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Charlie Ward made a few shots the other day. So, you say, whoop-de-darn-do!
|  | | Marcus Camby blocked this Dan Majerle shot, helping keep scoring down in this series. |
Ward plays basketball for his living. It's what he's supposed to do, make baskets. But in New York, 20 points these days gets you a ticker tape parade.
If you don't put the ball in the basket you can't score and if you can't score you can't win in this great game of basketball.
That's why I ask you this question today: What are the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat doing in the playoffs?
They're certainly not playing basketball.
These two teams of thugs will be a lot more comfortable on Monday Night Nitro where they can slam each other with folding chairs, throw bricks, swing bats, anything they want. But they wouldn't be expected to play basketball and that would be good because they've gone through four games in about a week and a half I haven't seen a basketball game break out, have you?
Check this out: They've played 197 minutes of alleged hoops and committed a total of 189 fouls. That's a foul a minute, 189 extra clock stops, 189 opps for fans to gulp beers and say, hey, this sucks.
The other day Alonzo Mourning made this wry observation: "Our defense is our crutch. Defense can win games in the regular season. Defense will keep you in games in the playoffs, but offense puts you over."
But in this brutal, ugly series where a gut check is an elbow to the abdomen the only steady offense we're seeing is from the foul line where they've scored almost 25 percent of the points in this brutal series that has seen 189 fouls called, 200 free throws shot.
Who choked Latrell Sprewell's game? He's 18 for 54. Please, don't tell me he can't get away from old stiff back, Dan Majerle.
And what's wrong with Chris Childs. He commits a foul every 3.8 minutes and delivers this clever observation: "They're making calls I don't agree with."
Knicks assistant Don Chaney says, "He doesn't have a great relationship with the referees."
Hey, Chris I've got a suggestion: DON'T DO IT ANY MORE.
This is not entertainment. This is not the free-flowing game Rod Thorn and Russ Granik envisioned when they changed the rules. This is I'll-hit-you-upside-the-head-you-bring-the-ball-into-the-paint thuggery. It's the only way the Knicks know how to play and the only way the Heat can play these days.
Reminds me of a remark Jeff Van Gundy made during the Finals last June. Van Gundy said if you think the Knicks are rough now, go back a few years when they played for Pat Riley. "We had so many big, tough guys we would bring one in after the other and foul and challenge the refs to call them all because we knew sooner or later they'd stop blowing the whistle."
Well, the potential for brutality in this series is so great, the league hit Matt Geiger of the Sixers with a two-game suspension after his fracas with Reggie Miller. That will teach these New York and Miami guys a lesson.
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Fellow calls Pat Croce the other day. Begs Croce not to quit rather than pay the league $50,000 because Geiger mugged Miller. Croce is still sputtering. "That's an insult to Larry, to me, to [general manager Billy King]. We've been a model franchise, have followed the letter of the law in my four years. We've never been warned about misbehavior on or off the court."
Intellectually we all knew Croce wasn't going anywhere, but in the league they want to make sure. That's how much they like him.
Anyway, guy has this thought. He says of Croce and Larry Brown -- two decent men who have a love of the game and want only the best for it -- if they are going to be held responsible for a player's flash of anger (much provoked by the way), then maybe we need to take it a step further. If the 76ers should have been able to control Geiger and did not, well, maybe the league did not do a very good job instructing the Philly franchise to begin with. The guy says, maybe David Stern should be held responsible for what Croce is responsible for what Geiger is responsible for. Fine the commish, too.
And now a word on behalf of Allen Iverson, who made Fred Hickman look pretty good Monday night with 37 when the Sixers made bombs away on the Pacers: He is the second-best player in the NBA after Shaq, the only player in the game (including Shaq) who can wave the other four guys to the sideline and beat you single-handed. Pound for pound, he is one of the five most lethal weapons the game the NBA has seen in its modern era.
Now, argue with that.
The Hawks are down to three candidates for their coaching vacancy. Sidney Lowe (Minnesota) had his second interview Tuesday. Byron Scott (Sacramento) was due to arrive in Atlanta 24 hours later. Isiah Thomas can still happen as well.
Lenny Wilkens' chance of coaching any team other than the Clippers took a big hit when his ego grabbed his tongue during a Fox Sports Northwest interview and set it to uncontrollable wagging. "I can have the Washington job," Lenny said. No, he can't.
An insider said of Wilkens' chances with the Wizards, "He's dead."
Taking a quick step across the Mississippi, Steve Smith of the Blazers was outraged when John Stockton was booed in his own building late in Game 3 of their series.
"It's a disgrace," Smith said. "With all Stockton has meant to that franchise, when they're all having a bad game, to single Stock out, that's wrong. I love the game and I love the history of the game and the Utah fans who him a lot for what he's brought them over the year. They should honor him. But when they boo him, I lose respect for them."
They did an exploratory on Kerry Kittles' right knee. Nothing wrong. That can't make the Nets feel any better about guy who complained he was hurting. Only five years left on that $52 million deal.
Cleveland GM Jim Paxson says Zydrunas Ilgauskas will be in uniform "at some point next season."
Are the Celtics for sale at the right price? Owner Paul Gaston says no, but insiders say he's listening and so are stockholders.
Let me get this straight. Under John Gabriel's watch, Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway go sour. He strips the franchise of all its talented veterans, lucks up and hires Doc Rivers, who does a terrific job and nearly gets Orlando to the playoffs. Rivers is named coach of the year. For this Gabriel is executive of the year. Well, if Rivers deserves an award for doing well with a bad team, doesn't that mean Gabriel didn't so such a great job of putting a roster together?
Just wondering.
Jeffrey Denberg, who covers the NBA for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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