Nets turn back the Knicks, 113-93!

As Latin Week continued in the NBA, the New Jersey Nets crossed the Hudson River and came to Madison Square Garden to battle the New York Knicks who once again wore their Nueva York uniforms.

In addition, the crowd was entertained throughout the evening with a variety of latin acts.

As for the game, it started poorly for the 6-55 Nets. They fell behind early again. The Knicks lead 18-4 with 7:39 left to go in the first quarter. Later in the quarter they lead by 16, 28-12. The Nets made a run to end the quarter down by 10, 32-22.

In the second quarter, the Nets who lost Yi Jianlian to an injury continued to chip away at the Knick lead. With 4:50 to go in the 2nd quarter, the Nets came all the way back and took a 43-42 lead. The crowd started booing the Knicks rightfully so.

The Nets wound up going up by 8 points then Eddie House hit a finger roll bucket at the buzzer to cut the Net lead to 6, 56-50 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Nets extended their bulge to a dozen, 70-58 with 6:18 left. The Knicks once again heard it from the crowd as they called a timeout.

They got within 9, 83-74 at the end of 3 quarters.

Early in the 4th, they did make a run to get within 5 at 85-80 but the Nets proceeded to go on a 11-0 run to put the game out of reach midway through the fourth quarter.

The Nets were lead by point guard Devin Harris who scorched the Knicks for 31 points. Courtney Lee who returned for the first time since he got hurt in Boston a week earlier added 25 points. In his absence, the Nets dropped 3 in a row all at home at the IZOD Center. Brook Lopez had 18 points and rebounds. Kris Humphries had 2 big baskets that helped put the Nets back on top for good. He finished with 10 points.

As for the Knicks, Wilson Chandler had a solid game with 20 points and 10 boards. David Lee added 23 points but was in foul trouble early in the first half which ultimately hurt the Knicks. For that matter, Danilo Gallanari was in foul trouble as well and the Nets even though Yi went down they pulled together and found a way to win their 7th game of the season.

Bruins hold on to beat the Islanders, 3-2!

The Boston Bruins came into the Nassau Coliseum for a matinee with the NY Islanders Saturday afternoon.

Thanks to their goaltender Tim Thomas who stood on his head making 37 saves to secure the victory for the visiting Bruins.

It was a bad loss for the Islanders who were trying to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

Milan Lucic of the Bruins opened the scoring with a goal late in the first period to give the Bruins an early 1-0 lead with 1:34 left.

In the second period, with the Islanders on a power play, Josh Bailey put one past Tim Thomas to even the score at 1 just 2:18 into the period.

5:04 into the period, David Krejci regained the lead for the Bruins at 2-1. With 10:40 left in the 2nd period, Marc Savard added a power play to get the B's a two goal cushion.

With 3:54 left in the period, Michael Ryder of the Bruins got called for a 5 minute major penalty for checking Blake Comeau hard into the boards from behind. He also a game misconduct as well so he was done for the rest of the game.

Fortunately for the Bruins they killed off the power play that extended into the third period. It looked good for the Bruins as they still held a 2 goal advantage.

But with 14:17 left in the game, the Islanders got within a goal thanks to Matt Moulson who got one passed Tim Thomas.

That's the way it stayed the rest of the way and the visiting Bruins escaped with a big victory as they try to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Mark Streit, the Islanders defenseman notched his 200th NHL point.

Magic beat the Nets, 97-87!

At the IZOD Center, Latin Week in the NBA continued. The Nets losing streak did as well.

This game wasn't a pretty display of basketball. Even the Magic one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference decided they would stoop down to the level of competition.

They started off the game with the dynamic duo of Matt Barnes and Dwight Howard leading the way. Matt Barnes had 14 of his 16 points in the first 6 minutes of the game. Dwight Howard had 8 of his 11 points early on as well. By the time the first quarter ended, the Magic managed to open up a 14 point lead.

They took it easy in the second quarter and the Nets wound up closing the gap to 5O-43 at halftime.

The Magic went back up by 12, 6O-48 after former Net Vince Carter hit a long "VC" 3 from way downtown with 7:32 left in the 3rd quarter. They went up by 15, 72-57 after 3.

In the 4th quarter, the Nets cut the lead to 8 with a minute to go but they couldn't get any closer as time ran out on them.

Staying Local This Weekend

Here's the plan for the weekend:

Tonight I'll be going to the IZOD Center to see the NJ Nets play the Orlando Magic at 8PM.

Tomorrow, I have a doubleheader. The first game the Boston Bruins come to the Nassau Coliseum for a 2PM matinee against the NY Islanders.

The second game is at Madison Square Garden where the NY Knicks welcome crosstown rivals the NJ Nets at 7:30PM.

Sunday I plan to stay home and catch up on cleaning up and staying organized with baseball season just around the corner.

Check back to see how things played out.

I hope everybody has an eventful weekend as well.

Thanks for reading along.

Knicks pound punchless Pistons, 128-104!

In honor of Latin week in the NBA, the Knicks wore Nueva York jerseys. Apparently, the Latin love helped the Knicks find a way to win a game.

The Pistons came to the Garden and they proved to be no match for the Knicks. They got off to a fast start taking an early lead 11-2. The Pistons did come back to pull within one at 16-15. The Knicks pulled away again. They lead by 10 after the first quarter, 33-23.

In the second quarter, the Knicks added to their lead briefly. The Pistons then made a run to tie the game at 39. The Knicks got back on track and opened up a 12 point advantage at halftime, 67-55.

In the third quarter, the Knicks maintained a sizeable lead. They were up 94-85.

In the fourth quarter, the Knicks pulled away for good. They disposed of the Pistons, 128-104 when it was all said and done.

David Lee had a big game with 21 points, he grabbed 8 rebounds and dished out 8 assists. Bill Walker who came over in the Nate Robinson trade added 22 points. Al Harrington led all scorers with a game high 26 points.

Heading to the Garden Tonight for Knicks and Pistons

I'll be spending my special night at Madison Square Garden tonight watching the Detroit Pistons as they come to play the NY Knicks at 7:30PM.

Check back for the recap.

Islanders overpower the mighty Blackhawks, 5-3!

The NHL is back after the Olympic break that shut down the league for a few weeks. The Chicago Blackhawks, one of the best teams in the league these days came to the Nassau Coliseum to take on the NY Islanders.

In the first period, the Blackhawks didn't miss a beat they played very well. They wound up getting 22 shots on goal to the Islanders 9. The score was 2-1 Blackhawks.

Things changed fast once the second period started, the Islanders came out strong. Just 2:27 into the period, Blake Comeau who had the first Islander goal of the game, found the net again and he tied the game at 2. 25 seconds later, Jon Sim buried the puck in the net giving the Islanders a 3-2 lead.

The Blackhawks proceeded to pull their starting goaltender, Antti Niemi in favor of Cristobal Huet. 7:06 into the second period, Richard Park of the Islanders greeted Huet with a blast, he fired a dart past him to give the Islanders a 2 goal cushion.

With only 17.3 seconds left in the period, Blake Comeau lit the lamp again. His 3rd goal of the game which is known as a hat trick.

Ironicly, the last NHL game I saw just before the Olympic break in Montreal on 2/13, Daniel Briere of the Philadelphia Flyers had a hat trick as well.

I was thinking of Chrissy Capp, the young lady who sold me the ticket that night. We were talking and she said she had never seen a hat trick until a week or so before that game in Montreal. Now I saw a second one myself in a short period of time. Mind you, I've seen many hockey games in my time and I don't remember seeing many hat tricks either. With scoring down these days in the game, they're fewer and far between.

In the third period, the Islanders held on to the lead. The Blackhawks kept applying pressure but they couldn't find the net until there was just 4:17 left when they made it a 5-3 game. That's the way it ended. Islander goaltender Dwayne Roloson stopped 41 of 44 shots to earn the victory.

Special note: After the second period of play, a surprise visitor, friend and proud customer of Royalty Tours, Manny Morales was in the house. It was odd to see him.

Manny is a big NY Ranger fan. He has Ranger season tickets. He's had them for the past 29 years. He said it was a long story why he was at the Nassau Coliseum. I asked him how he got out there. Since he doesn't drive he had to resort to taking the LIRR from Penn Station to Westbury. That cost him $19 round trip he said. That didn't include an another $7 to take a van to and from the Nassau Coliseum. I was beside myself when I heard it cost him so much to get there.

When you give royalty $26 you get a lot of bang for your buck not a torchure ride to and from NYC to the Nassau Coliseum. Manny knows firsthand that he got the shaft in this case but he apparently didn't have a choice.

I just wish I knew I would have arranged to accomodate him. He'll know for the next time if there is one.

Olympic Break is Over - Blackhawks at Islanders Tonight

I'll be heading to the Nassau Coliseum tonight for some NHL hockey. Check back to see if the players who didn't play in the Olympics show rust from not playing the last 2 weeks.

Great weekend in New England

Put it in the books! Another weekend well spent living the life of royalty.

I got up early Saturday morning walked a mile and a half to Avis and picked up some fresh wheels to head up North to New England. I went to Astoria to pick up the King and off we went to Boston to start our day.

We arrived in Beantown at Noon with the Celtics and Nets starting at 1PM, we had plenty of time. I went to park the car in a nearby garage for a mere $10. A few other garages in the area were getting $25 to park. Royalty knows all the ways to get more bang for the buck. The Royalty slogan is to minimize cost and maximize enjoyment. That's just another example of the Royalty way. We know we have to pay to park in Boston at that time of the day so we do it as economical as possible.

After the game, we drove 55 miles to Worcester, Massachusetts to see a minor league hockey game. First we stopped off at the Ninety Nine Restaurant, which is a chain in the New England as well as the Philadelphia area. We went in and had ourselves a hearty dinner that was fit for a Prince and a King.

After the game, we drove 25 miles to Sturbridge, MA where we spent the night at a Days Inn.

We woke up in the morning and started the day off right by going to Cracker Barrel, a favorite restaurant of Royalty. If you like Southern style food you can't go wrong here. While you wait to be seated you can go shopping in their Country store. On the weekends, this place is always jam packed. Smart people like royalty know where to go to eat a good meal.

After eating, we drove 36 miles to Storrs, Connecticut, home of the Connecticut Huskies. We visited the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion for the first time. It was a very nice experience seeing a college basketball game right on campus. You can't beat the college atomosphere. It a rare home game in Storrs. The Huskies play a number of home games in Hartford at XL Center which used the Hartford Civic Center back in the day.

After the gane, on our way back home we capped off the trip by indulging in a nice steak dinner at the Texas Roadhouse in West Haven, CT which just past New Haven. Another great meal for us.

Unfortunately after dinner it was time to go home. As they say all good things have to come to an end. At least for royalty they end temporarily until the next getaway.

I returned in the morning before heading into work. I wound up driving 507 miles for the 2 days I rented the car.

If you want to get a taste of royalty, please feel free to consult me.

Louisville knock off Huskies, 78-76!

The Cardinals came into the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut on Senior Day and left with a victory. That wasn't the way Seniors Gavin Edwards, Stanley Robinson and Jerome Dyson wanted their last home to end.

They fell behind by as many as 13 points 36-23 with 3:20 left in the first half. They pulled within 5 at halftime 45-40 thanks to Kyle Kuric who banked a trey off the glass at the buzzer.

Louisville rode that momentum into the second half. They reeled off another 7 straight points to take the lead, 47-45 with 18 minutes to go in the game. They held and build the lead to 7 until late in the game when the Huskies regained the advantage.

The Cardinals were able to comeback again. The game was tied in the last minute. In the end, Edgar Sosa hit a running lay up with just 7 seconds left to win it for Lousiville.

UCONN had a few chances on their last possession but they came up empty. The loss could wind up costing the Huskies a trip to the big Dance, the field of 64.

Samardo Samuels scored 14 points to lead the Cardinals. In addition, he stuffed Kemba Walker who had 28 points for UCONN to preserve the win.