whottt
03-22-2005, 06:25 AM
NY Post (http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/41538.htm)
March 22, 2005 -- IT might as well have been the first game of Malik Rose's NBA career. He was nervous and excited, his body and mind unable to relax the entire day. Though a veteran of eight NBA seasons, last night was a first for Rose, who was not only playing against his former team but also starting his first game as a Knick.
"All day I was sitting around and couldn't really get a good nap," Rose would later say. "I just wanted to get it over with. Once [the game] started, one thing led to the other and things weren't going too well. Thank God halftime came."
The jitters and excitement of playing against the Spurs, the team he helped win two NBA titles, was clearly evident in the first half when Rose was 1-for-7 from the field with two turnovers and a missed dunk. More important, the Knicks trailed 47-43.
But the basketball gods would soon smile on Rose, who offered a glimpse why the Knicks obtained him in exchange for Nazr Mohammed at the trade deadline. Rose finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, playing a huge role in a dominating second half in which the Knicks rolled to an 88-75 victory.
Stephon Marbury might have been the star on the night with 31 points and 10 assists, but it was Rose who wore of grin of satisfaction, having turned a potentially awful game into a satisfying victory.
For Rose, the turn-around started with a deep breath at halftime.
"I got focused," he said. "A lot of things were running through my mind, so I decided to sit still and clear my mind and focus on just positive things, where it was making shots, a good defensive rotation, seeing a good pass, all things positive. Once I started to see it, things started to happen in real time."
Their second half was the kind of finish the Knicks sorely needed to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. Without Kurt Thomas, out with a bum elbow, and Anfernee Hardaway, whose hamstring troubles put him back on the injured list, the Knicks were hurting just like the Spurs, who were without two-time MVP Tim Duncan, out for two to four weeks with an ankle sprain.
Rose got the start for Thomas and struggled with his jump shot off the pick and roll early. But he rode the momentum created by Marbury in the second half.
"We had a good run going," Rose said. "A lot of things were going right. I was in the right place defensively and things started to snow ball."
With Duncan out, the Spurs probably wish they had Rose back. Clearly, rattled in the second half, San Antonio never responded once the Knicks made their surge. It was Rose whom the Spurs always looked to in times of adversity, which is one reason his former coach Gregg Popovich was sorry to see him go.
"It was gut wrenching, to say the least," Popovich said. "He was intricately woven into the team's personality. He's a highly intelligent guy and very respected. A class act on and off the court for a lot of years. It took a while for us to get over it. There was a mourning period with our team and with our staff."
Now the Spurs are in mourning having lost Duncan so close to the postseason. In the highly competitive West, it's a loss the Spurs may not be able to overcome. The Knicks, meanwhile, live one day at a time, looking for positive steps, steps like the one Rose helped them make last night.
March 22, 2005 -- IT might as well have been the first game of Malik Rose's NBA career. He was nervous and excited, his body and mind unable to relax the entire day. Though a veteran of eight NBA seasons, last night was a first for Rose, who was not only playing against his former team but also starting his first game as a Knick.
"All day I was sitting around and couldn't really get a good nap," Rose would later say. "I just wanted to get it over with. Once [the game] started, one thing led to the other and things weren't going too well. Thank God halftime came."
The jitters and excitement of playing against the Spurs, the team he helped win two NBA titles, was clearly evident in the first half when Rose was 1-for-7 from the field with two turnovers and a missed dunk. More important, the Knicks trailed 47-43.
But the basketball gods would soon smile on Rose, who offered a glimpse why the Knicks obtained him in exchange for Nazr Mohammed at the trade deadline. Rose finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, playing a huge role in a dominating second half in which the Knicks rolled to an 88-75 victory.
Stephon Marbury might have been the star on the night with 31 points and 10 assists, but it was Rose who wore of grin of satisfaction, having turned a potentially awful game into a satisfying victory.
For Rose, the turn-around started with a deep breath at halftime.
"I got focused," he said. "A lot of things were running through my mind, so I decided to sit still and clear my mind and focus on just positive things, where it was making shots, a good defensive rotation, seeing a good pass, all things positive. Once I started to see it, things started to happen in real time."
Their second half was the kind of finish the Knicks sorely needed to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. Without Kurt Thomas, out with a bum elbow, and Anfernee Hardaway, whose hamstring troubles put him back on the injured list, the Knicks were hurting just like the Spurs, who were without two-time MVP Tim Duncan, out for two to four weeks with an ankle sprain.
Rose got the start for Thomas and struggled with his jump shot off the pick and roll early. But he rode the momentum created by Marbury in the second half.
"We had a good run going," Rose said. "A lot of things were going right. I was in the right place defensively and things started to snow ball."
With Duncan out, the Spurs probably wish they had Rose back. Clearly, rattled in the second half, San Antonio never responded once the Knicks made their surge. It was Rose whom the Spurs always looked to in times of adversity, which is one reason his former coach Gregg Popovich was sorry to see him go.
"It was gut wrenching, to say the least," Popovich said. "He was intricately woven into the team's personality. He's a highly intelligent guy and very respected. A class act on and off the court for a lot of years. It took a while for us to get over it. There was a mourning period with our team and with our staff."
Now the Spurs are in mourning having lost Duncan so close to the postseason. In the highly competitive West, it's a loss the Spurs may not be able to overcome. The Knicks, meanwhile, live one day at a time, looking for positive steps, steps like the one Rose helped them make last night.