What a Show!!!

The Coach has been real busy planning clinics, attending games and of course coaching. Last week marked a special week for pro basketball especially in New York City. Though the Knicks ended up dropping three games to the three best teams in the league they competed and now know where they stand and how much further they need to go to be a legit NBA contender. The individual performances of Kobe and LeBron and then the gritty team performance of the Celtics were all great to watch at MSG.

Wednesday's blog from LeBron's almost triple double:
Coach's hump day this week was crazy as I went from the financial district with my 5/6 troops minus my mini Ray Ray to the upper east side, then back downtown then to headquarters on the east side for a quick wash and change. Then I finally was able to jump into a cab on say “take me to the garden.”

Coach was on his way to see the King and the level of excitement grew with each honk of the horn and each traffic light in the rush hour frenzy we all know to well.
After meeting the Pistol at the establishment formally known as Cosby’s (they were out of Gerald Wilkins road medium’s, sorry Wolf I know you like em snug) we walked into the Garden and you could feel the buzz. It was clear that thousands were expecting LeBron to put on a show similar to what Kobe did on Monday.

It was evident from the opening tip that Lebron had that mindset. Iso's against Q-Rich, jumpers over D Lee and dribble drives acted as the jabs, crosses and hooks as it was clear Lebron is going after Kobe's 61 points like a boxer would to get his belt.

After the first quarter Lebron had 20.

Random question for my insightful audience? Who the #*#* gets cotton candy at a basketball game? The guy is always standing in Coach's sight line during the game and he is never close to selling half of that crap.

You have heard the Coach say this recently but I just want to reiterate that Knicks are playing very hard and quite well at home. Defensively there is no one in the league or the world for that matter that can check LeBron in a one on one situation and the Knicks are a team that does not have a perimeter STOPPER right now. Is Jared Jeffries effective at slowing down certain types of players? Yes. But Wilson Chandler, Quentin Richardson and Danilo Gallinari did not have a prayer against King. Speaking of Gallinari he is going to be a pretty good player in this league. Very good help defender and a dangerous three point shooter on the catch.
Gallinari holds his follow through like Dave Hopla in front of the masses...definitely some Petro in the Italian.

LeBron slowed down a bit in the second quarter but the flow was back out of the locker room to open the 2nd half. I stopped counting points in the 3rd quarter as I was very into the game and how aware LeBron is of situations and court spacing. With King at 34 points and counting he is still conscious of kickin to the open Walter Szcerbiak when Walt finds 1 of his 2 sweet spots on the floor. 7:07 left in the 3rd and King has 34 8 and 7...

Random question about seating celebs and ex-players at the garden. How in the world does Whoopi Goldberg sit courtside when Willis Reed is up in the 200's somewhere? Reed provided the franchise not only with a hall of fame career but also with its most memorable moment during Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. How does Whoopi have a better seat? Why is she still considered such a big deal?!?! This world is crazy.

Anyway back to the King. As the game wore on the text messages keep rolling in along with the everyone in the garden wondering if he'd get 60 like Kobe did. But this was different. While King was putting on a show it was a show of all-around dominance and his was finding one teammate after another for dunks and open treys. The guy is a tank, a tank that can flat out pass the rock to an open man, a tank that can dribble penetrate with ease and put an unreal amount of pressure on the opponents defense to the point where there are no answers.

Seeing the King score 50 for the second time in person at MSG was something I'll never forget but it was the rebounding, passing, presence and most of all swagger that will stick with the Coach as Lakers at Celtics looms tomorrow.