Tag: Cavaliers

Phantom Injury Sparks Comeback

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 2 Comments

Let us rewind to Monday evening at around 8:00 P.M.  The Knicks were getting BLOWN OUT by the Cleveland Cavaliers.  We were witnessing one of the most embarrassing performances of the year in the NBA.  The expletives that were flying around my head are words I would never dare say out loud.  The Knicks looked like they were running in quick sand.  They looked sluggish, and lazy, and they were playing uninspired basketball.  During the 1st quarter, you saw the Knicks go from up 2 points to down 10.  However, the 2nd quarter is where the flood gates opened.  The Cavaliers led by Marreese Speights, simply couldn’t miss.  Speights went a perfect 10 for 10 in the 1st half.  This is a Cavaliers team who is ranked dead last in field goal percentage.  Was it the Knicks poor defense that contributed to the Cavaliers offensive explosion, or was it simply a hot streak that couldn’t be stopped?  I’d like to think it was a combination of both, but the Cavaliers were shooting 81% from the field and found themselves with a 22 point lead less than four and a half minutes into the 2nd quarter.  Yes you read that right, the Cavaliers were beating the Knicks by 22 in the 2nd quarter.  Then, in a blink of an eye, everything changed.  With 6:48 left in the 1st half, Carmelo Anthony caught an outlet pass near half court.  As he caught the pass he tripped over his own two feet and fell down.  It looked awkward, it looked like it could have been slightly painful, but all in all it didn’t look too serious.  Carmelo Anthony picked himself up and walked (not limped) his way to the locker room.  Minutes later, we found out that he would not return to the game.  Amar’e Stoudemire took Anthony’s place in the game, and sparked an immediate comeback.  In just over one minute, the Knicks cut the lead from 22 to 15.  The Cavaliers quickly took a timeout and tried to regroup.  That did not help, as the Knicks cut the lead back to single digits.  The Knicks accomplished this by attacking the basket and cutting down on their three point attempts (other than J.R. Smith).  J.R. Smith added a much needed 18 points but went 1-7 from three-point range.  Smith is very athletic and can pretty much get to the basket at will.  He needs to concentrate more on that and spend less time jacking up countless three pointers.  With a combination of Amar’e Stoudemire’s effective post game and efficient outside shooting by the rest of the team, the Knicks staged an epic comeback.  The Knicks scratched and clawed their way back into this game and with four minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the score was knotted at 64.  The Knicks turned up the heat on defense and held the Cavaliers to just 13 points in the 3rd quarter.  These teams battled back and forth throughout the rest of the game, but in the end the Knicks proved to be too much for the Cavaliers to handle.  They pulled out a tough (much needed) victory, 102-97.

When Carmelo Anthony went down for the count in the 1st half, the Knicks found a way to pull together and storm their way back into this game.  It was truly a team effort led by Amar’e Stoudemire.  Amar’e scored 22 points on 10 of 15 shooting from the field.  Running the offense through Amar’e allowed the Knicks to play a nice inside out game.  If Amar’e wasn’t able to take the ball to the hoop aggressively, he kicked the ball out to an open man.  The Knicks found effective outside shooting from Jason Kidd and Steve Novak.  Novak made four timely three pointers, while Kidd added three of his own.  It’s nice to see Jason Kidd find his stroke, as he added 12 points off the bench.  Mike Woodson still seems to have a problem with Iman Shumpert though because he seemed to find his stroke as well in the 1st quarter.  He hit three of his first four shots but only racked up six total shots for the entire game (in 19 minutes).  I really hope that Woodson is just being cautious with Shumpert’s knee because the Knicks are going to need his production on both ends of the floor if they have any plans of making a run in the playoffs.  I find myself using the same expression over and over again, but ‘a win is a win’ no matter how it looks.  For now that might work against the Cavaliers and the Wizards, but come playoff time that is not going to cut it against the Miami Heat (if they get that far).  The Knicks have a much needed day off today, but will continue their road trip against the Detroit Pistons, Wednesday night at 7:30 P.M.

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My humblest apologies Mr. Jordan

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 6 Comments

Let me start by saying I think this discussion is down right ridiculous. I think the people who dare put Lebron James in the same sentence as Michael Jordan should be ashamed of themselves. I am simply here to defend Michael Jordan and his legacy. As usual, I have to educate those who can not educate themselves. It seems that fans and media personnel of this era live in the moment too much(thanks Facebook, thanks Twitter). It’s like people who saw Michael Jordan play forget just how dominant he was. And the people who never saw him play don’t do the proper research to understand and pay homage to his greatness. All they know is what is right in front of their face. Now I love having a thought provoking debate, but don’t you think we’re overreacting to Lebron’s accomplishments? NO? Not even a little bit? Okay, well let’s agree to disagree. I’m going to explain why all the Lebron fanatics are wrong.

We as responsible journalists must give Lebron all the credit he is due. He is the best player in the world right now. His combination of size, strength, leaping ability, and quickness are unmatched. The stretch he’s going through has never been seen before. Through his last six games his offensive efficiency is off the charts, averaging 30.8 points per game while shooting an amazing 72% from the field. As an all around talent we all know how talented Lebron is, and when it comes time for him to hang ’em up, I’m sure he will end up being one of the top 5 greatest players of all time(he has the potential to be the 2nd best of all-time, but not yet).  With all that being said, we still need to bring all of the Jordan comparisons to a tire screeching halt. For those of you who never saw MJ play, or for those who are having selective memory loss, let me remind you just how GREAT he was. Michael Jordan played in 15 NBA seasons, one being cut short due to injury and another due to his first retirement. His list of accolades is too long to mention every one, so I will do my best to highlight the most impressive ones. MJ was the NBA MVP 5 times and also won 10 scoring titles. He won rookie of the year, defensive player of the year, and was the leagues leader in steals 3 separate times. Last but not least, he appeared in 6 NBA Finals where he won all 6 and was named the Finals MVP in all 6. Not only did he win every Finals he ever played in, but the opposition never even took his greatness to a decisive game 7. Michael was also one of the best on ball defenders the league has ever seen. The list keeps going and going, but I think we all understand that Michael Jordan is the best basketball player that ever played. Period. The things that didn’t show up on the stat sheet were the things we really loved about Michael. His incredible will to win, his uncanny trash talk during games, and his incredible ability to hit game winning shots in the clutch. Those attributes are part of what made Michael so great. By the way, just imagine if Michael never took almost two years off in the middle of his prime to play baseball and never retired the 2nd time. I think he’d have at least 2 more championship trophies in his trophy room at home. I’m just saying, unfortunately we’ll never know what could have happened.

Now, the problem is ever since MJ finished his final game a decade ago everyone has been searching for the heir to his thrown.  For Lebron, this all started back in Akron, Ohio when the media donned him as the Next MJ.  This task has always put too much pressure on Lebron and forced him to live up to a standard rather than be himself.  During the early part of his career, that pressure brought about insecurities and highlighted his mental weakness.  For an athlete of his stature to care what people think about him is astonishing to me.  From the pressure of carrying a mediocre Cavaliers squad to the NBA Finals(and get swept) to his departure to South Beach, he has shown that the pressure was too much to handle.  He seems to finally be finding his stride, and we are witnessing Lebron in his prime.  Lebron’s ceiling is to become the 2nd best player of all time.  To do that he needs to win at least 4 or more titles and at least 3 or more MVP’s.  However, I still think to be compared to MJ you need to be “the guy” and not use such a talented supporting cast to win titles.  Most people think I’m being ridiculous but if you want to be compared to the best, your greatness needs to stick out like a sore thumb.  And just like Kobe, you can’t be the best who ever did it when you play with the likes of Shaq.  Sorry.

The bottom line is we live in the society of the “knee-jerk reaction”.  This has caused the sports world to act and react to everything in a matter of seconds.  It’s good because we can stay current and up to date with important events, but it’s bad because we jump to conclusions too quickly when it comes to athletes, teams, and coaches.  Everyone needs to pump the brakes with this Lebron vs. MJ talk, and just let Lebron be Lebron.  I promise you will enjoy his achievements much more, and we will also realize that there has always been and will always be 1 Michael Jordan.

P.S.  Happy 50th Birthday Michael!!

 

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