2. Knicks Win With One Eye Westward
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- The NBA trade deadline is exactly one month away, and the Miami Heat are coming to town Thursday night to show the Knicks exactly how far they are or aren't from being able to compete with an elite team.
All the Knicks showed Monday night is that they are capable of disposing of the trash.
And it was interesting afterward -- especially after Amare Stoudemire had another 30-point game, Raymond Felton had 17 points and 15 assists and Danilo Gallinari scored 17 -- that coach Mike D'Antoni singled Wilson Chandler out for praise.
Pumping up your biggest trade asset, Coach?
"First quarter he was definitely hesitating and I was worried about him, but then he came back and played great," D'Antoni said after Chandler recovered from an 0-for-4 first quarter to finish with four 3-pointers, 25 points and seven rebounds in a 115-106 victory over the Washington Wizards on Monday night. "Maybe he hit bottom and came back up, but he -- like I said before, is really important to our team, and hopefully he stays right where he is."
By "staying right where he is," one was left to discern whether D'Antoni meant talent-wise or location-wise. Chandler had missed more than half of his shots in each of the Knicks' six consecutive losses that they entered this game with, lowering his value at a time when the Knicks are secretly hoping he can be one of the key pieces of the puzzle in their quest to acquire Carmelo Anthony from Denver.
The Nuggets are being "polite" to the Knicks in their discussions regarding an Anthony trade, a league source told ESPN.com, but it seems Denver wants to see how it fares on a critical five-game Eastern road swing in which they will face nothing but bottom-feeders -- the Wizards on Tuesday, followed by the Pistons, Cavaliers, Sixers and Nets.
A 5-0 trip would make the Nuggets 30-18 and strengthen their hold on a playoff spot, which could prompt them to call Anthony's bluff, refuse to trade him, take their chances in the postseason and then see if he really has the guts to turn down the $65 million extension that is sitting on the table -- along with the $18 million he is under contract to earn next season -- and become an unrestricted free agent going into a summer in which, because of the NBA's unsettled labor situation, no one yet knows what the financial landscape will look like.
4. Extreme Behavior
ESPN.com
MONDAY'S BEST
Thaddeus Young, Sixers: Threw down an alley-oop jam that impressed a Philly crowd that could be called long-suffering -- but perhaps not for much longer. He scored 24 off the bench on 11-for-17 shooting in a win over the Suns.
MONDAY'S WORST
Extinct Raptors record: The Raptors finished 0-for-13 from 3-point range in a 100-98 loss to Memphis, failing to make a 3 for the first time in 986 games. The Raptors are the first team in NBA history to make a 3 in 900 consecutive games.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
Must learn to finish games off and be mentally tougher in order to get a road win. Damn.
Al Thornton
AThornton14
Wiz forward after a 115-106 loss in New York dropped D.C. to 0-21 on the road.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"If there's a loose ball now, how often do they get to it? The reason you can't play defense is because you can't."
-- Former Lakers GM Jerry West, noting the aging nature of the Lakers
6. The Return Of Old Faithful
ESPNChicago.com
CHICAGO -- All right, be honest. Did anyone think these words would be uttered about Kurt Thomas after a Chicago Bulls game this season?
"He's the reason why we won tonight," said Derrick Rose, after the Bulls finished off a 93-82 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night at the United Center.
Thomas poured in a team-high 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists as the Bulls won their third game in a row. It's hard to decipher which is most stunning -- Thomas' effort or the fact that the Bulls are now 17 games over .500.
Neither one shocks Rose and his teammates. They weren't surprised by Thomas' performance and they certainly don't seem to be surprised to hold a 13-game lead in the Central Division.
7. T-Mac's Back
Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images8. Swish And A Swat
Not only did Rudy Gay hit the game-winning basket with less than one second to play, he then blocked a potential game-winning shot at the other end of the court. The last player to hit a game-winning field goal (one that put his team ahead to stay) in the last 10 seconds of a game and then block a potential game-tying or game-winning field goal was Amare Stoudemire for Phoenix against Sacramento on Nov. 14, 2008. Stoudemire broke a tie with 4.3 seconds left in overtime and then blocked two shots in the dying seconds.
Comments
You must be signed in to post a comment