Rocky IV, All Over Again?

According to Frank Isola of the NY Daily News, both James Dolan (Knicks owner) and Mikhail Prokhorov are scheduled to meet with Carmelo Anthony over Allstar weekend.

This just reminds me of Rocky IV where Rocky takes on Drago and in doing so, ends the Cold War (MeloDrama).

The only thing is, James Dolan is no Rocky Balboa.

Not entirely sure why Carmelo needs to meet with Dolan in the first place if he’s wanted to play for the Knicks all along.

What Dolan needs to convince him is that the Knicks can’t gut their team leaving them with nobody + Amar’e and Melo.

The Nets willing to give up everything for Melo just wreaks of desperation. We are trying to build a championship team and you don’t do that by making dumb decisions.

What else I don’t understand? Why Donnie Walsh isn’t apart of this meeting, but Allan Houston and Scott O’Neil will be in attendance. Does Melo just want to talk upper management to get a feel for the franchise?

Like with every Rocky movie, no matter how tough the opponent was, Rock always had a punchers chance to win.

I hope Dolan can pull this one out (smh).

UPDATE 10:03am: This is why everything is so crazy. According to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, Carmelo Anthony has not agreed to meet with anyone over the weekend.

Game 53 - Reaction

Final Score: Knicks 105, Nets 95

Record: 27-26 (2nd in Atlantic, 6th in EC)
Current Streak: Won 1
On Pace: 42-40

I’d like to take this moment to welcome back a few things:

1. The Knicks overall energy.

2. The Knicks shooting touch from three-point land.

3. Wilson Chandler.

We just looked A LOT more active and aggressive tonight on both ends of the floor. Also, great ball movement led to 16 three-pointers tonight from seven different Knicks.

I guess I was worried for no reason playing against the Nets. I don’t really know how they beat the Hornets and Bobcast because New Jersey is not a very good team.

Outside of Devin Harris and Robin Lopez, the Nets don’t really have anything going for them. I just don’t understand anyone that thinks Derrick Favors is good or a better prospect than anyone on the Knicks. He has no offensive ability and looks lost a lot of times on defense. Don’t be fooled by all of his rebounds tonight (14), half were offensive ones where he grabbed his own miss and subsequently missed again.

The bench really stepped it up tonight as the Knicks were without Amar’e Stoudemire for the first time this season. Led by Toney Douglas’ 19 points, the bench poured in 44 in total. 

Landry Fields hit some huge corner three-balls late in the game to secure the win. By the way, I love how Landry poses after he hits a big three.

The night belonged though to Wilson Chandler. When Chandler is playing aggressive and confident, the Knicks are a tough team to beat. He showed his full range of offensive skill and led the Knicks with 21 points. Chandler also had five blocks on the night.

It was great seeing Amar’e being the most active person on the bench tonight cheering for his teammates at every moment. Before the game, MSG was reporting that the injury to his toe was not serious and he should be back for the next game.

It was a much needed win tonight folks.

KNOTEWORTHY KNICK OF THE GAME: Wilson Chandler. I haven’t seen this kind of performance from Wilson in a really long time. He had everything working tonight and was aggressive on both ends - 21 pts, 8 rebs, 3 asts, 1 stl, 5 blks

Knicks vs. Nets (Game 53): Feb. 12th, 7:00PM EST

The confidence I had in this team earlier in the week to turn around this poor play is just not there anymore.

Tonight the Knicks (26-26) take on the Nets (17-37) and I actually have no idea what kind of performance we’ll get from the team.

The Knicks are coming over a lackluster loss to the Lakers last night, while the Nets are coming off impressive wins against the Bobcats and Hornets in their last two games.

In their only other meeting earlier in November, the Knicks were able to get the win. But that was back when the Knicks had some confidence in their game. Tonight? I’m crossing my fingers.

Ever since Mikhail Pokhorov (Nets owner) declared that the Nets are no longer pursuing Carmelo Anthony on January 19th, his team has gone on to post a respectable 7-6 record. The Knicks meanwhile have gone in the other direction winning only four and dropping eight.

Again, I cannot wait for February 24th (the trading deadline) to come and pass so we can get back to just concentrating on playing winning basketball.

The Knicks need to watch out for Brook Lopez tonight who is guaranteed to give us fits in the low post. He’s been playing great basketball as of late and I’m pretty sure he’ll continue against us.

I’m hoping that the Knicks can avoid dipping below .500 tonight. I’m not extremely confident when I say this, but I think we’ll pull this one out.

UPDATE 6:23pm - Newsday is reporting that Amar’e is out tonight with a sprained right toe. Ronny Turiaf is expected to return.

Betting Line: Knicks by 3.5 (O/U 206)
ESPN AccuScore (Win %): Nets 55%, Knicks 45%
My Prediction: Knicks 112, Nets 103

SI Says Proposed Deal for Melo "Baffling" for Nets

Zach Lowe of SI.com writes a spot on article on why the current deal (as reported by Chris Broussard of ESPN.com) makes absolutely no sense for the Nets.

They will basically be giving up five first round picks, Derrick Favors, Murphy and Harris for Carmelo and Harrington.

Which puts the Nets in terrible position since it will limit their cap space for the future, their roster after the deal will be awful and they have no way to use the draft in the near future to fill their depleted roster since they traded away all their picks.

C’mon, even NJ is not that desperate.

All this trade talk about Carmelo doesn’t really mean anything though. The Nets will not trade for Melo without him committing to an extension. Carmelo will only sign an extension if he is traded with the Knicks. So the Nets talk is kind of bogus anyway.

I’ve already discussed this in my post here.