1) Hurricane Sandy is still in New York! And it's raining triples! It seemed like no team has ever made more triples in a game against Miami than the Knicks did tonight. You know why? BECAUSE NO TEAM HAS EVER MADE MORE TRIPLES IN A GAME AGAINST MIAMI THAN THE KNICKS DID TONIGHT! EVEN WITHOUT MIKE BIBBY, WHOM THEY (AND 29 OTHER TEAMS) FOOLISHLY DIDN'T RE-SIGN IN THE OFFSEASON! For pete's sake: 19-36 on three pointers for New York! 5 for Steve Novak, 4 for Melo Anthony (Hubie-ism!), and 3 for every other Knick, past, present and future. By the way, you know whose record they broke for most threes in a game against Miami? Their own - last year! Let's never play this team again!
2) The Knicks were geared up and emotional for their season opener, especially considering the difficulty their city endured the past few days. The Heat, meanwhile, dialed up the intensity to about a zero, led by Dwyane Wade, who made it known before the game that he thought it was stupid to play a game in a disaster area. Ummm, make that two disaster areas, because the Heat got destroyed. Dwyane couldn't be bothered to guard anyone, and he wasn't alone. KJ James was soft on that end, as well, as the Heat perimeter players kept allowing easy dribble penetration to the Knicks, which collapsed the defense, and led to open threes. Almario Vernard Chalmers set the tone with two early fouls, sending him to the bench, then reached some kind of fouling nadir in the third quarter (for a normal player, not for him - he's naded lower nadirs) when he somehow karate kicked the landlocked Jason Kidd with .000001 left on the shot clock 25 feet from the basket when Kidd didn't even look like he was going to actually try to shoot the ball. Oh, Mariooooo....
3) We will point this out between twenty and seventy times this season, but even though he was terrible - didn't move the ball, lazy on defense, too many long jumpers - KJ James' final stat line was 23 points (8-16), 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks. We say it a bunch of times every year: even KJ's terrible games are better than most player's good games. Just looking at this box score, you know what else is depressing? The Heat got killed by the Knicks - and Melo Anthony only made 10-28 shots! Yikes!
4) You know who I hate so far? Rashard Lewis. One, he hasn't jumped yet through two games. Two, he hasn't moved his feet yet defensively in two games. Tonight he got stuck out on a wing against Melo Anthony, got blown by, Melo missed the layup, but somehow got it back on the total other wing, with Lewis still on him, and blew right by him again for a hoop. Ugh. Later, 70 year old Kurt Thomas beat him to a loose ball. Three, he shoots the ball approximately every time he touches it. He shot it well tonight, honestly, 5-9, including 4-6 triples, for 16 points in only 20 minutes, but not playing defense (or the inability to play defense) paired with shooting the ball every time you touch it, isn't a real endearing skill set. Two games into his Heat career, I'm not a fan...By the way, Heat play-by-player Eric Reid, in Sunsports' first game tonight, claimed that the aformentioned Thomas, who started his career on the Heat, then was traded, and has since actively hated the organization for the past 17 or so years for "what they did to me," is on his 'retirement tour' at the age of 40. Really? Now? Hasn't he been on a retirement tour since 2002? Believe me, as long as there is a Miami Heat organization to hate, Kurt Thomas will never retire. Do you hear me? Never!
5) Okay, one the greatest friends ever of this blog, Snets - in fact, he might be the first regular reader that I was aware of - plays in a band named Sierra. They are totally awesome - he's the keyboard player, and I think you will notice in this clip how strong the keyboards are. This short video was filmed this week, in my honor, I like to think - in the longer version, Snets actually shouts me out from the mike. Now, all you have to do is imagine a fort-ahhh-fiftyyy-ishh year old "maybe" woman in hot pants, with cracking, faded, alabaster skin, and a body like a refrigerator, spinning her hands like a (more) evil John Travolta, and thrusting her powerful hips to and fro. And then you will have felt approximately 1/1000 of the experience that GFOB Thor and I had in Atlanta at The Claremont two weeks ago. Thanks for dredging up that horrible, horrible memory, and mocking me in public with it, Snets! 'Preciate it!
6) Here are my five favorite cutting actions:
5) Slice
4) Surgical incision
3) Stab (non-fatal)
2) Dice
1) Rough chop
I asked R.Minutos for his take, and he said, "The first cut is the deepest." Great point.
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Well, let's just move on. This could be a long season, since we don't have a meaningful game until the second round of the playoffs in May. We are right back down here tomorrow night against a frisky Denver team. If you need me before then, I'll be making a giant chef salad - rough chop, boy! Have a great Saturday, Refrigerator Heads!
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