Author Archives: larry fleisher

About larry fleisher

While Larry's Ripken streak is not like Tommy's, he does have a similar one. Starting with Opening Night of the 2006-07 season through March 20, 2009, Larry covered 117 straight Knick home games. From 2004-2009, Larry covered the Knicks and NBA for SportsTicker. The run ended when the company was sold off by an evil entity across the Atlantic Ocean. Currently, Larry covers the Yankees for Metro New York Newspaper and website and works in other endeavors in the sports industry. Besides being an avid basketball fan, Larry is a hardcore Pearl Jam fan and from time to time will throw in some references into his posts.

In the past five seasons, my spot for a Knick game was at the Garden as a SportsTicker reporter.  I was hoping to maintain some presence at Knick games for another outlet that was better than the Ticker but it was not to be though I filled in at two Sunday games for Metro.

Before those years, I’d have probably watched on TV but over the years of commuting I have developed a keen ability to follow sporting events on radio and since it was 45 degrees in mid-January, it was nice enough to go for a hike/walk in a park while listening intently to the Knick game, which always is a pleasure  with John Andariese.

The walk took virtually the entire length of an NBA game with a few breaks to rest and throughout it, I heard the ebbs and flows that often occur in games.  I heard the Knicks fall down 7-0, then the Knicks woke up and took a 14-point lead at the break.

As often occurs with sub-500 teams, that lead quickly evaporates.  I think I had walked three miles when it started and I could only shake my head and roll my eyes as the Pistons went up 68-64 late in the third.  An 11-point third quarter made me scratch my head and wonder what the heck happened.

The walk continued and so did the Knicks.  They overcame their third quarter failures and gradually took control.  It sounded very good on the radio, probably looked better on my HD-TV, but when the weather is nice, I’m stepping outside to follow the game on the radio.

What I liked: I liked a number of things.  I liked that Wilson Chandler was involved early (17 points, 7-of-12 from the floor) with half of his shots coming in the first quarter when 7-0 Pistons eerily resembled 14-3 Raptors from Friday. Listening, you could tell how well Nate Robinson was playing as he scored 27 points (his third game of at least 20 points since re-joining the rotation).  I also liked hearing Jordan Hill hit three baskets in his 14 minutes.  Jonathan Bender’s comeback from knee surgery is a nice story but frankly it should stunt the progress of a lottery pick.  Finally, I liked the fact the Knicks won without much offense from David Lee.  Lee had played all but 46, 48 and 44 minutes in the previous three games so it seemed that he might be fatigued and even if he was, the line of 11 points and 15 rebounds is more than respectable.  And the fact that he took just 10 shots doesn’t deter the Knicks from winning.  The Knicks have won the last four times that has been the case.

What I didn’t like:  Last year in this game, Chris Duhon stood outside his locker and discussed how he scored 19 points while battling back spasms.  As far as I know, no such injury exists for Duhon but in our previous post, would his performance cut into his minutes.  He went scoreless in 20 minutes, producing a similar stat line in the home-and-home.  In previous games where he barely scored, Duhon still played major minutes, but might there be a change in minutes distribution.

Later today, the Knicks will take on the Pistons in their annual Martin Luther King day game.  Since the first one in 1986, there have been a handful of memories both good and bad.

The most significant one is the 1990 game which led to a rule known as the Trent Tucker rule.  That was when Tucker hit a three-pointer with one-tenth of a second remaining.  It was the first year the NBA employed tenths of a second in the game clock and eventually required there to be at least three-tenths of a second remaining before such a shot can be hit.  The only time a game-winner occurred with under three-tenths of a second left was December 2006 when David Lee deflected his own inbounds pass.

Thanks to the archives of the NY Times, we can relive that with Tucker’s comments:

‘It’s the greatest shot I ever made,” Tucker said. ”I just caught the ball and flung it. When the ball left my hands, I knew it was on target. What I didn’t know was whether it had the distance. When it went in, I thought to myself, ‘not bad for a guy who was supposed to be a decoy on the play.’ ”

Three years later, the schedule-makers rewarded us diehards with a potential NBA finals matchup when the revamped Phoenix Suns visited.  I was in the stands for that game, a 106-103 Knick win.  The most memorable moment was afterwards when Charles Barkley chased after referee Jim Clark over a non-call.  I didn’t recall it now, but apparently the incident was escalated when Clark told Barkley that his outburst would cost him money.

“When he said the part to me about money, I went off. Like he can control me with money. You can’t control people with money. I thought he made bad calls all night, but when he said that thing about, ‘It’s going to cost you money,’ like money can control me? Give me a break.”

The call or non-call that ticked off Barkley was on the final play.  Needing a three to tie, Anthony Mason tightly contested the shot, which was an airball.

Other games have been routine wins or losses, including a 16-point win over the Celtics in 1998 that was the Knicks 21st consecutive win in the series.  Two years later represented Patrick Ewing’s final appearance on this day as a Knick.  He scored14 points in 29 minutes in a 105-94 victory over the Pistons.  At that time, Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse represented one the NBA’s higher-scoring tandems but they were a combined 10-of-35 from the field.

And the last time the Knicks had a winning record on this day was 2001 against the Spurs.  It was a blowout win that became memorable when Jeff Van Gundy was clocked by Marcus Camby, who intended to punch Danny Ferry.

Since then, the Knicks have been a losing team in their long struggle to try and reclaim what they once knew.  They’ve had a few good games on this day (07 vs. Sacramento), one heart-breaker (Ben Gordon in 2005 for the Bulls) and one complete embarrassment (02 vs. the Hornets).

Tagged Martin Luther King Jr Day, Trent Tucker |