You know if this news came out years ago, the Knicks fans would be going bonkers.

The news this time is dealing with Patrick Ewing Jr. not Senior.

Ewing Jr. hasn’t shied away from his father’s legacy. He started his collegiate career at Indiana before transferring to Georgetown, where his father led the Hoyas to three Final Fours and the 1984 national championship.

The 24-year-old Ewing averaged 6.1 points and 4.2 rebounds last season, winning the Big East Sixth Man of the Year award.

source

Ewing Senior

Patrick Ewing Sr. dominated basketball, first at Georgetown in college and then with the New York Knicks in the NBA.

Ewing joined the Knicks as the No. 1 pick in the 1985 draft, and is the franchise’s career leader in points, rebounds, and blocked shots, among other categories. He was voted one of the league’s 50 greatest players, and will be inducted into basketball’s Hall of Fame next week.

source

A lot of people will not give Ewing Sr. his due, because he never won an NBA title in spite of being close several times and having to play during the Michael Jordan era.

Hey, the guy won an NCAA title, was a member of the dream team, and took the Knicks to the Conference finals or title game more than once. Ewing ruled the paint.

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Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain knocked down 100 points in a single game in 1962.

The Warriors won, 169-147, setting what was then a record for the most combined points in a game by both teams. But the game is most remembered for the 100 points scored by Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain, who demolished the NBA single-game scoring record. source

How good was Wilt?

In the following night, Chamberlain got the permission to travel back to New York with three Knicks players. According to Cherry, Chamberlain drifted in and out of sleep and got a kick overhearing the NY players talk about the “S.O.B. who scored 100 points on us”.[8] Another night later, the Warriors and the Knicks squared off again in Madison Square Garden. This time, Imhoff played all 48 minutes and got a standing ovation for holding Chamberlain to “only” 54 points.

Yeah, baby, only 54 points. Way to hold ‘em.

Kobe and the 81

In 2006, Kobe put up 81 on the Toronto Raptors.

Bryant scored all but 15 of the Lakers’ 42 points in the third quarter, shooting 11-of-15 including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Six of his points came during a 12-0 run to finish the period, giving Los Angeles a 91-85 lead. source

Is it possible to compare the two games? Kelly Dwyer at Ball Don’t Lie seems to think so.

First, number of possessions.

First, the context of the era: there were, way, way, way more possessions in an NBA game back then. This was a running league, much more than any NBA-style track meet you may have seen in any of the last 30 years. Not only did Wilt’s Philadelphia Warriors score 125.4 points per game, they gave up 122.7. A team featuring Wilt Chamberlain (50.6 on field goals) shoots 43.9 percent from the floor, and scored 125.4 points per game. Think about that.

Second, Wilt’s team tried to foul to set up the record.

I didn’t, but earlier this winter I read Gary M. Pomerantz’ Wilt, 1962. It’s a compelling account of Wilt’s life, that night, but it also details the ways in which a bemused Warrior squad tried to help Wilt pad his stats in blowout win: namely, they fouled the heck out of the Knicks in the game’s final quarter in order to get the ball back in Wilt’s hands.

Third, the defense.

They didn’t, but they had less of a chance than the Knicks team Wilt scored on. Starting center Phil Jordan missed the game suffering from equal parts cocktail and legitimate flu, and rookie Darrall Imhoff was forced into action against a player that was a good half-foot taller than and three times better than most centers in the NBA; Imhoff included.

It is always hard to compare era’s in any sport, but there is no denying that both of these accomplishments are unbelievable.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will anyone ever score over a 100 in a game?

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Ok, don’t take this the wrong way, but that was an easy 50 points if there ever was one.

LeBron James is awesome. There is no question of that and he is the front runner with Kobe Bryant for MVP of the National Basketball Association.

But come on. The Knicks?

Happened to catch the Sports Center Highlights of the 50 point barrage.

What was that the Knicks were playing? You could not call it defense. One gets the feeling that LeBron could have scored all the points if he wanted to. It looked that easy.

The Knicks are so bad that rumors began that James is coming to New York to play for the Knicks, rather than worry about how sad their team is now.

“Because how bad New York [teams are] and they’re looking for a guy who can help change things around and because how close I am to Jay-Z [part owner of the Nets], there are questions about that every day,” James said.

James said the rumors will continue until — and after — he becomes a free agent. source

Just how does Isiah Thomas keep his job?

How does David Stern keep his lunch down watching one of his biggest markets stink up the joint night after night?

Anyway, not to denigrate James, but maybe he felt sorry for New York and that is why he did not get 60!

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Superman had 26 points and 22 rebounds against the New York Knicks.

The Orlando Magic beat the Knicks 118 to 92 on Saturday night.

Surprising Orlando continues to lead the Southeast Division. Yes, there is a Southeast Division. It is very weak, with the Wizards, Hawks, Bobcats, and Heat, but the Magic do lead the division. Orlando, by the way, is the only team above .500 in the Division.

It was a super performance by Dwight Howard playing for the shorthanded Magic.

Missing injured guards Jameer Nelson and Keyon Dooling, the Magic used only eight players until the last 4:50. All five starters scored in double figures, and three topped 20 points. Hedo Turkoglu had 25 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds and Rashard Lewis had 22 points and seven rebounds. source

Get this, Howard has 52 double doubles. Fifty two! That is amazing and leads the NBA.

Even more incredible are the seven 20/20 games (20 points and 20 rebounds). Do you how hard it is to even have 20 rebounds?

Dwight’s game just keeps improving. If he can add a consistent mid-range jumper to his game, then you will have to start talking MVP possibilities.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Can Dwight add the mid-range jumper to his game?

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LeBron James All Star MVP – Time to get out of Dodge err Cleveland!

With David Stern happy to have NBA Marketing Icon LeBron James as the MVP of the 2008 All Star game, the world can move on.

If you had to lay odds, it had to be James as MVP.

The NBA is a marketing organization, not a sports organization. Right now the future of the NBA seems secure, with possible expansion out of the USA and many stars in the league, but it can change fast and David Stern knows that.

Don’t get me wrong, LeBron is so good he probably would win the MVP of the All Star game anyway, almost every year.

It wouldn’t be long until these pulsating final minutes of this fabulous All-Star Game ultimately belonged to the genius of its Most Valuable Player with 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. It wouldn’t be long until commissioner David Stern passed him his second trophy at 23 years old, and the world would see who the star of stars was again at New Orleans Arena.

“LeBron is a freight train when he goes to that basket,” West coach Byron Scott sighed. “He’s so big, and so strong – so quick and so powerful. It’s hard to stop him when he gets the momentum going like that.” source

Now it is time to plan for LeBron to leave Cleveland.

The Cavaliers will have a hard time putting together consistent teams in Cleveland.

Over the summer, LeBron, Bryant and Jason Kidd were grumbling teammates with Team USA. Bryant wanted out of Los Angeles. Kidd wanted a trade to Cleveland. And James just wanted someone to share the burden with him. Well, the two point guards whom Cleveland GM Danny Ferry had tried to obtain for two years – Kidd and Mike Bibby – are on the way to Dallas and Atlanta.

The NBA needs to keep LeBron on the highest stage possible. That stage would be the NBA Playoffs and probably at least the Conference Finals. Hopefully the Championship series itself.

You can’t market Tim Duncan.

As much as it hurts your intrepid author (a huge Pistons fan), the League does not want anymore San Antonio Spurs vs. Detroit Pistons series. To fans outside of those teams, it is boring. They play defense.

Think of Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics vs. Kobe’s Lakers.

Think of Steve Nash and the Shaq bringing the Suns in to play LeBron James when he is on the Knicks (without Isiah).

Isiah Thomas continues to believe

Isiah Thomas holds two jobs.

Isiah is team President of the New York Knicks.

Isiah is also Coach of the New York Knicks taking over the coaching duties after Larry the wanderer Brown was fired by the Knicks.

Now if you are the coach and you stink up the place, then the President will fire you. In this case, though, it may be the owner, Jim Dolan.

It is kind of hard to get the President to fire you when you are the President.

It is time for the owner, Jim Dolan, to step and do the right thing. Put the Knicks fans out of their misery and double fire Thomas.

He tried and did not get it done.

The New York Post, citing an unidentified source, reported Saturday that Thomas told a friend he was considering stepping away from coaching to concentrate on the team presidency.

“That was a lie,” Thomas said. “That was just a flat-out lie. I would never, ever, ever quit. Ever.”

Of course, he could eventually be fired, and even Thomas seemed to acknowledge that. Asked about the idea that he could be removed, he responded: “When that happens, we’ll all know.”

The Daily News, citing an unidentified source, reported Saturday that Dolan is leaning toward making a change before the end of the season. source

All the signs of getting fired as coach are there. It is not just the losing record of 9 – 26. It appears he is losing his players. When a coach has lost his players that spells doom.

Still, the speculation that Thomas may be in his final days could make it difficult to deal with his players. In Friday’s 99-90 loss to Toronto, Thomas had his second incident in three weeks with a player on the sideline.

Last month, it was a heated exchange with Quentin Richardson during a loss at Charlotte. On Friday, forward Zach Randolph chose to sit toward the end of the bench when he was pulled, seeming to refuse Thomas’ request to sit next to him.

Considering the poor job Isiah has done in collecting players, could he also be soon fired as the President as well?

And this from an owner that recently rewarded Thomas with a multi-year contract extension. Might be kind of tough to do that.

Thing are getting hot in Knicks land.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Would you fire Isiah?

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We only have to look to Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports to tell us about the Top 5 most disappointing teams of the season and, to be sure, you have your favorites as well.

Your intrepid author’s illustrious comments are in italics.

We are the most disappointing. Oh no!

1. Houston – They discovered the truth about this team’s limitations. From Tracy McGrady’s mental and physical fragility to an absence of athleticism, they were a flawed power. They’re devoid of an identity, stuck between what they were with Van Gundy and what they’ll never be with Adelman. source

What the heck? This team is slow and has put everything into two guys that have never won anything.

2. Bulls – Yes, the Bulls struggled to compartmentalize the Kobe Bryant trade talks and some of their own failed bids for contract extensions. Nevertheless, this is still largely a winning, young core. Sure, general manager John Paxson wishes he could have do-overs on choosing Ben Wallace over Tyson Chandler, and Tyrus Thomas over LaMarcus Aldridge, but he’s still had far more makes than misses.

Surprise, no Kobe, no winning. The Skiles message could last so long with a team that just lacks an inside presence.

3. Milwaukee – Among league executives, there’s a belief that the Bucks are close to declaring everyone available, except for Yi Jianlian and Andrew Bogut. Larry Harris is fighting for his job as general manager. Owner Herb Kohl mandated playoff contention in the offseason, and the Bucks are spiraling. In the horrific 45-point loss to the Pistons, one league executive monitoring the game said of the Bucks, “After five minutes, that team just quit.”

Stop picking on this team. They are what they are, and that is very young. Yi and Bogut can be for real given time and teammates.

4. Miami – The Heat are bad now and Shaquille O’Neal’s cap-clogging contract doesn’t expire until 2010, when Wade can opt-out into free agency. He is the biggest sports star in South Florida, but he has to wonder how long and how hard Riley will go as the Heat’s emperor. After all, he has rebuilt Miami twice now, won his elusive post-Lakers title, and it’s difficult to believe he’ll summon that winner within to stay with the grind.

Riley eventually burns all his teams out. Shaq is old and Wade has zero teammates. The Shaq trade was for an instant title and it worked. Now it is over.

5. New York – Thomas promises that he isn’t leaving until he’s delivered that championship. Of course, the fear in New York is that Dolan will hold him to his word. Everyone keeps saying that it can’t go on like this, but it does and it probably will. As much as Thomas has feigned befuddlement over his players’ effort, those inside and outside the locker room at MSG have privately doubted his work habits as coach this season. To think that he’s even preparing for opponents, even putting in the hours, is debatable.

You have heard from me on the Isiah Thomas situation before. Bad management, poor coaching, and selfish players. Lots of talent, but no way to channel it.

Houston and the Bulls can still improve in this season. The other 3 have an uphill battle.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do you have any disappointing additions?

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Man, oh man. What is Isiah thinking now? He talks about winning championships in New York. He talks about staying and winning with some of the guys he has now.

What is he thinking?

Now as a long time Piston fan there is a soft spot in my heart for Isiah. He came to the Pistons as a small guard leaving Indiana early. He talked about winning championships. Isiah won championships.

Almost immediately he made the team better back then. He was full of fire and felt unstoppable. Every year he added something to his game.

As better players surrounded him, he played even better and took over the leadership role of the team backed by Bill Laimbeer.

Now with the New York Knicks, Isiah is still talking Championships.

I believe in (the team) and I believe that this is also the time that you can make serious mistakes with your roster that could set you back another three, four years,” Thomas said. “We have good talent, we have good players, we have young players.

“We have a good nucleus and we just (need) them to play well together. It’s not about breaking them up or tearing them down, it’s about getting them to play better as a team.” source

Do we believe him?

Thrown out

Remember, the Pistons Bill Davidson, the owner, threw him out. Later his backcourt mate, Joe Dumars got the GM job of the Pistons and turned them back into a powerhouse.

Remember that arch rival Larry Bird threw him out. Larry is the GM of Indiana and Isiah was the coach.

How can James Dolan, the GM at New York not throw him out.

Train wreck

Isiah has consistently picked up overrated selfish players, including my all time favorite Stephon Marbury, who admits he plays for the money! Then he overpays them!

The team is a wreck heading for a bigger wreck.

But do we believe him?

That must be the question that haunts James Dolan, because Isiah is still there. Still going at it.

To hear Isiah is the hear the same contagious confidence he displayed in Indiana and in Detroit.

Plenty of New Yorkers would disagree. Fans routinely chant for Thomas to be fired during Knicks games, and last month a group held a giant pink slip during a rally to express those wishes.

But Thomas said he wants to be remembered in New York as he is in Detroit, where he led the Pistons to two NBA championships during a Hall of Fame playing career.

“I don’t necessarily just want to win a championship. I want to leave something that’s going to stand for a long time. I want to leave a legacy, I want to leave tradition,” Thomas said. “I want to leave an imprint, a blueprint in terms of how people play, and how they coach and how they respond when they put on the Knick uniform.

But do we believe him?

NBA Basketball Fan Question How is Isiah keeping his job?

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Sports can really suck sometimes.

As fans, you often forget about a man’s character if he can help your team win. Admit it.

Isiah Thomas knows that if he can win, all will be well in New York and the NBA.

Tuesday the Knicks beat the Nuggets 119 to 112.

Fans are already beginning to love Isiah again.

It was the Denver Nuggets and George Karl, where things really began to spiral downward for Isiah.

Just a year ago, these Nuggets and Knicks had been co-conspirators in a night of sucker punches, suspensions and damaged public personas. Since the brawl, Thomas’ New York life has been one public humiliation after another. Karl called Thomas “an ass” and “full of (expletive)” after his Nuggets lost Carmelo Anthony for 15 games, and Thomas never did respond.

Ever since, Thomas has been backpedaling as Knicks emperor, a tumultuous tenure that has turned him inward, even bitter. For so long the subject of the tabloid’s back-page lampoons, this summer’s sexual harassment trial worked him to the front of the papers. Since losing the case, he has still tried to sell himself as the victim, not the perpetrator.

The front line of Eddie Curry and Zach Randolph is helping to transform the Knicks into a formidable team and make the winning possible to leave the fans thinking only of victory. Isiah knows how to survive.

Before those things can happen, there is the matter of Thomas’ last stand with his reshaped roster. Give Thomas this: He is a survivor. He doesn’t go down easily. Michael Jordan has long been reputed to have shunned him from the Dream Team in 1992, and Pistons owner Bill Davidson chose Joe Dumars over Thomas to run his franchise. And yes, Larry Bird fired him as Pacers coach in 2001. Always, Thomas has gotten up again. He still sees himself as the little kid who survived Chicago’s west side to turn himself into the game’s greatest little man ever.

That trial against a deposed Knicks executive seemed to hit him the hardest, though, because nothing devours the human spirit like going through the ringer in New York. In this preseason, Thomas has done a lot of feeling sorry for himself. Around the league, he is isolated. Even within the Garden, his power has been marginalized. Everywhere, it’s open season on Isiah Thomas. Before the game, someone asked Karl if he had apologized to Thomas for the nasty names he called him last December, and the Nuggets coach rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh.

It seems Isiah has worn out his friends and co-workers and is left with only the winning.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Knicks be able to win enough this year?

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As usual, Stern rules the NBA!

How is this possible?

David Stern admits half the referees in the NBA violated the league gambling policy and he is letting them off.

At first this made no sense at all, but then putting myself in Stern’s shoes and they were really tight fitting and short, it was easy to see that there was no way he could suspend half the referees right before the season.

So, David Stern did the next best thing. He demoted Stu Jackson and Ronnie Nunn.

Stern also said Stu Jackson and Ronnie Nunn, in charge of monitoring officiating, will both have their roles altered. But he stressed they were being “expanded” rather than demotions — even though Jackson’s job now will be divided between two people and the league will be “cutting down on some of (Nunn’s) other responsibilities.” source

Oh, excuse me; their roles will be expanded to have less to do with the officials, if that makes any sense.

You must keep in mind that Stern is the master and has successfully guided the NBA for years. How a short guy got that job is anyone’s guess.

NBA Basketball David Stern factoid Stern attended Teaneck High School in New Jersey, then went to Rutgers, and Columbia Law School. source

In other Stern news, he is letting Jim Dolan and Isiah Thomas off the hook too.

Stern also reiterated that he is not currently considering any action toward Knicks coach Isiah Thomas or Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan in the aftermath of the ruling against them in a sexual harassment suit brought by former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders.

The trial did bring another change, however. All team personnel now will be required to set and meet minimum standards regarding sensitivity training and respect in the workplace.

Stern also brought up the fact that Seattle may lose their franchise to another city.

The board heard what “wasn’t a very uplifting report” about the situation in Seattle, where there has been no progress on funding for a new arena that would keep the Supersonics in the city. Stern called himself an optimist but said his “optimism is waning” when it comes to the team’s future there.

Ok, refs gambling, owners and GMs harassing, Seattle moving and that was all before David Stern had lunch.

David Stern had the good fortune to enter the league as commissioner at the same time as Michael Jordon entered the league, but it was more than the appeal of Jordan that helped expand the NBA.

Stern has orchestrated the NBA to expand throughout the world and also oversees the WNBA.

In spite of criticisms, the NBA would definitely miss David Stern and his guidance.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Who would you replace Stern with?

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