Knicks Debut of Steve Francis; Close finish in Minnesota

First game in New York for Stevie Franchise, or rather, Stevie Franchise-Killer, and well, let's just say that things could have gone better. NY only lost to New Jersey 94-90, but that was a lost closer than the game actually was, but for a 35-21 4th quarter advantage for New York. Let's check the six-headed monster at the PG/SG position.

Steve Francis - 33 minutes, 16 points
Stephon Marbury - 36 minutes, 6 points
Jalen Rose - 28 minutes, 18 points
Jamal Crawford - 13 minutes, 0 points
Quentin Richardson - 33 minutes, 4 points
Nate Robinson - DNP

Well that could have gone better. Rose played well, Francis was ok, Marbury, Crawford, and Richardson were mainly ineffective, and Robinson DNP. I will give Isiah some credit, this team is just randomly throw together, they are almost fun to watch. If they play together for more than 3 weeks before Isiah makes some changes, and they get on somewhat the right page, it could be fairly exciting.

I was impressed by Channing Frye. 20 points and 8 rebounds in only 27 minutes, so he was pretty fun to watch. Nenad Krstic for New Jersey also impressed, shooting 11 for 11, and showing good range on the jumper. If he can consistently put up good games, and VC decides for sure that he still wants to play there (and not tank) and not come up with any phantom injuries, they could give the Heat a decent series in round 2.

In the other exciting game of the night, Denver beat Minnesota 102-101 in overtime. But it was how the game ended that made it fun to watch. With Denver up 99-95 with about 15 seconds left, they did everything in their power to lose the game.

First, Mark Blount hit a jumper. 99-97. Denver inbounds the ball to Carmelo Anthony, who tries to dribble through KG and Trenston Hassell. Hassell winds up with the steal, throws and alley oop to KG. 99-9. Timeout Denver. They have trouble getting the ball (they still had two timeouts left), and K-Mart tries to throw one to Andre Miller in the backcourt, but it was painfully short. Ricky Davis steals it, pulls up for a jumper, scores it. 101-99 Minnesota. Timeout Denver, and they again have K-Mart throwing it in. He tosses it to Carmelo in the corner, who is guarded tightly by Trenton Hassell. So Carmelo shoots it over him from downtown, and drains it. KG misses a final shot, Denver wins 102-101.

Great game for Carmelo Anthony, with 30 points, 8 boards, and the game-winner that was about an 8 on the difficulty level.

My only complaint about the game was FSN constantly showing Mark Madsen. He did not play tonight, but every timeout or commercial break or really any decent Timberwolves play, they would show Madsen on the bench dancing. Every time. It was painful to watch.