Don’t look now but YOUR NEW YORK KNICKS have become quite entertaining to watch this year. All of the close games that they have been losing are now turning into W’s. This team plays hard as you can see that every player is competing for minutes every night. The coach has juggled line ups and his substitutions almost every game so that come the 4th quarter, it’s hard to know who will be in there.
Case in point: Trey Burke was a DNP for several games in a row. Then, all of a sudden, he is back in the rotation and putting up huge numbers. Now, Fizdale is playing him down the stretch in the 4th quarter and has also figured out that he can pair him with Mudiay and have two point guards in at the same time. It makes sense to have your best players on the floor at the end of the game and he is also going with the hot hand as appropriate. SU would like to see a bit more ball movement as their assist totals are very low but they do push the ball up the court and play hard on defense.
Last night, Jaren Jackson Jr. had 7 blocks for the Grizzlies. He was a one and done player for Michigan State and he is thriving now in the NBA in his rookie season. SU says it shows that Tom Izzo at Michigan State is overrated as he did not get much out of Jackson last season. This guy can play and should have been able to do more last year for the Spartans.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Lin is now thriving in Atlanta and he will be moved in December to a contender. Just hope he can stay healthy.
Finally, another last second loss for the Giants who can now go into full tank mode to be better positioned to draft a quarterback. Time to just rebuild. It’s too bad as the NFC East is terrible and 9-7 will likely win the division.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
My biggest issue in watching an NBA game has always been the lack of effort on both ends of the court until about 4 minutes remaining in a game. Here we have a New York Knicks team in which the majority of the players are fighting tooth and nail for a Contract. Having players with this mindset has enabled them to become overachievers based on how the game is played today…. and for that matter over the past 20-30 years. You can almost classify this team as more a college way they play. Is it really the coaching staff that has motivated the Knicks/ Maybe somewhat… but the bulk of their working and playing hard remains because of the ALL MIGHTY $$$’s that could be their reward. I’m sure if they all had long term contracts they would not be competing as hard thereby with less wins. It’s ashamed to say such a Debbie Downer thing but that’s how it is and for the most part that’s how professional sports has become for a long time now… that those fans under 40 just don’t remember how the game was played. Professional hockey remains the only sport where I see 100% effort across the board.
It was nice to see the team truly giving its all for Fizdale in his return to Memphis. I’m not a big believer in “players coach” vs disciplinarian. It’s more a matter of who gets the Ws and professionals should not have to be coddled. However, most of the Knicks are under 23 and a Father/Big Brother figure maybe is what they need. I’d prefer a higher draft choice but building a winning culture may be more important.
As the Giants season officially comes to an end can we please put a stop to the Eli Hall Of Fame talk. The guy has had a long career and won 2 super bowls but there is NO WAY HE BELONGS IN CANTON!
Both Super Bowl teams were built on defense. His career record is only a handful of games above 500. He has never been a top 3 QB verses his peers in any season, often not even a top ten. For anyone who has played fantasy football, when was Eli ever a first round pick or even a top 5 round pick? He is a great guy and New York fans will never forget 2 championships but he has never been a great QB. You can’t ride your brothers coat tails into the HOF! Go ask Dom DiMaggio.