The Knicks game against OKC last night had a lot of buzz going for it.  We learned that Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook have worked out together in the off-season for the last 10 years and are good friends.  Clearly, they were looking to get the better of the game on a personal level.  The pace was quick and Westbrook recorded another triple double and even threatened a quadruple double but fell short with only 7 turnovers.

SU believes that Rose had 3 assists mid-way through the 1st quarter and finished with 4.  He took 20 shots and 10 foul shots for his 30 points and was an offensive force with a series of fearless drives to the hoop.  His outside shot still looks odd to me – very flat – but he made a few.  But here are the issues according to SU:

• He was all 1 on 1.  Completely.  SU believes he either needs to have his eyes checked as he can’t see his teammates or he has zero interest in passing and is using this season to secure his next contract somewhere else.  And there were guys open.  At one point, Porzingis stood in the corner with his hands out-stretched high while Rose was triple-teamed in the lane.  No pass.  Hard to not see that.
• Carmelo was 4 for 19 and quite frankly, it felt worse than that.  The sophisticated NY fans have started to boo him loudly now – not when he misses but when he holds the ball in isolation and starts his jab step routine.  It seemed like every shot came in a 1 0n 1 situation.
• Down the stretch in the 4th quarter, Rose and Melo played a 2-man game on most possessions.  Porzingis is their best player now (SU has done the research and found this to be true) and yet he does not touch the ball for long periods of the game.
• SU likes the way that Jeff Hornacek does not call plays – he trusts his guys on the court.  During the Pat Riley regime in NY, every possession was called by him to make sure Ewing got his 25 shots a night.  Hornacek likes an up and down tempo which is good for the fans.
• Noah is just a bad fit with Porzingis.  Porzingis is best when matched with the 5 man on the other team.  This was a bad free agent signing for this roster.
• SU likes Holiday, Jennings (never ever thought I would say that but he is a new man) and the youngsters.  But Rose needs to get others involved and I am afraid that continued offensive success will help him and hurt the team.

Soon, Jeremy Lin will be back in action and I will turn my attention to the woeful Nets who play hard and pass the ball.  I really like KP and will stay interested but I was very frustrated last night.

Finally, SU awaits the college football playoff seedings.  I know Michigan is a 2-loss team and the loss to Iowa is killer for them.  But they beat both Penn State and Wisconsin this year as well as Colorado, and if Washington loses to USC on Friday night, or if Clemson somehow loses to Virginia Tech, SU believes that Michigan should be that 4th seeded team assuming that Ohio State gets all the love from the experts.  Anyone agree?

Clearly, SU had a rooting interest in today’s Ohio State – Michigan game.  Michigan dominated the game and made its share of turnovers to keep Ohio State in the game despite Michigan’s heroic effort on defense.  But it’s a shame when the game comes down to a few penalty calls and non-calls plus the replay officials lacking the guts to overturn a spot on what would have been a game ending play in OT.

If you watch a lot of Big Ten football like SU week in and week out, you know that the Big Ten officials are bad – they are just bad.  For a major conference that draws hundreds of thousands of fans to its games each season, you would think they could do better.  Today was just another example of that and Michigan paid the price.

It’s true: the QB handed OSU 14 points on turnovers and that was a killer.  But in OT, a non-call on pass interference when lesser calls went against Michigan like that all day was a huge play.

Ohio State has now escaped three times this season in close games and they are not likely to win the championship.  But you need to ref the game fairly in the rivalry games and it’s a shame it came down to this in the end.  SU still enjoys the journey of the season and life will go on as we know it.  But the Big Ten should be embarrassed.

SU just watched what was an exciting Knicks game resulting in a win over the Blazers.  Derrick Rose made a couple of tough shots down the stretch but here’s the deal.  Porzingis was great – 31 points and scoring from all over in the 2nd half.  Rose was in foul trouble and Brandon Jennings was great with 11 assists.  But then for the final 5 minutes, every possession and I mean every possession was Rose and Melo playing a 2-man game and basically freezing everyone else out.  Porzingis had no touches in the last 5 minutes.  Outrageous.  Rose went 1 on 1 every possession or passed to Melo who must have shot 7 for 23.

The Knicks got great contributions from the other 2 Euro players and SU is beginning to really like those guys.  This could be a fun team to watch.  But tonight, you could even hear the Knick fans booing Melo when he stopped the ball down the stretch to do his thing instead of moving the ball which is what got them in position to win in the first place.

SU says: trade Melo.  It’s time and you know what?  Package him with Rose.  Go with the youngsters and Jennings who has played incredibly unselfishly this year for him.  The entire rest of the team plays unselfishly.  You can hear the fans and their anticipation – these are smart fans.  They want the ball to move.  Rose is a backcourt ball stopper and Melo is a front court version.  Phil Jackson: you are out of here shortly.  Leave the fans with hope and clean house now.

Am I right?

The end of an era.  Good guy in the clubhouse and a team leader. But the emergence of Gary Sanchez made him expendable.  See the report below from espn.com:

“The Houston Astros acquired catcher Brian McCann in a trade with the New York Yankees on Thursday, sending two minor league pitchers to the Bronx.

In exchange for McCann, 32, the Yankees received minor league right-handers Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman.

The Yankees are kicking in $5.5 million of the $17 million McCann will make each of the next two seasons, sources told ESPN’s Buster Olney.

McCann’s role on the Yankees decreased in 2016 with the emergence of Gary Sanchez. McCann only started 12 games at catcher from Aug. 1 on. He was mostly used as a DH against right-handed pitching. He finished the season with a .242 average, 20 homers and 58 RBIs.”

Also, the Yankees are supposedly one of 4 teams in on the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes along with Toronto, Houston and Boston.  SU would still prefer to go young and not spend money here.  And, as long-time SU subscriber A. Grossman keeps pointing out, they need more starting pitching.

There are also Mike Trout trade rumors out there where the Yankees would trade many of these prospects to the Angels.  Again, SU says stick with the youth program and don’t tie up so much money in any one player.

SU is all in on the sabremetrics stuff in baseball and how what you see is not always what you get.  Rick Porcello of the Red Sox was 22-4 this year – he had a career year.  Justin Verlander was 16 – 9 with a ton of strikeouts.  Very few pitchers ever have had a winning percentage like Porcello and his ERA is just a tad higher than Verlander’s (3.15 vs. 3.04).  So, why was the voting so close and why did so many sports writers vote for Verlander for 1st place?

I know Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young one year with a record of 13-12 and that wins and losses at some point are outside of the pitcher’s control.  And I suppose Porcello got a ton of run support this year.  However, his ERA is right there with Verlander’s and he won 6 more games.

SU asks: what is the rationale here and why was the voting this close?

SU decided to really check out the Knicks last night in a home game vs. Detroit.  Porzingis went off for 35 points – 25 in the first half alone.  He scored from deep, on alley-oops, step back jumpers, and follow-up dunks on offensive rebounds.  The guy is 21 years old and his game is still forming.  He is clearly the real deal.  Coach Hornacek made a smart move and put him in with the 2nd unit which really allowed him to get more touches and shots which no doubt made long-time SU subscriber B. Levine happy who has been pushing for this all year.  On top of all of this, he is a good guy, doesn’t seem to travel with a “posse” (see Phil Jackson and his latest poor choice of words), smiles on the court and doesn’t argue with the refs.  The fans are totally behind him – even chanting “MVP, MVP” late in the game.

Carmelo and Derrick Rose are both saying the right things – for now.  But here’s the thing.  The Knicks had a comfortable lead all game and the ball was really moving – 24 team assists and even Carmelo had 3 which could be a season high for him.  But late in the game, between Rose and Melo, they reverted to isolation ball and just running down the shot clock.  SU says: why deviate from the style of play that got you the lead all game?  And while deviating now late in the game, why do you freeze out Porzingis on these possessions when anyone guarding him is always going to be a mis-match?  Let me answer that one for you: Porzingis is only 21 and it’s not his team yet.  That is the next step for this team’s evolution.  Let him take some big shots down the stretch and please, please, please, stop with the Rose or Melo isolation offensive sets.  I mean, how many playoff series wins has this produced in the past?  It’s also why long-term, Melo needs to be moved.  He is helpful now if he plays the right way as it keeps the defense honest and allows Porzingis more opportunities but not long term.

Meanwhile, the Lakers are off to a 7-5 start and enjoying life after Kobe.  There is a good article in today’s New York Times on how the young players are thrilled to have Kobe gone along with his enabler Byron Scott.  New Coach Luke Walton insists on a minimum of 300 passes a game and his assistants track this.  He talks about how the isolation style of play doesn’t work and he won’t allow it.  I guess he skimmed through the Mike Woodson offensive playbook and decided a 1-page pamphlet was not the way to go.  SU says that is a great way to encourage team ball and sharing in each others’ success.  This is a team that I will start to follow on the NBA Season Pass until Jeremy Lin returns from his injury.

Help me out here.  SU watches its share of NFL and college football games.  What is the attraction of the corner fade route when you are down near the goal line or on the 2-point conversion?

Last night, the Pats are 1st and goal on the 1-yard line.  Two failed quarterback sneaks and a run up the middle later, it’s 4th down.  Brady throws a corner pass to Gronkowski who is locked in hand to hand battle with Chancellor on the Seahawks.  No call, incomplete pass.  In the Dallas – Pittsburgh game, Prescott threw 2 similar passes to Dez Bryant for their 2-point conversion attempts – both incomplete.

I get the theory.  Your best receiver is usually taller and stronger than the defender and the betting is that he will out-fight him for the ball.  But it never works.  The other version is from the 5-yard line or so where the QB lofts the ball to the corner and the receiver is supposed to catch it over his shoulder.  Really?  This play works perhaps 10% of the time.

Given how detailed and meticulous NFL and college coaches are, do they really have stats that show these plays work?  SU is happy to be proven wrong but I am not seeing it.

Saturday showed why college football is great.  The #2, 3 and 4-ranked teams all went down in the same day.  The Michigan loss to Iowa was especially painful but they still control their own destiny if they can win out and beat Ohio State.  Of course, that is a tall order especially with the game in Columbus this year.  Ohio State is peaking and their roster is like Alabama’s in terms of top recruits.  It feels like an Ohio State – Alabama final for the championship (but I hope I am wrong there).

Finally, for the 7 people who watch the Tennis Channel globally along with SU, the men’s ATP Tour finals are taking place in London this week with a round-robin format.  While Federer and Nadal are missing due to injury, it’s still a lot of fun and Djokovic and Murray are battling for the overall #1 ranking.  SU says worth a look.

Many thanks to long-time SU subscriber, S. Brett, who passed along this “interview” with Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick.  Although conducted in Spanish, the subtitles will help you follow along.

I don’t know if you saw these remarks from San Antonio Spurs Coach Greg Popovich about the recent election results.  SU makes a point of avoiding any political content in the blog as you can always go to other sources for that type of conversation (see Mike Francesa on WFAN who is a long-time strident Donald Trump supporter).  But in an era where most sports figures and especially coaches are generally neutral on these topics, SU was struck by Popovich’s remarks.  See below from http://www.espn.com:

“Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spoke openly Friday about his frustration with Tuesday’s election of Donald Trump as the country’s 45th president.

“I’m still sick to my stomach, and not basically because the Republicans won or anything, but the disgusting tenor, tone and all the comments that have been xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic,” he said before the Spurs’ home game against the Detroit Pistons. “And I live in that country where half the people ignored all that to elect someone. That’s the scariest part of [the] whole thing to me.

“It’s got nothing to do with the environment, Obamacare and all the other stuff. We live in a country that ignored all those values that we would hold our kids accountable for.”

“Everybody wants him to be successful. It’s our country; we don’t want it to go down the drain,” he said. “Any reasonable person would come to that conclusion, but it does not take away the fact that he used that fear-mongering and all the comments from day one. The race-baiting with trying to make Barack Obama, our first black president, illegitimate. It leaves me to wonder where I’ve been living and with whom I’m living.”

Popovich also expressed empathy for minority groups that might be adversely affected by Trump’s remarks during his campaign.

“What gets lost in the process are African-Americans, Hispanics, women and the gay population, not to mention the eighth-grade developmental stage exhibited by him when he made fun of the handicapped person,” he said. “I mean, come on. That’s what an eighth-grade bully does, and he was elected president of the United States. We would have scolded our kids. We would have had discussions and talked until we were blue in the face trying to get them to understand these things. And he is in charge of our country. That’s disgusting.”

Popovich emphasized that his problem with Trump has nothing to do with politics.

“Values to me are more important than anybody’s skill in business or anything else because it tells who we are, how we want to live and what kind of people we are,” he said. “That’s why I have great respect for people like Lindsey Graham, John McCain, John Kasich, who I disagree with on a lot of political things. But they had enough fiber and respect for humanity and tolerance for all groups to say what they said about the man.”

When a reporter interrupted to start a new line of questioning, Popovich cut him off.

“I’m not done,” he said. “One could go on and on. We didn’t make this stuff up. He’s angry at the media because they reported what he said and how he acted. It’s ironic to me. It just makes no sense. So that’s my real fear. And that’s what gives me so much pause and makes me feel so badly, that the country is willing to be that intolerant and not understand the empathy that’s necessary to understand other groups’ situations.

“I’m a rich, white guy. And I’m sick to my stomach thinking about it. I couldn’t imagine being a Muslim right now or a woman or an African-American, a Hispanic, a handicapped person, and how disenfranchised they might feel. And for anyone in those groups that voted for him, it’s just beyond my comprehension how they ignored all that.”

As his remarks ended, Popovich said he was concerned that the U.S. is on the same path as the Roman Empire.

“My final conclusion is, my big fear is, we are Rome,” he said.”

To be clear, SU is not looking to cover the political landscape (note: we will not be providing equal space for Curt Schilling who is one scary dude).  But this was quite noteworthy coming from someone who hates talking at all with the media.

College basketball is ready to tip off tonight and not a moment too soon.  Let’s face it: the NBA is down to a handful of teams that qualify as watchable right now: Golden State; San Antonio; Atlanta; Cleveland; and that’s about it.  Once Jeremy Lin returns, SU will at least have the Nets to watch on a more regular basis.  But right now, my NBA Season Pass is being under-utilized.

I tuned in for some of the Browns – Ravens game last night (only for Fantasy Football purposes).  Awful.  And the Sunday games are not much better.  SU is not a hockey fan until playoff time and we are done with baseball.  Check out tonight’s college hoops match-ups:

• Arizona – Michigan State
• Kansas – Indiana

The games are more important, the players have to listen to the coaches and they play team ball.  What a concept!  Combine that with end of season college football rivalry games and you have something here.  SU will be off to MSG next week to check out Michigan’s squad in an early season tournament.

SU needs the distraction.  Believe me.

I am feeling better about the Carlos Beltran free agency picture – feels like he will land elsewhere.  I know from the comments that not all of you agree.  RA Dickey will be in Atlanta in 2017 – sorry Jeff.  SU is a little concerned Brian Cashman may stray a bit from the youth movement and will look to compete too much in 2017.  I am targeting 2018 and don’t need to be in the hunt necessarily this year.  But I do want to be entertained and interested.  Impress me.

SU turned on the Knick game last night in the 3rd quarter on ESPN.  At that point, Melo was 3 for 10 with his shooting.  The Knicks then broke out the triangle offense.  Melo shot the next 6 times up the court (made them all) and then was fouled on the next 3 possessions.  I believe it was literally 9 offensive possessions in a row.  Even Jeff Van Gundy said on the broadcast that while you may want to go to the isolation offense and feed the hot hand, at some point you risk totally freezing the other players out.  SU has done the analysis and research and at 9 possessions it gets very very cold for the other players.  He finished the night 9 for 22 from the field which means he must have missed his last 6 shots.

Bottom line: they won the game against an undermanned Nets team that couldn’t stop him or elected not to double team.  Why you don’t double team a shooter who is not looking to pass and is hot is beyond me but I am not an NBA coach (although I do play one on TV).  But the other bottom line is that this is unwatchable and not a winning formula.  It’s time for a new approach at MSG.