Thurs AM BRB (4-22-21)
This Day in Music (4-22-2013)
Singer-songwriter Richie Havens, who rose to fame opening the Woodstock festival in 1969, dies at age 72.
Photo Credit: Wendell Cruz/AP
Against all odds and every measure of logic, New York Knicks fans awoke this morning to find their team in pole position for a home playoff series after a thrilling 137-127 overtime victory against the Atlanta Hawks. Though the Knicks trailed for the better part of three quarters, Tom Thibodeau’s group showed the type of intensity fans have waited nearly a decade to see out of their Knicks. Outscoring the Hawks 47-30 from the start of the 4th quarter through overtime, the Knicks left little doubt that they are ready to seize the opportunity they’ve created for themselves. Team MVP Julius Randle showed up delivering the most impactful 40 pt performance of his career, and guards Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley added 20 points apiece off the bench. Quickley’s presence on the court meant good things would happen to the Knicks on Wednesday, as the rookie guard was an electrifying +29 on the game. Through it all, this Knicks team has reminded its fanbase and their city what team basketball is all about. It remains to be seen what type of ceiling a team such as this has in 2021, but I wouldn’t be one to tell them the odds. You can charge the Knicks for not having a star, but when a team can play back to back, critical games and receive star performances on one night from R.J. Barrett, and one the next night from Randle, well, the Knicks just might be able to bluff their way into some really exciting basketball this Spring. In a possible preview of a 4-5 matchup, the Knicks passed the test with flying colors. It’s clear that the Eastern Conference is playing a very dangerous game in giving this Knicks team, and Knicks fans, a reason to believe.
From a team driven by belief, to a team that is absolutely drunk on it. The New York Yankees lost another game Wednesday night thanks to an unwatchable, frail offense that is “this close to turning it around,” if you believe the tired party line. Quotes from last night (courtesy of the brilliant Bryan Hoch) include manager Aaron Boone stating, “I know we’re walking out there with heavy artillery every night. We’ve just got to unlock it.” Aaron Judge mused, “Right now, we’re not getting the job done, but I believe in this team. We’re right on the cusp of getting on a hot streak.” To paraphrase the great Bob Dylan, Yankees fans sit here patiently waiting to find out what price we have to pay to get out of going through all these things twice. Fans are tired of an endless barrage of bullshit musing about how close this clearly lost team is. Close is not Einstein’s definition of insanity, as we helplessly watch an anemic offense bash its head against the wall swinging for a three run home run that isn’t coming. While it doesn’t make anything better to point fingers, the coaching staff must at a certain point ask themselves what the hell they’re doing here, if not trying everything they can to break this chain of filth? What use is it even having a hitting coach if not to re-align the team’s philosophy to accentuate its positives and hide its (very apparent) weaknesses? Perhaps this is the new school of baseball running wild and unchecked, where managers and coaches have little more say than an unusually intelligent sex doll. I choose to believe that a genuine baseball man like Aaron Boone is tired of living under such helpless circumstances. The time has long since come for him to start acting like it. Brian Cashman has done his job in finding talent, it’s now Aaron Boone’s job to rebuild that talent into a winning product. To insure his fourth year as Yankees manager is not his last, Aaron Boone must turn this into his team.
Things got ugly for the Mets last night as just about every facet of the game completely broke down in a 16-4 loss to the Cubs in Chicago. Francisco Lindor was able to open the scoring with his first HR as a Met, but that was right about where the fun ended for the team as the good feelings faded fast. Though the Mets were able to hold it together and build a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth, the team suffered a breakdown of both pitching and defense. In the frame, the Cubs scored seven runs on six hits and three errors, one each by J.D. Davis, Lindor and Michael Conforto. Mets pitching was also off its game last night as the first three hurler’s called upon by manager Luis Rojas were all pounded by Chicago hitting Wednesday. Starter David Peterson and relievers Robert Gsellman and Trevor Hildenberger combined for 5.2 innings which saw the Cubs plate 14 of their 16 runs on the night, though only nine of them were earned thanks to the Mets defensive woes. These breakdowns happen once if not a handful of times during the course of a 162 game season, “that’s baseball, Suzyn.” However, as the Mets’ currently hapless crosstown rivals bare warning, allowing such sloppiness to fester can lead a team down a slippery slope. While they’ll have to wait until the weekend for their ace(s) to return, perhaps the lineup can be spurred on by Pete Alonso’s 429 foot missile out of Wrigley Field to create some fireworks of their own tonight.