Heat's Success Ushers In A New Era For NBA

All together now "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO." Yes the hated Heat are going to the NBA Finals one step away from forever silencing the haters and vindicating Lebron, from the hatred he got for joining a super-team in Miami. However regardless of the outcome of the Finals, the Heat's success means that the damage has been done, and may just be the start of a new era, one step cleaner then the steroid era in baseball. Lebron and Bosh may have successfully ushered in the era of the three superstars meet up, form a Miami Heat like dominant team, and vie for the championship. While this may be good news for teams like the Knicks, it kills the small market teams, with the lone superstar, who will be out of luck trying to land the players who will try and fit the Lebron mold in switching squads.

Consider in the next two years, the list of restricted, and unrestricted free agents in the NBA is filled with All-Star caliber talent who you can bet will try and team up Heat style in order to win. Star players that could be on the move include Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Marc Gasol, Deron Williams and Steve Nash. Plus these two free agent classes are filled with the type of role players who can go in for mid level money and thrive alongside the stars who have teamed up. I'm talking about you Jamal Crawford, Glen Davis, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Matt Barnes, O.J. Mayo, and Rudy Fernandez. You can bet that most of these players will be looking to team up, or go with a team that already has an established superstar.

While some teams will probably gain from this, think big market, already with a superstar, like the Knicks whose fans are already clamoring for CP3, this type of switching kills the majority of the NBA. With all of the stars teaming up a majority of the NBA will be unable to contend. Sure there will be six great teams, and the playoffs will be spectacular, but for teams without three stars they will have no shot, and if the team is in an undesirable place to play, how will they ever contend. Will Dwight Howard ever want to go play in Minnesota? Lebron has created a system in which the teams are at the mercy of the players. Every summer will just be a feeding frenzy of free agency in which the small teams watch as their star departs for the bright lights and the near guarantee of playing for the NBA title. If Lebron can do it, why can't CP3, Dwight Howard, and a host of other big name players do it too? It's a question that will change the NBA and it all happened because of one man and his "Decision"

Celtics Break Out The Brooms, And Knicks Can Only Wonder What Could Have Been

Painful, but expected. While the Knicks could have, and probably should have won games 1 and 2, once Garnett swiped the ball out of Jared Jeffries hand like he was stealing candy from a baby, it was only a matter of time before the Knicks vacation began. And while the vacation was delayed for a couple of weeks thanks to Amar'e and to some extent, Carmelo, the Celtics sweep ensured it will have to be 11 years before the Knicks even have a chance to win a playoff game. The Knicks squandered their chance in 2011, as a furious rally couldn't withstand pinpoint Celtics execution and questionable officiating.

At least they battled. With an incredible third quarter, led by a couple of fast break slams, and the three point shooting of Anthony Carter, the Knicks once again had the Garden rocking, and me screaming like a girl at a Justin Bieber concert. With STAT obviously hurting he still managed to play 44 minutes and have a double double, and Melo also carried the load with 32 points, in willing the Knicks to within 5 points. Even after game 3, and after an atrocious first half that left the Knicks trailing 55-38, they battled back.

But it wasn't enough. Just when it looked like the Knicks were about to make that final breakthrough the Celtics responded every time. Whether it was a Pierce charge, or the pivotal Allen 3, Boston had a response to every New York run. When things got chippy with Melo's flagrant foul on Rondo and the tech on STAT, the Celtics never overreacted, relying on incredible execution and a myriad of pick plays to frustrate the defense and get good looks for the big men.

And it was the big men who led the way for Boston in game 4. While Rondo and Allen dominated in game 3 the Celtics exemplified some of the many ways they can win. With the Knicks overplaying every Allen screen and trying to be physical with Rondo, it was KG and Big Babies turn to kill the Knicks. KG led the way with 26 scoring on jumpers and getting to the bucket in taking advantage of Stoudemire's back injury and Turiaf's lack of speed. But it was a Glen Davis elbow jumper that pushed the lead up to nine and was the nail in the coffin for the Knicks 2010-2011 season.

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Knicks Show Flashes, But Tough Loss Makes Playoffs An Uphill Battle

The ball hung in the air for what seemed like hours, released from the old pro who had came up clutch hundreds of times before. The Knicks battled, playing one of their most complete games all year, but this one will still be the one that got away. As Ray Allen's three whistled through, and Carmelo Anthony's prayer (Why didn't he drive!!???) went unanswered, the Celtics survived, in a loss that certainly leaves the Knicks playoff hopes much bleaker then they looked with 30 seconds left in the 4th.

The way the Knicks dominated for much of the first half, and then withstood a Celtics assault in the third, certainly gives Knicks fans hope for the rest of the series, but we may look back on the the final 37.3 seconds as those that eventually killed any chance of the Knicks advancing. It started inconspicuously enough, with Rondo throwing a beautiful lob to KG for the slam. But after a stupid offensive foul by Melo it was only a matter of time before Allen delivered the dagger into the hearts of Knicks fans everywhere.

In the end, unfortunetly, it came down to Melo. Anthony had a brutal night from the start, picking up a quick two fouls, and watching from the bench as the Knicks lead grew. Melo finished with 15 points and only 2-8 from behind the arc. The Knicks played together for the whole game but in crunch time, Anthony didn't give it to Stoudemire, instead opting to try to be the hero. This isn't the movies! Melo should have tried to penetrate to try and get an easier shot, he didn't need a three and with the time left on the clock should have definitely given it to STAT for a short jumper from the wing that he can knock with his eyes closed, as opposed to a 30 foot, double teamed, chuck.

The Knicks loss overshadows a stunning performance by Stoudemire. Amare was brilliant, with 28 points and 11 rebounds hitting difficult shot after difficult shot. If there is any way that the Knicks can come back and win this series, it will be with him, not Melo, taking the last shot. Amare's offensive performance was still not even as good as his defensive performance, and the Knicks team D as a whole. Having watched the Knicks give up easy buckets, and have maddening defensive lapses throughout much of the season, it was refreshing to watch them play sound defense for basically the whole game. Only a KG screen and a beautiful shot prevented a big win.

And in the end it was that shot, that sunk the Knicks and makes this series an uphill battle for the Knicks. While this loss hurts New York must be able to respond on Tuesday, it should be interesting to see if the Knicks can recover from such a tough loss. The loss of Billups kills as New York will have to go with inexperienced guards for game 2, assuming Chauncey is out for that long. Now it's a one game season for the Knicks, and with this tough loss it could be a full year before they get as good a chance to take the lead in a playoff series.

A Standing O: Schwartzel, Landis & Anthony etc.

Alex O is back with some thoughts on a little bit of everything from the Masters to the Knickerbockers with a little baseball in between. Some great notes in there from Alex who I have to apologize for posting this a day late (which is why some of the dates look funny). But it doesn't mean this Standing O is any less awesome. Enjoy!

The Canadian Press

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You gotta love the Masters! I think it is even greater when a relatively unknown player wins it coming from behind. Charl (pronounced Sharl--- I never would have guessed that) Schwartzel, a 26 year old from South Africa won the Masters 50 years after Gary Player (also from South Africa) became the first International player to win the tournament. He was also the first player to win while making 4 birdies in the last 4 holes. It is always awesome to see someone win rather than the others lose. Schwartzel qualified for the Masters by being top 50 in the year end 2010 world rankings. He has been a pro on the European tour for 7 years and in 2011 has his PGA Tour Card. Pretty cool little story below from the AP:

Schwartzel had played in only one previous Masters — he tied for 30th a year ago — but he got a very helpful tutorial from a guy who's won more green jackets than anyone.

After finagling a lunch with six-time winner Jack Nicklaus at a charity function, he deftly broke the ice with one of their shared interests beyond the golf course.
"I've never met Jack. I was really excited," Schwartzel recalled. "I knew he sort of liked hunting a little bit. That's the way I got the conversation going, just by talking about hunting."

Of course, the talk soon turned to Augusta National.

And, boy, did the Golden Bear open up.

"I'm thinking it's going to be just a vaguely quick little thing, and he actually took the time to take me through all 18 holes," Schwartzel said. "The way he used to think around Augusta. The way he used to play it, which flags he used to attack."

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A Standing O: Star-Melo and the Trade Deadline

It's been a fun season in Knicksland but last night was something extra special. Last night was the Knicks fans' consolation for not being chosen by LeBron in The Decision. When he saw SportsCenter last night, he probably wondered how nice it would have been to be King in New York City at MSG. If anything, the Carmelo trade was a nice reminder of how exciting Knicks basketball can be with an opening montage that had to make everyone from the Tri-State Area excited about the Knickerbockers again. One guy certainly excited? Alex O and he tells us why in his latest Standing O:

The Star-Melo shined brightly at MSG last night

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This is a great post showing what Melo means to the Knicks offense. Now the Knicks have 2 players who can command a double team. Not many squads have that. Bill Simmons made a great point--- the Knicks now have 2 of the 10 guys that started in the All-Star game. It will take a few weeks to find out how this team can gel. We did not see Anthony Carter, or Shelden Williams, or Balkman or Brewer. It will be interesting to see who gets time with the new squad. One thing that we saw last night was how good Toney Douglas can be. Playing tough D and shooting the lights out, Douglas is showing what he can do when he is healthy and given some time. Hopefully seeing more of him will be the new normal. Clearly defense and rebounding will continue to be issues with this team.

I am not 100%, but I think LaLa was wearing a puffy shirt at the game last night. It was great to get a feel for the excitement in the garden last night. The highlight of that was when LALA was asked what their 3 year old son said when he was told Daddy was traded to the Knicks: “we’re going home!”…………

AWESOME!

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Anthony Trade Genius For Knicks

Amare Stoudamire said it was "The start of a new team in New York", but I doubt even he could have predicted this so soon. Only 6 months after he signed with New York the Knicks got another boost yesterday by trading for perenial All-Star Carmelo Anthony. The trade makes has the potential to make the Knicks a major force in the East with the new starting line-up of Billups, Fields, Carmelo, Stoudamire, and Turiaf. This trade makes the Knicks way better both for now and for the future, and the only real loss is Gallinari, but as a three-point specialists the Knicks upgraded by getting Anthony instead. The Knicks now have the potential to be one of the best offensive teams in recent memory, with a dominant inside scorer in Stoudamire as well as the all around game of Carmelo Anthony.

Source: ESPN

In looking towards the future this trade is a work of genius by Donnie Walsh, Isaiah Thomas, or whoever made it happen. Raymond Felton only had a two year contract and was just a holdover untill the Knicks could go after Chris Paul, or Deron Williams. He played very solidly this year with 17 points and 9 assists, but Billups should be somewhat comparable and with both Anthony and Stoudamire will not need to play as big a role as Raymond Felton had to pre last night.

Trading Wilson Chandler is genius because he was a free agent at the end of this season and the Knicks were going to use the money they got from getting rid of him to go after Melo. They lose Gallo, but again he wasn't a great defensive player and offensively I'd rather have Melo then the on and off three point shooting of the so called "specialist" Gallinari. The only reason Timofey got any playing time was because he was trade bait and was incredibly slow and prone to fouls. Hopefully the colder climate will remind him a bit more of the motherland then New York.

The Knicks also give up their second round picks in 2012, and 13, as well as a first round pick for years to come. But teams are moving away from the NBA draft and instead looking at free agency to get talent, plus for the picks the Knicks get a load of bench pieces from the Nuggets including Chauncy, Melo, Anthony Carter, Sheldon Williams and ex-Knick Renaldo Balkman.

The trade gives the Knicks the opportunity to contend in the playoffs this year, because face it, they weren't going to beat the Heat, Celtics, Magic, or even the Bulls with their pre trade lineup. It also sets them up well for the future because it is yet another big piece of the championship puzzle. Now the Knicks can easily prioritize for next season by going after a point guard and an extra big, to start over Turiaf on a very offensive team.

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Knicks Finally Make the Trade for 'Melo They Never Should Have Made

After months of Carmelo Anthony discussion, the Knicks have finally acquired the superstar from the Denver Nuggets in a blockbuster deal as surprising as Big Momma's House 3 being panned by critics. After the Nets recently jumped back into the fray, the Knicks upped their offer for 'Melo to include Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, Anthony Randolph, a Knicks first round pick and the rotting corpse of Eddy Curry. The Knicks will reportedly get back Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, and either Anthony Carter, Corey Brewer or both--with the Minnesota Timberwolves being involved in the deal as well.

After months of back and forth, 'Melo is finally a Knick (CBC)

It's a deal that has been in the works since the Knicks lost out of LeBron James this past summer and it's one that gives the Knicks that second superstar they have been looking for since they started stripping the roster two seasons ago. But the price it comes at is not one the Knicks should have ever trade and despite how good Carmelo Anthony may be under the bright lights of New York, this is a trade they should have never made.

Will Leitch of NY Mag had a great article this morning about how scarily out of control this New York Knicks trade has become. And although I think it's even scarier reading Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski talk about how much influence Isiah Thomas has on the Knicks, this Carmelo Anthony trade is all about James Dolan. This was worse than the late George Steinbrenner at his most tyrannical; a twister of wreckage trying as hard as he can to ruin the Knicks franchise and to drive all of his remaining fans to pull out any hair that still remains.

I'll agree with everyone who says that this is not--on paper--a horrible deal. Wilson Chandler was gone after this year; Raymond Felton was always meant to be a rental; Danilo Gallinari didn't have a starting job once Melo arrived; Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph were bench players; Timofey Mozgov was probably not the center the Knicks needed; and who knows what the current value of a 2014 draft pick is going to be? But the problem is that the Knicks didn't need to include all these guys in the deal.

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Random Thoughts: Super Bowl, 'Melo, Yankees' Signings, and Cano

I had my first experience taking transportation other than a car to or from Boston this weekend and I can tell you it's not so much fun. But while I flew there, I'm taking Megabus on my way back and being blessed with spotty WiFi, I felt it a good time to blog. I know I've been absent from the blog for a while but I've been transitioning to a new [day] job and haven't had the time I would like to pump out great blog posts for the NYaT audience. So here's a bunch of random sports thoughts as I figure out how to get this guy's job as a ticket broker (H/T Zack):

I'm rooting with the rest of the Cheeseheads for Aaron Rodgers (NYP)

My Super Bowl Team

I don't think I'm alone rooting for the Packers tonight in the Super Bowl. I think while most of the time people root for a team, this battle is a battle of quarterback personalities. While Big Ben has become a hard-to-root-for quarterback with his off-the-field issues, Aaron Rodgers is about as easy to root for as a QB can be. He sat on the bench and didn't complain while Brett Favre did his annual retirement dance and the year that Favre had his personal downfall as a person and player, Rodgers is about to assert himself among the best QBs in the NFL. And if you look at the past 5 Super Bowls, the better story always won, though none will top the Drew Brees taking the post-Katrina Saints all the way last year. I think the Packers are going to win but I'm truly just rooting for an entertaining game.

Carmelo Anthony

I've been pretty adamantly against the Knicks double paying for 'Melo (in prospects and then in money) knowing that he's probably going to sign with the Knicks no matter what in the off-season. But after the Cliff Lee saga, I know that something like that is never certain and if the latest rumored offer (Knicks only giving up Wilson Chandler, Anthony Randolph, and Eddy Curry's obese corpse) is really true, I say go for it. They could go small and have a starting 5 of Amare, Raymond Felton, Landry Fields, Gallo, and 'Melo or move Fields to a super 6th man and start Ronny Turiaf or The Mozgov Cocktail in his place. Carmelo may not make the Knicks that much better (he plays even less defense), but for three players who won't be here next year, I think it's a steal. 'Melo has used his leverage and now the Knickerbockers need to take advantage of it.

Yankees' Latest Signings

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NBA Finals Set To Start And It Looks Like MLB LCS of 2004

Tomorrow night starts the NBA Finals. We don't know where amazing will happen this year (but we certainly know where spoofs will happen). I think the last time I followed a playoffs this closely was when the New York Knicks played the San Antonio Spurs in the finals. Since then, it's been hard to be a Knicks fan and although I grew a whole new respect for the Spurs, they weren't a team I longed to watch.

But this year I was back. I loved watching a young Chicago Bulls team push the Boston Celtics to the brink. I loved watching the Celtics try to play their hearts out to overcome the loss of Kevin Garnett. I watched Dirk Nowitzki trying to will his team to the promise land. I witnessed basketball return to Atlanta and the Houston Rockets push past injuries to their two best players and make a nice run through the playoffs.

But I really loved the final 4 in this year's conference finals. It reminded me a lot of the final 4 in the League Championship Series in 2004. There you had four superstars trying to get their teams to the World Series which were very similar to these four teams.

A-Rod's Yankees = Kobe's Lakers - You had to see this one coming, right? Two of the most talented players in the history of their respective games...but also two of the most hated. Both guys won MVPs, but were never known as "The Guy" who could lead a team to a championship. And they both had a lot of firepower surrounding them. Both teams had legendary coaches. Kobe has guys like Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. A-Rod had guys like Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui. The Yankees had made the finals the year before but lost. The Lakers made the finals last year but lost. Got it?

Albert Pujols' Cards = Dwight Howard's Magic - 2004 was a playoff coming out party for a young Pujols. He hit a Brad Lidge slider that I think just landed. The same goes for Superman. He was a great player, but these playoffs have established him as a force. Both were compared to big men who played their position in the past (Big Mac and Shaq). And both of these guys could do the things that wowed the fans (the Howard dunks or the Pujols majestic HRs), but these playoffs made you realize something more about these guys: You can't match up against them. I'm not sure Howard ever reached Pujols level at basketball until the last game against the Cavs...but he helped cement himself as not only one of the best players in the game, but one of the most unlikely winners as well (many picked a very, very good Astros team to win the series easily and the same thing happened in each of the Magic series).

Carlos Beltran's Astros = Carmelo Anthony's Nuggets - Both came into the league with hype and lived up to it, but they were seen as complimentary players before this playoffs. There Beltran dominated with 9 homeruns and cemented his contract he would receive the next year. Similarly, Carmelo dominated in the games he played in the playoffs like he had never shown before and cemented his next large contract. And despite the solo efforts of both guys, they weren't able to make the finals. You also know that these two guys will take plays or maybe even entire games off and just coast. That's why these playoffs are so maddenly frustrating about these guys because you see how great they can truly be when they put their minds to it.

David Ortiz' Red Sox = LeBron James' Cavs - These guys went beyond dominating--you just knew that whenever they were up, something big was going to happen. You knew that when push came to shove, these guys were going to come through at crunch time. And there was nothing you could do to stop them. Your only hope was containing the other elements of their team. They almost seemed to have a destiny that year to win it all for their teams and give a long awaited title to a franchise severely lacking. In some ways, maybe Ortiz' 2003 Sox are a better comparison now because James, after a heartbreaking loss like the 2003 ALCS for the Sox, will have to wait until next year. And you know that's as painful for his fanbase (and for the NBA) as it is for him.