New York Knicks Blog – Page 97 – NBA Blog

Knicks hope to break streak of ineptitude in NBA playoffs

Mike Bibby, a veteran of 102 playoff games and three conference finals, was in disbelief when told of his team’s long-standing ineptitude. “Eleven years without a playoff win?” Bibby asked. “Not one game?” Nope. “A game or a series?” A game. “You sure?” Yup. “Dang, I didn’t know that. It’s surprising.”

While it may be news to Bibby, who just joined the Knicks this season, it could become part of history Thursday night.

If the Knicks fail to beat Miami in Game 3 at the Garden, it would be the franchise’s 13th straight playoff loss, which would set an NBA record.

The Knicks are currently tied with the Grizzlies, who lost 12 straight from 2004 through 2006.

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Chris Bosh goes home to be with expectant wife

Heat forward Chris Bosh may miss Game 3 of Miami’s Eastern Conference first-round series in New York on Thursday after being summoned home because his wife was preparing to give birth.

The Heat were told late Wednesday that Bosh had to return home. Bosh left from New York on a private plane, and his wife, Adrienne, posted a photo on a social media account saying ”hurry home.”

— Reported by the Associated Press

Tyson Chandler wins 2011-12 NBA Defensive Player of Year award

Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks is the recipient of the 2011-12 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, the NBA announced today. Chandler becomes the first player in franchise history to earn the honor.

Chandler received 311 points, including 45 first-place votes, from a panel of 121 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka finished second with 294 points and Orlando’s Dwight Howard, who had won the award each of the previous three seasons, finished third with 186 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.

With Chandler anchoring the middle, New York’s defense improved markedly from the previous season in multiple categories. The Knicks ranked among the top half of the league in several key defensive categories, including opponent turnovers per game (17.0, 2nd), opponent field goal percentage (.442, 10th), and opponent scoring (94.7 ppg, 11th). Opposing teams averaged 22.5 more points and shot .520 from the field when Chandler was not in the lineup. Opponents shot .438 with Chandler in the lineup. In addition, Chandler grabbed 22.1 percent of his team’s defensive rebounds when he was on the floor.

UNC basketball hires Hubert Davis as assistant coach

Former University of North Carolina guard, 12-year NBA veteran and ESPN analyst Hubert Davis is the Tar Heels’ newest assistant men’s basketball coach, head coach Roy Williams announced today.

Davis has spent the past seven years with ESPN as a highly regarded college basketball analyst and co-host of College GameDay. He is replacing Jerod Haase, who spent nine years on Williams’ staff at Carolina prior to being named the head coach at UAB.

“I am very excited, thankful and honored to re-join the Carolina basketball program as an assistant to Coach Williams,” says Davis. “I loved being a part of college basketball during my time at ESPN by attending practices and games and developing relationships with players and coaches. Now I will have the opportunity to do this on a more personal level at a university and with a basketball program that I have loved my entire life.”

The Burke, Va., native played in 137 games as a Tar Heel from 1988-92, during which time UNC went 102-37, won the 1989 and 1991 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournaments and played in the 1991 Final Four. He scored 1,615 points, an average of 11.8 per game, and holds the UNC record for career three-point percentage at .435 (197 of 453). He scored in double figures 80times, had 23 games with 20 or more points, including 25 against Kansas in the 1991 national semifinals.

Davis averaged 21.4 points and earned second-team All-ACC honors as a senior. He scored in double figures in 32 of 33 games that season, including 20 games with 20 or more points and 30 or more in four games. He netted a career-high 35 points at Duke on March 8, 1992.

As a junior, Davis made 64 of 131 three-pointers, a percentage of .489 that is second-best in UNC history. He shares the UNC single-game record for three-pointers, as he made eight at Florida State as a senior.

“I am ecstatic to announce that Hubert Davis will be joining our program as an assistant coach to replace Jerod Haase,” says Williams. “Jerod was phenomenal as a player and assistant and I am elated that I can fill this spot with Hubert. I helped recruit him to Carolina in 1988, coached him in the World University Games in 1991 and have always admired him on and off the court. I knew the day would eventually come when I would need to replace staff members as they moved on. For the last four or five years Hubert has alwaysbeen on my mind in case a spot did come open. I didn’t know if I could get him to come back, but I knew I wanted him to be the first option. Coaching is about teaching, relationships and passion and I feel Hubert is the perfect choice. Our student-athletes will benefit greatly from what he adds to our staff.

“I really was overjoyed by the interest from former players and I knew I wanted the hire to be a former Tar Heel. I considered several current college coaches as well as people wanting to get into college coaching – it was a fabulous group. Guys like Shammond Williams are not in college coaching now, but is going to be great when his time comes. We also had interest from NBA assistants, so it truly was a diverse group, but Hubert is taking the job and I know all former Tar Heels will be extremely happy.

“Again, I am ecstatic to make this announcement and look forward to working with Hubert. My entire staff and team are excited about Hubert and his family being with us.”

The New York Knicks selected Davis in the first round of the 1992 NBA Draft. He played in 12 seasons in the NBA, scoring 5,583 points, an average of 8.2 per contest. He made 728 three-point field goals and prior to the 2011-12 season was third in NBA history in three-point percentage at .441.

— UNC Basketball Info

Amare Stoudemire has surgery on hand

Amar’e Stoudemire’s difficult season may be over.

Stoudemire had a small muscle in his left hand repaired Tuesday and will not play for the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat on Thursday.

Stoudemire met with a hand specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, a day after he was badly cut when he punched the case surrounding a fire extinguisher after the Knicks’ 104-94 loss in Miami.

The Knicks are listing Stoudemire as doubtful for Game 4 on Sunday.

Stoudemire apologized on his Twitter account for the act, which leaves the Knicks without another key player as they try to rally from a 2-0 deficit. Jeremy Lin is still recovering from knee surgery and Iman Shumpert is out for the season after tearing a knee ligament in Game 1.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Nets hope to keep Gerald Wallace

The Nets plan to sign Gerald Wallace to a multi-year deal in free agency or an extension, according to GM Billy King.

“Obviously he’s a big part of it and his reality being 30 years old, this is probably going to be one his last chances to get a big contract before he gets beyond that,” King said today. “So our goal is try to get him where he’s comfortable with the numbers, we’re comfortable with the numbers, and we keep him in the fold.”

Wallace has to make a decision on his one-year player option worth $9.5 million by June 15. At any time, the Nets can sign him to an extension of up to two years on top of the one-year player option. The extension could be no greater or less per year than 7 percent of $9.5 million. So we’re looking at having Wallace locked up somewhere in the ballpark of three years, $29 million.

That would avoid Wallace going to free agency, but obviously at a steep price. If the Nets lose Wallace, they essentially traded a first-round pick for 16 meaningless games with the Nets.

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News Blog

Stoudemire hurt postgame, Heat beat NY, 104-94

Drops of blood stained the carpet leading up to the back entrance of the New York Knicks’ locker room. The glass portion of a nearby fire-extinguisher case was quickly replaced. And Amare Stoudemire needed doctors and paramedics to treat a cut on his left hand.

Game 2 probably wasn’t all the Knicks lost in Miami on Monday night.

Stoudemire left the building with his arm in a sling and what appeared to be a bulky wrap over his left hand, long after the Heat took control of the teams’ Eastern Conference first-round series with a 104-94 win over the Knicks, going up 2-0.

It resumes Thursday in New York, and although the Knicks were saying nothing for certain, it seems most unlikely that Stoudemire would be able to play…

Dwyane Wade scored 25 points, Chris Bosh added 21 and LeBron James finished with 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Heat, but their night was completely overshadowed by whatever went on with Stoudemire in the hallway that’s just a few steps from the edge of the court…

Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points on 12-for-26 shooting for New York, which got 18 points from Stoudemire and 13 apiece from Chandler and J.R. Smith. The only other team to lose 12 straight playoff games is the Memphis Grizzlies, who dropped their first dozen postseason contests from 2004 through 2006.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Jeremy Lin not ready to return for Knicks

Jeremy Lin, who has been out since April 2 surgery on his left knee, said he hopes to play in this series — as early as Game 4 next Sunday — but was discouraged by soreness in the knee Sunday, something he termed a “setback.”

Lin had been encouraged a day earlier when he cut and moved laterally in a one-on-one game with Knicks assistant Kenny Atkinson.

“I’m going to evaluate it at the end of the week and see,” he said. “I can do basic cutting but I haven’t gone to contact [drills] yet. The main thing is to be able to play without thinking about [the injury]. I don’t want to make a promise because I don’t know how I’m going to feel.”

— Reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald

Melo insists Knicks can take Heat

But amid the rubble of Saturday’s 100-67 disaster, Carmelo Anthony gave a call to arms to his troops that a 1-0 series deficit is not a death sentence.

“We’re definitely not at a low,’’ said Anthony, who shot 3-of-15, scored 11 points, turned it over four times and got outclassed by LeBron James. “We’re definitely still a confident team. We felt we didn’t play our game [Saturday] and we want to correct that. [Today’s] a new day. [Today’s] Game 2 and Round 2.

According to a source, co-captains Anthony and Stoudemire arranged an evening workout session at a private Miami gym last night with several teammates.

All logic suggests the Knicks will get knocked out again after their embarrassing performance in Game 1. Chandler remains questionable for tonight after staying back at the hotel yesterday, with Mike Woodson saying Chandler is “barely hanging in there.’’

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

New Brooklyn Nets logo

The New Jersey Nets are no more. The team is now officially the Brooklyn Nets.

And today, they confirmed the new Brooklyn Nets logo, which was actually leaked and seen all around the Internet late last week.

Here’s the first new Brooklyn Nets logo. There are other versions, with the full word “Brooklyn,” and we’ll update this page and post them here later today (Monday).

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From the Nets:

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And this is via Ben Couch of the Nets: