Bring It On

I have refrained from commenting on the wins and losses of the recent past mostly to avoid getting too excited by a streak of games that seemed to indicate that the Knicks were playoff bound.

What we have seen, though, unlike in other years is a genuinely competitive Knicks team that quite honestly everyone wrote off as a renmtal team. These guys barring some serious impairment are playoff bound.

And I must say that last night's defeat of an angry (having gotten ripped off by Cleveland for two losses), talented Atlanta team n their home court is more than just an amazing victory. I think it signifies that this Knicks team may not be just one and done in a playoffs series.

Last night's game was surreal in the intensity of competition. Atlanta wanted to crush the Knicks and the Knicks down by 13 at the beginning of the fourth quarter not only went on to tie but to crush Atlanta.

This was the one of the best games the Knicks had played in a decade and it may be a turning point for the team.

Looking Ahead

From the calendar year's end, we can say with certainty that the ECurry/Darko experiment is a total bust. Drako appears to be a head case and Curry just a heartless tease.

Jonathan Bender, OTOH, is a mild pleasant surprise. A minor addition at this point but a welcome contrast to Darko and Eddie. Eddie is untradable until next season. Darko may have value in a larger deal as an expiring contract.

Duhon, despite some adequate recent outings is an unpleasant disappointment. What he does well he compensates with slow, dull poor play and lousy judgment. He is the darling of D'Antoni's (and no one else's) eye and therefore, in this writer's estimation, not likely to be traded but a party will be celebrated the day he's gone.

To date Lee is the team's MVP with honorable mention going to Jared Jeffries whose surprisingly strong play makes him a player this writer would hate to see traded, cap space be damned.

Wilson Chandler is playing fine ball. Time to trade him before his bubble bursts.

N8 and Al want to be here. Ho hum.

Gallo is turning into a fine BB player - a strong second fiddle to dLee.

Jordan Hill is trade bait.

Toney, an improving pine brother.

Larry Hughes is another player who I would love to see stick after this season ends. He's playing poorly at the moment but brings a lot of game to the game.

D'Antoni and Walsh are tiresome.

The 12-20 record is a slight disappointment, We should be closer to 18-14 but that's life.

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Bold predictions:

I expect T-Mac to get bought out in Hou and sign with the Knicks.

By the end of the trading deadline, Stephen Curry will be a Knick.

Gambling with the Game

The biggest story of the past year has not been about "amazing" happening because OMG it sure does happen. And the way it happens is through gambling.

david Stern has spent the last year promoting legalized gambling on games which is probably the sanest way for the government to get a piece of the action it is currently not getting a penny from.

But the larger shadow of gambling that casts a pall over the game are incidents like the one on Christmas eve, in which newspaper reports allege that Gilbert Arenas not only had a stash of guns in the lockeroom but other teammates did as well.

And, as if that incredible story wasn't enough, Arenas allegedly drew a gun on Teammate Jarvis Crittendon who was angry about an unpaid debt and Crittendon did what any civic minded citizen would do, he quickly drew out his own gun. This Roadrunner/Wiley Coyote - life is stranger than Saturday morning cartoons - satire fortunately ended in the two of them being investigated by the Feds.

And why not. Imagine the potential havoc that could play out if an unbalanced fan or player enters the locker room, discovers a handy weapon, and decides to shoot up the place and disrupt the officials who are manipulating the game's point-spread. That would piss off a lot of people.

Yes gambling is the past decades most reoccurring story for the NBA. If it's not Charles Barkley's debt, the Charles Oakley collection agency, referees who've rewritten the record and standings for who knows how many teams, now its locker room showdowns.

My, my, my. I'm willing to bet the next decade has got to get better than this past one.

Merry Christmas

The Real Reason Nash Won't Leave the Suns

Knicks Sign Bender

Luc Longley's Shrimp

Former Knick Luc Longley successfully bid on the right to name a newly discovered species of shrimp in Australia.

It all started when Anna McCallum, now a doctoral student at the University of Melbourne, discovered a previously unknown shrimp while working as an assistant on a research boat. Instead of naming it herself, she decided to auction the right to name the shrimp on eBay and donate the proceeds to the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

The bidding got hot and heavy with sea-life lovers like Bob Rosenberry, publisher of Shrimp News International, bidding up to $2,000. Still, the winning bid of $2,900 came as a shock.

“It was a total surprise that a basketballer would be interested in this little deep-sea shrimp,” McCallum told The Scientist.

Longley, who had participated in marine conservation efforts before, named the shrimp Lebbeus clarehanna after his 15-year-old daughter, Clare Hanna Longley.

The auction took place in March, and the description and name of the shrimp appeared in a recent issue of Zootaxa.

New Knicks Trade Proposal Forum

The KnicksMecca blog now has a new trade proposal forum that allows you to suggest a trade and/or vote on the suggested trades of others.

Try it at;

http://knicks.uservoice.com/



Just type in your trade proposal where it asks "I suggest you..."

Dec. 15 trade Speculation

For almost two years I have advocated the trading of Nate Robinson. Today, he's stuck on the bench and the innuendo is that the Knicks are winning by not playing him. I doubt that the winning streak is more than co-incidental.

Here at the Mecca, Nate Robinson is not a building block for a winning Knicks team. That doesn't mean he can't be very effective for an existing contender, merely that he isn't a building block that one can rise upon.

I expect Nate to be an early departure once the trading season starts. Orlando is a likely destination. Any other contender who experiences an unexpected PG injury will also be a suitor.

Darko is a goner sooner than later as well. He's an expiring contract that's movable.

Al Harrington is also becoming an extremely valuable trading chip. Over the sumer he can resign with the Knicks while playing for a contender this year.

If there is a God not named D'Antoni, Duhon will get moved as well.

If Hill can be exchanged for a first rounder in this upcoming draft then he should be moved with concierge service.

Jeffries has become become a Knicks version of Bruce Bowen light. I suspect he stays.

Three Out of Four

The Knicks are on a roll and one of the league's hottest team's over the past week. Although beating the Nets is not necessarily the highest achievement, beating Atlnata and Phoenix is no cakewalk.

Earlier this year, we asked our experts what the Knicks record would be if everything went right. The response was a collective 45 wins.

Well, since then virtually nothing has gone right.

Chris Duhon has become a remedial PG, Darko is in exile, Curry - injury-prone, N8 in the doghouse, Chandler playing like a lost rookie, Hill a project at best.

Yet the stellar play of Larry Hughes is raising the team into respectability. Hughes is rapidly moving into one of the top five or ten players to wear the Knicks uniform this decade. For the most die-hard of fans, Hughes is a dinosaur - a two-way player who is gritty and fearless.

Couple that with an All-Star year from David Lee, a rock solid year from Al Harrington, a limited but effective year from Jared Jeffries, and the emergence of Toney Douglas as a wildcard role player and we have the makings of a Knicks team threatening a playoff spot despite a dreadful early season.