the nuggets-knicks brawl: first impressions
Wow, so this story has kind of blown up, as far as NBA storylines are concerned. And, although the game may not have gotten good tv ratings (i.e. wasn't seen in many households), everyone's going to offer opinions about what happened based on poorly-shot and endlessly-replayed video clips online. I just wanted to say: being home in Denver for the holiday, the game was available via our local cable-tv affiliate. Furthermore, even though it had turned into a 20-point blowout by the 4th quarter, I have math grading to catch up on, so I was still watching the game to have something to do. So, no matter what else you may read online about the whole incident, I was, in some petty professional sports sense, a Witness to things in a way most writers can only falsely imply that they are. It feels kinda cool.
I have a couple thoughts on this I just wanted to share (despite the flack from friends I've taken for writing rambling entries about sports); I also have some other thoughts about going home, etc, that I'll hopefully get around to writing about tomorrow. First of all, as someone who reveled in his favorite (hometown) NBA team's emotional immaturity and swagger, it is clear that this is exactly what got us in trouble. Stupid, dangerous (headlock-and-throwing-into-basket-support), flagrant foul aside, it's hard not to see all of the angles by which to amateur psychologize the Nuggets at a time like this. The whole Carmelo-JR Smith relationship dynamic has appeared since the summer to be, oddly enough, a big brother-little brother thing--JR wear's Melo's signature court shoe, talks about all the great advice he's received, and Melo positively beams with pride after JR has a good game. So after Isiah threatens Melo in the closing minutes of the game to "stay out of the paint" (according to a source affiliated with the team), and then his surrogate brother gets assaulted, essentially, in a dirty play on a breakaway, the polish comes off the 22-year-old league-leading scorer, and he steps up to back his teammate up. Although there will be suspensions, and while acknowleging my subject position as being fairly partisan, I can't attack the team for what they did, which was to refuse to be scared off or backed down by some hard-fouling and shoving bullshit by Isiah Thomas (for whom I have lost all respect, following a viewing of his post-game comments) and Nate Robinson (who I already had no respect for following his unbelievably lame dunk-contest victory and unwillingness to expand his game to help a team that already has way too many short, shoot-first guards who don't play good defense). And again, I will defend this view as someone who 1. watches the nuggets regularly (and understands our tendency to blow leads, thus somewhat justifying our decision to leave our starters in late in the game) and 2. watched the whole 48 minutes of the knicks game, which in the grand historical emplotment of sports (which drives much of American culture), was revenge for a fluke loss early in the season, and a personal strike by Nuggets coach George Karl (who is completely crazy) against a coach (Isiah Thomas) who had a playing career featuring numerous violent incidents and personal vendettas, like the time he broke his hand punching Bill Cartwright in 1989. Basically, I feel like the Nuggets, a talented but emotionally immature team, fell victim to the baiting of the Knicks, a talented but awful, underachieving, and emotionally immature team, and so we lost by winning (both the game and, arguably, the fight).
As far as my own experience, I asked for good seats to a Nuggets game for Christmas from the fam, and I'm planning on going to the Suns game on wednesday. Unfortunately, the brawl means that, while the Suns normally just kick the crap out of us, we'll also be playing them without at least one (and probably several) of our starters, thereby making the game that much less enjoyable. A big thanks to one of the worst teams in the NBA (the Knicks) for screwing up my Christmas.
I have a couple thoughts on this I just wanted to share (despite the flack from friends I've taken for writing rambling entries about sports); I also have some other thoughts about going home, etc, that I'll hopefully get around to writing about tomorrow. First of all, as someone who reveled in his favorite (hometown) NBA team's emotional immaturity and swagger, it is clear that this is exactly what got us in trouble. Stupid, dangerous (headlock-and-throwing-into-basket-support), flagrant foul aside, it's hard not to see all of the angles by which to amateur psychologize the Nuggets at a time like this. The whole Carmelo-JR Smith relationship dynamic has appeared since the summer to be, oddly enough, a big brother-little brother thing--JR wear's Melo's signature court shoe, talks about all the great advice he's received, and Melo positively beams with pride after JR has a good game. So after Isiah threatens Melo in the closing minutes of the game to "stay out of the paint" (according to a source affiliated with the team), and then his surrogate brother gets assaulted, essentially, in a dirty play on a breakaway, the polish comes off the 22-year-old league-leading scorer, and he steps up to back his teammate up. Although there will be suspensions, and while acknowleging my subject position as being fairly partisan, I can't attack the team for what they did, which was to refuse to be scared off or backed down by some hard-fouling and shoving bullshit by Isiah Thomas (for whom I have lost all respect, following a viewing of his post-game comments) and Nate Robinson (who I already had no respect for following his unbelievably lame dunk-contest victory and unwillingness to expand his game to help a team that already has way too many short, shoot-first guards who don't play good defense). And again, I will defend this view as someone who 1. watches the nuggets regularly (and understands our tendency to blow leads, thus somewhat justifying our decision to leave our starters in late in the game) and 2. watched the whole 48 minutes of the knicks game, which in the grand historical emplotment of sports (which drives much of American culture), was revenge for a fluke loss early in the season, and a personal strike by Nuggets coach George Karl (who is completely crazy) against a coach (Isiah Thomas) who had a playing career featuring numerous violent incidents and personal vendettas, like the time he broke his hand punching Bill Cartwright in 1989. Basically, I feel like the Nuggets, a talented but emotionally immature team, fell victim to the baiting of the Knicks, a talented but awful, underachieving, and emotionally immature team, and so we lost by winning (both the game and, arguably, the fight).
As far as my own experience, I asked for good seats to a Nuggets game for Christmas from the fam, and I'm planning on going to the Suns game on wednesday. Unfortunately, the brawl means that, while the Suns normally just kick the crap out of us, we'll also be playing them without at least one (and probably several) of our starters, thereby making the game that much less enjoyable. A big thanks to one of the worst teams in the NBA (the Knicks) for screwing up my Christmas.
posted by sam at
3:38 PM
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