Royalty w/o 11/5 in review

Prince in Section 230 at Barclays Center

Monday morning I woke up early so I could return the Crown Victoria I rented from Avis for the weekend. I wound up driving 1,134 miles safely over the two days I had the car.

I went to work afterwards tired and all. I survived the day and after work I took the subway to downtown Brooklyn where the new Barclays Center is located. It's the home of the Brooklyn Nets who moved from New Jersey. On this night, the Nets were hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves. It should be noted that they were missing two of their key players, Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio who were inactive due to injuries.

Even though I saw the Barclays Center during the preseason, this was my first official visit if you will. It was my 58th NBA arena which includes all the current ones.

Before I went inside I stopped off a Subway restaurant for my pre game dinner. It was conveniently located in the Atlantic Center Mall which is right across the street from the arena. When I finished I proceeded to go into the building to see some NBA basketball.

When I got to my seat in section 230, I met up with the King and our pal Vincent Ascanio who was also there.

As for the game we saw, it started well for the new team in town. The Nets got off to a fast start as they lead by four, 31-27 after the first quarter. They extended their lead to 15 at halftime, 62-47. They lead by as much as 22 along the way. After three quarters, they lead, 86-75. In the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves finally awoke. Did they ever, they stormed back and they blew past the Nets as they dominated down the stretch making one shot after another. The Timberwolves outscored the Nets, 32-10 over the last twelve minutes to come away with an improbable 107-96 victory.

The Timberwolves rallied without their two star players. They got a game high 21 points from center Nikola Pekovic. In addition, forward Chase Budinger came off the bench and he added 16 many of which came during their late surge as they stunned the Nets. In the losing effort, Deron Williams had 18 points to go along with 13 assists.

Tuesday night after work I went out for dinner with my Aunt Joan and Uncle Mort who were in Manhattan for the day. We went to Ben's Deli. We had some good food and we got to catch up at the same time. It was really nice to see them again. I want to personally thank them for meeting me.

Wednesday night after work I went home to relax as it was snowing believe it or not. If Hurricane Sandy didn't do enough damage, we got a Noreaster on top of it which produced some wet and slushy snow.
Thursday night after work the snow disappeared thanks to some warmer weather. As a result, I was able to do my laundry when I got home.

Friday night after work I went to Charley's Subs for dinner in Penn Station. When I was done, I went upstairs to Madison Square Garden. I saw the undefeated Knicks take on the visiting Dallas Mavericks who were playing without their superstars Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion.

As for the game I saw at the Transformed Garden, the Knicks and Mavericks battled it out. The Knicks lead by two after the first quarter, 25-23. In the second quarter, the Mavericks went ahead as they lead at halftime, 57-55. In the third quarter, the Knicks started to take over the game as they took the lead at 84-78 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the Knicks maintained their lead as they beat the Mavericks, 104-94 to stay unbeaten at 4-0 on the young season. Once again, Carmelo Anthony led the way for the Knicks as he scored a game high 31 points while teammate J.R. Smith added 22. For the Mavericks, O.J. Mayo paced them with 23 points.

Stay tuned for some special posts that I'm going to do that will recap my latest getaway weekend from NYC.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

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

Nets add "D-Will" to the mix as they build for their move to Brooklyn in 2012!

NETS ACQUIRE TWO-TIME


ALL STAR GUARD DERON WILLIAMS

East Rutherford, NJ – The New Jersey Nets have acquired two-time All Star guard Deron Williams from the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Devin Harris, forward Derrick Favors, two first round draft picks (Nets 2011, Golden State 2012) and cash considerations, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today.
“We are very excited to add a player the caliber of Deron Williams to our roster,” said King. “He is one of the premier point guards in the NBA, and his skill and talent level will bolster our franchise as we continue to build towards our goal of becoming a championship-caliber team.”

Williams, 6’3”, 209, was selected third overall in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft by Utah. The Illinois product is currently in his sixth NBA season and holds career averages of 17.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1.0 steals in 35.6 minutes per game. In 439 career games, including 406 starts, he has shot .466 (2,725-5,848) from the field, .358 (511-1,427) from three-point range and .808 (1,615-1,998) from the free throw line. In 44 career postseason games, Williams has averaged 21.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 9.6 assists and 1.2 steals 40.4 minutes, while shooting .458 (308-672) from the field and .796 (238-299) from the line. Williams is a two-time All Star (2010 and 2011), made the All-NBA Second Team in 2008 and 2010, won a gold medal as part of the Team USA at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, was a member of the All-Rookie First Team in 2006 and became only the third player in NBA history to have 1500+ points and 800+ assists while shooting .500+ from the field in a single season in 2007-08 (Magic Johnson, 1986-87, 1988-89 and Kevin Johnson, 1988-89). He ranked fourth on Utah’s career assists list (4,003), fifth for three-pointers made (511) and fourth for three-pointers attempted (1,427). In 53 games with the Jazz this season, Williams averaged a career-best 21.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 9.7 assists (3rd in the NBA) and 1.2 steals in 37.9 minutes. He also tallied 27 double-doubles (7th in the NBA).

Harris, a 6’3”, 190-pound guard currently in his seventh NBA season, is averaging 15.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, a career-high 7.6 assists (ranked 11th) and 1.06 steals while shooting 42.5% from the field in 54 games. The Wisconsin native was acquired by the Nets on February 19, 2008 from Dallas as part of a multi-player trade. In 2008-09, Harris enjoyed his best NBA season, averaging 21.3 points and 6.9 assists, while being named to the 2009 Eastern Conference All-Star Team. In parts of four seasons with the Nets, Harris played in 212 games, averaging 17.7 points, 6.9 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. He is currently on five Nets individual career Top 10 lists, 10th in three-point field goals made at 188, 9th in three-point field goals attempted at 644, 9th in free throws made at 1,403, 10th in free throws attempted at 1,366 and 6th in assists at 1,473. In 463 career games, including 329 starts, Harris has posted averages of 13.2 points and 5.0 assists per contest.

Favors, selected third overall by the Nets in 2010 NBA Draft, has played in 56 games, making 23 starts for New Jersey in his rookie season. The 6’10” forward out of Georgia Tech has averages of 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game.