The Brooklyn Nets have since turned things around, and the New York Knicks, well, at the moment, there doesn't appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel for them.
This dark reality could spell the end for Knicks coach Mike Woodson, who could be let go before the Feb. 20 trade deadline if his team continues to flounder, according to a Bergin Record report.
Woodson's Knicks sit at 10th in the East, which is more of an indictment of there play than it appears to be, because the conference as a whole has struggled. The Knicks are a full two games behind the Charlotte Bobcats, who hold the eighth slot at 22-28 on the season.
Reasons for the Knicks' problems are ten-fold, and the list is too long to lay out here. In short, Woodson has a lot of work to do before the trade deadline hits in a little more than two weeks.
“If things had gotten off to the way we thought they should have at the beginning of the year we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Woodson said. “Again, we’ve had our struggles. With the injuries and inconsistent play in terms of our different rotations it’s just been a combination of things.
“My job as the coach is to get these guys over the hump. We’re still in position. It’s not like it’s the last week or two weeks of the season where we don’t have a shot in making the playoffs.
“We still have a legitimate shot to make it. Until it’s over I’m going to continue to push guys to understand that come April we want to still be playing basketball, not watching it on TV.”
Two of the players whose injuries have forced them in and out of the lineup and hurt the Knicks' interior are Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler. Stoudemire's comments wreaked of frustration, as he maintained that he hasn't had physical limitations for much of the season. He refused to use that as an excuse.
“From a doctor’s standpoint, there hasn’t been limitations since the first week of the season,” Stoudemire said. “So we can’t keep saying limitations. That’s a coach’s decision at the end of the day. I feel great. I am ready to play. But it’s up to him if he wants to play me or not.”
Even with Stoudemire and Chandler, the Knicks offense was based around star Carmelo Anthony and last season's Sixth Man of the Year, J.R. Smith. Anthony has played well, but Smith has struggled. Also, the Knicks' defense hasn't performed as well as it did with Chandler as the anchor.
The Knicks' issues aren't going to be solved in two weeks. But, even if these reports of Woodson's imminent demise are true, some form of progress could save him because there is an entire second half left to the season.
ASIK'S RETURN?
Unable to find a trade to their liking, the Houston Rockets are prepared to welcome center Omer Asik back to the team.
Asik, who has not played a game in two months, could be cleared to practice within the next seven-to-10 days, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The backcup center started rehab work last week, and is typically a set that a player is on the path to return, the Chronicle noted.
“Everything is not a definite,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “We’re ‘hoping for’ is what I’m getting.”
BOOZER'S TIME
Although he is one of the highest paid players on the Chicago Bulls, Carlos Boozer has spent fourth quarters and clutch moments on the bench and done so without complaint.
Recently, Boozer broke his silence and expressed displeasure with being on the bench for fourth quarters. Asked about Boozer's comments, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau's answer was what you expect from a tough, defensive-minded coach.
"You guys, you've been around a long time," Thibodeau said, according to ESPNChicago.com. "This is four years now — I'm not changing. I'm going with the guys who I think give us the best chance to win, I don't care who they are. So when we hit that six-minute mark it's based on what we're doing and what we need, and that's the way it's going to be."
For quite some time, Boozer has been replaced in crunch time with Taj Gibson. That hasn't stopped Boozer from getting numbers, and he had 19 points and 12 rebounds in Chicago's latest game. But, as a player, it is easy to understand why Boozer would like to be in the game.
"I think I should be out there," Boozer said on Monday. "But it's [Thibodeau's] choice. He makes the decisions out there, so I play. I don't coach. He coaches. So he decides that. But honestly, he's been doing that a lot since I've been here, not putting me in in the fourth quarter. Sometimes we win; more times than not, we don't. But that's his choice."
Thibodeau, for his part, focused more on the team aspect, as expected. Previously, Bulls general manager Gar Foreman said he wished that Boozer would have kept his concerns in-house.
Boozer was excited to get playing time late in Tuesday's game, a 101-92 Bulls win over the Phoenix Suns.
"It was great," he said. "It felt great to be out there, man. Great to be out there, great to hoop with my guys and try to help us win. It was a good win for us. It felt good to be out there, though."
ONE GIRL'S DREAM
Ebony Nettles-Bey's fight against cancer sparked a social media campaign as it became public that she has a dream to meet Miami Heat star LeBron James.
Stage four Rhabdomyosarcoma, an uncommon form of cancer, appeared set to end Nettles-Bey's budding basketball career, which was just getting started when she learned that she had cancer.
Nettles-Bey was named first team all conference after her sophomore season at Madison West High School in Madison, Wis., and received a scholarship offer from Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
After moving to Verrona, Wis., Nettles-Bey was slated to play for the Verrona Wildcats when she was diagnosed.
“At a couple open gyms, I was having trouble breathing,” Nettles-Bey told WKOW.com. “Then, I went to an AAU tournament. I couldn’t go up and down twice. I was just dead. Then, I went in to the hospital Monday. I had a lump under my breast like on my rib. So, my mom took me to the hospital. They said I had a lot of fluid on my lungs. That’s why I couldn’t breathe very good. After that, that led to me being diagnosed with sarcoma cancer.”
It looked as if her basketball career was over, as doctors told Nettles-Bey that she would not be able to play because of the effects of radiation and chemotherapy.
"When I first got diagnosed, they said I'm not going to be able to play basketball because I'll be too weak and stuff. I told them that I'm not too weak and I'm going to play."
Nettles-Bey lost her hair and 10 pounds off her frame due to the treatments, yet she still managed to win a starting spot for the Verrona Wildcats. She doesn't plan to quit playing basketball or fighting cancer.
"It kind of relates to cancer. If you give up in a game, like if you're getting blown out or something, then you'll lose but if you keep like fighting back and stuff, then you still have a chance to win. I'm going to beat it. I think that if I give up, I will die, but if I keep like being strong and stuff then, I won't."
JEFFRIES HOSTS FISHING SHOW
Jared Jeffries had lengthy NBA career. It wasn't great, but it was certainly respectable. Following his sophomore year at Indiana, in which he was named the Big 10 Player of the Year, Jeffries was drafted by the Washington Wizards with the 11th overall pick in the 2002 draft.
While he never made an All-Star game or received notable acclaim, he carved out an 11-year career in which he played for Wizards, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers. There are more than a handful of players more talented than Jeffries that would have killed to have the lengthy career that Jeffries did.
A guy like Jeffries, no frills and no flash, is easy to forget. But if you're an NBA fan who also happens to be a fan of fishing shows, you might be seeing Jeffries sooner than you expected.
Jeffries is now the host of a show called "Modern Fishing with Jared Jeffries" than debuted in early 2014 on the Outdoor Channel.
Fishing has always been a passion of Jeffries, who would spend his offseason travelling the seas in search of big game fish.
From ESPN New York: Jeffries, 30, is far from a casual fisherman; he might be the most committed and well-traveled one in the entire NBA. He brings his own rods, reels and a satellite phone on his trips, travels with a regular boat captain, Josh Temple, along with his wife and fellow angler, Jennifer, and visits four dedicated fishing websites to plan his next adventure.
“I’m probably the only NBA player who goes on these sites,” he said.
So there you go. Jared Jeffries is hosting a fishing show on the Outdoors Channel. Bet you didn't think you would be reading about that when you woke up this morning.
SMOOTHIE KING CENTER
The New Orleans Pelicans and Louisiana-based Smoothie King have reached a 10-year agreement to rename the New Orleans Arena as the Smoothie King Center.
Pelicans President Dennis Lauscha said such a deal had been a "gigantic" piece of owner Tom Benson's business plan since he bought the long-struggling small-market franchise from the NBA in the spring of 2012.
"Finding a naming rights partner was key to the long-tern financial viability of this franchise in this market," Lauscha said.
Benson, who has owned the Saints since 1985, purchased city's NBA franchise — formerly called the Hornets — for $338 million and has consolidated the headquarters and many of the business operations of both clubs. The hope was that with the two franchises sharing resources and cross-promoting one another, the region could better support two major professional sports teams.
Officials with both the club and Smoothie King declined to release financial terms of the deal, which also gives Smoothie King an option for a 10-year extension.
Contributors: DeAntae Prince, Troy Machir, The Associated Press
