NBA: OT Knack for New York Knicks

By Steve Cernak

Only New York surviving Detroit in triple overtime could shake me from my holiday vacation. I currently live right outside Georgetown in Washington, DC now, so my opportunities to see the Knicks at Madison Square Garden are infrequent, when compared to growing up near the World's Most Famous Arena. I flew into New York in time for the second half of NY's domineering victory over Chicago. Obviously, however, nothing compares to witnessing your favorite team win in 3OT and watching a player take The Next Step.

Fans took pictures of themselves with their significant others towards the end of the fourth quarter. I suppose those pictures are awesome now due to the game's outcome. BUT THIS IS A DECEMBER GAME. Any true Knicks fan understands December games, while fun, are meaningless. True Knicks fans endure a season of excellence, only to lose in May (aka the playoffs) by virtue of Michael Jordan. Just goes to show you how far the Knicks fell, how irrelevant they became. Anyone can get a ticket now, unlike a decade ago. Which is a nice way to say some morons sat in my sections.

Nick, a season ticket holder, yelled "TAKE YOUR JACKETS OFF" to everyone attempting to to beat traffic. If not for his public service announcement, many more would have left. All die-hards expect the Knicks to give up leads and, sure enough, Carlos Delfino hits a game-tying trey at the end of regulation. After Rasheed Wallace fouled out, Flip Saunders eventually settled on a four guard line-up (he played Tayshuan Prince on the perimeter). I knew--hell, everyone knew--Delfino would send the game to OT after watching Isiah Thomas send PF David Lee to guard the sharp-shooting Delfino. Well, everyone except the morons who considered leaving.

The Knicks nearly threw away Marbury's first half gem, the best player of the first 24 minutes. Nothing special the second half, but played an extraordinary game nonetheless. After booing the hell out of the refs for a phantom foul call, the crowd cheered Marbs for the second time in as many home games after fouling out. Instead, Detroit wasted Rip Hamilton's career 51 point performance. Hamilton is a joy to watch. He runs and cuts more than any player I've ever seen live, more so than even Reggie Miller. Hamilton is better than Miller and last night he bolstered his Hall of Fame résumé.

During the first overtime, the referees topped off a horrendously officiated game in grand fashion. While chasing a loose ball, Hamilton knocked it into a referee who had plenty of time to avoid making contact with the ball. Instead, the referee made contact with the ball keeping it inbounds and ran the game clock down close to 30 seconds. The fans booed the refs louder than Jordan and Commissioner David Stern readied pink slips, while my dad noticed the referees' conference at mid court. He claimed "they're discussing the make-up call, there will be one."

Sure enough, the next possession the refs called Billups for a shooting foul on Marbury's three-point attempt. He converted on all three attempts to send the game to 2OT, where he fouled out. Channing Frye forced 3OT, allowing Jamal Crawford to dominate. Man, what a performance. I've been to many Knicks games, but I'm 23-years-old. I didn't see Earl "the Pearl" Monroe or Walt "Clyde" Frazier play and I don't remember Michael Ray Richardson. Crawford is, without a doubt, the most talented of any Knicks guard I've ever seen play.

To me, this wasn't a triple overtime game. This game signaled Crawford knocking on the door of greatness. We'll see. But for the first time in a long-time, I'm full of legitimate hope. Maybe I'll see some June basketball again... in the World's Most Famous Arena.

SPORTS: Allen Iverson's Nuggets Debut, Ohio State-Florida and NFL Match-ups

NBA
Allen Iverson is expected to play Friday night, however, this is contingent on all players in the deal passing physicals. While it appears likely that will happen, a massive snowstorm in Denver, which held up many flights, has left thousands stranded. Airport officials are planning to open two of six runways.

NFL
Perhaps the most intriguing weekend match-up is Cincinnati at Denver. Both clubs are 8-6 and with Denver and the New York Jets also at 8-6, but on the outside looking in. Another intriguing match-up is Tennessee at Buffalo. With Vince Young, simply put, winning and the Bills streaking, only one of these two 7-7 teams will remain alive in the AFC playoff hunt. ... the New York Giants need to win against New Orleans, as does Pittsburgh versus Baltimore and Jacksonville at New England for their playoff aspirations to remain intact.

NCAA
No. 3 Ohio State visits No. 4 Florida in one of the best regular season games this year. C Greg Oden blends perfectly into this lineup, as Ohio State's backcourt carries the load. SG Daequan Cook scores and rebounds at an impressive clip (16.1 and 6.0) and PG Mike Conley Jr. always passes to the open man (6.5 APG). When G Jamar Butler comes off the bench, OSU doesn't miss a beat. Unfortunately for Florida, the team's best player, C Al Horford is out with a sprained ankle.

While it seems certain Ohio State wins the game, the reason to watch this game is last year's best player, Joakim Noah, matching up against instant sensation Oden. Horford's absence surprisingly adds appeal to this game.

FANTASY NBA: Scouring the Box Scores

The best way to keep up with the free agency market in your league is to scan box scores as often as you can. With Allen Iverson being traded from Philadelphia to Denver as well as rotation issues on the rosters of inactive trade teams, there are some things to sort out. And when there are things to sort out in terms of who gets minutes, there are opportunities to find value before anyone else.

Beginning with the 76ers, the biggest winners appear to be Andre Iguodala and Willie Green. Both are taking far more shots now that Iverson's 20-plus attempts per night have gone west. Iguodala is not available in your league, but Green might be. His field goal shooting has been far from stellar, but if you can absorb that, you'll get a nice boost in his scoring, rebounding and assist numbers.

In Boston, guard Tony Allen continues to put up big numbers in Wally Szczerbiak's absence. He went for 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks against the Warriors last night and has now scored in double figures in four straight games. Teammate Al Jefferson has played big and grabbed at least 10 rebounds in six straight games. If either is available on your waiver wire, go get them now.

Charlie Villanueva is working his way back from an elbow injury and scored an efficient 16 points on 5-of-8 field goals, 2-of-2 3-pointers and 4-of-4 free throws. He recently missed a game against Minnesota with shoulder tendonitis, so monitor his healthy closely before making any roster moves involving him. When he's 100%, he's got the game of a Top 50 fantasy player.

My guy, Memphis PF Alexander Johnson, scored nine points in just 13 minutes, but the problem was, he also picked up six fouls. Portland's Travis Outlaw continued a nice scoring streak, but more importantly, he continued a very nice shot blocking streak. Outlaw blocked four shots against the Rockets last night, giving him 14 over the last six games (2.3/game).

Shaun Livingston is officially a fantasy stud, no matter whether Sam Cassell is playing or not. He is playing big minutes and putting up progressively bigger numbers. His value is going to snowball, so if you have any thoughts of picking him up or trading for him, my suggestion would be to do it ASAP. Same goes for Toronto PF Andrea Bargnani, who is scoring in different ways, blocking shots and putting up better rebounding numbers.