Royalty w/o 3/12 in review

This week turned out to be a very royal week of stadium travel. Some history was made along the way as well.

Here's how it played out:

Monday night after work I went out to Newark, NJ to see the Nets play the Milwaukee Bucks at the Prudential Center. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the evening since there was a small crowd on hand which included my pal Vincent Ascanio. That's understandable for a few reasons. First of all, it was only Monday night which is notorious for being the slowest night of the week. Secondly, the Nets haven't played well and to add insult to injury they were playing without their superstar point guard Deron Williams aka D-Will who got hurt in Charlotte during their road trip over the weekend. With that being said, I still expected to see a competitive game.

As for the game I wound up seeing, I was right on. The Bucks have played better lately especially because of forward Ersan Ilyasova who has been pouring it points and ripping down rebounds at a torrid pace. In February, when the Bucks were at the "Rock" he led the way with 29 points and he grabbed 25 rebounds before he fouled out with a few minutes to play.

This time he wasn't a factor in the game since he got two quick fouls early so he sat on the bench most of the first half. He wound up scoring only four points in the game. His teammates rallied together to pick up the slack. Brandon Jennings was the hero for the Bucks as he scored 34 points, pulled down 7 rebounds and he dished out 7 assists as the Bucks overcame the Nets, 105-99. The Nets lead most of the game but the Bucks kept it close. Late in the game, the Bucks turned it up a notch as they emerged victorious. On the bright side for the Nets, their forward Kris Humphries scored a career high 31 points and he grabbed 18 rebounds.

Tuesday night after work I went home and did my laundry. I passed up a chance to go to the Garden to see the Rangers because I needed to get my clothes washed, pack up my bags and get some rest so I would be ready for my big extended weekend getaway.

Wednesday night after work I did go to Madison Square Garden to see the ushering in of a new era of Knicks basketball. Earlier in the day, I heard that Knick coach Mike D'Antoni decided to resign. He mostly likely got fired but they reported it as a mutual decision by him and owner Jim Dolan. Mind you Dolan is one of the worst owners in professional sports who always likes to have positive feedback no matter what the circumstances are.

Mike Woodson who was an assistant under D'Antoni was named the interim head coach for the rest of the season. Woodson played for the Knicks back in the day in 1981. He was also been a head coach for the Atlanta Hawks in recent memory.

With Woodson aboard a new philosophy was instilled at the Garden. Unlike D'Antoni, Woodson is a defensive minded coach. It showed instantly as the Knicks shut down the Portland Trailblazers, 121-79.
It was a total team effort as Linsanity had a bad night. He finished with only 6 points and 6 assists. His teammates picked up the slack as they all contributed. Amar'e Stoudemire had 15 of his 17 points in the first half. Carmelo Anthony had 16 points all in the first half as well. In the second half, Steve Novak had 15 of his 20 points all three pointers. J.R. Smith scored 23 off the bench in the second half too.

The rest of the week I finished out West as the King and I flew out to Albuquerque, New Mexico early Thursday morning for fun filled getaway.

Stay tuned for the various special posts I'm going to do to recap the epic journey.

I know it will be worth the wait. It definitely lived up to the hype and then some. Please bear with me as I play catch up.

As always, thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman