| Monday, January 10
By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com |
|
NEW YORK -- No longer can Jeff Van Gundy be accused of suffering from blind loyalty when it comes to Patrick Ewing.
For the first time that anyone can remember in Ewing's 16 pro seasons,
he was benched for an entire fourth quarter in the Knicks' embarrassing
home loss to the Cavs this past Saturday. It was a watershed moment in
franchise history, since Van Gundy has always viewed Ewing like his meal ticket.
|  | | Patrick Ewing buries his critical jumper for the Knicks. |
Ewing took the benching -- which actually extended over the final 16
minutes -- very well. He refused to complain. But now that there is a
precedent, we'll see how he responds if he has to sit out more fourth
quarters.
If Ewing is really as committed to winning as he says, then he'll have
no trouble doing what's best for the team. However, if he puts his
personal agenda before the Knicks' best interests, then this could get
ugly.
Against the Cavs, who hadn't won on the road since Dec. 1, Van Gundy was correct in making the move. During Ewing's 23 minutes on the floor, he looked to still be suffering from the effects of the flu, and the Knicks
were outscored by 19 points.
"Every game, I try to play the guys I feel give us the best chance to
win," Van Gundy reasoned. "Every time you lose, you made the wrong
choice."
Not this time. Interestingly, Latrell Sprewell, who had disagreements with Van Gundy last year over his sixth-man role, was outspoken in supporting the move. He also said that Ewing has to be receptive in the future when he's asked to sit in key stretches.
"Patrick has been injured and he probably understands that he's not
quite the player he used to be, maybe five or six years ago," Sprewell
said. "If you realize that as a player, and you understand that there
are other guys there to help you, and you truly want to win, it's not
really an issue for you."
It wasn't -- this time.
Rim Shots I
A conspiracy theory making the rounds has Allen Iverson supporters
refusing to vote for Vince Carter on their Dream Team ballots, and
Carter backers doing the same to Iverson. So that's how the NBA's
reigning scoring champ and one of its rising superstars failed to gain
berths, and how Ray Allen won one of three final spots as a compromise choice.
Dream Team coach Rudy Tomjanovich wasn't happy that Carter was
snubbed, especially after he had voted for him. Tomjanovich justifiably
felt that his vote should have carried extra weight. Personally, I had a
problem with Ray Allen making the team -- and all other NBA'ers, for that matter. It's ridiculous that at this late date, we're still sending pros to the Summer Games. Other than keeping the NBA name front and center in the offseason, helping marketing and merchandise sales during summer months, the pros' presence serves no purpose. Unless, of course, you want to see more annihilations.
Rim Shots II
During the Lakers' 14-game winning streak, they've beaten
only five teams with winning records (Toronto, San Antonio, Minnesota,
Charlotte and Seattle) but are winning the games they're supposed to,
which we haven't seen from them since the glory days of Magic Johnson,
James Worthy et al.
Over the next few weeks, the schedule toughens, with road tests at Indiana (the first quality Eastern team they've faced) and Minnesota on back-to-back nights, a home date with Portland and a road game at Utah. In winning 21 of their last 22, they're well ahead of where Phil Jackson thought they'd be.
"I'm surprised," he said recently. "I always had teams that started
relatively slowly. And I thought that playing in a system like this
required so much effort and detail that it could take us a while to get
up to speed. But we did better than I imagined because we simply got on
the back of Shaq and his great play, and Glen Rice stepped forward and has gotten off quickly."
Back in the preseason, Jackson thought the Lakers would struggle for "a
month or two" as they learned to put aside their individual egos for
the common good of the triangle offense. As for Rice, whose name is
still front and center in every trade rumor-mill, how could they possibly move him with things going so well? Easy. They were in the midst of a 10-game winning streak last season when they dealt Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell to the Hornets for Rice.
"The thing you have to remember is that Jerry West is a risk-taker,"
said an Eastern Conference exec. "If he can get a small forward in
return, he might just trade Rice."
The latest name we're hearing is Tracy McGrady, coming in a three-way deal, with Rice going to Miami and Jamal Mashburn heading to Toronto.
Rim Shots III
Penny Hardaway hopes to return this Friday after missing the past 16 games due to a foot injury. Penny says this one was legit.
"When I got hurt this time," he said, "I knew that people were going to say, 'Here we go again. Is he really hurt?' There are just a few guys in
Orlando who don't like me and they continue to project the image about
me not playing hurt. No one really knows me, they don't know the pain I
go through and how much I love to play this game. It hurts me even more
even being on the sidelines." It's been hurting the Suns, too, who are
8-8 without him and 11-4 with him.
Don Nelson fired himself as coach only because he knew he was getting the gate at season's end. Nellie has a good chance to stay on as GM since new owner Mark Cuban is a big fan. Cuban's plan to spend freely on free agents will be virtually impossible. Thanks to Nelson's questionable moves, the Mavs are already assured of being capped out for the next few seasons.
Sure, the Spurs miss Sean Elliott. But they also miss the old Avery Johnson. The Spurs
already have lost three home games -- compared to four all last season --
and have fallen out of first in the Midwest as Johnson continues to have
a nightmare season. A career 49 percent shooter, he's making only 40 percent of his shots. He's also averaging only six assists, the worst average among starting Western point guards. Several players have hinted that Johnson, in the final season of his contract, is too busy looking out for himself and slowing the pace down too much.
Pro scouts descended en masse on Louisville last week to see Utah's Hanno Mottola, a potential lottery pick. Coming off an operation, Mottola is playing with a huge brace. "You felt bad for the kid because he's out there dragging his knee around," said one scout. "He couldn't run at all. But he's 6-9 and he's got skills."
After getting very few nibbles for Michael Olowokandi,
Clips have taken the former No. 1 pick overall off trading block.
Unable to swing a deal for the Pacers' Chris Mullin, the Jazz signed free agent Armen
Gilliam.
Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com. |  |
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