Knicks-Jazz Game Notes
By InsideHoops.com / Dec. 19, 2004
Sunday afternoon the Utah Jazz visited Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks. InsideHoops.com presents raw, unedited game notes taken live and presented in the order they were recorded. Basically, this is just a fun, editorial-style look at the game.
Knicks starters: Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Tim Thomas, Kurt Thomas and Nazr Mohammed. The usual.
Jazz starters: Raul Lopez, Raja Bell, Matt Harpring, Carlos Boozer and Aleksander Radojevic.
It's a 3PM, Sunday afternoon game. Strange tipoff time. But it feels good to catch a game and still have the entire night to come.
The first six minutes of the game wasn't really a game. It was more like a bad warmup session.
With 5:30 to go it's Jazz 8, Knicks 7.
Raul Lopez picked up his second foul at 5:10. Carlos Arroyo, who should become the starter again soon, enters.
If you made Matt Harpring a lot smaller, he'd be Rusty LaRue.
Adam Sandler is in the house.
Stephon Marbury is always good at driving, drawing contact, and finishing strong.
Harpring knows to follow his shot.
Boozer has six points and an assist. It's Jazz 10, Knicks 10 at 3:30.
After a Knicks miss, Jamal Crawford got the offensive rebound, drove hard down the left baseline and launched himself for a big dunk. Boozer met him in the air and delivered a foul as if Crawford owed him money.
Around 3:20, Allan Houston checked in for Marbury. Crawford moved over to point guard.
Tim Thomas forces a shot and misses. "Great shot selection, Tim! There were three guys on you," yells a fan.
After a time-out, Tim scored. And again. He does this a lot - a few bad plays followed by a few buckets.
Harpring in the first quarter had around six points, four rebounds and three steals.
Kurt Thomas in the first quarter grabbed about five boards and dished about two assists.
End of first quarter: Knicks 19, Jazz 16.
It's a Latino Day celebration here at the Garden. So, for their first performance of the day, the Knicks City Dancers came out in all-black, with Latin-style ruffles. They snapped it to Hard Latin House music. InsideHoops.com Performance Ranking: 8.8 out of 10.
Tim Thomas again, inside, from a quick Marbury pass. He has 10 points and two steals.
So far it's tough to tell whether Mehmet Okur is on the floor or not. I mean, I see him on the court, but I don't know if he's really there.
That Maroon 5 group is in the house. The lead singer, at least.
Michael Sweetney is in, and cleans up a Tim Thomas miss. It's Knicks up, 23-16, two minutes into the second quarter.
During a time-out at 8:50, a fan successfully hit 5 three throws in under 30 seconds, won $777, and then got to shoot from halfcourt for $77,777. He fired, but nailed the backboard - no rim. These contests are fun to watch.
Nazr Mohammed has range. He's an improved player in every possible way this season, and that includes a better shot.
Harpring passed to Gordan Giricek, who was right under the rim. Giricek misses a layup that was in traffic but still fairly open. I bet that had he caught it from 32 feet out, he'd have hit it.
Some models are in the house. That's common, though. This is Madison Square Garden.
Houston catches the ball and instantly, like a machine, squares up for a perfect three-point shot. Easiest assist Marbury will ever have.
At 6:32 it's Knicks 32, Jazz 20.
Houston again, with a defender on him and another right nearby. He requires no room to get his jumper off, and the release is as quick as it was before his injury.
Maybe the Jazz think this is a scrimmage and the real game starts at 7:30 p.m.
At 5:55, the Knicks City Kids came out. They're like two years old, yet professional dancers. One of them might be three. He's almost over the hill for this squad. The old, crafty veteran.
Raja Bell, with Houston on him, did a good Houston impression and nailed a tight jumper.
At 4:38, Jerome Williams' socks entered the game. Williams also entered.
The very first play, Harpring ran a fast break all by himself, drew a foul on Williams, hit the layup and got the foul. Free throw is good. For a second I thought I was watching Hoosiers.
Tim Thomas stole the ball, saw Marbury streaking ahead, and fired a pass about 900 feet ahead of Marbury, resulting in a turnover.
Fans are either chanting "defense" or "save us" (from this awful game). It could be either, I'm not sure.
The Jazz should sign the guy from the contest earlier who hit the five three throws in under 30 seconds and start him in the second half. They've looked lousy.
A trivia contest during a time-out revealed that Vin Baker thinks Stephon Marbury is the team's biggest Momma's Boy (that's the phrasing of the question, I'm not being obnoxious.) Then, it was revealed that Marbury agrees.
At 2:22, fans got what they came to see, as Curtis Borchardt checked into the game.
Inspired by Curtis' entrance, Harpring posted up, spun and scored with the foul. He missed the free throw, but got his own rebound thanks to that "follow your shot" thing I mentioned earlier. Harpring now has 13 points, six rebounds and an assist.
At 1:17, Harpring set a pick, Mehmet Okur tried to cut past it with Kurt Thomas guarding him, and it looked like Okur fell into Kurt who crashed into the pick. Something like that. It was a mess. Foul called on Kurt.
The Jazz are successfully keeping Kurt far away from the rim on offense, so he hasn't had his usual open mid-range, baseline jumpers. He has no points and seven rebounds with the second quarter almost over.
Harpring again. All blue collar and hustle. He's destroying Allan Houston, who has been at small forward.
With the half ending, Marbury tried to shake Raul Lopez, couldn't, but then launched himself at the rim and flipped up a high-floater that sailed in at the buzzer. Great way to end the half.
End of second quarter: Knicks 41 Jazz 36.
The Jazz started the third quarter strong. With 7:44 to go it's Knicks 47, Jazz 46.
Crawford pulls up for a tough, ill-advised jumper. Swish.
Raul Lopez wide open - miss.
Harpring has 21 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
Kurt Thomas has 10 rebounds, and just two points.
Raja Bell circles around under the basket, fires an open outside baseline jumper, and hits it. With 5:15 left in the third, Utah is now up, 54-49. The Jazz look more like a basketball team, now.
Boozer posted up against Jerome Williams, flattened him, and hit the layup.
Crawford hit a three, then a two. The Jazz are up two.
There isn't a lot of depth to the Knicks offense. It's either drive down the middle, or swing the ball around the perimeter. One thing or the other, over and over.
At 3:19, Kirk Snyder and Jerome Williams both had their hands on the ball, and almost got mad at each other. No fight. Jump ball.
Boozer is quick enough to drive past most defenders, and wide enough to force the defender to foul while trying to block his shot.
Spike Lee might be in the building. It's either him or a 12-year-old kid. I can't tell.
At 2:02, Crawford pulled up with a defender in his face and about 17 seconds left on the shot clock. Airball. The refs call it Jazz ball.
At 1:39, Kurt Thomas picked up his fourth foul. Boozer drew it on him. Boozer's size and quickness is becoming a factor.
Mehmet Okur for the game has eight boards, and two points. He's coming alive, on the boards at least.
Carlos Arroyo's play of the game came with 38 seconds left in the third. He drew time off the clock, and flew alongside and then past Marbury right down the middle of the floor for the bucket and the foul. And the free throw.
Jerome Williams should wear a giant afro wig to go with his headband and high socks. Not a regular afro wig. I'm thinking one of those rainbow ones.
Okur with another rebound, this time offensive. He's doing the job on the boards.
End of third quarter: Knicks 65, Jazz 63.
The Knicks City Kids are back on the floor. A few of them are shorter than a basketball.
Everybody salsa! Salsa! Salsa! Salsa!
To start the fourth quarter, Houston took a three, and there was contact during the shot between him and defender Matt Harpring, but no call was made. The shot missed.
Arroyo, with Marbury on him, explodes for a layup.
Kurt Thomas hits an open outside shot. He's up to 14 rebounds.
Marbury and Houston unleashed and offense where the two players stood still and basically just passed the ball back and forth, with shot-fakes in-between each pass. Over and over for about 12 seconds, until the shot clock went off.
Sweetney's play of the game was catching a long pass from Marbury while running, stopping to fake two defenders away, and dunking with two hands.
With 7:00 left in the game it's Knicks 75, Jazz 72.
No two Knicks ever seem to be moving at the same time. When one moves, the other four hold their position.
Marbury has nine assists. The entire Jazz team has 14.
At 5:22, Okur suddenly decided to make an offensive move, posting up and spinning for an impressive fadeaway jumper. He's had a terrific second half. Seconds later, Kurt Thomas was called for a technical foul.
The Jazz are only 19 of 30 from the free throw line so far in this game. They're up with 4:23 to go, 79-76.
Okur with a few more boards.
Jamal Crawford hits a three, and the very next Knicks possession he runs down the court and as immediately as possible pulls up Raja bell in his face, and with no regard for anything, launches a three. He hits it, and draws a foul. Four point play.
Boozer, over and over, is operating down low on offense now, drawing fouls on hapless Knicks.
At 2:45 it's 83-all. And now, after a time-out, the crowd is totally alive, chanting "Defense!" at full volume.
Marbury, Crawford and Tim Thomas made solid plays with a bit under two minutes to go.
Okur at 1:20 fired one of the ugliest shots I've ever seen. It looked like it hit the backboard about 3 feet above the rim. I'm not even sure. It was so ugly, my body's immune system forced me to avert my eyes.
Raja Bell hit a clutch shot to pull the Jazz within two.
With 30 seconds left, Crawford nailed a jumper. Knicks by four.
Arroyo drives with about 20 seconds left. Layup. He's gotten fierce as the game has progressed. Knicks by two.
The Knicks get fouled. Crawford hits two free throws. Knicks by four.
Arroyo drives again, drawing a foul on Kurt Thomas, who has fouled out. Sweetney replaces him. With 10 seconds left, Arroyo makes both free throws. Knicks by two. Time-out, New York.
Cue Music: It takes two to make a thing go right! It takes two to make it out of sight!
Clock down to 6.4 seconds as the Jazz foul Marbury. He hits both. Knicks up four. Time-out, Utah.
Harpring inbounds, gets the ball back, launches a three, bricks it, ball falls out of bounds but Utah retains it. Okur catches and launches a three, and with one-tenth of a second left, nails it. The refs then add 0.3 back on the clock, so the Knicks have ball and a one-point lead with 0.4 seconds left. They just have to inbound and it's over.
And, it's over. A slow first half turned into a better second half.
Final score: Knicks 94 Jazz 93.
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