The Knicks Fix

It’s cold in the desert, man. So cold the tumbleweed have stopped tumbling. Cactus arms are wrapped around itself. It’s so cold here, Randy Johnson’s personality would feel like a cozy fire.

They’re actually excited about the prospect of getting him back here. Even the cameramen.

What do you think Renaldo?

“Aw man, crazy. Just crazy.”

* * *

It’ll be warm in the gym tonight though. Two teams that love to go up-and-down and aren’t concerned about stopping for defense. The Suns lost in Dallas last night. The Knicks are coming off another breathtaking win. Mike D’Antoni was talking about the Knicks even before his team blew a 9-point fourth-quarter lead to the Mavs.

A little cut-and-paste, courtesy of the Arizona Republic:

SNIP

“They're playing well,” D'Antoni said of the Knicks, winners of four of their past five games. “It'll be a hard game for us. They'll be tough.”

UNSNIP

Isiah Thomas returned the exchange of respect when he said the Suns are “just damn good. We’re going to have our hands full in every aspect of the game. I mean, they do everything well.”

Thomas also was giving it up for Steve Nash, my Canadian homeboy who knows his hockey. If the Suns had a shoot-around this morning, I’d have been all up in his grill about the Ottawa Senators getting all the calls against the Islanders the other night. Ted Nolan had a right to go off on that ref.

But since Isiah doesn’t follow much hockey, I let him just talk about Nash.

“He’s good,” Thomas said. “He’s just flat-out good. Left-hand, right-hand. Jump-shot, short-shot. Think the game, see the game. He’s good. I think you have to go, I guess, by the era that you’re in. And in this era, he’s good.”

(In conclusion: Nash, the reigning two-time NBA MVP, is "good".)

* * *

Quentin Richardson did not join the team for the shoot-around. He was face-down on the trainer’s table with a heat-pack on his lower back. Q has been shooting some, but still is dealing with the spasms issue. The Knicks definitely miss him in the lineup and will, most especially, on this trip. But he’s right to take this slow and make sure the back muscles subside.

In the meanwhile, get the word out: The beds at The Conrad hotel in Indianapolis are too soft. That’s what started this whole mess for Q-Rich. Ever sleep on a mattress that is too soft? You can't even walk the next day.

Yo, Conrad Hotels: get a Sleep Number bed for my man Q.

* * *

If you haven't heard it the first 100 times it has appeared in print, Magic Johnson had a brief chat with Stephon Marbury. You’ll keep hearing about this ridiculous notion that Magic’s brief chat with Stephon has led to Stephon’s sudden scoring outburst. This is called getting shelf-life out of an otherwise coincidental occurrence.

But this is where I enjoy Marbury as a subject to cover. He sees this coming from a mile away. Instead of playing along, he fights it head-on. He calls you out for it. That's how it should be.

Stephon reminds me a lot of Rick DiPietro from the Islanders. They are very similar when it comes to their views as athletes and as athletes being covered by reporters.

Stephon was asked this morning about his sudden scoring outbursts and how he scoffed at notions made earlier this season that he lost a step.

“I understand how, from the things that you guys write and from what they read, from not playing well, I would understand why people would say that,” Marbury said. “That doesn’t bother me. I just laugh, really.”

A reporter then reminded Marbury that he has said he can play well without scoring a lot.

“Yeah, but if people don’t understand basketball and the people that are writing don’t understand, they’re not going to understand,” he said. “For me, I really pay no mind to it.”

Do I think you need to have played basketball to cover basketball? No. Do I think it helps? Absolutely. I learned this when I got back into playing ice hockey during my time on the Islanders beat. I saw so many more things I never considered, felt things I never realized a player might feel and had a better understanding for the details of the game that are more important than the damn statistics page.

It definitely gives you a better perspective if you’re covering a competitive sport that you once – at some level – also played competitively. I think, as a rookie on the Knicks beat, my basketball background has helped me make the transition a lot easier than if I was to cover football or – ugh – baseball.

Ugh. Baseball.

* * *

Gotta love Jalen Rose. He was asked if there were any hard feelings toward the Knicks, who waived him at the end of training camp.

“Why?” Rose told the Arizona Republic. “They’re still paying me.”

We should all have it like that, baby.