2009-2010 Season

The Knicks won their season opener 98-93 over the Toronto Raptors, thanks largely not to Amar’e Stoudemire but to the just-relegated-to-the-bench Wilson Chandler.  Just last week we asked who would be the Knicks #2 behind Stat.  Danilo Gallinari was the runaway favorite by our voters, followed by Raymond Felton and even Toney Douglas before we got to Chandler.  Okay, in fairness, after Gallo the next highest total was that a different player would step up each night, and chances are that’s what’ll happen rather than Chandler regularly being this unstoppable. What are the takeaways from this game?  Just as we [...]

Some pretty damning comments from Raptors’ GM Bryan Colangelo about how Chris Bosh was healthy enough to play for the team during the final push for a playoff spot, but he bailed on them.  ESPN reports: “Despite limited swelling and any excessive damage on an MRI, he felt like he needed to sit for six more games,” Colangelo said on 590 The Fan on Monday. “I’m not even questioning Chris’ injury. I’m telling you he was cleared to play subject to tolerance on his part, and the tolerance just apparently wasn’t there and he chose not to play.”

Yesterday I wrote how if Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celticsfollowed suit with the rest of the series, there would be more drama before the game than during it.  How happily wrong I was.  The game had surprising twists plus more storylines than a Robert Altman film.  If I didn’t know better, I’d’ve thought this game was shown on cable rather than ABC, ‘cuz TNT Knows Drama (oh wait, didn’t they change their tagline to the even lamer “TNT – Very Funny?”).  There also still was some post-game suspense (which I’ll get to in [...]

One of the most startling things about this NBA Finals series between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers is that there has often been more intrigue between games than during them.  While several of the games have been close points-wise, none have really come down to the final shot or been consistently suspenseful throughout.  A German friend asked me if NBA games were staged after the Laker’s complete about-face dominance in Game Six.  I told her no, if they were they would’ve made the game much closer.  I dunno what the official tv ratings were, but I gotta imagine that [...]

Many have already talked about how the Lakers and Celtics have taken two different paths to the Big Show. It’s more than just a West Coast/East Coast thang, or offense versus defense. It’s also about the psychological effects they’ve left on those in their wake. Kobe, the self-proclaimed Black Mamba, has been an unstoppable force since Game 5 in the first round against the Thunder (by the way, I kinda love self-proclaimed nicknames. They should be totally illegal, but I find it so humorous that someone would decide to make up their own nickname that I loooove to ironically call [...]

As we prepare for the 62nd championship round, one thing is clear: when it comes to winning the whole enchilada, the rich keep getting richer. -Out of 30 franchises, only 16 have ever take home the trophy. -Boston (17) and the Lakers (15) have combined to win (32) more than half of the championships. -By contrast, the next franchises on that list, the Bulls (6) and Spurs (4), won all their rings during one time period and one superstar’s tenure (a certain Michael Jeffrey Jordan and Timothy Salierius Duncan — okay, I made up Dunc’s middle name; anyone know if [...]

First off, please, please, please don’t confuse me for a whiney Boston Celtics fan. I actually was excited for them two years ago when they got Kevin Garnett because I felt like KG and Paul Pierce were two guys who deserved a shot and I wanted to see what they could do. Then they both, particularly KG, turned into jerks. So now I’m staunchly anti-Celts. I hope they lose this series, and I’m psyched that the Magic won last night. But Orlando shouldn’t have been helped out so egregiously by the refs. No, I’m not a conspiracy nut either who [...]

ESPN reported that Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki is likely to opt-out of his contract, ostensibly add his name to the free agency pool, and as an unrestricted free agent at that.  What does that mean for Knick fans?  Quite possibly not a damn thing.  Even if he 100% wants to return to the Mavs, he’d still do this for contractual reasons, so it doesn’t imply he’s contemplating leaving in the slightest.   What’re the contractual reasons? Opting out to sign a new deal, for starters, would lock in terms based on the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement through the life of [...]

After the Orlando Magic’s loss last night to the Boston Celtics, they’re down a seemingly insurmountable 0-2 and going into enemy territory to play the next two games. The good news? Both losses were close down the stretch. Stan Van Gundy is one of the best coaches in the game, and already he tweaked his line-up a bit after the first game. Seeing how well J.J. Redick performed in the opening stanza, Stan gave him even more run in the second verse, playing him 34 minutes. Yeah, yeah, JJ made the double bone-headed move at the end of the game [...]

On the Main FanSided page I posted this phenomenal(ly dumb) rumor: This rumor is too good not to pass on. A website reports that Delonte West has been sleeping with LeBron’s Momma: My source explains the following.”My uncle is the general contractor at the Q and has been for the last 7 years. He’s good friends with a lot of guys at the Q, including some of the bigger boys in the organization and knows Dan Gilbert personally. My uncle has been told that Delonte has been banging Gloria James (Lebron’s Mom) for some time now. Somehow Lebron found out [...]