Knicks Vs. Pacers photo recap

I see some of the knicks defenders made it back from the Giant Superbowl hiatus, thanks for remembering Knicksdefense for all your knicks blogging fun.

We’re going to do something different, as I promised we would be trying new stuff in the days to come, this time it will be a photo blog recap of the most recent Knicks defeat to the Indiana Pacers tonight.

The good thing was Zach Randolph had the touch from three-point territory, hitting THREE three point shots, not too shabby for a power forward. The bad was of course that it was not enough to win the basketball game.

Watching this team is like watching the movie Groundhog’s day with Bill “ghost-bustin’ ass” Murray reliving the same experience every day. After the initial shock wears off, you come to expect certain things when you relive the same experiences AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. In the Knicks case, that would be keeping up the whole game, even winning the game at times, just to let it go during the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. Yup.

So here we go, photo recap style:

Knicks forward David Lee, happy about something in the first half.

“keep Isiah” sign held up by a man wearing a Pacers jersey. Note that MSG security came over to have words with this dorky looking man. Also note the dude that got right in his grill for the cell phone documentation of it all.

Knicks guard Jamal “J Chuck” Crawford. They don’t call him that for nothing. In the texas holdem world, J Chuck’s analogous playing style would be to play every hand, J Chuck would never fold his cards, not 7-deuce off-suit, not anything.  Jamal shot 5-17 from the field, that says it all.

Knicks City Dancers. God bless them. Anybody see former Knicks City Dancer “Kim” on the new American Gladiators show two weeks ago? She did fairly well, all the way until the last obstacle course. When the first obstacle was climbing a ten foot rope wall, Kim was in trouble due to weak upper body strength. Her opponent finished the entire course before Kim got over that wall. By that point, it turned into a “moral victory” because she did not give up, and the crowd supported her Jim Valvanoesque, “never give up” spirit for finishing the game. Good for Kim.

Knicks guard N8 Robinson doing some kind of amazingly athletic aerial maneuver.

Renaldo Balkman and Coach Isiah Thomas having words on the sideline. Renaldo was a beast on the boards tonight leading all players with 12 rebounds. He also tallied three blocks against the pacers.

Meet the press. I was going to trash this photo of nate casually bringing the ball up the court when I realized all the homeboys were in the background. Even from a distance it is very obvious they all chew gum very loudly. Guess it is just a New York Press kind of thing to do.

Knicks forward David Lee throws it down from the baseline. That’s basically his spot. Kenny Smith claims it is five feet or less, but I’m going to say D Lee functions in particular along the baseline.

Knicks forward Renaldo Balkman gets the shot block on the perimeter. Good hustle from “Taz” tonight.

Knicks Center Eddy Curry catches a nice lob pass and finishes the lay-up.

Knicks guard Jamal Crawford shoots over Pacers guard Travis Diener.

Madison Square Garden’s new high-definition Jumbotron hanging above centercourt and some new baseline scoreboards along the perimeter below the 400 level. Thanks James Dolan.

Tough coverage for Knicks center Eddy Curry with Indiana double-teaming his shot in the paint.

Moments later on the next Knicks possession, Eddy Curry accelerates to the rim before the double-team arrives, laying up the ball for two points.

Knicks in their zone defensive set. Note the seemingly huge gaps between the defense and the opponent. Space is not something you want to give a team that can shoot from the perimeter.

After we left the game, we heard several people remark that the best part of the Knicks game was when the Giants came onto the court and woke the crowd up out of its deep slumber. In that moment, suddenly, the Garden was electric again.

It was very odd to see Coach Isiah Thomas decide to play Mardy Collins heavy minutes in the second half, when I don’t recall him playing Collins at all during the first half. Isiah is now playing musical chairs, a tune perfected by his coaching predecessor, Larry Brown.

The vast defensive gaps proved costly down the stretch for the Knicks. A semi-truck could do a u-turn through a gap that big. Just so you know, Murphy can hit that shot, as can most of the Pacers when left that wide open.

Power forward Zach Randolph led the Knicks with 26 points and 9 rebounds in a losing effort.