Three Times As Sweet!

I can't help but be happy with the performance of my Knicks from last night. While they did blow a 19 point lead, they still won a road game against a team that made the playoffs a year ago. It is the first game of the season so no team should be too excited or too down, but for this team to get the first win under their belt it is significant. After all the turmoil from last season and the crazy offseason, it is essential to get off to a positive start this season. Last night was anything but perfect, but we learned a lot about what how the Knicks will play this season.

• David Lee is going to be a bigtime contributor to this team. He is by far the most active big man the Knicks have. He works hard on defense and fights for rebounds. He often seems to be in the right spot at the right time on offense, and keeps his head up, which helps him on outlet passes after defensive rebounds. He doesn't need the ball, which is unique on this team of one on one scorers. His ally-oop in one of the overtimes was a (shake your) key play. He got much more burn than Frye last night and was on the floor in crunch time and the OTs.
• Jamal Crawford is going to be on the floor at the end of games. While he had a horrendous shooting night, Isiah kept going to Crawford in isolation at the end of the OTs. Crawford is also the guy that Larry Brown would go to at the end of games last season. He can get a good look one on one better than any guy on the team and he will have the ball at the end of games. Even with his poor shooting last night, he had a key steal in the third OT to help seal the game for the Knicks.
• The offense is going to be up tempo. The Knicks were consistently pushing the ball up the floor after both made baskets and rebounds. The Knicks have the horses to continue to run through out ballgames. Isiah has made it a point of emphasis to open up the offense.
• The defense is still very shaky. Marbury consistently gets broken down by his man. Chucky Atkins had his number all night. Curry and Frye are not good man on man defenders either. The Knicks will struggle against big guards as well.
• Isiah is calm on the sidelines. He is not an animated coach at all.
• Francis looked horrible last night. It will be interesting to watch the development of the Francis/Marbury relationship. Both like the ball, and last night Francis took a couple bad shots when he wasn't feeling it. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
• Knicks go into Atlanta, so they can potentially be 2-0 for their home opener this weekend...
• I wouldn't go crazy about the Knicks, but since there is soo much hate out there, I figured I would antagonize some people and revel in the Knicks undefeated record!
• The Bulls were brought back down to earth last night...
• The Lakers could be a force this season. A few years back the when Shaq was still in LA, Kobe was injured for the last 12-15 games of a season and he got to sit back and see the team win without him. In feel it helped him fit better within the team and trust his teammates. The same thing could be happening here...Lets not go get ahead of ourselves just yet though..
• Anyone surprised Rasheed Wallace was ejected last night? I saw the Knicks get three technicals last night. This zero tolerance on arguing will have a bigtime effect on the league.
• Had my fantasy bball draft last night. Have not done fantasy bball in about three years, so not sure how my draft was....We will see, at least I know I will beat Relaxo..
• Honestly....I will have a real post tomorrow...NFL ish..