The Knicks Fix

Renaldo Balkman is a go-to guy in situations like these. He sat by his locker, checking his BlackBerry when I approached him. He didn't even hear the question. He just shook his head.

"Oh man. Crazy."

It's got to be his go-to quote when something wild happens. But I'm amused by it, so I'll keep going back whenever something like David Lee's game-winning tip with one-tenth of a second left in double-overtime tonight against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Looking to start a little lighthearted trouble, I asked Jamal Crawford, who inbounded The Tip (which from here forth it will be forever known) if it was a perfect pass or a perfect tip. Crawford didn't even look up.

"Both."

So I asked David Lee.

“Oh, perfect pass. Are you kidding me?”

Jamal then chimed in and my plan to get them into a debate worked. Sort of.

“No," Crawford said, "perfect tip.”

Tastes great! Less filling!

“That guy threw it right over Okafor," Lee said, "through Gerald Wallace.”

“This guy tips it with one-tenth with his right hand, going backwards," Crawford said. "How did you even see that?”

“I actually used to be in Cirque-du-Soleil," Lee said. "Don’t write that, I don’t want to hurt my image.”

With that, the debate ended. I felt unfulfilled. Looking for some amusement, I headed to Balkman's locker. But he was gone.

* * * *

Michael Jordan got a rousing standing ovation from the Garden crowd during the second quarter and he gave a polite salute to the fans he once used to terrorize and mesmerize as a player. And while this was going on, Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley, sitting at centercourt, remained seated as they looked at the court and waited for play to resume, as if completely oblivious to the love that was being shown to MJ in their building.

A while later in the game, Ewing and Oakley were shown on the video screen and the Garden cheered again. Ewing waved his arms and pulled Oakley to his feet and the two faced the crowd.

More fun with Michael came later when the Garden scoreboard showed a "memorable moment in Knicks history," which was, of course, John Starks' dunk on Horace Grant and Jordan. Then the scoreboard showed Starks at his seat, looking impishly down at Jordan, who ignored the camera.

Old rivalries never die.