SPANISH HARLEM – The one thing fans hate more than watching their team lose is when their team quits (like against the Lakers on Monday). Even if you know your team isn’t very good, you still want to see effort. You want the team to fight hard until the very end. Then, maybe you can take some pride in knowing they lost but gave it their all. What you can’t make excuses for, however, is the product coming out of Madison Garden in the form of the Effortless Knicks… Charles Oakley aside!
The Knickerbockers have been bad for as long as I can remember. The years of going to the playoffs every season feels so distant. I forgot what rooting for a winning basketball team is like. Even the 2012-2013 season, when the team won 54 games, seems as it happened 20 years ago instead of 5.
Losing hurts, but watching this version of the team lately has been as bad as it gets. On some nights the game is over before the end of 1st quarter. Other teams score bushels of baskets to start and that leaves them trying to climb out of huge holes. Occasionally they will fight back to make the game interesting, but most nights they just roll over and take it.
Bleacher’s Ding almost rings the bell, but I learned you don’t change the spot on a leopard with Michael Graham in my CBA daze.
— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) February 7, 2017
To make matters worse, on Tuesday Phil Jackson sends out the above tweet about a Bleacher Report article by Kevin Ding, basically agreeing with what Ding wrote about Carmelo Anthony. The article is called “Phil Jackson, Knicks Doomed by Wanting Carmelo to be Something He is Not.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that there would be some criticism of both men, yet Jackson decides to respond about the writer’s assessment of Anthony via Twitter?! Didn’t Phil realize that he was also taking shots his star, as well?
It gets better with the revelation that Ding once worked as a beat writer for the Lakers, while Jackson was a coach. Many see this as one of Phil’s Guys doing his dirty work. I read the article and it comes across as more opinion than anything. What I can’t understand is why President Jackson is sending out cryptic messages on Twitter, yet won’t speak with media and face the scrutiny re the Knicks’ season. It reminds me of another President who doesn’t take criticism well!
It all stinks to high heaven and this situation is causing many fans to a pick sides but at the moment… neither side seems deserving.
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