11/10/2004 10:40:03 AM|||Shep|||KnickerBlogger.Net: "he Knicks big guys were either to join in the perimeter attack (Kurt Thomas on the pick & roll) or do what Nazr Mohammed did. The Knicks' starting center scored the first of his two first quarter field goals by waiting for a guard to dish the ball after being doubled team on a penetration drive. The second one Nazr earned with an offensive rebound and put back.

However things changed with about 3 minutes left. The Knicks dumped the ball in the low post to Michael Sweetney. It seemed natural to see New York work out of the post. Sweetney didn't spin continuously in the paint & muscle his way to a jump hook like Larry Johnson used to. He didn't hold the ball for 10 seconds and drive toward the middle to take a strong running shot in the lane like Patrick Ewing did in his day. Instead the second year player deftly spun to the paint and gently dropped a finger roll into the net.

In fact Sweetney asked for the ball two more times at the start of the second quarter, and the Knicks feed it to him for post-up scores. The announcers declared it was the first time they've ever seen him asking for the ball. That's a long way from the 'wide-eyed rookie' I described him as less than a year ago."

Fantasy Impact

It appears that everyone who's wanted to get up in Mike Sweetney's jock (and those who have been lucky enough to actually get there) have been rightly justified. I, on the other hand, picked Tim Thomas. I'll justify that by saying that I was going for a small ball team for the first time ever, and perhaps I didn't have all "nuances" quite right... I'm 3-5 so far in Yahoo with my small ballers, and tied at 4-4 so far this week... in case anyone cares.|||110010480378189758|||Knicks-Sixers Recap from KnickerBlogger.Net