Knicks Morning News (2017.12.16)

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks believe Melo should receive ‘love’ in return to New York
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 11:42:02 PM)

    In wake of Carmelo Anthony’s return to Madison Square Garden for the first time, Kristaps Porzingis thinks the fans need to show him the respect and “love” he deserves.

  • [SNY Knicks] Daily News Live: Should the Knicks rest Porzingis?
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 5:37:34 PM)

    The Daily News Live crew debate if the Knicks should rest Kristaps Porzingis more after he injured his knee in the teams win over the Nets.

  • [SNY Knicks] Kristaps Porzingis is day-to-day due to sore left knee
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 2:55:06 PM)

    Porzingis had been set to undergo further tests on his knee after he left Thursday’s win over the Nets early after a non-contact injury that had him feel “a little shock pain.”

  • [SNY Knicks] Anthony taking ‘business’ approach to MSG return ahead of Thunder-Knicks
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 12:01:20 PM)

    Former New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony said he is excited to return to Madison Square Garden for Saturday’s game between the Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder, but added he is taking a “business” approach to it.

  • [NYDN] Carmelo Anthony is looking forward to his MSG homecoming
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 8:48:32 PM)

    Anthony’s dress rehearsal lasted three grueling overtimes on Friday.

  • [NYDN] Porzingis day-to-day with sore knee, questionable vs. Thunder
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 8:47:29 PM)

    Porzingis is day-to-day with a sore left knee and is questionable for Saturday night’s game against the Thunder, the Knicks announced.

  • [NYDN] Carmelo Anthony deserves a standing ovation in MSG return
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 8:47:03 PM)

    Anthony spent 7 ½ long seasons with the Knicks, some worse than others.

  • [NYDN] ‘Entourage’ star Jerry Ferrara will scout Knicks esports team
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 8:31:20 AM)

    The Knicks are turning to Turtle to be the head scout of their esports team.

  • [NYDN] Kristaps Porzingis: Melo isn’t upset about my brother’s interview
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 7:12:01 AM)

    Kristaps Porzingis believes Carmelo Anthony is not upset his brother appeared critical of him in an interview.

  • [NYDN] Courtney Lee: Knicks would still be successful if Melo stayed
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 6:03:26 AM)

    Carmelo Anthony wasn’t the problem with the Knicks. It was the system.

  • [NY Newsday] Carmelo Anthony hoping for ‘appreciation’ at Garden as Thunder visits Saturday night
    (Saturday, December 16, 2017 12:21:52 AM)

    The last time Carmelo Anthony was at Madison Square Garden, the fans chanted “We Want Melo” late in the April game, knowing it might be his last one as a Knick.

  • [NY Newsday] Kristaps Porzingis questionable to face Carmelo Anthony at MSG
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 10:34:30 PM)

    Carmelo Anthony will return to Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. The question: Will Kristaps Porzingis be on the court to greet him?

  • [NY Newsday] Carmelo Anthony’s return to MSG bringing in big money on secondary ticket market
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 8:41:22 PM)

    Carmelo Anthony’s only trip to Madison Square Garden this season is commanding sky-high prices on the ticket resale market.

  • [NYPost] Carmelo plays longest game of season on eve of Garden return
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 7:50:22 PM)

    PHILADELPHIA — The Thunder won’t be well-rested when they attempt to get Carmelo Anthony a victory in his return to the Garden on Saturday. In what was a microcosm of Oklahoma City’s uneven season, the Thunder blew an eight-point lead in the final three minutes of regulation, were forced to play three overtimes before snaring…

  • [NYPost] Carmelo ready for ‘emotional’ return to the city he embraced
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 7:45:38 PM)

    PHILADELPHIA — Kristaps Porzingis has a message for Knicks fans: There’s no reason to boo Carmelo Anthony Saturday night in his Garden return. “I think he was as professional as he could be in his time here in New York,’’ said Porzingis, who considers Anthony his mentor. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t receive him…

  • [NYPost] Enes Kanter’s old coach offers major praise for new Knicks stud
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 4:31:31 PM)

    PHILADELPHIA — Knicks center Enes Kanter won’t say whether his former Thunder teammates miss him in the locker room. But his former coach Billy Donovan will. Donovan said Kanter, his former backup center to Steven Adams was always a good locker-room personality, though he stopped short of calling him their leader. “He made a huge…

  • [NYPost] Judgment Day for Carmelo Anthony? It’s complicated
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 12:02:03 PM)

    Look, it’s your money. You are the one who doled out what you doled out in order to attend Saturday night’s Knicks-Thunder game. I took a quick look at what that actually amounts to, and it’s staggering: $199 for a ticket in the last row, hard by the banners, behind the basket. And $499 to…

  • [NYPost] Kristaps Porzingis’ injury not as bad as feared
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 10:07:56 AM)

    It looks like there will be a Merry Kristaps after all. Breathe a sigh of relief, Knicks fans. After Friday’s exams, Kristaps Porzingis does not appear to have serious damage to his ACL and the club announced he is “day to day” with a “sore left knee.” Porzingis is listed as questionable for Carmelo Anthony’s…

  • [NYPost] Carmelo can’t hide excitement for Knicks homecoming
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 9:44:14 AM)

    PHILADELPHIA — Kristaps Porzingis has a message to Knicks fans: There’s no reason to boo Carmelo Anthony Saturday night in his Garden return. “I think he was as professional as he could be in his time here in New York,’’ said Porzingis, who considers Anthony his mentor. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t receive him…

  • [NYPost] How Knicks think Garden faithful will react to Carmelo’s return
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 7:02:47 AM)

    More cheers than boos? That’s what Carmelo Anthony’s ex-teammates are expecting Saturday at the Garden. The Knicks have proven better off without Anthony, new management having made a good trade with Oklahoma City. It has them off to a 15-13 start – better than the Thunder’s 13-14 clip. Anthony’s six-and-a-half season stint with the Knicks…

  • [NYTimes] It Will Be Anthony vs. Knicks, but Maybe Not Anthony vs. Porzingis
    (Saturday, December 16, 2017 2:42:50 AM)

    The Knicks’ new franchise player injured his knee against the Nets on Thursday night and is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game.

  • [NYTimes] On Pro Basketball: An N.B.A. Team in Mexico City: How Realistic Is That?
    (Saturday, December 16, 2017 2:33:32 AM)

    Smog, traffic, security concerns — all are issues the league is assessing. But there are lots of reasons to think it might move aggressively into Mexico.

  • [ESPN] Melo on MSG return: How could I not miss N.Y.?
    (Saturday, December 16, 2017 2:37:21 AM)

    Carmelo Anthony expects to get “a little emotional” when he makes his first trip back to Madison Square Garden on Saturday since being traded in September, saying, “That’s home.”

  • [ESPN] Porzingis questionable to play vs. Melo, OKC
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 3:01:10 PM)

    Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis is questionable for Saturday’s home game against Carmelo Anthony and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

  • [ESPN] Porzingis: Melo should be shown ‘love’ at MSG
    (Friday, December 15, 2017 11:32:10 AM)

    Carmelo Anthony will return to Madison Square Garden on Saturday night for the first time since being traded to the Thunder, and Kristaps Porzingis hopes that Knicks fans will give Anthony a friendly reception.

    • 63 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2017.12.16)”

    I’m going to the game tonight. I’ve been thinking about whether to cheer for Melo or not. I’ve decided against it. From the moment we broke up our young team to trade for him, through the playoffs, and through the Jackson reset and tank, I never liked his style of play and thought we’d never go anywhere with him as our highest paid cornerstone player. I whined for years. It would feel hypocritical to cheer for him now. While everyone else is cheering (or booing) I’m going to quietly drink my beer and eat my hotdog.

    Sounds like a plan, Strat. I, personally, can’t quite pin down the way I feel about him. I mean, Bernard King, Pat Ewing, Oakley, Derek Harper, these guys never took the big prize but I’d stand for them, yet I just don’t have that same love for Melo. Maybe it’s the style of play. Maybe it’s the cap hit and the assets sacrificed. I really loved Gallinari. We didn’t have to give him up. If Melo had come as an FA. If he’d sacrificed the way KD and Tim Duncan did in contract negotiations. Yet, ultimately it was the Knicks who made those deals and who threw good money after bad with deals for Bargnani, etc.

    Ultimately, it was a failed era. How much nostalgia can you dredge up? I agree, just eat your hot dog, hope KP’s knee is ok and hope the organization is in better hands now.

    Strat I’ll be at the game as well. Section 213. Going with a good friend who’s a die hard melo fan from back in the Syracuse days. I’m also torn. I may just do what you do and sit quietly. I know my friend will be cheering. I just hope KP plays. Obviously if he’s not ready then sit him. But I’ll be very disappointed.

    I think Melo should be politely clapped for. Booing him in a way takes the onus off of Knicks management for bungling his original trade here and then his re-signing to the near-megamax-NTC deal. In the end, he generally played hard, played through injury and was a likeable, if not goofy, character. Most of his teammates liked him, including current Knicks. He left here as part of a trade that benefitted our team tremendously. Let bygones be bygones and let’s not act like those places that gratuitously boo their star returnees.

    As to the game, this is a classic trap game for the Knicks. I doubt that the triple-OT game will have much impact on the Thunder, they’re desperate for wins and will be energized by Melo’s return. Coach should rest KP, let Lee be Lee, and throw the hustle squad at them…Frank, Ron, Dot and whichever bigs are performing well (give Noah some burn!)

    Yeah, Melo isn’t wholly blame free, and his style of play wasn’t always fun to watch, but most of the fault for his tenure lies with management. Even going back to the original trade. A bad fit, but a mostly very good guy. I’d golf clap and then cheer like hell for the home team.

    Melo gave a lot of great moments to the garden. The 62 point game, Easter vs the Bulls, Game 4 vs the Heat Etc… I think the casual and even hardcore fan can appreciate him for those moments.

    Most of our failures are due to incompetent management and ownership. If we had even an average
    F.O then we could’ve been able to pull of CP3, Melo and Tyson to be contenders in the East.

    I want to try to go the game at halftime . Does anyone know if the tickets come down in price?

    I’d cheer for melo at the intro but if he starts missing shots i would also cheer. Ha

    Guys..I’m in full panic mode!! Even with a friendly schedule thus far, our Knicks are playing better than expected, even though sustainability is still in question because of said schedule. On top of that- and it’s the part that has me in fear- is I keep waiting for the Bulls to revert to what we all thought they would be, more or less- and they just won’t do it! What the hell? That 2nd rounder was looking sweet until Portis and Mirotic came back and Kris Dunn finally grabbed the bull by the horns. Now, I still think that 2nd rounder is still gonna be valuable because Chicago’s current play isn’t sustainable with that roster- just not as valuable as originally expected. The problem with that is our Knicks continue to overachieve.

    I certainly don’t want the Knicks to start losing, so Chicago has to. They have 3 versatile bigs who are playing above their heads in Mirotic, Portis, and Markannen. I expect for them to regress to the mean, but I’m not sure if it would be far from what we’re seeing now with the expected leaps from Mirotic and Portis. Markannen is good and Hoiberg has been uncanny and clever with his play calling with Markannen in the game. Maybe the Knicks should shut Kanter and KP down for a few games to make sure they are showing no ill effects from their recent ailments and maybe get a look at Kornet or Hicks while they’re at it.

    They should do a tribute video of all the game winning shots Mel0 hit as a Knick. Should take about 10 seconds.

    Seriously though, I never had a big problem with Melo, he was a flawed player who did bring some excitement to MSG for a period of time. By the end of his tenure though, I started to really sour on him, especially the total lack of commitment to defense and the whining on no foul calls while the other team was racing up the floor for dunks.

    They should do a tribute video of all the game winning shots Mel0 hit as a Knick. Should take about 10 seconds

    I just squirted my cranberry pomegranate juice out of my nose from laughin lol. Good stuff

    Amare brought 3 times as much excitement in the 35 or so games pre-melo, than melo did for the rest of his tenure here… good riddance… i would boo softly, cause i know people have feelings and i dont want to hurt them too much… even if they have 200+ times my net worth…

    it was a mercenary squad… hard to get behind that team despite the temporary excitement they brought… though of course i did…

    Thats fair. Though everyone here knows that Amare’s knees would’ve made that Pre Melo team temporarily exciting all the same.

    “BALL DON’T LIE!”

    Evidently, Sheed never met LaVar

    I was in Denver for Melo’s first game back against the Nuggets. The fans there booed the shit out of him every time he touched the ball. They were pissed. and pot is legal there, and in many cases, encouraged.

    I’m not sure if I would clap for Melo.. I certainly wouldn’t clap for Phil.

    Melo said all the right things last night after the Philly game about coming back to NYC. He even talked about being happy for the Knicks right now especially KP.

    If I were at the game I’d stand and politely applaud Melo as I would any former Knick unless that player were a huge jerk in some way. I don’t generally believe in booing and flat out hate heckling.

    Some years ago I was at a UT basketball game and a couple of rows down from us, and a bit off to the right was some big chunky guy who stood for most of the game and yelled insults at the refs. It was kind of amazing to see how he kept it up the whole game every time any ref blew the whistle and made a call. For the life of me I don’t know why the people sitting right behind him didn’t complain or security come in and at least ask him to sit down.

    He looked a lot like Vegas celeb Wayne Newton, so that is what we jokingly called him. So, I call my no heckle rule the Wayne Newton Rule.

    It wasn’t Melo’s fault that the Knicks lost out on LeBron and James Dolan became hell-bent on assembling his own off-brand “Big Three.” It wasn’t his fault that the Knicks traded away a bunch of assets to get him. It wasn’t his fault that Phil Jackson threw a ridiculous contract at him. He came to NY and played the same way he had always played, maybe slightly better in his best seasons.

    I ain’t mad at the guy. He was the wrong guy to build around.

    Melo’s not blameless, in that this whole mess started because he didn’t want to risk waiting for free agency — and a potentially less lucrative CBA — and the Knicks thus gutted the team for him. But the Knicks also could have either called that bluff or allowed him to be traded to the Nets and moved on from there. Melo wanted them to do a lot of stupid things over the years, but the team didn’t have to do them, and that’s much more on management than on him.

    (Though now I’m imagining an alternate timeline where the Nets got Melo and we traded a slightly smaller package for Deron Williams. Given how his tenure in these parts turned out, this version was somehow better.)

    I think Melo’s affection for the city was genuine and he was a pretty good community service guy while here so that’s enough for me to cheer him. I’d also say that he really wanted to win but was too self-centered (like a ton of players) to realize he needed to change his style of play to do so. He was here for a long time and only mailed it in the second half of last year when things had completely soured with the front office so I can’t really see booing him.

    Yeah, I wouldn’t clap very hard and wouldn’t boo him too much either. I’m more indifferent and happy to watch a Knicks team that is not built around him.

    I’ve had my moments of really despising him but honestly, now that he’s gone it’s fine. We’ve endured worst moments as a fan base than those last years. I still don’t want to see him winning a title or anything because I really hate his play style still, but at this point, I think he has other issues to worry about for himself.

    whoa…just saw adams is out for the thunder (concussion protocol) – hope enes is feeling better…

    The Thunder are fucked with Adams on the bench.

    (By the way, did anyone see that Carmelo is dead last on the Thunder in VORP, and just behind Felton at 8th in BPM? Wow, what a star!)

    If KP sits, then feed Kanter over and over til OKC proves they can stop him consistently.

    I will say that I’m hoping for Kanter and McD to have good games. I always root for that, but maybe just a bit more tonight.
    🙂

    I’ll guess that there will be a mixture of cheers and boos, probably much more cheering than booing.

    With OKC no doubt a bit tired from last night and missing Adams, the Knicks really need to win this. Put the pressure on them early and don’t let off.

    It’s the battle of the orange headbands! Should be a fun(ny) night.
    Obviously no chance w/o KP though.

    It’s gonna be interesting to watch old Melo against discount Melo for 30 minutes.

    LOL, it would be really be fitting to have them guard each other and each put up 25 inefficient shots

    After playing 3 overtime’s last night OKC has to show some tired legs. This should help the Knicks chances significantly.

    Most guys don’t play well in their reunion game, especially after a triple-overtime affair the night . I think Beasley is gonna have a big night. The X-factor is Westbrook, he is bionic and could go 25-40 or 3-40. Even without KP, I think the Knicks have a good shot tonight.

    Me and my boys went to Clyde’s Wine & Dine for the opener, and the Knicks got waxed and looked terrible on their way to that dreadful 0-3 start. Who thought then that we’d come into this game with a better record than OKC?!

    It did sound like a mixed reaction, but more cheers. Tough to know unless really there.

    Nice move by the Knicks with the video tribute and of course Mike W with the always awesome Melo intro.

    There was one sequence where I think Frank could improve. He got the ball of a steal and was running down the court with two Thunder also running and about even with him. He chose to pull up and go into the half court offense. He has to learn how to go to the basket and be successful in situations like that.

    A little late..but that was a nice video tribute. I really liked it. Wait..could there be..class comin from the top for a change?

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