It was a memorable Italian Heritage Night at Madison Square Garden. The International flavor started pregame with an introduction in Italian from Danilo Gallinari. The Knicks were introduced by an Italian speaking PA announcer, and the Rockets Roster features 5 players from Europe and a coach from Canada. Mike D'Antoni, Andrea Bargnani, Danilo Gallinari, and Marco Bellinelli are all legends in Italy, and the crowd was in a fervor from the beginning, and featured lots of Italians.
The Europeans seemed to bring extra intensity and focus to showcase their games in front of what was likely the most European crowd they will play for in an NBA game. I am not going to get too statistical in this post, so let me just say Bargnani and Calderon skipped heating up and went straight to "HE'S ON FIRE!" level. You know in NBA Jam how when you get on fire, the ball not only swishes every time, but it also burns the net as it goes through? That is how Bargnani and Calderon's jumpers were swishing tonight. Bargnani exploited his height advantage, especially over Wilson Chandler. Calderon did his best Allen Iverson impression, masterfully and artfully shucking and jiving and jabbing his way to open mid-range jumpers. All he needed was an inch of space, and he got it easily and often against guys like David Lee and Jared Jeffries. The combo of Bargs and Jose, with a little bit of Chris Bosh and a great game from Demar Derozan, was too much for the Knicks to handle. They Raptors were up by 19 after the first quarter, and 24 after the first half.
And wouldn't you know the Knicks would come back. Danilo Gallinari sprinted faster tonight than he ever has in his life. A few fast breaks he absolutely bolted down the court. He doesn't like to turn it up like that very often, but he was a blur I tell ya. He also had a great game, mostly in the second half. I have to share his stat line. 8-17, 5-10 on 3's, 5-6 FT, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks (seemed like more), and just 1 turnover in 42 minutes. Big game from the young gunner, the Italian Rooster, who may have been showing his teammates Bargnani and Bellinelli what he is all about. Chris Duhon, PASS TO THE ROOSTER WHEN HE IS OPEN.
I cannot imagine D'antoni doesnt notice how Duhon refuses to pass it to Gallinari unless it is his last resort. Something has to be done about it. Gallo needs to play like every night is Italian Heritage Night.
David Lee nearly had his first triple double, and the team desperately tried down the stretch to get Lee the final assists needed, when the game was clearly over. Alas, he finished with 25, 14 and 9 in the losing effort, and played the entire game. Oh, and in the first quarter after Bargnani dunked on him and celebrated a little, Lee momentarily lost his mind, got in Andrea's face, did a weird psychotic jumping jack, and got T'd up. Check out the Highlight here: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/nba/17649583;_ylt=Aij7zkWj1Rxguum_g3Z.4WSQvLYF#nba/17649583
Watch the second play, after Lee dunks. He went crazy...
Al Harrington scored a lot and chucked a lot and missed a lot too.
A person in the crowd was wearing a mask. Do people do this because she is afraid of getting sick, or because she is sick and doesn't want to infect others?
DeMar DeRozan looked like a cool player. He got to the line 14 times, and finished a very impressive left handed alley oop from Jose Calderon. Knicks could have had him if they wanted. I'm gonna give Jordan Hill a chance to play before I judge the pick though.
Check out my post about Mike D'Antoni to find out more about why he is legendary in Italy.
The Knicks got no love from the refs.
This was the most entertaining Knicks loss I've been to. They were down so much, and came back so far, and the crowd was so into it the entire second half. They shooting display and efficient offense of the Raptors was beautiful, and it was as if Leonardo DaVinci was drawing up plays. The Knicks failed comeback was typical, but also great to watch, even if you knew it would falter around 8 points to short. You win some you lose some.
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