In hockey news, the Rangers and Devils won, the Islanders lost. And in the depressing basketball update, the Knicks and Nets lost—the Nets are now 0-15.
Results tagged “davidlee”
- Philadelphia 8 Yankees 6: AJ Burnett went on three-days rest and he blew up in a huge way. Burnett couldn’t record an out in the third and he ended up surrendering six runs, the big blow coming on a three-run homer from Chase Utley. The Yankees actually had a chance in the ninth. Trailing by three runs, they put the first two runners on, but Derek Jeter grounded into a double play, which did score a run. Johnny Damon singled and Mark Teixeira came up as the tying run, but struck out to send the series back to the Bronx.
For basketball fans in New York, the upcoming NBA season is really all about next year. July 1, 2010, to be precise; the exact moment when free agents like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh hit the market. It’s a strange year because you won’t have much to root for and apart from a few core players; the Knicks and Nets will be willing to trade away players in exchange for cap space next summer. And don’t forget Knicks’ fans, former GM Isiah Thomas traded away the 2010 number one pick for Stephon Marbury, so the draft lottery isn’t a possibility.
It’s May and for New York sports fans that means our attention is fixed to baseball, baseball and more baseball. It wasn’t always this way as May was once a time to watch the Knicks and Rangers make deep runs into the playoffs. It was a time when MSG was the place to be in May, but those times are a distant memory.
Thankfully, the Knicks are losing again which means they will miss the playoffs and qualify for the draft lottery. That’s very important for a team trying to rebuild because it is the last first round pick the Knicks will have before the vital summer of 2010. Think of it as the final blow of the Stephon Marbury trade. As part of that deal, Isiah Thomas sent the Knicks first round pick in 2006 to Phoenix, but he protected it, allowing the Knicks to keep the pick if it was a top-25 selection in that draft. The protection went down to top-24 in 2007 and is now top-22, but there is no protection in 2010 and the Utah Jazz, who acquired the pick from Phoenix, will have it, no matter how high the pick is.
- Knicks 102, Timberwolves 94: If the Knicks want to make the playoffs, they'll have to win games like this one. Wilson Chandler had 24 points and 12 rebounds. David Lee posted yet another double-double (12 and 13) and Nate Robinson had 25 points and seven assists. He continues to get to the line -- he made 14-of-17 attempts. The Knicks' position in the conference doesn't look too good, but they are on the cusp of the playoffs. If they keep on winning, stranger things have happened.
- Louisville 69, Villanova 55: Rick Pitino hasn't done too well at his hometown tournament. The New York native and product of St. Dominic's High School in Oyster Bay has seen Louisville have some short stays at the Big East Tournament in his tenure. At halftime of this one, it seemed as if the Cardinals were due for another early exit. But they came back against Jay Wright's Villanova team and advanced to the final. The quest for a No. 1 seed is very much alive.
- Syracuse 74, West Virginia 69 (OT): Only one overtime? Ridiculous! One night after playing six overtimes against Connecticut, Syracuse snuck by West Virginia in one. Jim Boeheim has five titles at the Big East Tournament. He'll try to No. 6 Saturday.
Devin Harris had 35 points for New Jersey while Vince Carter added 25. David Lee had another double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead New York.
- Knicks 127, Raptors 97: Nate Robinson is calling it the "funnest basketball of his career." Luckily his on-court skill exceeds his grammatical ability. He had 26 to go along with a career-high 32 from Wilson Chandler and a measly 24 from David Lee. The Knicks never trailed, led by as many as 38 and have now equaled last season's win total of 23. They did all this with Chris Wilcox dressed but on the bench. Larry Hughes was in street clothes and ineligible to play since the players sent to Chicago have yet to clear their physicals. The two teams meet again Sunday in Toronto.
- Wizards 107, Nets 96: Things are not as rosy for the Nets. They lost to the lowly Wizards one day after making no moves at the trade deadline. Vince Carter, too expensive to swap, had 17 points. Devin Harris had 26 points and 10 assists. For reference, Washington improved to 13-42 with the win. The Nets aren't world-beaters, but they should take care of the Wizards at home.
Robinson had 32 points including the tying shot in regulation and the first six Knicks’ points in overtime. The 5’9” guard also pulled down ten rebounds. David Lee and Al Harrington both added double-doubles.
Lakers 126, Knicks 117: Kobe Bryant dumped in a cool 61 points -- that's a new Madison Square Garden record -- and the Lakers pulled away from the Knicks, who got as close as two in the second half. Bryant only had 34 points in the first half. Michael Jordan once put up 55 -- the cool kids call it "double nickels: -- and Bernard King had 60 on Christmas in 1984. Bryant even heard chants of MVP and got cheered for his performance. Pau Gasol had 31 points as well. Al Harrington had 24 and David Lee had 22 -- and 12 rebounds -- for the Knicks.
- Knicks 108, Grizzlies 88: A look at the streaks for the Knicks. They have three straight wins, the most consecutive victories since early November. David Lee has six straight double-doubles -- he had 19 points and 14 rebounds Friday. Danilo Gallinari has now appeared in four straight games without hurting himself. He had 11 against the Grizzlies, who replaced Marc Iavaroni with Johnny Davis. Memphis has lost eight in a row. The Knicks get Philadelphia on Saturday night.
- Spurs 94, Nets 91: Poor Nets. They scratch and claw all game only to have Michael Finley bury them with a 3-pointer at the end. Their performance against Tim Duncan was none too impressive, however. He had 30 points and 15 rebounds. Brook Lopez, who had 15 points of his own, didn't provide much defense against the 10-time All-Star.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Good News Comes in Threes"
- Knicks 101, Hornets 95: Picking the Knicks to go 1-3 on this four-game road swing would have ben a popular position. Most would have thought they had the team to take care of Oklahoma City but not one to down Houston, Dallas or New Orleans. But an upset in the Big Easty saved an 0-4 trip that started with a disaster in Oklahoma City. They almost blew a 14-point lead late. David Lee had 24, Wilson Chandler had 19 and Al Harrington had 20 off the bench. Next up is a home-and-home against Washington.
- Nets 103, Thunder 99 (OT): Devin Harris returned but the Nets needed overtime to beat the lowly Thunder. Harris had 17, but rookie Brook Lopez had 31. The Nets started the season 5-12 at home but are now 9-12. They're also .500 on the season at 19-19. Given the low expectations they faced this season, they have to be happy to be mediocre.
- Rangers 3 Carolina 2 (Shootout): The Rangers rebounded nicely from Friday’s debacle, but the biggest events of the night occurred off the ice. Matt Sundin spent the night in a luxury box watching the game as part of a promotional event, but he has a meeting with Glen Sather at some point in the near future. Will the Rangers add Sundin to the mix? It remains to be seen, but they did just fine Saturday with Chris Drury winning the shootout with a nice backhand.
The Knicks’ plan is clear, wait until July 2010 and then sign LeBron James and possibly Chris Bosh or another superstar as well. The problem is there is a lot of work left to be done to realize that plan. The Knicks will enter the 2010-11 season with four players under contract: Eddy Curry, Jared Jeffries, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari. That gives the Knicks plenty of space under the salary cap, but it is hardly the makings of a good team and that is what is most important to LeBron.
The weather outside may be frightful, but that's not going to stop the NBA from tipping off their 2008-2009 season in Union Square. Starting earlier this morning and ending at 7PM, the NBA Tip Off Celebration will feature past NBA stars and current Knicks players. From 12-3PM, former Knicks players John Starks, Charles Smith, Kenny "Sky" Walker, and Clyde Frazier will be on hand with the Knicks City Dancers. Presumably, it will be frowned upon to ask Starks about the 1994 NBA Finals and Smith about the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals. If nostalgia's not your cup of tea, current Knicks players David Lee, Nate Robinson, Malik Rose and Danilo Gallinari will be on hand from 4-6PM. While the first regular season NBA game is tonight, the Knicks and Nets don't start their seasons until tomorrow.
Cops are looking for two suspects in a series of robberies of three separate women who were showing apartments in Brooklyn. The men have responded to ads in Asian-language newspapers that listed apartments for rent in Borough Park and Bensonhurst and then arrived at the women's homes only burglarize them. One of the two men has been armed in each of the robberies and in two of the three incidents, the suspects have tied the women up. In the third one, the victim was forced sit on her bed while they cleaned out her home. Police have identified one of the two suspects as David Lee (no relation to the Knicks power forward) and say the other is an Asian man, who is 5-foot-5 and 20 to 30 years old. None of the women have been hurt in the robberies.
After just making the All-Star roster last week, David Wright stopped by vitaminwater's Homers on the Hudson event. The contest gave people the chance to hit a ball off a tee 150 feet into an inflatable glove (on top of an inflatable vitaminwater bottle, of course) on a barge in the Hudson--if successful, they win $1 million. It wasn't very easy, for Wright or Jets safety Kerry Rhodes or any of the non-professional athletes, but actually rapper Fabolous did pretty well, managing to hit the glove.
The Phoenix Suns' Steve Nash is organizing a mini-soccer match for charity today at 5 p.m. Billed the "Showdown in Chinatown" (the game is at Sara D. Roosevelt Park, at Chrystie and Stanton Streets), other professional athletes expected to attend are soccer players Thierry Henry and Claudio Reyna and the NBA's Jason Kidd, Baron Davis and David Lee, Leandro Barbosa and Raja Belland. And could Nash's former coach and current Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni stop by?
Knicks 113 Bobcats 89 Take a long look at this box score, because you probably won’t see another one like it this season. The Knicks won a laugher Wednesday 113-89, dominating Charlotte over the final three quarters of the game.
The game was stopped midway through the second period after an ugly collision between Colton Orr and former Ranger Matt Cullen. Cullen took this worst of it as he was momentarily knocked unconscious and had to leave the game. While it didn’t look intentional, the referee assessed an interference penalty and a game misconduct on Orr. Orr should expect to hear from the league office in Toronto shortly.
The Lakers cruised to a 70-45 lead and then had to hang on against a Knicks’ rally that happened with the unit of Nate Robinson, David Lee, Malik Rose, Jared Jeffries and Jamal Crawford playing most of the minutes. What changes are coming? It’s hard to say, but a good start would be splitting Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph up. Let’s just hope Isiah doesn’t start making trades.
Yesterday's Knicks practice was cancelled so that the entire team could attend the funeral for Don Marbury, father of Knicks captain Stephon Marbury. Don Marbury died during the Knicks' Sunday night game. Despite being a team often criticized for lacking chemistry, they all stood together at the Coney Island Gospel Assembly on Neptune Ave. to support their point guard during his difficult time. Malik Rose spoke on behalf of the team to the 600-plus...
Sacramento 123 Knicks 118 (2OT’s); You weren’t dreaming, that really was Stephon Marbury playing defense. Marbury didn’t start, but he had a nice game off the bench as Isiah went to a three-guard lineup in the fourth quarter. With Crawford and Robinson sharing the point, Marbury took over at the two and did well. Eddy Curry had a huge game with 27 points including a game-tying rebound and layup with 10 seconds left in regulation,...



