Recap: Applaud Yourselves Knick Fans

by Tommy Dee on April 12th, 2010 at 10:03 pm

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Mike Breen said it best. The Garden was filled with fans, as it’s been all season, who urged the team to victory. They, in Breen’s words, were “unbelievable.”

In the 20 or so games I attended (should have been more but that pesky job(s) thing gets in the way) the Garden rocked. The games that stood out? The Nuggets, the Celtics, the Thunder and every home game in December. I wasn’t at the game tonight, but this one was special too.

In a season that saw so few wins.

I read all the time, and hear the reasons why a star won’t come. The team is bad, the lack of defense, blah, blah. What people don’t realize is that the roster means nothing right now. Zero. Zilch. I would think that a star would recognize that the team can be elite next year should the situation present itself.

As far as tonight goes, the story was David Lee to start, and the Wizards’ dominating the boards. But a 20-2 run, mostly with Lee on the bench, lit the Garden on fire. And the Wizards couldn’t do anything in the 4th quarter.

As I tweeted earlier, stand up and applaud yourselves fans, you deserve a star player to make the place shake again in the spring and summer. It’s like no other place in the world. If a star passes on the opportunity, they will regret it in my opinion.

By the way, big shout out to Gym Rat @DaBigTyme, who’s been shouting about Shaun Livingston, who’s finished the season strong. Alan Hahn informs us:

“…I’m told the Knicks are very intrigued by Shaun Livingston. His strong finish to the season will earn him a call this summer…”

One more game and then the summer awaits…
  • Knicks4life

    I don’t know why it matters but after a crappy season I’m glad the team won an entertaining game tonight. I admit I didn’t watch all of it but the parts I did see I really enjoyed. Good win.

    “I read all the time, and hear the reasons why a star won’t come. The team is bad, the lack of defense, blah, blah”

    Lol those are pretty legit criticisms you are blah blahing Tommy.

    “What people don’t realize is that the roster means nothing right now. Zero. Zilch. I would think that a star would recognize that the team can be elite next year should the situation present itself.”

    Tough to ask a guy to leave a championship team (LBJ) or a playoff team with max cap space (Wade) to come to a team with a current roster that means nothing (your words) and has no draft picks. Not much of a selling point there. Crowd can’t play defense or score on the court.

    But I hope you are right Tommy Dee. If for nothing else, the fans deserve it.

  • ds2488

    Well said Tommy. The fans were fantastic tonight. That crowd really was unbelievable. The crowd at MSG was more intense than most crowds for playoff teams. Crazy.

    Awesome job from Gallo and Sergio down the stretch, although I still can’t stand Sergio’s play as a “pg”. I’d rather have Douglas. I like Barron, he sucks on offense besides for that midrange jumper, but he makes up for it with real intensity all around. Decent bench player.

  • Mucha

    The fans deserved the win – amazing 4th quarter performance by Gallinari and my man Sergio Rodriguez lol.

    TD played really well too.

  • Mucha

    The Miami Heat are a playoff team and they have one of the greatest NBA players since Michael Jordan but all I see is empty seats. Disgraceful.

  • ds2488

    LOL. Anyone watching Lee’s postgame. He just looked straight at Berman and said “I liked how Berman put it last week. If the Knicks don’t get any good free agents, then Ill still be around” or something along those lines. Don’t have the exact quote. Pretty funny. I like how David handles the media.

  • ds2488

    yeah, thats the primary reason why I think Wade is really more of an option than people give him credit for being. How can a star like him enjoy playing in front of those fans every other night?

  • harris

    The warm weather and lack of state income tax probably makes up for it.

  • http://theKnicksBlog.com Tommy Dee

    Yes it is tough, and it’s seemingly unlikely. But the roster can be overhauled. Why is that so hard to envision? NY is the better option over the next 3-5 years.

    NY is it’s own selling point led by the Garden.

  • BiggieSmalls

    and who was on the bench for the 4th quarter run?

    yeah this team would be nothing without the “All star”/

  • http://theKnicksBlog.com Tommy Dee

    Wade’s not coming…that one I’ve never seen.

  • HaS

    Exhibit A:

    “…a 20-2 run, mostly with Lee on the bench, lit the Garden on fire.”

    Key.

    Beautiful.

  • harris

    They suck with or without him. That’s why he’ll be gone.

  • http://theKnicksBlog.com Tommy Dee

    Time to have you in studio sir…let’s go. LOL.

  • Mucha

    Another plus :

    The Utah Jazz will have the 8th slot or the 9th slot in the draft – unless the Knicks I mean the Jazz surprisingly win the lottery the pill won’t be too tough to swallow. It doesn’t matter anyways but still.

  • LBJ2010

    Just got back from the game tonight. The Garden wasn’t at TOTAL capacity tonight, but the fans who were there were certainly into it – which says a lot for a 29 win team. This city is so starved for good basketball, it’s crazy.

    Bottom line – all of us are here for the same reason. Here’s to hoping this is the end of the worst decade in franchise history. We all want, and deserve better. Get it done, Donnie.

  • Mucha

    Yeah that was pretty funny – but was Berman around?

  • HaS

    LOL I’m down, man.

    What’s up with the TKB “get together”? (pjic)

  • harris

    I’d almost rather see the Jazz win the lottery. Better to see Wall in Utah than with NJ, Philly or Wash.

  • HaS

    “He just looked straight at Berman…”

    “Yeah that was pretty funny – but was Berman around?”

    What’s wrong with this picture?

    No shots.

    LOL

  • Hydr0

    A bad draw for Utah in the lottery only hurts our second round posiion. I hope they win.

  • Hydr0

    I was at the game tonight too. It took me seven visits, but I finally got my win. :)

  • ds2488

    I thought I saw Berman in the background. It looked like Lee was looking straight at him. I could be wrong though, it was tough to see.

  • ds2488

    It seems like that’s the general consensus. I know the guy loves partying and Miami is one of the best cities for that, and he has said many times he couldn’t play in cold weather.

    But at the same time, he plays in a half-full arena every night, has had absolute crap rosters since the championship, and the Knicks truly have a better core than the Heat. IMO

    Gallo, Chandler, Douglas, and Walker > Beasley and Chalmers.

  • Mucha

    True.

    I couldn’t care less if the Jazz win the lottery – because they’d be lucky. But a guaranteed top 5 pick would’ve been painful.

  • Mucha

    lol

  • Boots

    Correct me if I’m in error, but I thought the second round was done by record, worst to best.

  • jgilch82

    (claps for myself)

  • harris

    I believe you are right, although It would be funny if they actually did it that way-the team with the worst record could potentially get screwed twice.

  • bob go knicks

    then why does he want to remain in miami?

  • Mucha

    I heard David Lee say “Yeah there’s my favorite quote… from Marc Berman… “If the Knicks can’t sign the good FA’s they’ll try to resign David Lee” ” – the way he said it was pretty funny but I didn’t see Marc Berman around.

  • Knicks4life

    “NY is the better option over the next 3-5 years.”

    From a pure basketball standpoint I disagree. Knicks currently have one of the worst teams in the league and one of the worst futues, from a pure basketball standpoint. No draft picks, their best player, David Lee hates defense. McGrady is on one leg. Gallo only shows up at home games. The list goes on and on.

    What the Knicks do have is cap space. Is that a “better option” than teams with proven players already on the roster and teams competing for the playoffs and/or championships every year. Not sure. July 1 . . .

  • Knicks94

    I give Knick fans credit for not being the bandwagon fans that you see in Cleveland, Boston and Denver.Whenever Kobe Bryant is not playing against the Knicks at the Garden, you’ll find 19 thousand faithful Knick fans cheering for their team.

    The Knicks better improve this summer and become at least a 50 win team in 2010-11.I am sick of watching these irrelevant cities have NBA teams that are the most relevant in terms of winning.Seriously, does anyone in this country want to watch NBA finals match ups of Cleveland vs Denver, Orlando vs Oaklahoma City and Miami vs Utah, for the next 10 years? I’m sure David Stern would jump off a bridge if he found out that the Knicks will be going another decade being irrelevant.

    As an NBA fan, I think that this has been the most boring 5 years of NBA basketball that I have watched.You have a lopsided league with the West having the more talented rosters, a Cleveland Cavaliers team that didn’t have a fan-base until Lebron James came to their town,an 82 game stretch of exhibition games for each team and very few upsets in the playoffs.I was never that crazy about NCAA hoops, but I found this year’s Final Four more interesting than the 2009 NBA playoffs.The NBA definitely needs to improve, starting with the Knicks.

  • bob go knicks

    I dont think that the players who play for Mike D’antoni are braggin about what a great coach he is to play for.(at least not like the guys on the olympic team were,when M.D was just an asst)Doesnt seem like T-mac has the same enthusiasm as he did when he first got here.Im sure 75% of the guys who play for him now arent feelin it for him.the ones who have friends in the league are tellen em .Imsure

  • paulempson

    You guys read this ?

    http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=15923

    Maybe D Lee just needs that complimentary center to cover the areas where his game is not strong

    God I hope Bosh isn’t a Knick for huge bucks because that article makes a lot of sense . Both dont win and are not franchise “stars”

    What do we gotta do to get Rubio ?

    I hope Minny wins Lottery and gets Wall.

    Damn Isiah