Second Half Knicks Storm Past Cavaliers: Feb 29-2012
Amare Stoudamire and the Knicks returning from the All-Star break said they were back and ready to roll in the second half of the season. So hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Garden, the Knicks did just that stopping Kyrie Irving and and his aggressive young team with a 120-103 win.
What was a horrendous first half with poor defense on all angles, and the Knicks unable to percolate their offense, Knicks were down an embarrassing 17 points early on. Cavaliers shot close to 50% from the field the first half against a Knick team that did not seem to have much energy. The Knickerbockers somehow turned it around in the second half with huge contributions from the bench including 17 from Steve Novak whose big 3-point shooting helped rally the Knicks and rocked the Garden in this comeback. He shot 5 of 6 from downtown at the end of the night. Jeremy Lin had 19 points and 13 assists in the victory but this win and effort came from contributions from not just a few players but everyone. The Knicks bench looked strong with Baron Davis, JR Smith, Steve Novak, and Jared Jeffries all adding to this team chemistry. This is certainly the deepest bench the Knicks have had in a while also now with Iman Shumpert returning from an injury.
What started out as a struggle ended up as a 34 point turn-around and everyone goes home happy. The defense finally picked up in the second half as they held down the Cavaliers offense in the final two quarters. Certainly fans were happy with this explosive effort by their Knicks team which rocked the Garden tonight. Knicks begin their second half of the season in fashion!
Bleeding Orange and Blue,
B.C.
The New York Giants Reign as Superbowl Champs Once Again: February 8, 2012
It has been four years since the New York Giants have been to the Superbowl, but yet it seemed not so long ago that David Tyree's unbelievable catch pinning the ball against his helmet proved to be a miraculous play as the New York Giants came back and defeated the New England Patriots 17-14 in the 2007-08 season. Four seasons later, it would be Mario Manningham making an incredible catch down-field to push the Giants offense and eventually reclaim the crown! The New York Giants return as champions as they take Superbowl XLVI and defeat the New England Patriots 21-17.
One can call it deja vu! It seemed like yesterday when the undefeated Brady and the Patriots took the stage in Arizona against the Giants and the G-Men took them out 17-14. This time the big spotlight landed in Indianapolis where Eli Manning and the Giants would claim glory or Tom Brady and the Patriots would seek revenge. So on sport's biggest Sunday, it would be the New York Giants once again defeating the New England Patriots. With the Giants down 17-15, the rally by the Giants came late in the fourth quarter as Eli Manning threw another miraculous pass, a remarkable 38-yard pass completion to Mario Manningham keeping both feet inbound. The outstanding play much compared to the memorable helmet catch by David Tyree in Superbowl XLII(42) led to a Ahmad Bradshaw who reluctantly ran it falling into the endzone for a touchdown with 57 seconds left on the field. With speculation that the Patriots strategically laid their defense back and allowed the touchdown in order for New England to regain possession of the ball, it would once again come down to key stops by the Giants defense against a quarterback named Tom Brady. Certainly a dropped pass by the wide-open Wes Welker did not help the Patriots cause, neither did another incompletion to Aaron Hernandez. Finally it would come down to one last play with 5 seconds left on the clock of the NFL season with the Giants up 21-17. Tom Brady hurled a Hail Mary from mid-field intended for Aaron Hernandez in the endzone with Giant defenders all around, the ball bounces around in the endzone with a failed attempt by Rob Gronkowski to secure it, the pass is no good, incomplete, and that did it! The New York Giants are Superbowl Champions once again!
For the quarterback, that makes it two Superbowl rings and MVPs! "I'm just excited to win a championship, excited for my teammates, for a number of guys this is their first one, obviously some guys who are getting their second, just excited for Coach Coughlin and all the coaches, the Giants organization... this isn't about one person, this is about a whole team coming together getting this win, i'm just proud of our guys, proud of the team the way we fought all year, never not discouraged, kept our faith kept our confidence and fought our way to the very end". And it is true, Eli and the Giants never buckled knowing the fact that they would have to mount another fourth quarter comeback and they did. He gives much of the credit to the coaching staff and playing smart, crediting the offense and defensive line. Eli pays homage to the best fans in the world in supporting and sticking with the team and looks forward to celebrating with them Tuesday morning which they did. Eli hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy in front of thousands of Giants fans in the Canyon of Heroes Tuesday morning and a very excited fired up Giants crew brought in all the cheer and happiness New York Giants fans can ever ask for.
Antrel Rolle said after the game, "tough times never last, but tough people always do, the New York Giants we are Giants we love it from the heart, we play it from the heart and we will not be denied". That seems to have been the key for these Giants all season long. Osi Umenyiora was just overflowed with emotion he could not answer reporters directly. The tears, sweat, and emotion from these players just epitomizes the greatness and the effort of this Giants team all year in not surrendering, always keeping their spirits up, always believing, and persevering, and here they stand as Superbowl Champs! For Umenyiora and other players like Justin Tuck, Chris Canty, and Mathias Kiwanuka, Brandon Jacobs, and Ahmad Bradshaw along with others, they all win their second Superbowl ring.
There could not have been a more pleased individual and person than their very own leader Coach Coughlin, "Each one is very unique and this is just exciting probably more so because of the kind of year we had, and wonderful experience it was in seeing this team come together the way they did, our defense started to play well and when our defense started to play well, we gained some confidence, and as they say the rest is history". Coach Coughlin always preached the words "finish, finish, finish", and when asked about the finish line he said, "This is the finish line for this year, yes it is". And indeed the ever-excited coach had been preaching to his Giants all season long. This is a team that people dismissed earlier in the season when the Giants were 7-7, there was a whole lot of sports talk and people wanting the Giants to get rid of Tom Coughlin. Nobody was giving this team a chance of even making it to the playoffs, the football atmosphere never had the Giants being any sort of favorite in any way, players even wanted out of this team and longed for free agency. This team was ranked not even top 10 in defense and was never in any way shape or form seen as capable of going as far they did. Since then, the Giants went on to win 6 consecutive games including throughout the playoffs and much of the reason for that was the Coach himself. After all when everything was said, endured, and done, there was nobody to have fired-up his team as he did, nobody to have sparked the spirit of the team the way he did and an overjoyed Tom Coughlin expressed gratitude to his team, his coaching staff, and his players. Here the New York Giants are standing on top of the world!
Michael Strahan joined his former team in City Hall yesterday after a special invite by Mayor Bloomberg himself. The former Giant was honored to stand by his former team and celebrate the awesome accomplishment that this team has done. Strahan won back in the 2007 season with the Giants and perhaps jokingly envied his teammates for getting a second Championship ring. The loud and excited atmosphere by Giants fans as the Stars headed up the Canyon of Heroes really depicted what they meant to their fans, their supporters, and the City of New York. This is what the players dream about, this is what the fans dream and cheer about, way to bring the Superbowl Championship crown back to New York again!
To the Superbowl Champions New York Giants!!!
B.C.
