New York Knicks Blog – Page 99 – NBA Blog

Basketball Wives star Jennifer Williams sues castmate`s personal assistant over slap

“Basketball Wives” star Jennifer Williams is filing a lawsuit Wednesday accusing a Manhattan woman of a flagrant foul for viciously slapping her face during a taping of the reality show.

Williams, ex-wife of NBA player Eric Williams, also has filed a complaint with the state attorney’s office in Florida, said lawyer Sanford Rubenstein.

“Violence used against any person is wrong but when a woman hits another woman it sets a horrible example for young girls everywhere,” Williams told the Daily News.

“I choose to use the justice system to fight back,” she said in an exclusive interview.

The defendant, Nia Crooks, is a personal assistant to “Basketball Wives” co-star Evelyn Lozada. Crooks belted Williams while VH1 cameras were rolling Jan. 21 in the presidential suite of the Gulfstream Park racetrack in South Florida.

— Reported by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News

Melo has triple-double, Knicks rout Celtics

As the Celtics staggered to the locker room after getting hit by an NBA record-tying 3-point assault, the halftime musical selection perfectly summed up how they must have felt.

It was ”You Dropped a Bomb on Me” – and Carmelo Anthony and two sharpshooting subs sure did.

Anthony had 35 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double, and the New York Knicks made 19 3-pointers to keep alive their Atlantic Division title hopes with a 118-110 victory over Boston on Tuesday night.

JR Smith and Steve Novak both scored 25 points for the Knicks, who overcame a season-high 43 points from Paul Pierce and moved into sole possession of seventh place in the Eastern Conference while trimming Boston’s division lead to 3 1/2 games.

Novak hit eight 3s in the highest-scoring game of his career. Smith made all seven of his 3s in the first half, equaling a team record.

”Our bench was great tonight,” Anthony said. ”Novak and JR, them guys combined for 50 points off the bench. When they get hot like that, it’s hard to deal with.”

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Tyson Chandler hopes to win Defensive Player of Year

Tyson Chandler never toots his own horn about anything, which may be one reason he never has made an All-Star team. But when the subject of the Defensive Player of the Year Award was raised yesterday, Chandler admitted he hopes he will be considered.

Knicks interim coach Mike Woodson said he “absolutely’’ believes Chandler is a candidate, and Chandler revealed it’s been a secret goal.

“It would mean an awful lot to me,’’ Chandler said at yesterday’s morning shootaround. “That was one of my goals coming into the season. I felt I put myself right in the thick of things for consideration. I personally feel like I deserve it. It would be a great honor.’’

Ballots for the NBA awards were sent out to the media yesterday, and Chandler will draw consideration for one of the three All-NBA teams at center. The four All-Star centers this season were Dwight Howard, Roy Hibbert, Andrew Bynum and Marc Gasol.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

NBA approves relocation of Nets to Barclays Center in Brooklyn

The NBA Board of Governors today unanimously approved the relocation of the Nets to Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The vote by the NBA teams was held at the NBA Board of Governors meeting in Manhattan.

The Brooklyn Nets will play in the new 18,200-seat Barclays Center on Atlantic and Flatbush avenues at the start of the 2012-13 NBA season.

Nets principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov and Barclays Center developer and majority owner Bruce Ratner issued the following joint statement:

“We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to David Stern and the NBA team owners for their role in making the Nets’ move to Brooklyn a reality. Barclays Center will give the Nets a state-of-the-art new home and, together, we will give Brooklyn the great sports and entertainment experience it so deserves. We are looking forward to the opening of Barclays Center on September 28 and to the start of the next NBA season as the Brooklyn Nets.”

Carmelo Anthony to appear on Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

Fans of Knicks star Carmelo Anthony will get a chance to see the All-Star do double duty on Sunday. After Anthony and the Knicks continue to try and lock up a playoff spot Sunday with a Garden matinee against the Miami Heat, fans can watch Carmelo the actor Sunday night.

Anthony will make a guest appearance on Showtime’s hit dark comedy ‘Nurse Jackie’ playing a fallen pro hoops player. In the episode, scheduled to air Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, Anthony plays one of an eclectic group of patients who participate in a group therapy session with the show’s title character (played by Edie Falco) at a Manhattan rehab facility.

Falco plays an emergency room nurse at a Big Apple hospital with a weakness for prescription drugs in the Showtime series which is currently in its fourth season.

— Reported by Andy Clayton of the New York Daily News

Melo scores 32, Knicks edge Bucks

J.R. Smith hit a 3-pointer for the lead with 1:04 left, and the New York Knicks held on to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 111-107 on Wednesday night in a game that could turn out to be critical to both teams’ playoff hopes.

Carmelo Anthony had 32 points and 10 rebounds, while Tyson Chandler added 19 points for the Knicks, who took a two-game lead on Milwaukee for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. Smith had 14 points off the bench.

Monta Ellis had 35 points and Brandon Jennings added 22 for the Bucks, who were coming off a 20-point loss to Oklahoma City at home on Monday…

The Knicks took advantage of woeful interior defense by the Bucks early on, hitting 11 of their first 12 shots – a lot of them coming on layups. Of the Knicks’ first 30 points of the game, 26 of them came in the paint.

New York shot 77.3 percent from the field in the first quarter and led 36-27 going into the second, but the Bucks came roaring back with a 15-2 run to take the lead. Backup Bucks forward Larry Sanders had a pair of blocks during the run, helping Milwaukee close off the interior on defense.

— Reported by Chris Jenkins of the Associated Press

Knicks assign Jerome Jordan to D-League

With things going well for the Knicks lately despite injuries to Jeremy Lin and Amar’e Stoudemire, the team will do without the services of center Jerome Jordan for the time being.

New York Knickerbockers Senior Vice President, Basketball Operations and Interim General Manager Glen Grunwald announced today that the team has reassigned Jordan to the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League.

Jordan, 7-0, 240-pounds, has averaged 1.4 and 1.2 rebounds over 4.3 minutes in 19 games with New York this season. He appeared in five games for Erie earlier this season, averaging 18.0 points, on .485 shooting, 8.6 rebounds and 2.80 blocks over 32.6 minutes.

No Amare Stoudemire return for Knicks anytime soon

Despite recent reports Amar’e Stoudemire hoped to return from his back injury by next weekend, Knicks coach Mike Woodson said he does not plan on having the power forward anytime soon.

Stoudemire has missed the past six games with a bulging disk in his back and originally was given a timetable to return of 2-4 weeks — Wednesday marks two weeks since the diagnosis — but Woodson said he has no new information to suggest a return is imminent.

“At this point, I’m not counting on Amar’e right now to come back,” Woodson said after yesterday’s practice, declining to give a new timetable. “You’ve got to ask the medical people that, but the bottom line is he’s not going to be in uniform for a while.”

— Reported by Howie Kussoy of the New York Post

Knicks hire Larry Johnson as Basketball and Business Operations Representative

Once a Knick, always a Knick. Or so the saying goes.

The New York Knicks announced today that Larry Johnson has been named Basketball and Business Operations Representative.

“I consider coming back to work for a franchise that I had so much success with a great honor,” Johnson said. “As I move onto the next phase of my career, I have been given an opportunity to touch so many different areas of the organization – helping develop young players, connecting with the community and actively involving myself in the business of basketball. I couldn’t be more excited to get going and learn as much as I can.”

In this new role, Johnson will work closely with the basketball operations department, focusing on player development; the community relations department, working to support the Garden of Dreams Foundation and on fan development; and the marketing and partnership departments, with involvement in numerous business initiatives.

The author of perhaps the most famous play in franchise history, “LJ” converted a four-point play with :05.7 remaining en route to a 92-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on Jun. 5, 1999.

In five seasons in the Blue & Orange, Johnson, a four-time Knicks captain, averaged 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds over 330 games from 1996 through 2001, and led the team into the playoffs each year before announcing his retirement on Oct. 10, 2001. Once acquired from the Charlotte Hornets on Jul. 14, 1996, Johnson’s reputation as being a great teammate and a player willing to sacrifice for the team’s greater-good quickly became evident to the Knicks’ faithful.

Johnson currently joins an extensive list of Knicks alumni employed by The Madison Square Garden Company, including: Mike Woodson (interim head coach), Darrell Walker and Herb Williams (assistant coaches), Allan Houston (assistant general manager/general manager Erie BayHawks), Cal Ramsey (director, special projects and community relations representative), John Starks (alumni relations and fan development advisor) and Walt “Clyde” Frazier (Network broadcaster).

FIU has fired coach Isiah Thomas

FIU Executive Director of Sports and Entertainment Pete Garcia announced today that Isiah Thomas has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the FIU men’s basketball program.

“We want to thank Isiah Thomas for his three years here at FIU,” Garcia said. “However, we have decided to take the program in a different direction.”

A national search for the Panthers’ next head basketball coach will begin immediately.

According to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, “Thomas signed a five-year deal with FIU, taking nothing in base salary for his first season and agreeing to a deal where he would receive nearly half of any gross revenues from ticket sales, commissions collected on food and beverage concessions and sponsorships. But FIU never generated the buzz it and Thomas envisioned. The Panthers averaged 1,071 fans at home this season, nearly four times that many on the road. “We just needed a break here or a break there, and it’s not happening for us,” Thomas said last month, shortly after FIU’s 8-21 season ended with a loss to eventual Sun Belt tournament champion Western Kentucky. “I know we’re getting there. We’ve had so many close games. If we keep working, good things will happen.”