Empty the Bench

New York Knicks 99, Miami Heat 93

Behind 28 fourth-quarter points from the backcourt duo of Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford, the New York Knicks held on at Madison Square Garden to beat the Miami Heat for the third time this season 99-93. The rejuvenated home crowd erupted during the Knicks’ suffocating run in the fourth, with Marbury getting into the paint at will, dropping a few huge buckets, and Crawford hitting clutch shots, including a big time 3-pointer from the corner with under 30 seconds to go in the game.

Are the Knicks still in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt? They came into tonight’s contest trailing the Nets by just two games for the 8th seed, and with Miami hurting (and the tiebreaker advantage over the Heat) and the Nets performing inconsistently, the short answer is yes. They’ll need to string together a few winning streaks—something they’ve had difficulty doing all season—and hope the Heat fall like everyone predicts they will, but they have just as good a chance as the three teams currently ahead of them (the other being the Orlando Magic).

Fantasy Player of the Game: Eddy Curry came up big against the aging tandem of Shaq and Alonzo Mourning. On the night, the Knicks’ lumbering 6-11 center had 28 points on 9-17 shooting, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, and shot 10-13 from the line. Amazing that a young guy like Curry is smart enough to practice his free throws and display a significant improvement at the line, but “the most dominant player in the NBA” still hasn’t figured it out.

Fantasy Dud of the Game: Channing Frye of 2005-2006, where have ye gone? Frye’s season continued on a downward spiral this evening, with the second-year F/C posting 6 points and 7 rebounds on 2-6 shooting. You’ve lost that loving feeling, Channing… you’ve lost that loving feeling.

Bench Player of the Game: Not many contributions of note off the bench tonight. I’d give it to Alonzo Mourning, but he disqualified himself for “pulling an Alonzo” in the second half by posing, preening, and flexing for the crowd whenever he got the opportunity (ya know, like when he did something spectacular like grab a rebound). So… um… well… we’ll give it to Michael Doleac for being such a good sport during his 4 minutes on the court. The Great White Wonder finished with 1 rebound.

Official Yahoo! Sports Box Score