by Stop Mike Lupica on November 5 at 1:36PM
The Knicks beat the T-Wolves 97-93, getting their first victory of the year, and evening out their record at 1-1. The big news should be that they avoided a slow start at home, and a slow start for the year, two things that put the Knicks in a hole early last season. The Knicks 1-5 start at home, and 1-8 start overall last season was probably just the result of the hangover from the Larry Brown era, and the adjustment to dealing with the new coach (Isiah Thomas). Furthermore, the fans were legitimately upset/embarrassed over what had happened the year before. This year there is no such negativity in the fans, or the team, so hopefully the Knicks will avoid a repeated of last year's slow start. They were able to overcome it and play .500 for the next three months, resulting in a 29-34 record at the time the team lost three key starters and their top bench guys (Crawford, Lee, Q-Rich, Marbury, Balkman) to injuries.
So what is the local media's take on last night's game? Anything but the game itself. Let's switch it up and start with the Post's coverage, and Marc Berman's article.
He leads off his article by focusing on his surprise that the crowd didn't boo Isiah Thomas as much as he probably hoped they would. The second paragraph was about making excuses for why they didn't boo enough:
"Maybe because it was Sunday, many fans were forgiving - giving the Knicks' embattled leader another chance"
Yes, maybe because it was Sunday. And all Knicks fans are apparently Christians.
Subtle hate of Isiah and the Knicks can be found throughout Berman's article:
The fans were great tonight," said a relieved Thomas, whose club bombed inCleveland
Um, the club "bombed" on Friday? I thought they did a great job of hanging in there against a tough team that did, after all, win the Eastern Conference last year. And I thought the Knicks' offense was impressive against a motivated Cavs team that is know for its tough defense. But then again, that's just my opinion. I obviously am not anywhere near as objective as Berman.
"Not exactly, as the Knicks struggled to the wire against a Western weakling"
I have no problems with pointing out that the Knicks struggled against an inferior opponent. Believe me, I agree. They should have spanked the T-Wolves. But there's two things that do bother me more here: One, we are now halfway through the article, and Berman has yet to really provide any useful analysis from the game. Two, if the Knicks are expected to beat bad teams like the Wolves easily, then should we also expect good teams like the Cavs (a top-5 team last season) to beat the Knicks easily? And if so, then why the double-standard and calling the Knicks performance against the Cavs a "bombing" when the Knicks were leading through most of the game and performed well, only to get beaten by LeBron James, arguably the best player in the NBA (arguably)?
Oh, yeah... because Berman has an anti-Knick agenda, like the rest of the beat writers for the local papers.
Later on, Berman tosses out the most common excuse the media used whenever the Knicks won a game last season: the refs help the Knicks!
"Even the refs seemed on Isiah's side. After Crawford missed a jumper with the Knicks up three,Randolph
When have you ever seen a disputed call of this nature written in a newspaper recap of the game before? I understand when it's a big disputed call, especially in football ("he never crossed the goalline!"), but in a basketball game with 39+ seconds to go, to complain about the offensive team being awarded possession on an out of bounds play? Which replays showed wasn't even that clear a call (very questionable, could go either way)?!?
Enough of this waste of time. Berman barely talks about the game in his article, which Knicks played well, who didn't, how they matched up against the Wolves. I guess we'll have to get our info from the boxscores, huh?
The Daily News's beat reporter, Frank Assola, is not second-place when it comes to spewing hatred on the Knicks. In his take on yesterday game, Frank wasted no time pinning the blame on the referees:
The Wolves have one player like that - third year man Al Jefferson. That's it. The second-most skilled player on offense for the Wolves - Antoine Walker - prefers to drift as far away from the paint, and from contact, as possible. So the Knicks shooting more FTs than the Wolves... that falls more under the "No Sh*t" category, not under the "The Refs Most Be Fixing The Game" category. If Vegas had a line on attempted FTs, the Knicks would be +14 favorites over the Wolves. Some should mentioned this to Assola.
And I've mentioned this last season, but the Knicks were by far the top team in terms of "near and close" shots last year. That was before adding Zach Randolph. Again, when you get most of your shots close to the basket, in the paint, that's when you'll get more foul calls in your favor. When the T-Wolves crack that list, let me know.
I thought I told you we won't stop...
The Hateration from the News doesn't stop there. Lisa Olsen chimes in with some "analysis" from the home opener. Her lack of knowledge of profession basketball is exposed pretty quickly.
She spends the largest chunk of her article fixated on the little gimmicks that the Garden runs on the scoreboard during timeouts. I've gone with lots of different women to Knicks games at The Garden, and I've never had one that seemed to pay as little attention to what is happening on the court as Lisa Olsen does in her article. She gives us a very detailed play-by-play of Jerome James participating in the Knicks' "Who Wins The Oscar" Contest (a regular feature during Knicks games, and one in which I've written before, Jerome James is actually good for something). Hey, I told ya'll before: Jerome James is the Tom Hanks of the Knicks.
Mitch Lawrence pretty much gets to the point, and doesn't have the subtlety of other local beat writers. He just comes out and says his peace in this article, in which he not only openly advocates for James Dolan to fire Isiah Thomas, but starts mentioning possible replacements! Wow, where to put the carriage way out ahead of the horse, Mitch. Nothing sums up The Ballad of the Beat Writer like this finishing line, though:
"Here's hoping it only gets worse."
Yeah, that's what I figured you would wish for, Mitch. Misery loves company, and the local Knick beat writers are the most miserable writers in the field.
And let's finish it off with words from Mike Lupica himself:
I ask ya'll again... who brought the intern into this trial? ABS. What does her tryst with Marbury have to do with whether Isiah Thomas harassed Anucha Browne-Sanders. Nothing. No direct connection. ABS brought the intern into the trial, not the Garden.
Do we know anything about The Intern's work performance, about whether she was a good employee or not? No, and it's not suppose to matter. All that matters is that she was promoted, and that it was because of her possible testimony at trial that hadn't taken place yet, and in which she was not expected to be a witness (she didn't even do a deposition, as almost every other key witness did). Or that's what Lupica and the press wants you to believe.
I don't know why she was promoted, whether she was actually worthy or not. All I do know is that this has nothing to do with the Knicks, and how they will do this season, and what their real problems are (Crawford's defense, turnovers), and what their prospects are. The reason Knicks fans aren't booing like the press wants them to do is because they see a Knick team that has been hustling, that has been improving (the turnover problem from last year is much improved this season thus far), and that we think can be potentially good. Not only are these writers obsolete, but they are way out of touch, too....
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So what is the local media's take on last night's game? Anything but the game itself. Let's switch it up and start with the Post's coverage, and Marc Berman's article.
He leads off his article by focusing on his surprise that the crowd didn't boo Isiah Thomas as much as he probably hoped they would. The second paragraph was about making excuses for why they didn't boo enough:
"Maybe because it was Sunday, many fans were forgiving - giving the Knicks' embattled leader another chance"
Yes, maybe because it was Sunday. And all Knicks fans are apparently Christians.
Subtle hate of Isiah and the Knicks can be found throughout Berman's article:
The fans were great tonight," said a relieved Thomas, whose club bombed in
Um, the club "bombed" on Friday? I thought they did a great job of hanging in there against a tough team that did, after all, win the Eastern Conference last year. And I thought the Knicks' offense was impressive against a motivated Cavs team that is know for its tough defense. But then again, that's just my opinion. I obviously am not anywhere near as objective as Berman.
"Not exactly, as the Knicks struggled to the wire against a Western weakling"
I have no problems with pointing out that the Knicks struggled against an inferior opponent. Believe me, I agree. They should have spanked the T-Wolves. But there's two things that do bother me more here: One, we are now halfway through the article, and Berman has yet to really provide any useful analysis from the game. Two, if the Knicks are expected to beat bad teams like the Wolves easily, then should we also expect good teams like the Cavs (a top-5 team last season) to beat the Knicks easily? And if so, then why the double-standard and calling the Knicks performance against the Cavs a "bombing" when the Knicks were leading through most of the game and performed well, only to get beaten by LeBron James, arguably the best player in the NBA (arguably)?
Oh, yeah... because Berman has an anti-Knick agenda, like the rest of the beat writers for the local papers.
Later on, Berman tosses out the most common excuse the media used whenever the Knicks won a game last season: the refs help the Knicks!
"Even the refs seemed on Isiah's side. After Crawford missed a jumper with the Knicks up three,
When have you ever seen a disputed call of this nature written in a newspaper recap of the game before? I understand when it's a big disputed call, especially in football ("he never crossed the goalline!"), but in a basketball game with 39+ seconds to go, to complain about the offensive team being awarded possession on an out of bounds play? Which replays showed wasn't even that clear a call (very questionable, could go either way)?!?
Enough of this waste of time. Berman barely talks about the game in his article, which Knicks played well, who didn't, how they matched up against the Wolves. I guess we'll have to get our info from the boxscores, huh?
The Daily News's beat reporter, Frank Assola, is not second-place when it comes to spewing hatred on the Knicks. In his take on yesterday game, Frank wasted no time pinning the blame on the referees:
“Indeed, the most prominent sound inside the World's Most Famous Arena
wasn't boos but whistles. Lot of whistles.
A potential disaster was averted as the Knicks, upset over LeBron James' frequent
trips to the foul line two nights earlier, attempted 29 more free throws than
the frustrated Timberwolves. The Knicks attacked more, but Minnesota was around
the basket as well, as evidenced by its 14 offensive rebounds.
The Wolves have one player like that - third year man Al Jefferson. That's it. The second-most skilled player on offense for the Wolves - Antoine Walker - prefers to drift as far away from the paint, and from contact, as possible. So the Knicks shooting more FTs than the Wolves... that falls more under the "No Sh*t" category, not under the "The Refs Most Be Fixing The Game" category. If Vegas had a line on attempted FTs, the Knicks would be +14 favorites over the Wolves. Some should mentioned this to Assola.
And I've mentioned this last season, but the Knicks were by far the top team in terms of "near and close" shots last year. That was before adding Zach Randolph. Again, when you get most of your shots close to the basket, in the paint, that's when you'll get more foul calls in your favor. When the T-Wolves crack that list, let me know.
I thought I told you we won't stop...
The Hateration from the News doesn't stop there. Lisa Olsen chimes in with some "analysis" from the home opener. Her lack of knowledge of profession basketball is exposed pretty quickly.
She spends the largest chunk of her article fixated on the little gimmicks that the Garden runs on the scoreboard during timeouts. I've gone with lots of different women to Knicks games at The Garden, and I've never had one that seemed to pay as little attention to what is happening on the court as Lisa Olsen does in her article. She gives us a very detailed play-by-play of Jerome James participating in the Knicks' "Who Wins The Oscar" Contest (a regular feature during Knicks games, and one in which I've written before, Jerome James is actually good for something). Hey, I told ya'll before: Jerome James is the Tom Hanks of the Knicks.
Mitch Lawrence pretty much gets to the point, and doesn't have the subtlety of other local beat writers. He just comes out and says his peace in this article, in which he not only openly advocates for James Dolan to fire Isiah Thomas, but starts mentioning possible replacements! Wow, where to put the carriage way out ahead of the horse, Mitch. Nothing sums up The Ballad of the Beat Writer like this finishing line, though:
"Here's hoping it only gets worse."
Yeah, that's what I figured you would wish for, Mitch. Misery loves company, and the local Knick beat writers are the most miserable writers in the field.
And let's finish it off with words from Mike Lupica himself:
In Dolan's world, Thomas keeps his job no matter how much money he spends
and how many years it takes to make the playoffs. Browne Sanders loses her job
and her NBA career. Jeff Nix testifies for Browne Sanders and loses his job
after 15 years with the Knicks. The intern rolling around with Stephon Marbury
in his SUV? She was escorting people around at practice the other day as part
of the Garden of Dreams program. You know why? She got a promotion.
That's not sexual harassment, of course. Call it sexual advancement.
I ask ya'll again... who brought the intern into this trial? ABS. What does her tryst with Marbury have to do with whether Isiah Thomas harassed Anucha Browne-Sanders. Nothing. No direct connection. ABS brought the intern into the trial, not the Garden.
Do we know anything about The Intern's work performance, about whether she was a good employee or not? No, and it's not suppose to matter. All that matters is that she was promoted, and that it was because of her possible testimony at trial that hadn't taken place yet, and in which she was not expected to be a witness (she didn't even do a deposition, as almost every other key witness did). Or that's what Lupica and the press wants you to believe.
I don't know why she was promoted, whether she was actually worthy or not. All I do know is that this has nothing to do with the Knicks, and how they will do this season, and what their real problems are (Crawford's defense, turnovers), and what their prospects are. The reason Knicks fans aren't booing like the press wants them to do is because they see a Knick team that has been hustling, that has been improving (the turnover problem from last year is much improved this season thus far), and that we think can be potentially good. Not only are these writers obsolete, but they are way out of touch, too....
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5 Comments
Comments
Expecting the fans to boo their team in a home opener is ridiculous. Especially if they win. And also, especially if it looks, on paper, like they actually tried to get better in the off season.
Every team has a free pass at the beginning of the season, there's no reason to think Knick fans aren't going to be behind Isiah until the team implodes. Sexual harassment or not, it's the on-the-court performance that matters to fans unless we're talking about murder, rape, steroids, or dog fighting off the court/field.
stopmikelupica
said
Exactly Brian. Well said!
Now, if the team does implode, then yeah... the fans will boo, and I'll be the first one to call for Isiah's head. But he deserves a chance to show us if what he's built is any good before we go ahead and fire him, as the media is trying to do....
why do you only write about sport?
What may you became a writter?
Are some of the books you write real?
It's going to be a long season, in the papers, for the Knicks. I think most people think Isiah should be fired because of what happened....long, long season.