The New York Knicks lost their 4th straight game on the road Sunday afternoon. However, I can’t really yell at my favorite basketball team today. They put forth a solid effort against a superior Los Angeles Clippers team. By the way, Chris Paul is really really good at basketball. I know everyone knows that, but I felt the need to reiterate that point. If it wasn’t for Lebron James or Kevin Durant, Chris Paul would be the MVP of the league this year. His defense is extremely underrated and his patience with the basketball is second to none. While his defense Sunday was stellar on Raymond Felton, I found it funny that Felton waited until the game was just about out of reach to start playing hard. Felton scored 8 of his 16 points in the 4th quarter, and he looked good doing it. He was shaking and baking and taking the ball to the rim with authority. If only someone, ahem like the coach, had told him to attack the basket in the 1st quarter maybe the Knicks would have had a chance in this game. The Knicks never had a chance to win this basketball game though, however they never quit. They kept fighting until the final buzzer, and that is the kind of effort they need to sustain when Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler return to action. As for the game yesterday, there isn’t much to figure out. The Knicks starting lineup consisted of Kurt Thomas, Kenyon Martin, and Chris Copeland. That’s all you need to know to figure out how this game played out. The Clippers defeated the Knicks 93-80, but not without putting up a fight first. The Knicks played a tough physical brand of defense yesterday (just ask the Clippers front court if they like Kenyon Martin). I think Kenyon Martin is really funny by the way. Every time there is a questionable call against him, he looks at the referee and his eyes do the talking. So now that we’re assuming that Kenyon Martin’s eyes can talk they say, “Come on man, you know you’re making that call because my name is Kenyon Martin, not because that was a foul.” Anyway, it was an impressive feat to hold the Clippers high powered offense to only 93 points. The only problem was the Knicks “C” squad was only able to muster up 80 points (and that included 12 3-pointers). This game, if for nothing else, should be a nice confidence boost for Steve Novak, Jason Kidd, and Chris Copeland. All hit 3 3-pointers, and kept their team within striking distance throughout most of this game. Unlike everyone else in the world, I am not jumping ship on the Knicks, not just yet. Their success depends entirely on the health of Tyson Chandler and Carmelo Anthony going forward obviously, but I see the Eastern Conference as a toss-up outside of Miami. If the Knicks get healthy and hot at the right time, they could still make some noise in the playoffs. For now, they will have to make do with the roster they’ve got. We will see if they can finally win a game against a desperate Utah Jazz team on Monday night. This is the final game of their tough 5 game road trip. The Jazz haven’t been playing too well as of late, but they need a win to keep pace with the Lakers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. You can watch the Knicks take on the Jazz Monday night at 10:30 P.M. on ESPN.
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Dave Talks Sports 