Knicks Win Brawl with Bobcats, 97-93

The Knicks triumphed tonight in a gritty game with Larry Brown's Charlotte Bobcats, 97-93. The game was a rough and tumble affair, with the refs allowing physical play, resulting in only 18 free throws attempted between the two teams all game. The young duo of Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari led the team, and Mr. Consistent, Double Trouble David Lee had his usual game. This was the type of game that used to be a loss for the Knicks, but they stayed focused, played through the Bobcat runs, and held a tight lead down the stretch. Call me crazy but I think Mike D'Antoni deserves some consideration for Coach of the Year thus far.

The Knicks future lies in Gallo, Chandler, and hopefully Lee, and they all put on a show tonight. Chandler has been playing like a star lately, and had 27 points, 7 rebounds, and tied his career high with 6 assists. He was slashing to the paint frequently and with great aplomb. The Knicks bread and butter from timeouts has been the alley-oop to Wil, and he finished one tonight in spectacular fashion.

Lee again had a double double, wait no he didn't I just assumed he did. Lee dominated the first 2 quarters, and 14 of his 22 points were before half. He only had 7 rebounds, but added some trash talking and shoving with Nazr Mohammed, as well as a lot of complaining at the refs.

Gallinari put the icing on the cake in the 4th with a couple dagger 3 pointers in the last 2 minutes. Crunch time is Rooster Time. Gallo ended up with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal. The refs also made four extremely bogus calls against him, including heinous fouls on a block and a steal attempt.

All in all the referees were dreadful, only calling fouls when nobody was actually touched , or when a player ran into his own teammate as Stephen Jackson did, and when they did call them the whistle was about 10 seconds late. They also missed a ton of blatant fouls, like when Bender got all arm on a supposed rejection of Flip Murray.

Nate Robinson led a key run to bring the Knicks back even in the 4th. With Nate percolating, the Knicks went on a 15-0 run that gave the Knicks control of the game. I like this use of Nate as a microwave to get a quick burst of offense off the bench

The Knicks are really surging up the standings now, and wins against other teams fighting for the 5-8 seed could make a huge difference down the stretch.

Here are some other thoughts on the game, bullet style.

• David Lee may be blossoming into a legitimate star. D'Antoni was mic'd up and said something like "I gotta keep you in you are the best guy we got." It's obvious but Lee said himself he needs to develop the mindset that he is a star, and the confidence that goes with it. He really came out of his shell tonight, showing lots of emotion and leading the team. He slammed home a few thunderous dunks on the night that seemed to carry a bit of a message.
• Bender threw down a dunk of his own, and had a decent showing tonight, 5 points, 4 blocks, and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes. Unfortunately he also had 3 turnovers, but you gotta take the crookeds with the straights. His presence in the paint is promising and his ups can be impressive at times.
• Marcus Landry made an early appearance, but was not very noticeable.
• Kelly Tripucka is a brilliant wordsmith. After an emphatic and electric drive and dunk from the lilliputian Nate Robinson, Kelly only took a second or two to come up with this clever quip. "NATE IS GREAT!" Pure color commentating gold.
  
• Chandler iced the game with a cool 2 free throws putting the Knicks up 4 with 13 seconds left.
• I noticed Wil's right arm is now completely covered in tats. 

This is Wil's right arm now...

This is Wil's right arm rookie year

• In the fourth quarter during a commercial Knicks' superfan The Dancing Grandpa had some sort of dance off with a fat guy and a kid with spaghetti legs. The crowd was noticeably geeked up by this. MSG sure has some great entertainment, and I always love to see The Dancing Grandpa bust a move. I couldn't find a photo of the real Dancing Grandpa, so this one will have to do.