Empty the Bench

We’re not exactly New York Knicks fans, but we’ll watch just about anything NBA, especially live games, so we went in on an eight-game package to MSG this season to see the visiting teams as much as the home team. Our first matchup of the year was Sunday’s home-opener for the Knickerbockers, who welcomed the rebuilding Minnesota Timberwolves to town and eeked out a narrow 97-93 victory for their first win of the 07/08 campaign.

This Friday, we’ll head back to see Zeke’s Knicks take on Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, and the Magic. Not sure if we’ll be doing this for every game we attend, but here’s a few notes about last night.

1. Jamal Crawford is the purest scorer on the Knicks roster, and when he’s hot the 6-5 vet can really light it up in a hurry. As a relatively mild-mannered kinda guy playing in the same backcourt as outspoken Stephon Marbury and Nate Robinson, he seems to get lost in the NYC shuffle some, but this team will really struggle again if he misses time with injury, like what happened last year. He was the team’s leading scorer last night, putting up 24 points on 8-15 shooting along with 7 assists, 2 steals, and 5 turns.

2. Maybe he sees something that we don’t, but T’Wolves HC Randy Wittman befuddled us by consistently running the offense through Theo “Expiring Contract” Ratliff, both in the post and at the top of the key. The 6-10 Ratliff, who hasn’t been healthy in something like a decade, logged 33 minutes (compared to just 23 for promising second-year bruiser Craig Smith) and seemed to touch the ball more than anyone not named Telfair. He responded by leading his team in turnovers with four.

3. It’s a trendy thing to do and we don’t mean to pile it on him, but Knicks starting center Eddy Curry is not even close to being in game shape. He’s one of the most frustrating big men in the league: during one sequence he’ll go strong to the hole, follow up his shot, and look dominating. On others, he’ll have a complete look of indifference about him and easily get boxed out by men he has about 50 pounds on. To his credit, he did stay out of foul trouble, drawing just three in 34 minutes of action.

4. For a guy considered “untradeable” just a few short months ago by the Celtics (the chance to acquire KG trumps all), we find it a little amazing that athletic combo G/F Gerald Green saw the court for just 45 seconds… which is 45 seconds more than he played in the team’s season opener. The T’Wolves are clearly in rebuilding mode and Green, still just 21 years old, has flashed massive potential at times. Someone might want to remind Wittman about both points.

5. Stephon Marbury is going to get his this season, no matter what. Just a few short months after stating he was looking forward to becoming more of a distributor than shooter this season, it’s become obvious that if/when push comes to shove, he’s going to go down guns a-blazing. His box belies it (just 9 shots in 39 minutes), but there’s something about his on-court body language that tells us he’ll try to end up right around his career average of 16 FGAs/per.

6. So, Corey Brewer: top-ten pick, very impressive preseason, by all indications hard working, a building block of the T’Wolves future. And yet, again, Wittman limited Brewer’s minutes to just 7, which makes it nearly impossible for a rookie who’s maybe pressing some to try and earn more time to get into any kind of flow or comfort zone. He finished with 1 block, 1 turnover, and 1 missed three-pointer. Disappointing.

7. It was a night to forget for Quentin Richardson, who got the start at small forward but failed to score in finishing 0-2 with just 3 rebounds and a turnover in 29 minutes. He’ll have (much) better nights, and the Knicks are going to need his normally solid outside shooting, but we can’t help but think this squad could benefit from inserting, say, Renaldo Balkman into the starting five to help balance out the “offense first, what’s defense?” mentality of the other frontcourt starters in Curry and Zach Randolph. Balkman makes things happen and is one of the team’s best hustle players, along with the less-athletic David Lee.

8. In today’s New York Post, Marc Berman referred to the Minnesota franchise as a “Western weakling” and drew a subtle picture of them as a directionless team. While we’re not doubting their inability to challenge for a playoff spot this season, they seem better off today than they were yesterday–with Kevin Garnett. Al Jefferson, Randy Foye, Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, Rashad McCants, Gerald Green… these are all very solid building blocks for the future. We won’t credit GM Kevin McHale for actually having a plan, but he may have at least stumbled upon one if these guys pan out like many project them to. All hope is not yet lost, T’Wolves fans. Really.

9. We were alerted to actor David Duchovny sitting courtside via the MSG scoreboard and the X-Files theme song being piped into the arena. The look on his face upon hearing that dittie for a solid minute seemed to say “Christ. That is who I am. Agent Mulder. No matter what I do for the rest of my life, that’s me. Now smile, wave at the camera, and act gracious, Dave.”

10. Fan favorites on the Knicks roster who received the loudest ovations during pregame introductions: Nate Robinson, David Lee, and Renaldo Balkman. Players not quite as warmly received? Well, everyone else got at least polite applause save for Jerome James, who was roundly booed anytime his name was mentioned or face flashed on the scoreboard. Don’t feel too bad for him–he’s one of the most well-paid benchwarmers in the league. Oh, and the reception for Zeke Thomas was mostly indifferent. No one will care about the off-the-court stuff if this team wins. Sad, perhaps, but that’s how professional sports (mostly) go.

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