“The (Other) Streak” is dead. 13 New York Knicks wins in a row undone by predominantly by one Nate Robinson, who came off the bench to give ’em 35 in 33 minutes in a come-from-behind overtime win for the Bulls in Chicago … [Check out Nate’s new custom Jordans] … The wonder of Nate was on full display for pretty much the entire game with plenty of the good (buckets, energy, tenacity) and a heaping helping of the bad (horrrrrible shots at inopportune times, knucklehead passes, constantly straddling the line of about-to-get-a T and/or punched in the face by an opponent, etc.). Perfect example: At a key point in the Bulls’ comeback in the third quarter, Nate drilled a killer three to put Chicago up four. The Bulls stopped the Knicks on offense and then Nate – on a possession where another good look and bucket would have been another haymaker landed on New York’s jaw – decided to throw an underhand no-look alley oop from behind the arc that had no chance. The Knicks recovered, scored and restored order … That’s not to take away from Nate’s overall performance because there’s no way the Bulls are even in that game, let alone win, without his huge scoring output. His relentless mocking of Steve Novak‘s “championship belt” celebration after buckets was pretty great too … Obviously the Knicks were going to lose at some point, but even with their decimated roster, they still could have easily won that game to push it to 14 in a row. They can look back at the stretch where it sort of came apart for them: In the third quarter, New York was up double digits and guys were laughing and having a grand old time. There was no hustle and the Knicks stood around and watched as the Bulls reeled off back-to-back untouched fast break buckets. Next thing you know, it’s the fourth and the Bulls are up … Arguably just as important as Nate was Jimmy Butler. 22 points, 14 boards, three steals, three blocks and he was in ‘Melo’s face on defense all night. Jimmy’s used to the big assignments … What’s really amazing though is that the Knicks were in this without any bigs playing at all. No Tyson Chandler and no Kenyon Martin left them with a team with zero inside presence. Their forwards – Carmelo, Chris Copeland, Iman Shumpert, and Novak – are all perimeter players. Every possession was a jump shot, which is part of the reason that the red hot ‘Melo went just 13-34 from the floor (36 points) … The Knicks were just 10-30 from behind the arc, but one of these 10, a first quarter J.R. Smith triple, officially broke the 2009 Orlando Magic’s record of 842 team threes in a season … We guess now New York media can obsess full time about the Knicks winning a division title. Seriously, we have never seen a bigger deal made about a team winning a division. Multiple days later, there are still headlines about the “drought” finally being over. We had no idea anyone cared that much about a division title … The Hornets’ Anthony Davis will miss the rest of the season with a sprained left MCL and bruised knee after Marcus Thornton landed on him on Wednesday night. Reportedly there is no structural damage to the knee, so he should be back 100% next year …
What you see above is the official new logo for UConn athletics. Thoughts? Women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma says it looks like “Jonathan Husky” is “looking right through you and saying ‘Do not mess with me.'” … The Oklahoma City Thunder completely overwhelmed the Golden State Warriors in Oakland last night with a lethal one-two punch of deadeye outside shooting and paint dominance. OKC was predominantly led by Kevin Durant, who gave Golden State an easy almost triple-double with 31 points (10-16 from the field), 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 steals, and barely seemed to break a sweat doing it. His usual sidekick, Russell Westbrook, pitched in with 18 and 9 dimes, but it was the shooting of Kevin Martin that really helped to blow the game open early in the second half. Martin had 23 points in just 19 minutes off the bench, going 8-10 from the field, including 4-5 from behind the arc … Thoughts on the Steve Kerr/Reggie Mille/Chris Webber three-man booth with no traditional play-by-play guy? Kerr played that role as best he could, but no one’s mistaking him for Marv Albert any time soon. Still, we kind of liked it; the broadcast had more of a feeling of three guys just watching a game. It would have been interesting though to see how Kerr would have done if the game was close and required him to step up and really do play-by-play. He had it easy with the blowout …
Before the game Jarrett Jack tweeted out a pick of these Nike Hyperflights that he’s wearing for the NBA’s “Green Week” initiative. He had 19 in the game … Check out these highlights from practice at Day 1 of the Jordan Brand Classic. Andrew Wiggins, Aaron Gordon, the Harrison Twins, Wayne Selden and more all getting after it in NYC … We’re out like the Knicks’ streak.
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