Wednesday, 01 February 2012 00:00
Lawrence Frank, head coach of the Detroit Pistons has seen better days. The first year has not started kindly for the guy who as an assistant coach under Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics. Frank helped the Celtics give up the fewest points in the NBA. However, that hasn’t been the case in the first 22 games this year, his first with the Pistons.
They came into Madison Square Garden having lost 18 of those games. It hasn’t helped that his key player, Ben Gordon from Yonkers, has been out the last 5 games with a shoulder injury. In the 15 games he’s played, Gordon averaged 33 minutes and 15 points. Will Bynum (strained right foot) and Charlie Villanueva (sore right ankle) have missed significant time as well. It’s life in a league that had to start the year with a shortened training camp and an abbreviated pre-season schedule. Those facts have not been lost on Frank.
“It is what it is,” Frank said after watching his team get romped by the Knicks 113-86 on a night where they allowed New York to shoot 60% from the floor and 50% from 3-point land. “There’s no excuse. We have to do better with what we have.”
For more than 7 years, Frank was head coach of the New Jersey Nets taking over after then head coach Byron Scott was fired at the end of January during the 2004 season. He quickly made news by winning his first 13 games. No other coach in the four major professional sports began their career in such fashion. Six of those games came on the road, setting another record. When he was let go at the end of the 2009-10 season, Frank was the Nets all-time leader in coaching victories. Under his guidance, Frank’s team made the playoffs 4 years in a row, including winning the Atlantic Division twice and advancing to the Conference Semi-Finals three times. Taking over a Detroit franchise that has seen better days may be Frank’s most daunting task.
The Detroit Pistons championships years has been well documented. Led by Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars they won back-to-back NBA Titles in 1989 and 1990 against the Lakers and Portland respectfully. Those teams were led by legendary head coach Chuck Daly and the Bad Boys moniker was established by their hard core defensive players, Dennis Rodman, Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer.
“When I was in New Jersey they (the Pistons) had to go through us in the eastern conference semi-finals. They were a hard-nosed, blue collar defense first. Share the basketball, team first, grind it out team. Very tough minded,” said Frank.
It would take them 14 years (2004) to win their next championship, with a team that was built more on finesse and athleticism. Larry Brown was at the helm coaching Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Tashuan Prince and Ben Wallace. They defeated a heavily favored Lakers team that included Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O‘ Neal. Prince and Wallace are still with the Pistons and although they lost the following year to San Antonio, neither has been close to another final. Prince, who finished with 10 points on 5 of 10 shooting, believes the core is there to build another winner. Prince knows he and Wallace can guide the rest of the team in the right direction.
“At some point, we have to build a foundation to where we’re going to get to that.”
It would help if they could get Gordon, Bynum and Villanueva back and healthy, as soon as possible.
Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:02 Last Updated on Monday, 06 February 2012 22:02
Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle Anthony Munoz stopped by the Children's Aid Society in East Harlem to talk to the kids about the importance of exercise and good old-fashioned play.
Each child received a football and a bag from GMC and then took to field to play touch tackle.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 00:00
He turned down the invitation to be on Dancing with the Stars, but New York Giants wide receiver extraordinaire Victor Cruz could not pass up an invitation to take his salsa dancing skills to Broadway. Fresh off his stellar performance (10 catches, 142 yards) in the 20-17 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers, Cruz shuffled his feet at the Modell’s Times Square location to the delight of Giants fans. He talked about the origin of his touchdown celebration, how exhausted he was after the team clinched the NFC Championship and being part of his very first Super Bowl. Oh, he also gave an example of the dance he hopes to display at some point during the game that will take place February 5th in Indianapolis.
Because high school and college rules prohibited end zone celebrations, Victor Cruz had to wait until he made it to the pros to express his excitement after scoring a touchdown. He caught everyone’s attention when he hauled in 3 touchdown passes against the Jets in the 2010 pre-season game. Ironically, he didn’t get his salsa on after any of the catches. A hamstring injury sidelined him for the rest of that year. When Steve Smith signed with rival and division foe Philadelphia the following season, Cruz was given another chance to display his talents. The Eagles were the first team to see his moves after he splits two of its defensive backs and scampered 74 yards for the touchdown. The Salsa Shuffle was born.
“My grandmother said I should do a dance when I score a touchdown.” He wasn’t quite sure if she would like It. “Once I got her approval, I had to keep it.” It has taken the city and the NFL by storm.
With the rainy and windy conditions facing both teams in the championship game, it was a little surprising that the Giants offense would put the ball in the air as much as they did. Victor Cruz was Eli Manning’s favorite target in the first half. They connected on 8 passes for 125 yards but you could tell he was wearing down as the game went on. He only caught 2 passes for 16 yards in the second half, dragging himself off the turf as the game went on. “I was exhausted,” he said. The exhaustion faded the minute Lawrence Tynes 31-yard field goal sailed through the uprights sending the team to the ultimate game. Cruz was seen jumping up and down euphoric in his celebration.
Victor Cruz and his Salsa Shuffle was not part of the New York Giants when they beat the New England Patriots in 2008. He was part of the team that beat them last year when the Patriots were undefeated. Cruz will make it a point to talk to members of that 2008 squad to find out what the next 2 weeks will be all about.
“Come Thursday I will ask guys and get their take on it. How they feel about the game and how they are going to handle everything.”
They say familiarity breeds content. That said, Cruz doesn’t know which team has the advantage given they have played each other as often as they have over the last couple of years.
“We’ve seen each other a lot. We’re very familiar with each other. They understand us well and we understand them well. It’s going to come down to who makes the most plays.”
Victor Cruz is hoping to do his Salsa Shuffle for the first time this post season on the biggest stage and the biggest game of his career.
Friday, 22 July 2011 19:53 Last Updated on Monday, 25 July 2011 10:11
What's the 411?'s Andrew Rosario catches up with MLB's 2011 Home Run Derby King, New York Yankees' Robinson Cano. Mr. Cano is also the winner of the Latino Sports MVP Award.
Saturday, 21 January 2012 00:00 Last Updated on Sunday, 22 January 2012 21:16
The New York Knicks finished their 4th straight game at home riding a Murphy’s Law 5-game losing streak. That’s right, anything that could have gone wrong for them during the slide, did go wrong. They began the home-stand on a 4-game winning streak to improve their record to 6-4. Two road losses evened their record but they looked to take advantage coming back to the Garden. The first 3 games turned out to be a horror as they would lose to two teams that had worse records than they did.
After losing to Phoenix, head coach Mike D ‘Antoni declared the team was in “crisis”. They followed up that performance by getting embarrassed by Milwaukee. The night ended with Carmelo Anthony getting ejected. No one knew what to expect when they took the floor Saturday night against the 11-5 Denver Nuggets. It was the first time the two teams faced each other since the trade that brought Carmelo Anthony here while sending fan favorite Danilo Gallinari to Denver. Both teams and the principals involved wanted to show that the trade was justified. Only one of them was right.
Denver took a 1 point first period lead (25-24) as Anthony’s shooting troubles (10-30, 25 points) continued. He missed 5 of his first 6 shots while Gallinari only scored from the free throw line converting all 6 attempts. The bench, which had contributed practically nothing during the skid, came to life in the second. Bill Walker nailed all 3 of his 3 point attempts scoring 13 points. Toney Douglas chipped in 8 points on 3 of 6 shooting (2, 3-pointers) as the Knicks took an 8 point halftime lead. The ball movement that had been stagnant during the losing streak flowed, allowing New York to get open, uncontested shots. That all changed in the third period.
Turning the ball over 4 straight times allowed the Nuggets to cut the lead to 2 (54-52) after an Andre Miller lay-up. The Knicks regrouped to extend the lead to 8 (67-59) on a Landry Fields lay-up after an Iman Shumpert offensive rebound. Denver then closed the period on a 13-5 run, tying the game at 72 to end the period. Al Harrington, who was also included in the trade, would have an impact on the outcome of the game. Harrington, who never saw eye-to-eye with D ‘Antoni, played like he wanted to beat the Knicks all by himself. He missed 8 of his first 11 shots (6 points) but came to life in the deciding period.
“Early I couldn’t get nothing going,” he said of his slow start. “It was very frustrating. In my mind I wanted to play great. Every time you come against your old team home you want to have a good performance.”
Harrington (10-24, 24 points) then showed the offensive firepower he displayed while a member of the Knicks. He scored 15 points in the fourth period, connecting on three, 3-point attempts. His last lay-up gave Denver a 3 point lead (97-94). The Knicks managed to send the game into the first overtime after Anthony scored the final 4 points.
Both teams scored 7 points in the first overtime with New York going up by 3 (103-100) after Anthony hit another 3-pointer. Fate wouldn’t be on the Knicks side this night, evidenced by the Andre Miller 3-pointer after a wild scramble in front of the New York bench.
Said D ‘Antoni, “that shot killed us.”
Nene converted two free throws that sent the game into the second overtime. Gallinari then showed why Knick fans were not happy when he was shipped to Denver.
He scored 10 of Denver’s 14 points in the second overtime, 7 coming from the free throw line. Playing more than 51 minutes, he scored 37 points on 9 of 19 shooting, making 18 of 20 free throws.
“He’s a good player,” said D ‘Antoni of Gallinari. “He’s hard to guard and he’s tough.”
The New York fans in attendance gave him a nice ovation when he was introduced at the start of the game.
Smiling in the locker-room after the game he said, “I like to thank all the fans because that means they remember all the good things I did for the team and the franchise. It was great.”
Quick Knicks Notes: The Knicks lost for the 6th straight time as their record fell to 6-10 (4 in a row at the Garden) and the team starts a 4-game road trip in Charlotte Tuesday...Amar’e Stoudemire had a very weird night. He hit 3 of his first 4 shots (6 points) to start the game and ended up taking only 5 more shots the rest of the game converting only one. That basket, a 3 pointer, came with 7.6 seconds left in the second overtime when Denver had all but sealed the game.
Thursday, 30 June 2011 13:39 Last Updated on Friday, 29 July 2011 12:39
At an event to benefit the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in Harlem, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, the NBA legend who single-handedly brought cool to basketball, autographed copies of his book, Rockin’ Steady: A guide to Basketball and Cool. First published 36 years ago, book lovers lined up to purchase autographed copies of Rockin’ Steady, as if the book debuted yesterday. Walt Frazier spoke to What’s The 411? about why the book is still relevant today.
Friday, 20 January 2012 00:00 Last Updated on Sunday, 22 January 2012 21:16
With the New York Knicks offense struggling and the team on a 5-game losing streak, head coach Mike D ‘Antoni can’t wait until Baron Davis gets healthy enough to bring stability and veteran leadership to the backcourt. It may not happen for a couple of more weeks, but it’s not because of a lack of effort on Davis’ part. Prior to the game against the Milwaukee Bucks Friday night, Davis talked about his health and the state of the team. It hasn’t been easy watching the team go through the offensive funk that has them averaging only 88 points in their 8 losses. They have scored over 100 points only 3 times, winning 2 of those games. Defensively they have been better than in the past under D ‘Antoni giving up 100 points or more in 4 out of the 14 games they’ve played. With Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire on the floor, points should not be hard to come by. Both have been in a funk evidenced by their poor performance in the Wednesday night loss to Phoenix. They combined for 35 points but needed 44 shots to do so. Only Stoudemire’s free throws (9 out of 10) made his final line look respectable. Granted, Anthony has been hampered by a sore wrist and ankle and Stoudemire may still be dealing with a sore back, but as a team, they have not moved the ball well enough to give their teammates open looks and uncontested shots. That’s where Davis is hoping to contribute when he’s ready to play.
“I can shoot, dribble and a lot of spot shooting,” said Davis sitting in front of his locker.
He basically does this alone with the help of the assistant coaches and watched closely by the training staff. He’s doing things in moderation while working on conditioning drills.
“It’s a process,” he continued. “It’s strength, it’s conditioning, it’s balance. It’s being able to do that on a consistent basis day in and day out and wake up the next day and be ready to progress forward. I’m making leaps and bounds and huge strides to get myself on the court.”
In the meantime, when the ball goes up in the air, Davis is relegated to being a cheerleader and teacher. When Toney Douglas’ poor early season play forced D ‘Antoni to bench him in favor of first year guard Iman Shumpert, Davis had already been mentoring him while he was waiting to come off the bench. He was giving Shumpert advice and making sure he never lost confidence. Shumpert isn’t his only pupil.
“We have a lot of young guys on the team,” Davis continued. “If I see a weakness in a defender on the floor I will talk with Toney or Shumpert about it. I try and work with the younger guys to get them to hone in on the fundamentals. As we proceed thru the season, those are the things that are going to push us over the top.”
As he watches his team from the bench, dressed to the nines, Baron Davis is learning the offense he will be running as soon as his back can handle the everyday pounding. As easy as it may look from his vantage point, putting it into action with a new group won’t be easy. He doesn’t think it will take that long to pick things up.
“I’m the type of person that I pick up things very, very quickly when I’m out there.”
He will do that with a starting line-up that is still trying to develop offensive cohesiveness.
“Any time you have these many new faces in a system, it takes everyone to really catch a rhythm and to get on a roll. You have to be patient. Offensively I know that will come around.”
It didn’t come around against the Bucks as New York fell behind early in the fourth quarter by as many as 17 points in their 100-86 loss. Brandon Jennings, who torched the Knicks the last time he touched the Madison Square Garden floor for 37 points, scored a game and season high 36 points. Carmelo Anthony finished with a team high 35 points but his frustration showed after with 1:33 left in the game as he was hit with his second technical foul resulting in his ejection. The Knicks lost for the 5th straight time and their 3rd straight at home. D ‘Antoni said the team was in “crisis” after Wednesday’s loss. You can add turmoil as well.
“It’s the whole team,” he said afterwards. “We are just not sharp. It looks like they are running circles around us. It is not just one guy. We wouldn’t be this bad. Again, we have to dig deeper and get through this.”
Getting Baron Davis on the floor would be a good start.
Tuesday, 19 April 2011 00:00 Last Updated on Monday, 25 July 2011 10:50
What's The 411?'s Andrew Rosario checks in with NY Knicks fans during Game 1 of Round One of the NBA Eastern Conference games. Andrew spoke with fans in Manhattan at the Stumble Inn. The Knicks played the Boston Celtics in Boston. We hear there was a brave Boston Celtics fan in the sea of Knicks fans.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012 00:00 Last Updated on Sunday, 22 January 2012 21:15
If there was a team the New York Knicks needed to face in order to break their 3-game losing streak, it was the Phoenix Suns who came into Madison Square Garden Wednesday night with a 4-9 record and losers of 5 straight. The Knicks, playing the 2nd of 4 straight home games, were coming off their Monday matinee loss at the hands of the Orlando Magic. Both teams split the two games they played last year with each team winning on the road. Head coach Mike D’ Antoni, who coached Suns guard Steve Nash for years, knew the team would have its hands full. “He’s one of the best players to ever play the game,” said D’ Antoni. He works exceptionally hard at what he does. He knows the game exceptionally well. He does everything well.”
Steve Nash lived up to the praise D’ Antoni heaped upon him as he led all scorers with 16 points and 4 assist in the first half as Phoenix took a 45-42 lead. With Carmelo Anthony still dealing with a sore wrist and ankle, the Knicks wanted to get Amar’e Stoudemire into the offensive flow right from the start. He took the team’s first 3 shots, scoring 3 points finishing the quarter with 5 points along with Tyson Chandler. It was enough to give them a 1 point first quarter lead (20-19) even though they shot a paltry 37% from the floor missing 6 of 7 three pointers.
The second quarter was slightly better for the Knicks as the shooting increased to 42% but they trailed by 3, as the Suns extended the lead to as many as 6 (43-37) after a Marcin Gortat (5-13, 11 points) jump shot. Anthony would miss 4 of 5 shot attempts with Stoudemire ending the quarter with 15 points. Two themes that stood out and would be a factor in the loss was New York’s inability to convert free throws and take advantage of them dominating the boards. The final stats would show why.
The Knicks kept things close in the 3rd only trailing by as many as 4 points during any period. Landry Fields, (6-12, 17 points) who played his best game of the year, led all scorers with 10 points. Both teams only scored 19 points leaving the Suns in front (64-61) to begin what would be a back and forth last period. Neither team would trail by more than 3 points in the 4th until the Suns pushed the lead to 7 with 3:22 left after a Shannon Brown slam dunk.
New York battled back with rookie Iman Shumpert (8-14, 20 points) scoring 10 of the team’s last 17 points. He hit 2 consecutive 3-pointers, the second bringing the team within 2 points 85-83. With the time running out and no time outs left, New York was forced to foul sending Nash to the free throw line. He sank 6 in a row, as his team ended its 5-game losing streak. New York took 30 free throws (14 more than Phoenix) and missed 10. They also out-rebounded the Suns by 16 (15 more offensive) and could not take advantage, as they finished shooting 37%.
“It’s killing us,” stated D’ Antoni after the game of the offensive futility. “We won almost ever statistical category but couldn’t put the ball in the basket.” Dominating the boards would normally lead to the team getting out to more fast breaks but for whatever reason, the Knicks were not able to do that. “We tried and did a little better in the fourth quarter. Overall it was not good enough.”
After the 91-88 loss, the New York Knicks record fell to 6-8. “We’re in a little bit of a crisis,” D ‘Antoni admitted. “The good thing about it is that they’re playing hard, they’re playing good defense, they’re rebounding.”
They’re just not winning games.
Monday, 21 March 2011 11:40 Last Updated on Monday, 25 July 2011 10:12
In his first interview with What's The 411?, John Starks talks to Andrew Rosario about his educational foundation, what Carmelo Anthony would mean to the New York Knicks, his memorable dunk over Michael Jordan and Horace Grant in Game 2 of the 1993 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, and of course, his bowling skills.
East Rutherford, NJ - The biggest question on the minds of New York Giants fans when they faced the Atlanta Falcons Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium was which Giants team would show up. Would it be the team that won its last two games of the season against the Jets and Cowboys? Or would it be the team that lost 5 of 6 games that made it mandatory for them to win those last two games in order to qualify for the tournament? During that losing streak, the Giants defense was nowhere to be found. Offensively, the ground game disappeared and they had to rely on Eli Manning to keep them in every game except the loss to New Orleans. They seemed to right the ship against the Jets and Cowboys and hoped the momentum carried over in their first playoff game since the 2008 season.
New York won the toss and elected to receive spurred on by a crowd of more than 79,000 waving their white towels on a cloudy and overcast afternoon. Beginning on their own 25, Eli Manning, out of the shotgun, sees his fist pass attempt go thru the hands of Victor Cruz. Ahmad Bradshaw’s first rushing attempt gains no yards. A false start penalty by Hakeem Nicks pushes them back 5 and Manning’s first completion only gets them 11 yards forcing them to punt. The Falcons themselves would go 3 and out on their first possession as both teams struggled to establish an early running game. 
Atlanta failed to take advantage of the free kick possession giving the ball back to the Giants on their own 15. Thirteen (13) plays and 85 yards later, New York would take their first lead of the game and never look back. They ran the ball 9 times for 69 yards bolstered by a power run of 34 yards by Brandon Jacobs and a 14 yard scramble by Manning.
Manning caps the drive hitting Hakeem Nicks with a 4 yard touchdown pass. 
The Giants didn’t take long to put more points on the ball the very next time they touched the ball. Manning (23-32,277 yards and 3 td’s) finds Nicks with a quick pass across the middle then he splits 6 Atlanta defenders streaking 72 yards for his second touchdown of the day.