Results tagged “pacers”

• Clippers 103 Knicks 94: New York Giants Sam Madison, Kevin Dockery and R.W. McQuarters showed up for the game, which provided a great diversion from what happened on the floor. Leading 60-51 at halftime, the Knicks were blown away in the third quarter, getting outscored 28-14 as the Clippers cruised to the win.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Home Doesn't Do It"

Isiah Thomas thinks he deserves more time. Not that much more, just two weeks, but time to show he can turn this club around. Of course, he has had four years already, but at this point who is counting? Maybe Isiah noticed that the next two weeks contain six games, but only two of those teams currently have winning records. The two-week timeframe came up as Thomas was asked what he would do to a coach with his record as GM. His response: "That's a better question in a couple of weeks. Not today, but in a couple weeks, that would be a fair question. We'll see if we can come out of this. If we can't come out of this, then those are fair questions. There's still a lot of basketball left in the season. There is time to turn it around."

You know what makes the Pacers special? They actually had the brains to admit their mistake and fire Isiah. The Knicks haven’t figured that out and Monday’s 119-92 humiliation probably won’t change things.

• A's 5, Yankees 4: After all the work the Yankees did to outlast A's starter Rich Harden and hold the not-so-potent Oakland offense in check, Mariano Rivera gave up a three-run walk-off homer to Marco Scutaro (he's a former Met) and the Yankees lost a series in the Bay Area. They could have easily swept the three games, but a tough extra-inning loss Friday night and an even tougher loss Sunday made them settle for a 3-3 road trip. To make matters worse, they had to place Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano -- well maybe his loss isn't making matters worse -- on the disabled list before the game. They have somehow managed to tread water with their starting rotation -- Andy Pettitte aside -- in shambles. So long as they hold their own a little longer until they get healthy, they should be fine.
• Nets 111, Pacers 107: They've made the playoffs, but the Nets can still improve their position. They took a step towards doing that with this win. Since they're chasing the Gilbert Arenas-less Wizards -- who they're probably better than anyway -- the Nets have a good shot of bettering their seeding.
• Raptors 107, Knicks 105: If it's mid-April, the Knicks must be irrelevant. They lost a close one to the Raptors, who have quietly become a miniforce in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks have not-so-quietly done the opposite.
• Red Bulls 3, Dallas 0: In case you weren't among the 15 people at this game played in a torrential downpour, here's how it went down. Clint Mathis scored a goal and added an assist, and the Giants Stadium field was probably ruined for weeks. At least they won. No one wants to play in a lake and lose.

Carolina’s loss leaves them with 78 points, tied with the Islanders and two ahead of the Rangers in the very tight Eastern Conference. The Devils moved to within two of Buffalo for the conference lead.

It is getting impossible to root for the Knicks anymore. The franchise is completely lost, stuck over the salary cap for the rest of the decade and playing uninspired basketball. Now we learn that the head coach is running the team like a mob boss, ordering his players to take out opponents.

-Knicks 100, Heat 76: Eddy Curry's 5-for-5 shooting in the third quarter helped the Knicks outscore the Heat, 34-14, in the period and helped New York roll to its second straight win. It's the Knicks' first winning streak of the season, though Friday's win came over a decimated Heat team. The Knicks have won the two games by a combined 44 points, and they've called on a wide range of contributors. Jamal Crawford, who scored 19, called it "the most balanced victory so far." They've had four through their first 10 games.

-Pacers 109, Knicks 95: Isiah Thomas will have enough problems this season without his team allowing opponents to shoot 64 percent from the field in the second half. Indiana did just that and ran away from the Knicks in the fourth quarter. Steve Francis fouled out again, but at least he contributed, scoring 25 points in 34 minutes before being disqualified. The Knicks are 1-2, and in their win, they blew a 19-point fourth-quarter lead before winning in triple overtime.

Lawrence Frank must wonder why his team can't play their best basketball when they don't trail in this series. For the second time this series, the Nets coach saw his players respond from a loss, this time in a 97-88 win over the Pacers Saturday. Just as it appeared in the other win, the Nets' recipe for success included an efficient night from Vince Carter, a more involved Jason Kidd and a foul-ridden performance by Pacer Jermaine O'Neal. The Indiana forward fouled out with 1:21 to go, stopping the momentum his team had gathered in the game's final minutes.

Just as the Nets improved with the play of Vince Carter, so did the Pacers when Jermaine O'Neal woke up. With Indiana's big man not in foul trouble and a force inside, the Nets lost game three 107-95 Thursday and trail the four-of-seven series two games to one. O'Neal proved too tough to handle on offense (he scored 37 points) and on defense (he held Nenad Krstic to just nine points). Without foul trouble to worry about, he emerged as the dominant force in game three.

If someone told Nets coach Lawrence Frank he could have the Indiana Pacers' best player in foul trouble all afternoon and force the Pacers to rely on a reserve point guard, he probably would have signed on the dotted line. Yet Jermaine O'Neal scored when it counted and Anthony Johnson, a former Net, hit two free throws in the final second of a 90-88 win over New Jersey. The Pacers lead the four-of-seven series 1-0. Frank can take the good and the bad from this performance.

In case any doubt lingered about the Nets' lackluster effort during the season's last few games, New Jersey removed any doubt with a 90-83 loss to the Knicks at home. Of course, Lawrence Frank rested his stars to the point that the quartet of Vince Carter, Nenad Krstic, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson totaled just 18 minutes. All belonged to Jefferson. Jacque Vaughn led the team with 15 points, and the not-even-trying Nets almost came from behind to beat the Knicks.

After back-to-back collapses at home it was hard to see how things could get worse for the Knicks. Friday night they provided the answer, falling 122-111 to the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks had won only four games prior to beating the Knicks.

So, on the cover of yesterday's NY Times sports section was this huge picture of New Jersey Nets small forward Richard Jefferson (RJ!) hugging point guard Zoran Planinic after a third quarter shot against the Utah Jazz, and we thought to ourselves, "This is some hug...not that there's anything wrong with that." But these are exciting times for Nets, as exciting as being on top of the Atlantic Division five games into the season can be and cross-the-Hudson and possible cross-the-East River rival New York Knicks sucking. Jefferson has been doing well this season, and we can only hope that he, Vince Carter, and Jason Kidd stay healthy. And that Nenad Krstic can continue to score. In the meantime, Gothamist will wonder how many children were frightened by this Jason Kidd Jox Box.

This afternoon, the Knicks will announce the hiring of NBA vagabond Larry Brown as the new coach of the Knicks. The contract pays Brown around $10 million per season. Brown is 64 and is already a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He has coached teams to both an NCAA title and an NBA championship, and is widely regarded (along with Phil Jackson) as the NBA's top coach.

John Starks, New York Knicks

7 points in 22 seconds. That pretty much sums up the Nets' night in a 90-86 loss to the Pacers on Wednesday. 39 year-old Reggie Miller continued his 2nd half surge with 22 points and some heroic shots (including a 4-point play) to clinch a playoff spot for Indiana and push the Nets 1.5 games out of the Eastern Conference race with just 5 games to play.

While the Knicks lost last night's game by 18 points, they wake up with a real sense of relief this morning. Reggie Miller, the skinny, gawky perennial clutch shooter for the Indiana Pacers, has played his final game at MSG. While Reggie had a rough shooting night (13 points), teammate and fan-puncher Stephen Jackson picked up the slack with 33 points to lead Indiana to a win.

The Nets suffered a severe blow to their comeback hopes when it was announced yesterday that Richard Jefferson will be out with an injury for the remainder of the season. Jefferson ruptured ligaments in his left wrist, which requires surgery followed by four months of time in a cast or in physical therapy. The team wasn't exactly dominating opponents even with RJ's 22 points a game, so they're in even more trouble now. Expect Vince Carter to pick up some of the scoring slack, and don't be surprised to find the Nets in the draft lottery this summer.

Further proof that it is the Warriors, and not the Clippers, that are the NBA's most hapless franchise. Golden State has agreed in principle to deal prized free agent center Erick Dampier to the Knicks for back ups Nazr Mohammed and Othella Harrington.

Last night, the Nets lost the 7th and deciding game to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Why did we all know this would happen? Maybe because the Nets were blown out in their first two games and had to return to the scene of the crime? Or was it the fact that Jason Kidd was held scoreless in the playoffs for the first time in his career because of his back and knee ailments? Or was it just that the Pistons were the better team? Whatever it was, the Nets lost the game 90-69 (box score) and will not return to the NBA Finals this year. Chauncey Billups scored a game-high 22 points, with his teammates Richard Hamilton and Ben Wallace adding 21 and 18 points respectively. The Pistons now move on to play the Indiana Pacers to see who goes to the NBA Finals.

Proving that nothing in New York is cheap, a recent study by Sportsbusinessnews.com confirmed that the New York Knickerbockers were officially the worst bargain in the league this season. When you divide the Knicks $94,395,091 payroll (highest in the league) by 39, the number of W’s they notched this season, the results show that each victory cost owner James Dolan $2,420,387.