So, moving forward. Thanks to Jamie for his previous, very thoughtful post…now back to the business at hand. 6 and a half left on the road to a pretty poor Sacramento team, tie game. The Knicks have shown some heart in this game, unfortunately only when they had to, when their backs were against the wall and they were down 10. Steph didn’t start but has played a good amount of minutes, Eddy has sat A LOT, especially here in the 4th, and the bench has (surprise, surprise) given a spark. The usual defensive problems have persisted, a lot of open 3’s and they have made Kevin Martin look like the second coming of MJ.

Nate hits a big 3 off a feed from Marbury. I don’t care if his teammates don’t vote him the most popular, they can win with Marbury. It’s up to Isiah to figure it out, and telling him to go home is not the way to do that. (yes, I know that is not the official story, but we all know that is what happened, whether he meant it literally or not). This is the time I have been wondering about, crunchtime, who is the go to guy. I don’t love Crawford, but I like him down the stretch. Q hits a great shot that should be counted and is waved off as an offensive foul, giving him 6. Shame, complete bullshit call. 4 point lead, 4 minutes left. Not shockingly, help D breaks down and Artest gets a layup. Marbury takes a charge at a key moment.

Big, big two minutes to go. Up by one, a chance to steal one on the road that the Knicks didn’t deserve. Eddy Curry hits a big shot, has 25 and 8…then gives up an easy 2. Marbury great feed to Curry, wide open, stripped..damn, he’s got the weakest hands of any big man since Ted Jeffries of UVA (yes, hometown reference). Nate takes a bad shot next time down, again, who is the go to guy?

Up 1, 30 seconds, Sac gets a layup and a foul. Knicks down 2 with 21.4 left. Timeout. So, let’s see, who is the go to guy? Do they bust it inside to Curry, let Crawford freelance? Crawford misses, Curry follows to tie it. Garcia misses a (wide open) 3, Knicks call time, have 2.2 to go for the win. Good pass to Curry, blew a fairly uncontested layup. Overtime.

Martin and Lee trade baskets, then Martin gets a gimme when the Knicks have a defensive lapse. Lee again, and Artest answers. Marbury bricks as does Garcia, as both teams forget who the go to guy is. Crawford hits the bucket, followed by an Artest 3. Knicks down 3 with a minute and a half. Timeout Knicks. Still thinking about the great dinner I had at Jeff’s and Jess’s. Crawford, 3 point play to tie. D Lee gets 14th board, Crawford puts up trash.

Offensive foul, Sacramento. 21.5 to go, Knicks ball. Crawford freelances, misses, D Lee misses the putback, double overtime. German food and beer making me sleepy, busking is going to be difficult tomorrow. Uncontested layup, Curry doesn’t help once again. Knicks down 4. Curry misses a 4 footer, and doesn’t help on D, Knicks down 4, and quickly throw it away. Goodnight, Knicks can’t stop the pick and roll. Too little, too late. Coaching, coaching, coaching.