Knicks vs. Pistons: Fighting for Mike

Find me a worse NBA game on TV tonight than the Knicks and the Pistons playing each other. You can't. We're looking tonight at a battle of two of the coldest teams in the NBA.

The Knicks enter tonight's game at a disappointing 7-13, and are in the midst of a dreadful losing patch, dropping three straight and nine of their last ten. It's hard to believe that the Knicks were 6-4 at one point this season, but that's what a cold snap does to you.

Detroit is, believe it or not, worse off than the 'Bockers are. At 4-18, the Pistons are 2-16 in their last 18 games, and enter tonight on a 5 game losing skid. To make matters worse for the Pistons, they are smack in the middle of their Triumvirate (three game in three nights). Tomorrow night, they'll face the Nyets in Dirty Jersey. 

Earlier Matchups

January 9, 2012

The Knicks and the Pistons played each other earlier on this year, which ended in favor of New York, which won the game by 23 points. 

Injury Report

New York

Baron Davis (back, fatigue) OUT

Carmelo Anthony (ankle) Game time decision

Detroit

Charlie Villanueva (ankle) OUT

Will Bynum (foot) OUT

Ben Gordon (shoulder) OUT

Tayshaun Prince (personal reasons) Will Play

Storylines

Mike D'Antoni's Job

ESPN New York reports that the Knicks locker room is "100 Percent" behind Mike D'Antoni. That only matters so much. It's all about Jimmy Dolan. Might a loss to the miserable Pistons be the one to put D'Antoni on the streets of Manhattan?

Tyson Chandler

Chandler's D is one of the few things keeping the Knicks from sinking into oblivion. He's been, to quote Clyde Fraizer, "rocking and blocking!" Chandler's size will help him pick up the boards against one of the worst rebounding teams in the country. Expect a pretty big game out of TC. 

Prediction

The Knicks streak ends at three. Detroit is too bad. I just can't see them possibly beating the Knicks. 

KNICKS WIN: 96-88 in a game where the game isn't as close as the scoreboard may show.

Go New York, Go New York GO!

That Football Game Yesterday

NOTE: This was the first season I watched a single snap of the Pro Bowl.

Yes, that's right. There was a football game yesterday. A real life, professional, National Football League game. That game was none other than the Pro Bowl. You weren't one of the 14 people who watched it? Well. You missed a game full of bad tackles, tweeting players and ugly Hawaiian shirt. In the game itself, the AFC won a shootout, 59 to 41. The 100 points were a new PB record.

Here at 900 Irving Ave and Beyond, we played a game of Fantasy Pro Bowl that we referred to as "The Bro Bowl". The game was simple. Each player (six of us) gets a quarterback, a running back and 2 recievers (either wide outs or tight ends). Scoring is very basic. Any player involved in a touchdown (passing, rushing, recieving) earned 6 points for his team. One point is earned for each 25 yards that a player gains. If a player commits a turnover, his team loses 2 points.
The draft was a normal snake draft. The player with the most points at the end of the game was the winner of a pot of 25 dollars.

The Fantasy Sports aspect of the Pro Bowl gave us a whole new look upon the game. This wasn't just a boring, meaningless exhibition game to us. It turned into a highly competitive game, which created rivalries among friends. We were shouting at the TV more than you could imagine. In fact, for a while, we couldn't even get accurate stats, which just led to us getting more angry.

Brandon Marshall led the winning team to victory with 31 points. Marshall, in addition to being the Bro Bowl MVP, was the Pro Bowl MVP. Marshall outscored all but one team in the Bro Bowl and scored 8 points more than any other player.

The Final Scoresheet

So, if you're ever interested in playing a new Pro Bowl game, give Fantasy Pro Bowl a chance. It's not nearly as lame as it sounds.

The Weekend That Was

Hope y'all had a good weekend, mine was pretty ok. But anyways, here's something to get you through the Monday, because if you're like me, you've got a major Case of The Mondays today. And so we progress with THE WEEKEND THAT WAS!


Friday:
The 'Bockers lost another tough game to the Heat. This loss is unsurprising, but the team still didn't show up, which is becoming a theme for the Knicks. Even though the Knicks trailed by just three points going into the 4th quarter, this game never felt right. Here's one key reason: They shot 43 THREE POINTERS. 43. That's James Southerland's number, not a number you want to be attempting behind the line. They also only shot about 38 percent on the evening. Not great for an NBA team. Billy Walker led the team with 21 points


Saturday:
Syracuse returned to the Dome following their 1-1 road trip, which included their first loss of the season to Notre Dame. The Orange faced the Mountaineers of West Virginia, a team who's season has been defined by great wins (Georgetown) and puzzling losses (Kent State?). West Virginia played their hearts out, and trailed by only two points with about 25 seconds left. After an Air Balled three pointer out of the hands of Kevin Jones,  Dennis Kilici grabbed the board and put up a lay up, which was blocked by Syracuse center Baye Keita. West Virginia gets the ball after it rolls out of bounds, but ultimately misses the game winning shot, giving Syracuse the W. 


But this win does not come without controversy. Upon further review of the Keita block at the end of the game, it appears the play should have been called goaltending, which would have tied the game up. This call was not made, and ultimately gave SU the win. The reffing in this game was shotty the whole game, which includes a few dirty elbows thrown by West Virginia players. Can WVU fans complain? Sure. But Orange fans can complain equally, we were just fortunate to get the W. 


In other Syracuse news from Saturday, I ran into Fab Melo on Saturday night at Jimmy Johns. When asked if he'd be playing on Saturday against St. Johns, Melo replied "Hell yeah!", which is a sign of hope for the Orange, who look lost without him.


Also on Saturday, the Knicks dropped another one, this time to the Houston Rockets. The Knicks starting five was outscored by the Rockets bench. This game has successfully proven my point that it's time for D'Antoni to go. The talent is there, but the coaching is not. The Knicks are just waiting on Phil Jackson to agree to come out of retirement before the pull the plug on the Mike D'Antoni project.


Sunday:
To be honest with you, The last Sunday in January is one of the worst days in Sports all year. No (real) football, although there will be more to come on the Pro Bowl in a few. No (real) hockey, although nobody really watches hockey anyways. We had some average college basketball games, namely Ohio State wrecking Michigan and UConn becoming the most recent team to fall to Notre Dame. Pretty bad day in sports, eh? 


This is the weekend that was. 


Some blurbs you may have missed from today:

• Yankees interested in Bill Hall.
• Carmelo likely won't play for the Knicks tomorrow. 
• Giants are preparing hard for the Super Bowl. Kickoff is at 6:29 on Sunday. 

Super Bowl XLVI: The Giants

For those of you uneducated people out there, the New York Football Giants, also known as the GMEN or Big Blue, will face the New England Patriots in the 2012 edition of the Super Bowl. These Giants are literally running away from the competition. Not only has this team been winning, but been doing it away from home. The team traveled to frigid Green Bay, Wisconsin, just to stun the top seeded Green Bay Packers. The following week, Big Blue flew out west to beat the San Francisco 49ers in an overtime thriller. Recent history suggested that the Giants shouldn't have bested the Niners because of the travel, but the Gmen pulled it off.

The GMen have been playing much better football in the past few weeks, which is the obvious reason for their success. The running game has become much more of a presence (exception: against the Niners), which has giving Eli much more to work with. On the subject of the quarterback, Mr. Manning has been sparkling this postseason, throwing 8 touchdowns in 3 games, while only throwing a single pick. His QB rating in the playoffs is about a 104, which is pretty impressive. In my (biased) opinion, Eli has been the best QB this postseason.

Another reason for the Giants recent success is the defense. Jason Pierre-Paul is a complete freak of nature. Along with JPP, Justin Tuck and Osi have created a fearful pass rush that leaves Giants fans asking "Where was this all season?". This team produced 48 sacks in the regular season with about 10 of them coming in the last two weeks against the New York Football Jets and the Cowboys. This coming out party for the D has been great. The team's been playing so much better, and the D is definitely to credit.

Coming tomorrow, I'll break down New England.

Well...we lost...

The Perennial great Knickerbockers lost again tonight, making it 7 losses in 8 games, with the one win coming against the lowly Bobcats. Not only did the Knicks lose, but they lost to the Cavs. The Cleveland Cavaliers. The Lebron James-less, Kyrie Irving-led Cleveland Cavaliers. 


Now, due to a contract dispute (GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER, TIME WARNER), I was unable to actually watch the game, so I can't speak of the competitive aspect of the game. But here's a few things I can say, looking strictly at the stat sheet. 


Carmelo Anthony said the other day that "maybe" he needs to shoot less. That's true. But in my opinion, he should still be taking the majority of the shots. Melo is a better player than Ama're. He should be the primary option. Melo needs to learn to pass the ball a bit more, but he should still be taking the majority of the shots for this team. 


We need a point guard. Shump is a good player, a nice player, but he's not really a point guard. A point guard should shoot better than 30 percent (Shump was 3/10 overall tonight). We need Baron to come back healthy and actually play well. 


If the Knicks want to see wins in their style of play (run and gun), it's about time they learn to shoot the threeball. I don't expect a team to go 20 for 20 from three, but is 8 for 20 out of the realm of possibility? Regardless, 3 for 20 is just plain unacceptable, which leads into my ultimate solution for the Knicks:


FIRE MIKE D'ANTONI. Seriously, he can't coach a championship. I was talking to a fellow tweeter (@NYYankees326) and she agrees. D'Antoni has proven that he can't win a championship in this league. This team has waaaaaaaaaaay too much talent not to be performing, and that can be targeted into the coaching staff. 

Thank You, Jorge

And so begins my tribute to a legend of his own time, Jorge Posada. If you haven't heard yet, Posada, the Yankees catcher for many years now, has officially announced his retirement from baseball. Georgie will always be remembered as a class act, a leader of the team, and a model citizen. Posada's retirement leaves just 2 members of the "Core Four" remaining (Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter).

Posada's numbers speak for themselves. Posada's career WAR (wins above replacement) comes in at a 44.7, which puts him in a tie for 11th all time highest among position players on the Yankees list. When you look at the select few players ahead of him, you see the names of legends; Ruth, Gerhig, Mantle, Dimaggio, etc. Looking at just his offensive numbers, Posada's WAR is 9th on the Yankees all time list. 8th most games played in Yankees history, 14th in the Yankees book in hits and the 7th most doubles in the history of the Pinstripers. Pretty impressive numbers, eh? JoPo could play. For the entire 2007 season, it seemed that Posada was always on second base. Not to mention, he has four rings to speak of.

Not only was JoPo one of the best players in Yankee history, he's one of the most generous. Posada's son, Jorge, Jr., was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis at birth, a serious birth defect which causes cranial pressure. In response, Posada and his wife, Laura, formed the Jorge Posada foundation to raise awareness and money for the condition. The Posada's raise a fair amount of money for this foundation, which is a great cause. 


Posada's skills and off field activities will make him a fan favorite forever. His retirement has led to one pivotal question: is Po a Hall of Famer? My thought-he's gonna be close, and he'll stick around for a while. I think ultimately, he will serve his 15 years on the ballot without getting in. However, I hope I'm wrong. Such a great player and great human deserves to be enshrined forever. 

Welcome to 900 Irving Ave and Beyond!

You're presently reading the best blog about sports in New York State (mostly Syracuse Orange sports, the New York Yankees, the New York Giants and the New York Knicks) written by a college freshman living in Onondaga County, New York! Qualifiers make everything sound better, don't they?

For those of you who don't get the name of the blog, 900 Irving Ave is the address of none other than the largest, on campus, indoor stadium in the Northeast (more qualifiers, see?), better known as the Carrier Dome. The Dome, also referred to as the Loud House, is the host to Syracuse Football, Men's and Women's basketball, as well as Men's and Women's lacrosse. Capacity for football hovers around 55000 people, while for basketball, the capacity is about 33,000 people.

Now, you're probably wondering, why should I add this blog to my list of daily reading? Well, that's a great question. I have insight into Syracuse sports, I'm yet to miss a game this year, attending nearly all home games (EXCEPTIONS: Colgate and Seton Hall, both of which fell over a break from school), not to mention, I literally live across the street from the Dome, and frequently see the away team's bus coming in.

I live and die for the Yankees. If you've ever seen the movie Fever Pitch, make that movie about a Yankee fan, and you have my life. They kill me sometimes, but it's worth it when they pull through in October. My motto in life has always been "Women come and go, but the Yankees are forever."

As for New York's favorite team not located in the state of New York, the Giants, I'm a fan. Needless to say, I'm pumped up for the Rematch. There's a pretty good chance I wouldn't be here if Larry Tynes missed that kick, I woulda had a heart attack.

Now, I've been a fan of the Great Knickerbockers for as long as I can remember. I've been going to a couple of games a year now for the past 12 years or so. Fittingly, the Knicks have not loved me back. In the 20 some games I've attended, the 'Bockers have only won a grand total of one game. I was at the MLK Day Drubbing in 2002, when the Knicks lost to the Charlotte Hornets by 43 points, a then record for a home loss by the Knicks. But I stuck with 'em through the Isiah years, and it's not much better now. We gotta find a solution soon, or it may be off with D'Antoni's head.

I should mention this now, I'm not a fan of Mike D'Antoni. I really think the Knicks should jump ship on him now. He can't win championships. As for the coaching of the other teams I support, I think they're all fine.

So I look forward to writing for you, leave some comments and I'll get back to you ASAP.