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Knicks Roller Coaster Ride Stops

The Heat wrapped up their series with the Knicks in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Wednesday. The team won by the final of 106-94 in front of their hometown fans in Miami. The team shot well throughout and held a lead in nearly the entire contest. James was the story of the night as he led the team in every major statistical category. He appears to be poised to take the Heat to the next level and this may be the year he finally puts a team on his shoulders.

James had 29 points in the contest to lead all scorers. He also led the Heat in rebounds with 8 boards, and had a team leading 7 assists. The Heat scored 25 or more points in every quarter of the game including 28 to open up the contest in the first. They outscored the Knicks in every quarter but the fourth as well. The Heat now have a harder road to travel, but with an amazing home record and recent experience, it may just be enough.

The Knicks season is now over in what will always be a memorable one for them as well as many NBA fans. The team was quite simply on a roller coaster ride all year. It started with high expectations that resulted in few wins. This was followed by injuries to their major stars and the increased play of Jeremy Lin, which sparked Linsanity as he was putting in 20 plus points a night. Shortly after, the head coach was fired and the team went under new management that led them barely into the playoffs. The team should certainly be a team to watch next season, but they have a lot of kinks to work out.

Knicks Avoid Sweep

The Knicks avoided a sweep on Sunday against the Heat in New York. The team came into the 4^th game of the Eastern Conference first round down 3-0 in the series against the Heat. In the end, they were able to squeak by 89-87 against the Heat team. The Knicks did so primarily due to coming out hot in the second half. It appeared as if they knew they could have only two quarters of basketball left on the season unless they stepped their game up. They did just that, and outscored the Heat 51-43 in the second half to get the victory.

Carmelo had a huge game for the Knicks as he put the team on his shoulders and made due. Melo had 41 points to lead all scorers in the contest and could not be stopped. This is something that must occur if the Knicks plan on getting any further into the playoffs. Stoudemire contributed 10 rebounds to the victory as well. The team’s biggest quarter came just after the half when they outscored the Heat 26-17 in the third. It appears that the halftime speech must have gone over pretty well as the quarter propelled them to victory.

Lebron scored 27 points to lead the Heat in scoring. Bosh contributed 9 rebounds and Wade led the team in assist with 6 as well. In the end, it was all in a losing effort as they were unable to get the sweep in NY. The team can take some notes from this game though and now can probably see that the Knicks plan on letting Melo try to single-handedly beat Miami. Time will tell if this will pay off.

New York Jets select Defensive End Quinton Coples with No. 16 pick

What do you think of the Jets' first round pick?

The NY Jets have selected six-foot, six-inch, 284-pound Defensive End Quinton Coples from the University of North Carolina with their 16th pick. People compare Coples to Julius Peppers, but the funny thing to note that Coples himself has given himself a ‘C’ when it comes to the effort that he puts in the field.

Julius Peppers is renowned for the effort and the hustle that he brings to a game in addition to that huge frame and his ability to rush the QB. This, in contrast, to how Coples basically shut himself down in his last year at North Carolina and told everyone else about how he was protecting himself for pro football.

From what I have been hearing and reading, Coples is an underachiever with huge ability. Unless Rex Ryan can light the fire under his belly this pick was not a good one for the Jets. But I guess Rex feels that he can get the maximum effort out of Coples. This is again one of those picks that could go either way I feel.

But I really don’t know who else the Jets could have gone for with that pick. The NFL draft got off to a pretty wild start with all kinds of swap being made until the Jets used their sixteenth pick to take one of the most captivating athletes on the board. Ryan felt that Coples will make a good tandem with his former classmate at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia Muhammad Wilkerson to strengthen the interior pass rush of the Jets.

Knicks can't Handle the Heat in Miami

The Knicks got destroyed by the Heat in game one of the Eastern Conference 1^st round on Saturday. The Heat are now up 1-0 in the series as they were very impressive on their home court. The final in Miami was 100-67 in favor of Lebron and the Heat. Lebron and Wade led the way for Miami who look to get back into the playoffs after losing to Dallas last season. The Knicks, on the other hand, will need to try and steal one in Miami. This is something that only occurred 5 times in the regular season however.

James led the Heat with 32 points in the contest. Wade also contributed plenty of points while Haslem led the team in rebounds with 8. Chalmers also contributed to the win by recording 9 assists. The Heat outscored the Knicks in every quarter of the contest but the fourth. They held the Knicks under 20 points in three of the four quarters as well. The second quarter presented the biggest disparity when the Heat scored 30 points compared to just 13 by the Knicks.

Clearly the Knicks must understand that it is not the regular season anymore and try to play competitive playoff basketball. The Knicks scored just 67 points in the game. In comparison, James scored nearly half that margin himself. The Knicks leading scorer, Smith, scored just 17 points in the game. Carmelo had 10 rebounds and was the leader of the Knicks in assist with just three. The Knicks will have to rebound in a major way and show everyone that they have a fighters chance of winning against the Heat.

Knicks win Season Finale

The Knicks won 104-84 on Thursday against the Bobcats. The win caused the Bobcats to set a record for the worst record ever in the history of the NBA. The team finished the year with just 7 victories out of 66 games played. The most recent loss occurred in Charlotte, which put their overall home record at 4-29 on the year. The Knicks won easily and are set to begin the playoffs with some optimism as they have had a great turn around in the second half of the season and since a new head coaching change.

The Knicks Smith scored 22 points to lead the team to victory. Harrellson added 9 rebounds to contribute to the win while Bibby added 12 assists to help the team earn a W. The Knicks outscored the Bobcats in every quarter and scored over 25 points in two of the games quarters. The team scored 58 points alone in the second half including a game high 30 in the third quarter. The Knicks have had a very tumultuous season to this point and one can bet the playoffs hold more twist.

Henderson continued to do good work for the Bobcats and scored 21 points in the contest. Moon had 8 rebounds for the team in the losing effort as well, while Augustin contributed 7 assists. The Bobcats are now the new laughing stock of NBA history. Even in a shortened season, the team will go down as one of the worst ever. The team most likely could have lost to some college teams and simply was remarkably terrible. Hopefully someone can take a hard look at them and their future and in this case a lottery pick should just be given to them outright.

Tim Tebow booed at Yankee Stadium

The Jets' new backup QB gets a mixed reaction at Yankee Stadium

When Tim Tebow was shown on the big screen at Yankee Stadium there was a chorus of boos and cheers that erupted, but there were mostly boos. But having lived in New York, I knew better as it was not because they were unhappy with Tebow coming to NYC. When you grow up in New York, you tend to take sides.

It has more to do with the rivalry between the Giants and the Jets. A Yankee fan tends to be a Giants fan as well. Mets fans are usually Jets fans. So it is Mets and Jets, Giants and Yankees! The Giants recent Super Bowl triumph is just one out of two in the last five years for the franchise. Derek Jeter and the Yankees success are also very celebrated with their five championships.

Furthermore, NYC is a ‘show-me’ kind of town. The thing to remember is that in New York there is just so much going on and a lot of different sports teams to cheer for that people don’t really care who you are until you do something substantial for the city. Additionally, Dwayne Wade was also shown together with him and they were enjoying a nice chat and Wade coming into the picture would have provoked some of the boos too! But maybe not, as some of those boos turned to cheers when Wade held up his own Yankees cap.

The other thing is that Tebow is such a polarizing figure in sports with people either loving or hating him. People that dislike Tebow feel that he is overrated and can’t throw the football although he is really athletic. There are always going to be those that will want Tebow to fail. However, I am hoping that he will find some success and provide the spark that the Jets need to finally get to that Super Bowl that Coach Rex Ryan has promised us Jets fans for so long.

The Jets' QB Situation

Should be an interesting season for the Jets - as usual!

The New York Jets have never stopped making the headlines ever since they used the fifth pick of the 2009 NFL draft to get Mark Sanchez. This was after they went out and traded for Brett Favre in what was not a really good season in 2009 for the Favre-led NY Jets.

As if the last three seasons haven’t been headline worthy for the Jets with their consecutive trips to the AFC Championship game and the appearance on HBOs ‘Hard Knocks’ along with Rex Ryan’s very over the top weekly comments, they now have brought in Tim Tebow as their backup QB to Mark Sanchez. And this is going to make for one very interesting season indeed!

Let me get to what is on everyone’s mind right now. Will Mark Sanchez be the starter for the whole season?

The first thing to remember is that this is New York and we all know how it has been made to look like Sanchez has been the weak link in the Jets quest for that elusive Super Bowl triumph. With Tebow now in the picture with his plays that drive a team to victory in the fourth quarter, there will be more chants by fans to get him to start ahead of Sanchez.

The team may also get behind Tim Tebow because they already know what Sanchez brings to the table and it hasn’t been enough to get over the hump. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if by mid-season the Jets decide to go with Tebow to energize the team. It already seems like people don’t have confidence in Sanchez and it was evident from the press conference given to Tebow even though he is a backup QB.

Knicks Continue on Right Path to Playoffs

The Knicks beat the Bucks 111-107 on Wednesday in Milwaukee. The team continues to try and get the last remaining playoff spot, but is in a tight battle. The Knicks had previously not even been a blip on the NBA’s playoff radar earlier in the year, but got a spark from Jeremy Lin before igniting another small fire with the firing of their head coach. The team is now 30-28 on the season while improving their away record to 11-18.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 32 points in the contest and has been showing up a lot more as of late. Late in the game he decided to put the team on his shoulders at times and was able to capitalize. Chandler added 11 rebounds to lead the team while Fields contributed to the win with 6 assists. The Knicks scored over 25 points in every quarter but the third including 36 in the opening quarter. They scored an amazing 62 points in the first half.

Ellis led the Bucks with 35 points in the game and also led the team in assists with 10. The double-double was impressive, but ended up to be too little for the Bucks as a whole. Moute also contributed to the team with 8 rebounds. The team ultimately fell short due to falling apart in the fourth quarter. There, they were outscored 27-19, which ultimately cost them the game. The team is now 28-30 on the season while dropping their home record to 15-14.

Knicks Beat Cavs at Home

The Knicks won 91-75 in New York against the Cavaliers on Saturday. The Knicks continue to play much better basketball under their new coach who has undoubtedly brought new life to the team. They are now 27-26 on the season and improve their home record to 18-10 this year. The team hopes to lock in a playoff spot, which could be interesting as they are very much a new team right now that is still trying to find an identity.

Smith scored 20 points in the contest to lead all Knick scorers. Chandler added 12 rebounds to contribute to the win while Davis led in assist with 5. The team started off hot outscoring the Cavs 25-17 in the first quarter. The Knicks outscored the Cavs in every quarter but one in the game. The team quickly wrapped the game up in strong fashion as they ended the game outscoring Cleveland 25-15 to seal the win.

Cleveland was led by veteran Jamison. Jamison, however, scored just 13 points to lead the team. Sloan also led the team in assists, but did so by just recording 4 on the day. These numbers are a good example of just how unproductive Cleveland was on the night. The team’s highest scoring performance came in the 3^rd when they scored 22. They were under 20 points in two quarters of the game. In the end they fell hard and are now just 17-33 on the season. The team was without their rookie leader Irving to add insult to injury.

Knicks Embarrass Disgruntled Magic

The Knicks dismantled the Magic in New York on Wednesday. In the end, the Knicks were able to win the game 108-86 as they dominated on both sides of the ball. The nicks are now 26-25 on the year and improve their home record to 17-10 this season. Their fine play against a great Magic squad really gets some heads turning while making them look like a viable playoff contender. The game was surely frustrating for the Magic and especially Dwight Howard who seemed to check out early in the contest.

Anthony had a big game and showed many New York fans why they should still believe in him. In the end he scored 25 and helped spark a huge second half for the team. The Knicks outscored the Magic in both the first and second half. They went over 30 points in 2 of the game’s quarters and had 65 points in all between the second and third quarters. Chandler helped assist in the Knicks win by leading the team in rebounds with 9 total.

Nelson led the Magic in points with just 17. Howard was unable to do much and was under 20 points and under 10 rebounds in the contest. This is something you rarely, if ever, see. The Magic scored less than 20 points in two quarters of the game as well. In the end, they simply were embarrassed by the Knicks. The team is now 32-19 on the season while dropping their road record to 14-11.

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