A bit of Dodger Karma Helps the Nets Plus Magic on the Knicks

Oisk Plays the Anthem and Nets Win In the course of a long NBA season Karma can sometimes be useful. That may have happened for the Nets Monday night. Before the game that the Nets would eventually win 89-84 in overtime against the Pacers, Indiana native and former Brooklyn Dodgers' pitcher Carl Erskine played The Star Spangled Banner on his harmonica. Moments later he was interviewed on the YES Network's telecast and spoke warmly, as he always has, about his days in Brooklyn, and about how happy he was that Brooklyn was "back in the big leagues". Rrskine was a one time 20 game winner a 1954 all-star and a member of the 1955 World Series champs. He was also one of two Dodger mainstays from the state of Indiana. Gil Hodgers, who would later make his home in Brooklyn and manage the Mets to their first world title was the other.

              There are several aspects of this game worth noting.  The Nets handed the Pacers just their fifth loss of the season. Brook Lopez led the way with 25 points and 8 boards. Reggie Evans had 22 rebounds, but the key player for the Nets may have been rookie and local product Tyshawn Taylor who scored 12 points and had just two turnovers in 34 minutes of action. Coach PJ Carlesimo played him ahead of veteran CJ Watson and Taylor responded beautifully with a steady hand, two huge baskets down the stretch and his trademark ability to keep the ball in front of him defensively.  That skill, more than anything can and should earn him more minutes down the stretch as he can be part of helping the Nets deal with speed and quickness, an area where they've struggled mightily all year.

Knicks "Going Backwards" According to Magic The quoted portion of this headline comes from Magic Johnson who said this Sunday on ESPN. With all due respect to one of basketball's greatest point guards and leaders I think the explanation for the Knicks recent struggles is not a question of going backwards but exposing weaknesses that were always present. The roster is old, see Jason Kidd's fast start and recent struggles, they rely too much on 'Melo for offense, see 42 points in a loss.  He scores best as a "stretch power forward" and the Knicks get pounded by physical teams, see the Clippers as the most recent example. While the Knicks regular season can already be called a success, don't be surprised if they suffer an early playoff exit. In addition to the problems mentioned above, the expectation that Iman Shumpert would return at full strength as soon as he was cleared to play is proving to be a foolish one. And backing up an aging Tyson Chandler with two other aging bigs, Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby is proving to be foolish as well.  All of this spells potential trouble for the playoffs, where defense and physical play reach levels they typically do not during the regular season.