Knicks Morning News (2018.08.03)

  • [NYTimes] Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner Are the W.N.B.A.’s Iconic Duo. Don’t Wait.
    (Friday, August 03, 2018 9:00:10 AM)

    They’re great apart but even better together. Taurasi and Griner have spent years tailoring their games to each other, and another championship for the Phoenix Mercury may be the reward.

  • [NYDN] EXCLUSIVE: Police union to troll de Blasio in New Orleans with Mardis Gras-themed ads
    (Friday, August 03, 2018 3:00:00 AM)

    The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association will take its anti-de Blasio show on the road yet again — following him to New Orleans to troll him in person, in print and on billboards about their ongoing contract negotiations.

    The union is taking out a full-page ad in Friday’s edition of the New Orleans…

  • [NYDN] An inconvenient Census truth: Democratic districts have fewer U.S. citizens in them
    (Friday, August 03, 2018 2:00:00 AM)

    A Manhattan federal judge has given modest hope to the 18 Democratic state attorneys general, including New York’s, suing to block the Census Bureau from inquiring about citizenship status in its 2020 survey.

    Judge Jesse Furman let the case go forward, ruling that there’s enough evidence that…

  • [NYDN] Going up uptown: Wisely, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez embraces smart development
    (Friday, August 03, 2018 1:00:00 AM)

    Tune out the crazy howls about Mayor de Blasio and his deputy mayor Alicia Glen unleashing the hounds of hypergentrification.

    The impending okay by the full City Council of plans to rezone a triangle of Inwood, way atop Manhattan, is great news that promises to transform bleak stretches of industrial…

  • [NYDN] Readers sound off the Mets, Cynthia Nixon and ostrich coats
    (Friday, August 03, 2018 12:00:00 AM)

    ‘Shutter’ to think cams are off

    Manhattan: I was entertained, although dismayed, by state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan’s July 31 Op-Ed “We’re not the speed camera villains” regarding speed cameras in school zones. My bill, which Flanagan characterizes as significantly expanding the program,…

  • [NYDN] Youth care worker sexually abused immigrant boys, federal authorities say
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 11:25:00 PM)

    PHOENIX — Federal authorities allege that a former youth care worker at a Phoenix-area facility for immigrant youths sexually abused eight teenage boys, one of several cases brought to light in recent weeks as thousands of immigrant children remain detained around the country.

    Court documents show…

  • [NYDN] Apple becomes first trillion-dollar company
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 10:25:00 PM)

    SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is the world’s first publicly traded company to be valued at $1 trillion, the financial fruit of stylish technology that has redefined what we expect from our gadgets.

    The milestone reached Thursday marks the latest triumph of a trend-setting company that two mavericks named…

  • [NYDN] Drug dealers peddled heroin and fentanyl from Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, prosecutors said
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 9:35:00 PM)

    Fresh fruit, crisp veggies and deadly opioids were all for sale at the Bronx’s famed Hunts Point Produce Market, prosecutors said Thursday.

    A crew of drug dealers were using the sprawling 113-acre marketplace — touted as the largest wholesale produce market in the world — to peddle heroin and fentanyl,…

  • [NYDN] Cyclist struck by Sanit truck in Brooklyn thought she was safe because she was in bike lane, dad says
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 9:30:00 PM)

    She thought she’d be safe because she was riding in a bike lane.

    A social worker who was badly hurt when a city Sanitation truck struck her on a narrow Brooklyn street Wednesday night took that route because she it had a bike lane, her father told the Daily News.

    “She’s in a lot of pain, but she’s…

  • [NYDN] City expands municipal ID program to kids as young as 10
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 9:00:00 PM)

    City kids as young as 10 will be able to get municipal IDNYC identification cards, starting Friday, allowing them free admission to museums, discounts on movies and other benefits.

    The city program was previously open to children as young as 14 years old. Roughly 1.2 million New Yorkers have the…

  • [NYDN] President Trump trashed the news media at a political rally for GOP U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 9:00:00 PM)

    Thundering that the media is the “fake, fake disgusting news,” President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of grievances Thursday at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in which he cast journalists as his true political opponent.

    Trump barnstormed in a state that he swiped from the Democrats in 2016 and…

  • [NYDN] Daily Horoscope — August 3, 2018
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 9:00:00 PM)

    Via Tarot Astrologers

    General Horoscope for August 3, 2018

    It seems as if we’re running out of time as the Moon finishes up her business in excitable Aries. Nevertheless, we can fixate on an unusual desire while magnetic Venus forms a creative connection with unconventional Uranus. Although the…

  • [NYDN] Sergeant who shot unarmed Brooklyn man placed on desk duty as NYPD investigates possible love triangle
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 8:10:00 PM)

    An off-duty NYPD sergeant was stripped of his shield and gun after he shot a romantic rival in the jaw Thursday morning during a clash in Brooklyn, then claimed he was defending himself from a mugger, police sources said.

    Police investigating the shooting had questions about the sergeant’s initial…

  • [NYDN] Yankees battered by Red Sox 15-7 as ex-Bomber Steve Pearce goes deep three times
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 7:50:00 PM)

    BOSTON— Ex-Bomber Steve Pearce homered three times, the second a three-run drive in an eight-run fourth inning, as the Yankees lost their early lead in a 15-7 rout by the Red Sox on Thursday night.

    In the opener of a four-game series that gave New York the potential to erase most of its division…

  • [NYDN] Detroit police officer caught on video pummeling naked woman in hospital
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 7:25:00 PM)

    DETROIT — A Detroit police corporal has been suspended after cellphone video emerged showing him beating a naked, unarmed and possibly mentally ill woman inside an emergency room triage unit as another officer and hospital security restrained her.

    The video posted on WJBK-TV’s website shows the…

  • [NYDN] Mets lefthander Steven Matz could be headed to disabled list as Mets fall to Braves 4-2
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 7:00:00 PM)

    Of course he could be.

    Mets lefthander Steven Matz was diagnosed with a mild flexor pronator strain in his left forearm on Thursday, before the Mets lost to the Braves 4-2, and could be placed on the disabled list.

    Matz didn’t get out of the first inning of his most recent start. He allowed seven…

  • [NYDN] WWE wrestler Kane elected mayor in Tennessee
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 6:45:00 PM)

    From Wrestlemania to the mayor’s house.

    Glenn Jacobs, better known by his WWE name “Kane,” was elected the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee Thursday, beating Democratic contender Linda Haney.

    The 51-year-old former wrestler, who was listed at 7-feet-tall and 323 pounds at his peak as the Big Red…

  • [NYDN] Colin Kaepernick reference edited out of song on Madden 19, EA Sports calls it a ‘mistake’
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 6:25:00 PM)

    Colin Kaepernick doesn’t appear in the latest edition of the Madden video game franchise — as a player or in a song lyric.

    EA Sports’ Madden 19 features a version of the YG song “Big Bank” on its soundtrack that edits out a reference to the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

    The unedited version…

  • [NYDN] ‘Bachelor’ alum Bekah Martinez exposes sexual harassment allegations against ‘Bachelorette’ contestant Leo Dottavio
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 6:25:00 PM)

    Former “Bachelor” star Bekah Martinez shared sexual harassment allegations from multiple women against “Bachelorette” contestant Leo Dottavio on her Instagram Wednesday.

    In a series of screenshots, the 23-year-old reality star shared allegations from several women, including claims that Dottavio,…

  • [NYDN] Florida woman arrested after allegedly throwing her 4-year-old daughter off bridge, killing her
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 5:15:00 PM)

    Tampa police recovered the body of a young girl, believed to be 4 years old, Thursday afternoon after a woman threw her into the Hillsborough River.

    The woman, who police believe was the young girl’s mother, allegedly walked to the edge of the Columbus Drive Bridge and dropped her into the water…

  • [NYDN] Bronx teacher to get jail-free sentence for sexually assaulting 14-year-old student
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 5:10:00 PM)

    A Bronx high school teacher charged with performing oral sex on a 14-year-old student will get a jail-free sentence after pleading guilty to criminal sex act.

    Dori Myers, 30, who taught at the New School for Leadership and the Arts in Kingsbridge, will also get to keep her teaching certificate…

  • [NYDN] Woman ties up flight on Korea Airline flight to San Francisco after trying to sneak a seat upgrade
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 5:00:00 PM)

    An American passenger had to be wrestled off a Korea Airlines flight to San Francisco after commandeering a cushy business class seat and refusing to return to her coach seat.

    The flight from Inchon Airport to California was delayed for 40 minutes while the air crew gave the unidentified woman…

  • [NYDN] Pols call on federal prison system to reverse housing policy for transgender inmates
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 4:45:00 PM)

    A group of 67 federal lawmakers is calling on the Bureau of Prisons to reverse how it decides where to house transgender prisoners.

    The nation’s federal prison system earlier this year enacted a policy to house prisoners based on their birth-assigned gender, calling for exceptions only “in rare…

  • [NYDN] Penn student Blaze Bernstein was murdered because he was gay: prosecutors
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 4:40:00 PM)

    The University of Pennsylvania student viciously stabbed to death and buried in a shallow grave in southern California last January was murdered because he was gay, authorities said Thursday.

    Orange County’s top prosecutor announced the finding as he filed an amended complaint against suspected…

  • [NYDN] Two injured after Mass. police officer’s gun accidentally goes off after slain cop’s funeral
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 4:35:00 PM)

    The Cranston police department is reviewing an incident in which a gun accidentally went off after the funeral for a slain Massachusetts police officer, slightly injuring two other officers.

    The July 20 incident, just coming to light, involved a Cranston police sergeant who had been part of the…

  • [NYDN] Donald Trump Jr. compares Democratic Party to 1930s Nazis — ‘Man, those things are awfully similar’
    (Thursday, August 02, 2018 4:20:00 PM)

    Donald Trump Jr., the President’s eldest son, likened the Democratic Party to Nazis during a screening for conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza’s new movie Wednesday.

    “You see the Nazi platform in the early 1930s and what was actually put out there, and you look at it compared to, like, the…

  • 39 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.08.03)”

    from yesterday’s thread. Pierce was clutch. Melo was not. – Major difference.

    I always hated the smirk on his face when he missed the game winning or game tying shots; it was always about Melo getting his; winning was great but not necessary; nothing terribly wrong with that… but it is what it is. No shame in a career where one makes HOF in their field of practice and earns a quarter billion dollars in the process. Melo achieved his primary goals. Winning titles was secondary. May even get that in Houston.

    Just hope he didn’t poison KP’s psychology. TBD.

    Melo was clutch there for awhile. He used to hit a ton of game winners for Denver and even for us the first couple of years. But then after the 54 win season, the next year which was his “peak” year but he played too many minutes…he started missing those game winning shots and lost his clutchness forever.

    I think its quite possible OKC is better without Melo and Melo performs better in Houston than he did in OKC.

    What evidence do you have that Melo ruined KP? Just curious where you see this. Is it bc KP shoots mid range shots? Is it bc KP isn’t a great passer yet? Cause whenever people bring up this idea that Melo “ruined” KP, these are the only pieces of evidence they can present. Oh, and the fact that he skipped an exit interview with Phil Jackson, who was super toxic and horrible but somehow that act means KP is a pre madonna even though KP probably helped get Phil fired, which was a good thing for the franchise.

    Okay say what you want about his stats and mentality that kept him from being a true star player but Melo was definitely clutch. Since he came into the league, nobody has hit more go ahead field goals in the final five seconds of a game.

    Oh boy! A thread about “clutchiness.” No thread will better capture the spirit of Knickerblogger than one with literally no empirical evidence whatsoever.

    Jowles, here’s an old article from 2010 about Melo hitting game winning shots:

    https://www.nba.com/nuggets/news/melo_winners_11_27_2010.html

    It even has some stats in it!

    I know its like super cool to completely bash Melo on this site now and claim that he’s the worst player in the history of the NBA, but there was a time not too long ago when people didn’t feel that way about him. This article is from 2010, so right before he went to the Knicks. Maybe it was all reputation, but he was known as being “clutch.”

    You probably don’t believe in the idea of being clutch and that’s fair if you believe that. But there is a huge difference between hitting a shot in the closing seconds of a game to win it and hitting a shot in the middle of the second quarter. The mental aspect of the game is real.

    Do you watch “Beat Shazaam?” So at the end to win a million or double your earnings, you have to name the full song title correctly before Shazaam gets the song. If you decide not to do the final question, you get to keep what you’ve earned. If you get it wrong, you only get to keep half of it. Get it right and you double it or win a million dollars.

    Almost every time the contestants decide to not go for it, they end up getting the song title right. But this doesn’t mean they would get it right if they went for it bc the moment they decide to not go for it, the pressure is off them to get it right, so their mind is clear and they are able to come up with the answer. But under pressure they might not produce the right answer. Science has actually studied this as a real phenomenon though no one knows why some people are able to perform better in clutch situations than others (practice is a big part of it like everything).

    I think the best thing about Melo is that I absolutely don’t give a shit about him one way or the other. He was here, he didn’t produce to his contract….we’ve seen that over and over again. We don’t hate on Jarred Jeffries.

    Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, Knox & Robinson are going to lead us to the promised landsays:

    Later in his career Melo had the “yips”. You could tell nerves and pressure were a factor by his body language and release.

    Melo had an unusually high FG% in those situations for a while, and then regression hit him like a stack of bricks and it tanked. It’s funny, because regression doesn’t work like karma (i.e. you won’t necessarily regress to the point where your numbers reflect your true talent level just because you were previously over performing) but in this case it actually did.

    Kinda tells you all you need to know about clutchiness, no?

    It’s truly the dog days. And it was Rodman who was a pre madonna.

    I know “clutchiness” is generally mocked, and for good reason.

    However, Reggie Jackson, Jeter and Jordan are 3 guys that had “it”, whatever “it” is. Even Bill James Himself has grudgingly come to grips with the existence of “it” in some players.

    I don’t believe melo had “it”. melo was relatively highly skilled at making difficult shots and also very streaky, so that gave the illusion to the dim witted that he was this great money player.

    Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, Knox & Robinson are going to lead us to the promised landsays:

    Oh boy! A thread about “clutchiness.” No thread will better capture the spirit of Knickerblogger than one with literally no empirical evidence whatsoever.

    If you are an athlete or performer of any type and you screw up, you usually KNOW when it was part of a random series of hits and misses and when nerves and your psychological well being were also a factor. Measuring it statistically is the problem because sample sizes tend to be small and you can’t hook someone up to medical devices and give them a psychological exam for each occurrence. But if you’ve experienced it, you know what to look for. When you are pressured to tend to rush, get very herky jerky in your motions/tight, sweat, and look like you are in a walking coma and not thinking clearly.

    Can we all agree that Melo was not a James Harden level choke artist (or star to be fair) at least?

    My attitude has always been:

    1) Sports psychology is real, but nebulous.
    2) Some athletes are better at dealing with pressure than others.
    3) AAU/high school and the NCAA (especially the tournament) are high-stakes competitions with immense pressure put on young athletes.
    4) Those who perform poorly (due to athletic skill and/or poor mental strength) will not often make it to the NBA, as a rule.

    We see people like Larry Sanders and Royce White (the latter of whom had a disability, no doubt) but most of the stratification of “clutch” versus “chokers” is armchair psychology at best.

    I’m not saying that, say, Michael Jordan and Frank Ntilikina have the same amount of psychopathic imperviousness to pressure when handling the ball. I’m saying that trying to find a quantifiable difference between most NBA players (not at the extremes) is a fool’s errand.

    My own personal anecdote is after I had my basketball-related leg injury a few months ago, my blitz chess rating dropped by nearly 200 points in the matter of days. The stress of the injury undoubtedly affected my mental clarity and emotional steadiness. I am in agreement that it’s real, just fully disagreeing that we can pin it down with any kind of accuracy.

    And when Carmelo’s legacy is “well, at least he wasn’t a choker,” his legacy is pretty goddamn shitty.

    Well, if Melo didn’t shoot his team out of games so many times with his inefficient game, he probably wouldn’t have had so many opportunities to show his clutchiness, so I guess that’s kinda the point.

    Of course it’s harder to hit a shot in the big moments in big games, but most people tend to not rely too much on clutch stats because a basket is always worth either 1, 2 or 3 points anyway and a shot made in the first quarter adds to the score just as much as the clutch shot.

    I think it’s a cute discussion for a while but it really sucks when it becomes a narrative that tries to frame players careers into the clutch or choker label, when there’s so many factors involved that get ignored.

    Melo’s legacy is he got buckets and got paid. Along the way he won 3 Olympic gold medals and scored the most points in a single game at Madison Square Garden. He’s going to be a 1st ballot HOFer and that’s awesome for him. I think the journalism goes a bit further than “at least he wasn’t a choker.” The numbers don’t, but numbers don’t matter as much as moments do when you’re talking about a guy’s legacy. Tyson Chandler had far superior numbers to Melo and his legacy pales in comparison.

    The idea of “clutchiness” is scoffed at not because some people aren’t cooler under pressure than others. They are. It is the idea that a shot in the last minute is worth more than a shot in the first 47 minutes that rankles clutch-deniers.

    It’s as if a player with a overall .530TS% but a last minute TS% of .600 is seen as more valuable to winning than a player with those numbers reversed. This is probably because most people are only really paying attention to the last two minutes of a game, and they make the highlight reels.

    Jordan won some games at the last second. But he won tons of games by dominating quarters 1, 2, and 3. With an MOV of +10, who cares how “clutch” you are?

    Also what Donnie said, because that’s more relevant, and quantifiable ; )

    I agree that it’s less of a thing at the pro level than at amateur levels. By the time you make it to the pros, the mentally weak are weeded out, so the differences in mental toughness/clutchiness are much smaller.
    I see good amateur pool players absolutely fall apart under pressure/adversity – that’s one reason they’ll always be amateurs.

    How about those streetballers who were talking shit about Trey Burke because they thought they hung with him at Dyckman Park. Let’s see how they do in front of 20k people in a structured environment with Andre Roberson or Jimmy Butler in their face all game.

    I had a dream last nite Houston signed Beasley instead of melo and I thought to myself ‘brilliant move!’ Lol

    Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, Knox & Robinson are going to lead us to the promised landsays:

    The idea of “clutchiness” is scoffed at not because some people aren’t cooler under pressure than others. They are. It is the idea that a shot in the last minute is worth more than a shot in the first 47 minutes that rankles clutch-deniers.

    I think the idea (though I’m not necessarily agreeing with it) is that teams don’t play at 100% for every possession. They rate themselves. That doesn’t mean they aren’t playing hard. It’s that the very extreme 100% all out energy level (especially on defense) is reserved for key possessions. Usually, those possessions occur at the end of the game. So while the first 45 minutes of the game swamp the last 3 minutes in importance and value, the value per minute may be higher in crunch time at the end.

    Right, and I don’t think anyone disputes that there are much greater win expectancy swings in individual possessions when there’s a tie game with 2 minutes left than when the game is tied 0-0. With that comes greater pressure, but ultimately, the shots are worth the same.

    In order to be clutch you have to first get excited about the opportunity aka..the stage. Then you need to have a killer instinct; an assassin mentality; if you ever knew someone who made their living on the streets than you recognize what I’m talking about because with one look on their face you knew what time it was. (my personal all favorites are Terry Porter, Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Shaq, Chauncey Billups, Kobe, MJ, Reggie Miller, Mario Ellie, Manu, etc)…Stats cant capture this, only body language can and if you ever played ball at any level with the score tied and next point wins, and had to guard a clutch baller who just wont be denied then you know what I’m talking about. Stats don’t paint this story correctly yet…need physiological and psychological data elements too not just percentages.

    I only mentioned Melo’s clutch in comparison to Paul Pierce..aka the truth. Look up some videos of Paul Pierce’s body language bursting with excitement while coach is drawing plays and then watch his face and body language turn to that of an assassin during execution. Then look at both joy and pain on his face after he makes/misses shot. Both him and Melo are HOFers but Paul is a bad boy.

    I wouldn’t say that Robert Horry’s face screamed “It’s Horry Time!” when he was icing a game. (But then again, nobody ever really saw his face, cause they were all too busy covering Hakeem, Shaq, and Duncan:)

    Donnie Walsh @ 24, …we talking about clutch here..Big shot Bob? one of the most clutch guys in history of the league; Really? even Kobe trusted him to pass him the ball and defer to him shooting an open three; best role player in history of the league; never tried to be too much, knew who he was and was conformable in his own skin. Winning teams wanted him on their team. In his 15 year career, he made playoffs every year while hitting a ton of clutch shots and making the right plays; Went to finals 7 times and walked away with 7 championship rings.

    Donnie, who’s career would you rather have Melo’s or Robert Horry’s?

    I’d rather have $232M to be mediocre than $53M and have people slobbering over my team accolades. The Olympic wins are nice too.

    I would absolutely love to be in Horry’s place, he has played with so many hall of famers and in so many incredible teams.

    But yeah, I’d rather be Melo with 7 less rings and 180 million more, probably because I’m poor, but mostly because I would love to be as delusional in relation to my skills as Melo is. It must be really fun.

    I’d rather be Horry. I really hate to lose. I can’t sleep, eat or have sex if I lose at pool. And I think I could get by on 53 mil.
    Simmons put Horry in his top 100 and I agree with him.
    melo is a footnote

    Re: the last thread:
    I saw Bernard King.
    I knew Bernard King.
    I did coke with Bernard King.
    melo is no Bernard King.

    I wouldn’t trade Horry’s career for Melo’s, no matter wbat the financial reward was involved. That’s just me.

    Melo won a NCAA championship, three Olympic gold medals and will end his career in the Hall of Fame.

    I mean, winning titles must be nice, but let’s not talk like Melo’s career has been devoid of any accolades. There’s also the feeling of being the guy most of his career, instead of the fact on Horry’s career that he was carried to all of those titles by his hall of fame teammates, which definitely means something in terms of how your peers respect you and see your career.

    180 million would be incredibly substantial in my decision so I won’t be cynical about it, I’d choose Melo’s career any day.

    Funny that the biggest leftists on here prefer the $ and prestige over winning.
    Not surprising, but funny.

    Funny that the biggest leftists on here prefer the $ and prestige over winning.
    Not surprising, but funny.

    Yeah… because your life happiness increases soooooo many orders of magnitude when you have 230M over 50M! I guess you’ll just have to settle for 200 ft yacht rather than the QEII.

    @34

    What would be funny is if you had any idea of what I would do with the money 🙂

    Yet you don’t and come here with the typical libertarian bullshit “see, I told you, everyone is a hypocrite!”.

    I thought I couldn’t dislike your non-basketball related posts more, but this one reached a new peak.

    @35

    Who said I want the bigger amount of money to increase my life’s happiness?

    Just because you think in a selfish way doesn’t mean everybody else does.

    Comments are closed.