12/30/2010 - Locks of the Night!!

JL moved forward victoriously last night, as the #Heat came back to edge the #Rockets by 8.  With last night's win, JL improves his #NBA Lock of the Night record to 2-0 and his backroll to $1500!

Tonight's NBA Lock of the Night: $500

Utah (+2) at Portland

I know Utah is coming off a loss to Portland at home, but I believe revenge and history is on their side!

12/29/2010 - Locks of the Night!!

JL (1-0, +$500) started out strong last night with the Knicks -10.5 against the Heat. The Heat locked it up late and secured a 8 point win with clutch shots by Wade and James.  But as the Knicks have showed this season, they have some fight in them.

NBA Straight Up Lock of the night (1-0, +$500):

Heat +4 over the Rockets ($1,000)

Heat are riding a stretch of 14 wins in 15 games. Coming off a hard fought win against the Knicks! But they are just too hot for the rockets to handle. Lebron will lead the Heat in scoring.

NBA Parlay of the Night (0-0, -$100): $100

(1) Heat + 4 over the Rockets (Home)
(2) Celtics +6.5 over the Pistons (Home)
(3) Suns (Home) +6.5 over the 76ers

College Basketball Straight Up Lock of the Night (0-0, -$100): $100

Boston College "Pick Em" over Rhode Island (Home)

Rhode Island has shown some grit at home, but Boston College clearly is the better team.

Round 2 Tonight - Different Game, Different End Result!

7:30 pm -Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks - American Airlines Arena

Round 2 is tonight.  The opponent looks fresher, but so do the Knicks.  The Knicks bring their talents to South Beach tonight, and with their talents they bring a win streak and less fatigued legs.  Much has been made about the Heat’s demolishing of the Knicks at the World’s Most Famous Arena just a short time ago.  Yet, I am here to say that the Knicks will NOT once again fall by more than 20 points.  The Knicks are not coming into this game off an emotionally draining loss (to the Celtics on Paul Pierce’s last second step back dagger), but on a two game win streak.  A win streak that no one can claim was against below par competition.  The Knicks avenged their Saturday loss to the Cavaliers (109-102), with a convincing win on December 22^nd against the highly touted and upcoming Oklahoma City Thunder 112-98.  This was a great win for the Knicks not simply due to the quality of the opponent, but because of the stingy defense that the Knicks presented.  They had not yet held an opponent to less than 100 points scoring and chose an offensively explosive team to do so.  They followed up this quality win, with another convincing walloping of the Chicago Bulls 103-95, which was much less of a contest than the score would suggest.  The Knicks took control at the end of the second quarter and never wavered.  Even when the Bulls made a run early in the 4^th quarter, the Knicks did not fold.  They held the Bulls to 12 points in the fourth quarter, and in doing so, held their second straight opponent under 100 points.

As the Heat are coming off an emotional victory in Los Angeles, the Knicks are in position to make a move.  As Dan D’Antoni stated, the Knicks cannot go into this game thinking they are going to be able to stop Lebron and D Wade.  They need to understand that the ONLY way to beat the Heat is to outscore them, yet, they also must play very efficient team defense.  This is the defense area of the Knicks that I always thought was weak, until the two most recent games.  When watching the games, I can deduce that Wilson Chandler, Amare Stoudemire, Raymond Felton, Landry Fields, and even Danilo Gallinari are quality one on one defenders.  Their weakness is on rotations and the nitty gritty of team defense.  There is rarely an open shot taken by the opposition that is generated from a one on one play.  It is when the opponent has great ball movement and execution that the Knicks defense breaks down.  Over the last two games, the Knicks have shown tremendous improvement on the team defense front and I believe that they will put it together this evening to ensure that this is a competitive game.

The Knicks will storm into South Beach tonight and prove that D Wade referring to them as, “One of the top teams in the league right now”, is correct. 

My Lock of the week:  Knicks +10.5

Preview of Tonight's Knicks vs. Thunder Showdown

                                  

Tonight is a very important game for the New York Knicks and their continued quest for relevance within the NBA and Eastern Conference.  After a disappointing week and a few days of rest, the Knicks have the opportunity to take the court and defeat one of the premier teams in the Western Conference, a team that boasts some of the best young talent in the game.  The Knicks will go toe to toe with Kevin Durant (27.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 3.0 APG) and Russell Westbrook (22.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 8.4 APG) who have proven to be one of the most formidable and explosive duo's in the league.  The Knicks will encounter with their own explosive duo of Amare "Stat" Stoudemire (26.5 PPG, 9.4 RPG and 2.1 BPG) and Raymond Felton (18.4 PPG, 9.0  APG, and 1.9 SPG), who are looking to rebound from being truncated by both the Heat and Cavaliers.  The World's most famous arena will be rocking tonight, as the Knick fans look to show the NBA that their previous win streak was no fluke. 

Stay close to the action by following @NYKnicksToday on Twitter!! Tweets throughout the game!!

The Transformation has Begun, Even if it isn't as Seamless as They Had Hoped...

A lot has been said about what has transpired in the Knicks universe over the last 6 days.  There were great expectations going into the past week, and these expectations were not realized.   However, how many of us actually thought the Knicks were going to beat the Heat?!?!? If you raised your hand, then i must say that you have not been watching the Knicks to closely.  They have improved tremendously over the last few seasons, as well as since the beginning of the year, however, they are not there yet.
They are not at the point where they can fail to play a perfect game and still win.  This is not to say that they are a bad team, in fact, they are a good team.  To see the leadership that Stoudemire and Felton have brought to this team is simply outstanding.  They hurt today, but they only hurt today because Stoudemire and Felton, have forced them to grow since the beginning of the season. No longer will the players continue, unaccountable for their performance both on and off the court.  Stoudemire and Felton demand hustle, desire, and accountability from each one of their teammates.  For the most part, their teammates are delivering.  We can only hope that they can shake off the negative and take in the positive.  Last season, the Knicks lost to the Celtics by more than 50 points, this season they battled them tooth and nail to the finish.  They must keep their heads held high, knowing that change is not only imminent, it is currently upon them.  The transformation has begun, even it if isn't as seamless as some may have hoped.

Ugly 109-102 Overtime Loss to the Lebronless Cavaliers

This was suppose to be what was no longer happening.  The Knicks were no longer going to look meek when staring in the eyes of sub .500 opponents.  All media outlets had made a point to ensure that everyone knew the previous win streak was against such lowly competition, and that all excitement should be kept to a minimum.  It seems as though they were right, except maybe we were even giving the Knicks too much credit as it was.  They showed this as they wallowed in the face of adversity and found a way to give the game back to the Cavaliers at the end of regulation.  Outscoring the Cavaliers 27-21 in the first quarter, everything appeared to be going as planned.  The Knicks would push the ball, make some three's and cruise on to victory (with Cleveland making a slight run), this was the script.  However, no one told Cleveland they had to follow the script. Cleveland went on to outscore the Knicks 28-25 in the second quarter, and 25-22 in the third quarter.  The Knicks tried to hold on in the fourth, but ended up parallel with the Knicks and Cleveland each scoring 19 in the fourth, and thus ending up in the same place they started.  Stoudemire had a chance ti win it in regulation, but missed a fairly routine 12 footer and the crowd took a sigh of relief.  Headed to overtime, you wanted to believe that the Knicks would pull it out.  But from the tip, you somehow knew this was not going to go in favor, and it didn't. 
The Knicks have now not only only lost 3 straight, but have also seen their 8 game road winning streak come to an end.  Gallinari's performance was nothing short of horrible, he shot 3-14 from the field, including 1-9 from three point range.  This is the kind of performance that will lead to Knick losses against sub .500 teams.  Even though the team has improved, all players need to be clicking for this team to win.  D'Antoni said it best, "I thought we were depleted of energy most of the night. They ground it out and we didn't. ... It was a test of character, and we failed the test today."
Things are going to need to change between now and Wednesday, if the Knicks are going to give the Thunder a real game.