrook and John Wall commit suicide right before the game and only Steve Kerr knows about it? How come I didn't see that on the TNT ticker? And before the game, he wouldn't stop berating Amar'e Stoudemire's contract. Couldn't they find someone else to team up with the golden voice (Marv Albert)?
There was an Anthony Randolph outlet pass sighting, folks. Unfortunately, he was yanked as soon as he made it. Why did he only play 3 minutes? Did Don Nelson and D'Antoni switch brains?
While we were watching the game, Ronnie Mexico mentioned to me that "STAT must mean 'Standing Tall And Turrible.'" Amar'e finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Modest numbers for a person named stat. However, he also shot 5 for 21 from the field while also accumulating 8 turnovers. The Bulls were forcing him left on almost every play and extra defenders were always more than willing to help out on him when he drove to the paint. Amar'e was more than willing to throw up a horrid shot or hand the ball over on a silver platter in these scenarios.
The real story here on the Knicks' end was the three point shooting. Looking like the Phoenix Suns of earlier this decade, the Knickerbockers exploited Chicago's slow perimeter rotations to the tune of 67% of the 24 three point shots attempted. It was a complete shock and awe showcase--the main conspirators of which were Toney Douglas (5 for 9) and the Cock (4 for 4). Douglas put on a huge second-half display of shooting that consistently silenced the Bull crowd. But even more importantly, Gallo decided that it was finally time to show up. After Cheddar Bobbing the first three games of the season, we finally saw some aggressiveness from the NY version of the Italian Stallion. Hopefully, it doesn't end there.
The biggest story of the game on the Bulls' side is the fact that Tom Thibodeau benched his starters for most of the 4th quarter. Even when the bench made the game close around the 3-minute mark and the Bull crowd (and let's face it, the Chicago crowd is usually mostly bull) was chanting "We Want Rose," Thibodeau refused to put, at the very least, Rose and Noah back in the game. So as much as I would like to award Toney Douglas or Gallo with the player of the game award, I would actually like to give it to Tom Thibodeau because he ended up playing himself and the Bulls out of an early season win.

-Gilbert Subpoenas

What can I say about Gilbert's recap that hasn't already been said about Prodigy? He keeps it thorough. While my brother from another breaks bread, ribs and hundred-dollar bills, I'd like to break a few balls here. No nullus.

I don't think Raymond Felton is fat. No, he's not big-boneded. He's just got a chunky, chipmunky face. While we're getting a look at Derrick Rose and John Wall within 24 hours, there aren't too many point guards in the league faster than Felton from north to south.

I thought we were about get drowned in the toilet bowl like Too Sweet in Penitentiary 2 when Derrick Rose flushed that heart-stopping, gravity-defying, bronc-busting slam.

The Knicks interior defense looked great for the most part, but they generally played D-Rose like he was Magic Johnson in 1992. "I ain't touchin' that nigga."

I cannot deal with watching STATK (Standing Tall And Turrible, Kinney) hand over the ball in the paint every possession. He looked a little lost out there last night. I do believe that he'll get it together. However, if he doesn't, the David Lee sympathizers may have a microfracture knee to stand on.

Tom Thibodeau had every right to bench his starters. They let the Knicks shame them all night long. Our Proud Ones are nowhere near as good as Chicago's lack of perimeter rotation made us look. The second unit knocked down big baskets and at least made the Knicks work for their biscuits.

-And I don't mind Anthony Randolph only getting a few minutes coming off of an ankle injury. The Knicks had the game pretty much in hand from the second quarter on. The Bulls' second unit made it close, but couldn't get into serious striking range after a furious, too-little, too-late comeback. I'm so used to rooting for the team on the wrong side of those that I knew the Bulls would fall short.

Let's hope our Knickers can reel off a few more wins against the "beatable" teams in our schedule. So far we've either won or gone toe-to-toe with a contender. We're only four games in, but perhaps the courage aspect of our team identity is already somewhat in place. Tonight's game against Washington will be a fine barometer, as Knick teams of the past decade would take this time to completely shit the bed--seemingly because they could.