SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
Related Articles
By Arnie Leshin
New York, New York, what a neat sound.
Turning to its professional sports teams, Tom Thibodeau and Buck Showalter are not so neat as head coaches, Thibodeau with the NBA Knicks, Showalter with the Major Leagues Mets.
Maybe they dress well, wear neat clothing, but these are sad and sorry times they bring in guiding a pair of franchises that deserve better.
Yes, Thibodeau did get his Madison Square Garden tenants into the postseason tournament as the fifth seed, did made a nice four-of-five run past the stunned 4th-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in round one, but what’s become of them now in trailing 3 games to 1 versus the No. 8 seed Miami Heat.
Yeah, the guys from South Florida are talented, only finished four games behind the blue and orange in the standings, but now, after Monday night‘s 109-101 setback in Miami, the season could wind down for the Knicks in Game five Wednesday at the Meca of venues on Seventh Avenue.
Or at Game six back at the Heat, but doesn’t figure to go further as New York packs up and Miami heads in the Eastern Conference final against the Boston Celtics of Philadelphia 76ers.
The Heat are in its 17th year under head coach Eric Spoelstra, who took over from former Knicks head coach Pat Riley, who is now team president, and can actually wind up with its third trip to the conference finals in the last four seasons.
In this latest upheaval of New York, it was forward Jimmy Butler leading the way with 27 points and 10 assists and post Bam Adebayo added 23 points 13 rebounds.
The Knicks wound up with three players with five personal fouls and Julius Randle and Josh Hart fouled out with about two minutes left. Leading scorer Jalen Brunson had four fouls and 32 points to go with 11 assists, and RJ Barrett scored 24 before fouling out with 37 seconds to go.
New York had its chances, but couldn’t take advantage, simply put, the Heat missed 12 of its final 15 shots in the fourth quarter, but the fumbling Knicks could only cut the 11-point lead to 3, and with 4:40 remaining, a pair of Brunson free throws got his side to within 99-93.
But the antsy arena in Miami kept getting louder and the Heat kept control the rest of the way.
Whenever Miami had a turnover (it had 21 to New York’s 28), the visitors had no answer. A short run by the Knicks became a Heat run that maintained the advantage. Miami also outrebounded New York, 44-35, and in assists, 28-21.
The Knicks never led in Game 3, then held the lead in Game 4., barely.
Now let’s check out the other New York, New York franchise, the Mets, one of the National League’s pre-season picks to, oops, play in the World Series.
Owner Steve Cohen, the wealthiest of professional franchises spent some of his billionaire gelt on signing future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander to a 2-year deal, and center fielder Brandon Nimmo to an 8-year contract.
And with long-ball hitter Steve Alfonso his first baseman, Francisco Lindore at short and Jeff Sterling Marte in right field, well, it did look promising.
