One of my favourite stops on the tour comes Friday night: New York. It's the Mecca of basketball, the place where I saw my first game as a kid. That has always made me a bit of a closet Knicks fan since many of my relatives were -- and some still are -- in the Big Apple. I was a huge Patrick Ewing fan back in the day and sitting here writing this and looking up at the retired numbers of Clyde Frazier, Dick (Fall Back Baby) Barnett, Earl Monroe, Willis Reed, Dave Debusschere, Bill Bradley, Red Holzman and the aforementioned Ewing makes it all a bit nostalgic.
And hey, you never know what else you might see. On the walk back from dinner Thursday night, we were forced to cross on the other side of the street just north of Times Square because they were shooting a movie. It was a scene for the remake of Fame.
Now down to business. Chris Bosh will play Friday and head coach Jay Triano will be monitoring his minutes with Bosh having missed the last five games. In the up and down game that New York employs, the coaching staff will keep an eye on Bosh’s conditioning after the lay off.
The Knicks will have a bit of a different look after the trade deadline as they continue trying to be competitive while still cleansing the books in anticipation of a run at a couple of max contract players in the summer of 2010. It is unsure at this time whether the new guys, Larry Hughes and Chris Wilcox, will be available for the game against the Raptors with travel and physicals to be passed before anyone gets on the floor. It may not matter as Mike D'Antoni traditionally employs a very short bench and even if they are available for duty, they may not get much floor time.
Speaking of which, it isn't exactly like the time Jerome (Junk Yard Dog) Williams got in his truck and drove all night from Detroit but newest Raptor Patrick O'Bryant did leave Utah at midnight on a commercial flight -- where, as he put it, "didn't sleep, because he just couldn't get comfortable" -- to be with the team. He arrived at JFK airport in New York at 7 a.m., and probably had a physical of some sort; I'm just connecting the dots here as Dr. Howard Petroff just happened to be with the team on the trip, before taking the floor with the team for practice. The problem for O'Bryant was that he could practice. Triano had to tell him that he couldn't take part in the shoot-around as the Kings have yet to complete the paper work and physical for Will Solomon.
There seemed to be a hint of disappointment in O'Bryant's voice leaving Boston and a team headed for a run at a title and coming to Toronto where they are 14th in the conference and trying to climb the standings and grab the final playoff berth. He talked about playing in front of sellout crowds every night and the great atmosphere in the locker room. But on the other hand, O'Bryant sees a chance to play and get on the court for the first time in his career on a consistent basis.
Do you think they are holding their breath in Boston? Kevin Garnett pulled up lame just before half time after going airborne to try and catch an alley-oop pass. He came up limping and could not put any weight on his leg. He came out to warm up for the third quarter but head coach Doc Rivers pulled the plug on any possible return to action in the second half with an eye toward the long-term goal of another NBA title.
Garnett returned to Boston for an MRI and his reaction looked eerily similar to that of Al Jefferson in Minnesota. Garnett had been nursing issues with his right knee and don't read anything into him walking and warming up after the half. Jefferson was mobile following his injury and it wasn't until the next day that it was learned he had a torn ACL and would need season-ending surgery.
One of Garnett's mentors and former Raptor coach Sam Mitchell is still popular in Minnesota as witnessed first-hand when Toronto visited the Timberwolves a couple of weeks ago. The organization feels strongly enough about Mitchell that on March 22nd they will fly him in for a ceremony to honour his contribution to the franchise.
