Zeke’s Last Stand?

Before I get to the much maligned Isiah Thomas…a couple sidenotes. First off, turns out that little tangent I wrote about the Celtics’ D was not far off at all. Yes people you are in the presence of a mini-genius and you may now bow accordingly. Thank you. I’m very curious as to why no one in the world is apologizing to Doc Rivers. Especially you Coup. I told you all (scan the archives) that this is the perfect team for him to coach. Superstars and veterans, sure enough he’s doing his thing. The same people who dogged him to death refuse to give him any sort of credit. Funny.

Want to know what’s not funny? This comparison of the 07-08 Celtics to the 95-96 Bulls. And yes for those keeping score at home…THAT Bulls team. Yet again ESPN tries to ruin something for me by needlessly comparing it to something its not. I didn’t think it could get worse than comparing Team USA to the Dream Team…but comparing the C’s to possibly the greatest team to ever play the game? Come on now. That’s ridiculous. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be ashamed and then giving a swift kick to the face. I’ve been a C’s advocate so far but his is entirely too much for even my feeble mind to handle.

A lot of curious eyes will be focused on MSG tonight when the Bucks take on the Knicks. Charles Barkley said Zeke should get fired if the Knicks lose tonight. The energy and tension in that building is going to be one of a kind. I for one don’t think he will get fired if they lose tonight, but I am curious to see how the Knicks come out and play. If they come out flat with no energy than it’s a clear case that they simply aren’t going to play hard for Zeke. Last night’s horrific loss will either have them hit rock bottom, remember their pride and fight to avoid embarrassment. Or it will devastate them, split them apart and continue their downward spiral. It could go either way, luckily they are playing the Bucks a very beatable team.

One of my major problems with the Knicks isn’t their lackluster offense, or complete lack of defensive effort. It has been said time and time again…they don’t have a leader. They do not have one guy who has the pulse of the team, a guy who can bring them all together. I mean look at the that team..who do you think that guy is?? He doesn’t exist. The Knicks biggest problem right now is that they are a collection of individuals playing basketball and not a team. Sure that sounds like something corny a high school basketball coach would say..but its true. They have entirely too much talent on that roster to ever only score 50 some-odd points. The problem is they do not play together at all. College basketball has taught us the beautiful lesson that the best team is going to win. No one on that Knicks team is trying to make someone else better. I mean that….we knew they didn’t have a true point guard, but this has gotten out of hand. Here’s some stats to back my point up:

• Look at the Knicks schedule here and notice that no Knick has thrown 10 assists this year. This definitely adds to that theory of a complete lack of ball movement offensively. Their high for a game came when Marbury threw 9…no coincidence that was the night when they beat Denver at home and had people convinced they might be good. When they move the ball they can be good…too bad the don’t have a guy who’ll do that night in and night out.
• Their leading assist man is Marbury who is averaging about 5 a game. Or if you really want to put that in perspective, he’s averaging .8 more than Vince Carter. When your “PG” is averaging .8 more assists than VC you’re in trouble. He’s followed by Jamal Crawford at 4 a game. Then no one else on the team averages more than 2.
• Marbury’s 25th in the L in assists. Ahead of him? T-Mac, Joe Johnson and Andre Igoudala. They’re all really known for passing the ball. Oh wait no they aren’t. Even worse: he’s barely ahead of Rip Hamilton. Enough said.
• On the whole they average 17.2 a game as a team. To put that in perspective that’s barely 7 more than Jason Kidd himself throws a game (10.5).
• They also average 16.6 turnovers a game. That means for almost every assist they throw they turn the ball over. Bad news bears.

I have to stop with all that before I start feeling like Hollinger, but I think you all get my point. The Knicks are in a bad way. Not only do they have no leader, they have no point guard, they have zero togetherness and they have no fight. For their sakes and Zeke’s that better change tonight.

Other thoughts:

After making it’s debut yesterday we’ll see if the Dunleavy Effect holds up tonight at Seattle. Seeing as how Indiana is on a rare win streak, I pick tonight for the Sonics to pick up their first home win. No real logic there just a hunch.

ESPN’s doubleheader tonight actually isn’t that bad for once. That’s probably because it doesn’t involve Sacramento or Seattle but I disgress. Boston heads to Miami in what will be a better game than most people will think. You have to ignore Miami’s record, they’re much better than 4-10. Or at least we’ll see tonight. Remember it was Miami who almost came back and shocked Boston in Boston so we’ll see what happens tonight. The Heat definitely need this win. Game 2 is the Lakers @ Utah. I don’t see the Lakers winning this one sorry, Utah is one of toughest places to play in.

Blazers start their mini hell trip tonight at Dallas. Don’t be surprised if they pull off an upset…or get blown out by 20. They need to win a road game desperately to get some confidence.

Marco Belinelli has fallen way out of favor in Golden State. The Blazers should trade for him. I’m telling you the man is deadly. Next year we could have him and Fernandez just draining threes. Pipe dream? Hell yes. But after what I saw him do in that Summer League I have to marvel at the guy.

Whose more annoying…JR Smith or Smush Parker? JR Smith for being the “stereotypical” NBA player whose theme song is probably ‘I Get Money’ by 50 Cent and could probably be seen making it precipitate in a club near you? Or Smush Parker for just being an idiot, forgetting he was out of the league a few years back and blowing another chance. You pick, if I really thought about it I’d probably gouge my eyes out with those gigantic scissors Brutus Beefcake used to carry around.

You know that Ronald Jenkees guy that Simmons is always talking about? Everytime I look at him I can’t believe how talented he is…but I so wouldn’t be surprised if he got charged with some sort of rape or something. Is that wrong of me? Yes I’m going to hell.

Reading TrueHoop the other day…James White has a ring and he’s not even in the league anymore. If I was Patrick Ewing I would be thinking of a way to subtly get back at MJ everyday.