In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
This week on the Triangle Podcast, I talked to my NBA Playoffs Shootaround co-pilot, Robert Mays, about the Greek economy. J/K, we talked about the playoffs. Mays and I discussed the very entertaining Grizzlies-Clippers series, the joys of watching Chris Paul in the fourth quarter, and whether Vinny Del Negro has anything written on that piece of paper of his. We also bid farewell to the Knicks-Heat series, heaped praise on JaVale McGee, and talked about how the Bulls-Sixers will end our friendship. Peace, Mays. I hate you.
Amos Barshad then joined me to talk about his beloved Celtics, Rajon Rondo's need for attention, and the similarity between Amos's facial hair and that of Danilo Gallinari.
The pod wraps up with "casual American soccer fan" David Jacoby grilling me on the final weekend of the English Premier League, the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament, and the future of the U.S. Men's National Team. Enjoy!
So much amazing is happening, and the Shootaround crew is here to help you keep track of it all. You'll find takes on moments you might've missed from the previous night, along with ones you will remember forever.
There was a moment Wednesday night when Mike Bibby was the best basketball player in America. Off to an energetic start in the first quarter before a crowd of no more than 342 Miamians, Bibby pressed the Knicks offense into an early cluster of 3-pointers, brisk pull-up jumpers, and lithe dunks. Melo slashed. Amar’e skied. J.R. Smith didn’t totally ruin everything. There Bibby stood, a 33-year-old third-string point guard on a gasping seventh seed playing for their lives against the presumptive conference champs, and he was running things. And man, was he out of breath.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Wednesday.
So much amazing is happening, and the Shootaround crew is here to help you keep track of it all. You'll find takes on moments you might've missed from the previous night, along with ones you will remember forever.
In roughly only a year and a half with the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony has vacillated between two polar roles — franchise-morphing savior and cancerous villain — with the abruptness of a character on prospective TBS program The Adventures of LaLa, International Spy Hunter.
Here's a quick recap of the various roles Melo has played since becoming a Knick.
So much amazing is happening, and the Shootaround crew is here to help you keep track of it all. You'll find takes on moments you might've missed from the previous night, along with ones you will remember forever.
Watch this. Personally, I've seen a living thing cover as much ground as quickly and aggressively as Dwyane Wade does in closing down Steve Novak, but it was called "Cheetah vs. Warthog" and it was on Animal Planet, not TNT.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
So much amazing is happening, and the Shootaround crew is here to help you keep track of it all. You'll find takes on moments you might've missed from the previous night, along with ones you will remember forever.
Partially due to frustration and partially due to the too-tight prison-bar cornrows atop his head, after a Game 2 loss Knicks power forward Amar'e Stoudemire punched a glass fire extinguisher door, lacerating his hand. He was later seen leaving the arena in a sling.
C'mon, Amar'e. You can't just go punching glass and think things will be better. We've been over this. It's like you've forgotten what Diddy said about hard times:
"You can’t just choke all your problems away. It takes hard work. If I had my way, I’d never work. I’d just stay home all day, watch Scarface 50 times, eat a turkey sandwich, and have sex all fucking day. Then I’d dress up like a clown, and surprise kids at schools. Then I’d take a dump in the back of a movie theater, and just wait — until somebody sat in it. Hear it squish. That’s funny to me. Then I’d paint, and read, and play violin. I’d climb the mountains, and sing the songs that I like to sing. But I don’t got that kinda time."
You're better than that, Amar'e. —Rembert Browne
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Monday.
The adjustments a coach makes between games (and during them) in a playoff series can decide whether his team makes a run to the Conference Finals or bows out in the first round. The New York Knicks didn’t make enough in-game adjustments against the Miami Heat on Saturday, especially when it came to how Miami defended Carmelo Anthony. Despite missing his first seven shots, Anthony was playing well — he was moving well and making the right passes to cutting teammates for spot-up jumpers and other scoring opportunities.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
A couple weeks back, the Knicks’ Jared Jeffries suggested the Chicago Bulls were a more vulnerable playoff opponent than the Miami Heat. But even in an era where offhand comments are megaphoned into brash proclamations, no one cared. One reason Jeffries’s statement failed to cause much conflagration: He’s Jared Jeffries. The other? He was clearly right.
Since the Bucks were removed from the playoff picture, the Knicks and the Sixers spent a week tussling for the seventh and eighth seeds in the Eastern Conference. In a small twist, facing off against the top-ranked Bulls is less frightening than a run-in against LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Derrick Rose’s lingering injury is part of it, but the Heat are the only team in basketball that pulses with scariness. When they’re playing well, there’s an otherworldly ferocity that cannot be matched.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Wednesday.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
Take a deep breath as I tell you this: The New York Knicks have one of the best defenses in the NBA. They rank fifth in defensive efficiency — which is a measure of points allowed per 100 possessions — giving up just 97.6 points. They are at the top of the list, along with with the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, and Miami Heat. The Knicks consciously focused on their defense after struggling for years. They brought in Mike Woodson, signed Tyson Chandler, and drafted Iman Shumpert to lock guys up on the perimeter. Now they have found defensive success as a result.
First, led by Chandler, they play excellent post defense. On post-up plays, they allow 0.73 points per possession (PPP) on just 39.5 percent shooting.
