When the father of one of my football players generously gave me two tickets to the Heat game, I was very excited. When I realized that the seats were in the 2nd Row on the baseline and that the Heat would be playing the Knicks I literally jumped out of my seat!
It was befitting that Tim Hardaway's jersey was retired on that night. He had been the starting point guard on so many of those Knicks/Heat rivalry games of the 90's, and he talked about those match ups in his pregame speech. It really was nice to see his jersey retired. As much as I hated him and Alonzo Mourning, I also admired and respected them for their tenacity and toughness.
I was also excited to see Mike D'Antoni's "speed-ball offense." I was curious to see how it worked. The Knicks actually looked good in the first half. They mixed it up nicely and David Lee was a beast under the basket. However, I was a bit disappointed as there was nothing special about the way they played. To me it just looked like regular basketball.
Until the 2nd half...
The Knicks came out flat and slow. They quickly fell behind by over 30 points at one point and I remember turning to my friend Lou and saying "here we go again. It looks like it's going to be another long season." D'Antoni's speed ball offense was nothing more than fast breaks and jump shots. It wasn't really very exciting, and I wasn't really very impressed. The Knicks also played absolutely zero defense in the 2nd half. It was ugly, I have to admit.
The final score: Knicks 93 - Heat 115
Dwayne Wade, on the other hand, was spectacular to watch. When you get an opportunity to see a player of his caliber up close, you realize just how special they really are. The one thing that stood out to me was his quickness. He was zipping by everyone, and he spread the floor effortlessly. He is always trying to dazzle with reverse layups and dunks, and most of the time he succeeds.
The other stand out of the evening was the Knick's sharp-shooter Danillo Gallinari. He made something like 6 or 7 3-point shots over the course of the game. I remember reading once where Mike D'Antoni called Gallinari "the best shooter he had ever seen." On Wednesday I saw what he meant.
Gallinari, or "Gallo" as his Italian friends called him when he was playing professionally in Italy, was very smooth. He effortlessly side stepped defenders and drained 3's one after another. In the end, he and David Lee led the team with 22 points.
If Gallo is the future of the Knicks, then the Knicks seemingly have a future to look forward to. He is for real, and I predict him to crack the starting line-up sooner rather than later.
Quick Note:
Actress Gabrielle Union was sitting 4 seats away from me in my row to my left. She was there with two of her girlfriends. Unfortunately for me, two very old (senior citizen old) ladies were sitting in between us, thus blocking her view from noticing us. I'm sure my girlfriend is very thankful of that, even though we had no chance with the young starlet. ;-)
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