Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 11:01 pm  |  6 responses

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Game Notes: Nets at Knicks

From JKIDD to JWOWW

by Sam Rubenstein a.k.a. Mr. R with reporting by Tzvi Twersky

I am as surprised as you that this isn’t an Appleson production.

Apple didn’t show. I heard he was still sleeping off an all-weekend rager after victory #1.

Son was in the building, but relegated to the cafeteria, cause I put in my credential demand for this potentially hilarious event on Monday. IRONICALLY, I sent that request from the teacher’s lounge of a High School in Brooklyn, an environment weirdly identical to NBA media rooms.

Yes, your man Rubenstein was shut out by the New York City Department of Education hiring freeze, like Iverson from NBA teams. My plan B has been to become a super sub, the kind of thing that AI would never do cause he’s too proud and real and financially secure for several lifetimes. I’ve been spending most of my time where I did my student teaching last Fall, back where it all began. Just like Iverson in every way. WHAT UP PS 111?!?!?

Okay let’s talk about these wonderful New Jersey Nets. Tzvi was in their locker room pregrame, and has some notes:

-As ESPN.com reported, New Jersey Nets coach Kiki Vandeweghe, unaccustomed to being head coach, entered MSG through the media entrance rather than the usual entrance for players/coaches.

-10:30 a.m., 90 minutes before an ungodly start time, Devin Harris is working up a sweat, shooting over a broom that a coach has extended in his hands.

-In the locker room, Brook Lopez has “Thriller” embroidered on his adidas. Guess Ron Artest isn’t the only player paying homage to MJ this season.

-Skip Alston, he of New York playground fame, is imbibing mass amounts of coffee. Can’t blame him–most of the writers are, too.

-Skip also purchased a nice quantity of tickets for some of his New York fan base.

-A few Nets are discussing just how good of a shooter Danilo Gallinari is. While they all agree he’s very good, one pipes in and says that he’s no Mike Miller, who he’s seen shoot and make 30 threes in a row before a game. A Jersey big chimes in that he was once told by a great shooter that the only reason he ever misses is because “the ball can’t go in every time.”

Thanks Tzvi. Good to know that the Nets season is going so well that their players are reduced to complementing New York Knicks. Yi got stitches, CDR came down with swine flu… it’s one of those years.

But cheer up New Jersey, you still have this.

From JKIDD to JWOWW. Move that team to Brooklyn. ASAP!!!!!

Now, many people consider Jersey to be “The armpit of America.” I recently purchased Old Spice “Swagger” deodorant because I liked the name. And of course, right now my armpit has a big red rash on it. A perfect metaphor for the Nets.

Jersey people, don’t get mad, I didn’t make up that saying about the armpit, people just say it. My girlfriend is from Jersey. I was out there for Thanksgiving, and it’s lovely. I even told her, JWOWW you have a beautiful home.

Alright, let’s start this thing. Nets coming off an historic streak-breaking win. The Knicks with a surprise win over Atlanta, with Kryptonate in the D’Antoni doghouse and Al Harrington rumored to be on the trade block with his value decently high.

Sunday at noon meant this was a “bacon game.” Does it get any better than breakfast in the MSG media cafeteria?

Answer: yes. Yes it does. The eggs were not bad though.

There was an oddly packed house for such an early tip-off. Why? Because apparently it was New York Knicks kids day. Every timeout would have kids involved, from fake music videos to shooting contests to kiddie dancers. I mean it’s nice and all but can’t I get one day with the grown-ups?

Answer: no.

The Knicks execute the highly unlikely Jared Jeffries to Wilson Chandler oop, which gets the crowd going. Chandler played less than 20 minutes, but the crowd wasn’t chanting “WE WANT WILSON!” More on this in a bit.

Brook Lopez, fresh off 31 and 14 in the streak-breaking win, goes to work on David Lee. Lopez is a talent that the Nets will definitely go forward with. He’s got actual post moves and this year is a great time for him to just try out some stuff and put up numbers. David Lee plays hard.

Devin Harris is an All-Star caliber player, meaning he should be the best player on the floor today. At times he takes over the game, but in short spurts.

Even if I had been consistently taking play by play notes, you would not want to read about this game in such detail. Let’s paint with a broad brush, shall we?

Keyon Dooling hits some open shots in the second quarter, as the Nets take a double-digit lead. For you fans of Omar the Gangsta Critic, here’s a little trivia fact: one of his catch phrases that he would always say to Lang and I is “You an ill dooley.” Whenever I see Keyon Dooling I think of that.

And the undefeated reign of Kiki Vandeweghe seems to continue. 0-18 without him, undefeated with him. Is Kiki the greatest coach ever?

Hmmmmm… then maybe he should be the one drawing up plays during a timeout, not super assistant Del Harris.

The great shooter Dino Gallnari hits two threes off the bench in the second quarter. Hope you’re paying attention soon-to-be free agent superstar reading this/watching that. This is someone you can drive and kick to.

Jared Jeffries drives down the lane, pulls off a spin move, gets to the basket… it does not end well for him. The all-game long loud fan behind me told him not to shoot it. He should have listened.

Ill Dooley on fire in the second quarter. Nine points on 4 of 5 shooting.

In other unfortunate spin move news, David Lee attempts something of a circular dribble pattern as a post move. Lopez snuffs it out.

A Trenton Hassell three right before the halftime buzzer makes it 61-53. High-scoring, not much defense, Harrington scoring at will for the most part, CDR gunning, a little excitement. Definitely a good call to bury this game early on a cold football Sunday though.

We watched some football at Halftime. I spoke with Tzvi and Russ and NBA.com’s Ben Couch about how I was looking forward to going home and watching the Giants season come to a horrible conclusion with a loss to Dallas at home today. I felt better around 7 P.M., right around the time Timmy Donaghy was playing the role of victim and author on 60 Minutes. So, he says he just put all that nasty gambling stuff out of his mind and went about his job, tossing Pop from a game even though it would potentially hurt his winnings and anger mafia members who had threatened the well-being of his family members. That is a lot of discipline for a degenerate gambler.

Back out for the third quarter, and the historically terrible Nets are beating the Knicks. Nate Robinson has not played, and the fans call for a spark.

8:33 remaining in the third quarter, and here comes the “We want Nate!” cheer.

Mike D’Antoni: No response.

Howeva… the crowd may have inadvertently inspired the Knicks run to tie the game on a Larry Hughes three.

The Knicks surge carries into the fourth with a Gallinari three. The Knicks big three of Lee, Harrington, and Hughes has taken control of the game, asserting their will to dominate. When such a scenario is enough to overwhelm the other team, you start to understand how they could have been 0-18.

With 4:30 to go “We want Nate!” reaches a crescendo, as they say.

Nate Robinson is so undisciplined he can’t even play for a coach that begs players to shoot first and never ask questions. I could see him on Memphis, Minnesota, or Golden State next year. Perhaps bouncing around between all three.

The Knicks hang on for the win. Harrington-Hughes-Lee trumps CDR-Harris-Lopez. Number of NBA teams with as many or more wins than both of these two teams combined: 24.

Tzvi has some more info:

-Down 57-44 in the second quarter, the Knicks came back from a deficit of 10 or larger to win for the second straight game and third time this season.

-Al Harrington had 14 points in the first quarter; that’s the second straight game that he’s had 10-plus points in the first (17 against the Hawks). With 26 points, Harrington led the Knicks in scoring. He has been their leading scorer in four of their wins this season.

-Larry Hughes had 16 points in the fourth quarter. This season, he’s only scored more in a game on four occasions.

-Danilo Gallinari hit three threes, making it a League-leading 59 for the season. For the record, and if any Nets are reading this, Mike Miller has hit only 13 threes this season–on only 23 attempts, though.

-Also, Wil Chandler postgame: Wearing a green Milwaukee Bucks hat to match his green polo. Someone forgot to tell him they’re a foe of the Knicks.

I asked Russ to email me if he had anything else, but he had to catch an early flight, and I’m up early in front of many 8^th graders tomorrow, after I recap another sporting event for the 7^th grade ELA teacher: the MMA brawl that occurred in her classroom last week.