Posts tagged as:

Baby Al

Mamba Drops a Gem on Em

by Jared Wade on February 3, 2009 at 1:44 pm · 0 comments

By now, you’ve no doubt already seen numerous recaps of Mamba’s historic night of striking with 99% accuracy in rapid succession at the Garden. All told, he finished with 61 points on 19-31 from the field and 20-20 from the line, eclipsing both Bernard King’s Christmas Day 60-point game in 1984 and MJ’s infamous “Double Nickel” in his #45-wearing comeback year to become to the highest single game scorer in Madison Square Garden history.

Since the 7 o’clock start time Magic/Mavs game was boring me out of my skull, I was actually fortunate enough to flip over to Knicks/Lakers at 7:30 for the tip and catch the game in its entirety. And from the outset, Kobe was, in a word, sublime. Given my League Pass-induced ADD, I honestly can’t remember the last time I stayed on one game through every commercial until the end. But last night, I never even considered flipping around — even after I saw online that CP3 had 12 dimes in the first half against Portland.

Between the absurd pivot/shot fake/jab step jumpshots Kobe was wetting all game, the effortless drives to the hoop and the relentless focus on his face for the whole 48 minutes, the only conclusion I can reach is that Mamba is clearly a Both Teamster and this was a vengeance game. (Sorry, dude. Start leaving some comments next time and maybe we’ll issue a retraction.)

All that combined with the immaculate outfit being worn by Clyde Frazier just made for a great night for the NBA. (Sidenote: I really hope you League Pass folks had the Knick feed. I am privileged enough to have the Knicks MSG network and Clyde was sensational and vocational all game long.)

So with nothing left to add aside from the video of every point Kobe scored last night (via Dime), I leave you with a rerun of my unabridged, in-game Twitter updates.

(For the uninitiated, Twitter is the new NBA live blog).

BothTeamsPlayed Wilson Chandler just pinned the shit out of Kobe’s weaksauce.

BothTeamsPlayed Switchblade just dunked on Baby Al’s grill.

BothTeamsPlayed The Machine is Machining it up on the dime-dropping tip.

BothTeamsPlayed The Rooster is all-day cash. I like this kid.

tuffyr @BothTeamsPlayed Are you commenting on an NBA game or finishing an old Mad Libs book?

BothTeamsPlayed @tuffyr Both.

BothTeamsPlayed The Kobe watch is officially on. 23 points in 14 minutes. It’s like 2006 all over again. Double nickel?

BothTeamsPlayed Thirty seconds later, Kobe has 27. Turn the channel, people.

TheJLV @BothTeamsPlayed he’s untouchable, sittin’ in the range, so comfortable (@asherroth)

BothTeamsPlayed Knicks bad play attributed to “hurrying and worrying,” says Clyde. He is the perfect human being.

wondroushippo @BothTeamsPlayed but he can’t defend against gray hair, that’s why he needs Just For Men!

BothTeamsPlayed @wondroushippo Your stache is trash.

BothTeamsPlayed D’Antoni didn’t exactly remind me of General Patton in that huddle.

BothTeamsPlayed Mamba has 34 in the first half.

TheNoLookPass @BothTeamsPlayed @jeskeets There’s no defense here. I’m going to go with 56.

jeskeets @TheNoLookPass @BothTeamsPlayed I’ll call 52.

BothTeamsPlayed @jeskeets Double nickel is a given unless it gets out of hand.

BothTeamsPlayed @TheNoLookPass @jeskeets Put me down for 58 in the pool.

BothTeamsPlayed “Kobe’s invincible and indefensible,” says Clyde.

BothTeamsPlayed People might start taking Pau more seriously if he closed his mouth more often. You look like Gummo, dude.

BothTeamsPlayed Lost in my Kobe-watching like it’s 2005 is the fact that CP3 just finished the first half with 12 dimes. I love this game.

BothTeamsPlayed Viper acting more like Jester over on the Knick sidelines. Wocka wocka wocka.

BothTeamsPlayed Not sure Mamba knows the goaltending rules. That was just a horrible decision.

BothTeamsPlayed In Mamba you trust

BothTeamsPlayed Thanks for the post-game interview with Lamar Odom, Tina Cervasio. Meanwhile, your mouth is cavernous.

BothTeamsPlayed Twas all WIlson Chandler’s fault for that vicious block he had on Kobe’s weak layup in the 1st. Done pissed off Mamba something serious.

{ 0 comments }

Well. That certainly was eventful.

After morning reports that a “whoopty fuck” deal of Al Harrington for Malik Rose was about to go down, the Knicks have instead traded their best two players, Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph (plus end-of-the-bench fodder Mardy Collins), for the craptacular package that is the aforementioned Al Harrington, the I-was-good-four-years-ago Cuttino Mobley, and the soon-to-be-staple-at-Scores Tim Thomas. Thomas and Cuttino come from the Clippers, who will get Zach, and Baby Al comes from the Warriors, who will get Jamal. Nobody, not even his mom, cares who got Mardy Collins.

Lot of action.

This is all clearly a cap-space move and now, as Tom Ziller notes, the Knicks only have four players under contract for the 2010 summer free agent bonanza: known nacho aficionado Eddy Curry, the promising Wilson Chandler, the whatever Jared Jeffries, and the Italian Rooster Danilo Galinari. Combined they are scheduled to make a meager $23 million, which is a ridiculous more than $35 million under the current salary cap. (And $5 million of that is actually non-guaranteed since Wilson and Rooster are team options.) (Hat tip to Baller Blogger)

In short, they will have a shitload of coin.

Knicks GM Donnie Walsh sure is putting a lot of faith in the fact that LeBron (or at least Dwayne Wade) will come to MSG in 2010 — but then again, why wouldn’t he? Of course someone will come. It’s New York and MSG is the Mecca. So even if it’s not LeBron, they’ll definitely get one of these beasts.

Regardless, have fun watching this abomination of a roster for the next 150 games, Knickerbocker fans. And just to show that I’m not entirely heartless, here’s something to help keep your spirits up until 2010. More importantly, cop that new Q-Tip album. It’s good. (video via Straight Bangin’)

{ 0 comments }