Back-to-back games against Bucks no Christmas gift for Knicks
NY Post
The NBA schedule certainly didn’t provide the Knicks a present for Christmas.
Their next two games during the festive period, on Saturday then again on Christmas, come against the Bucks, who sit second in the Eastern Conference and possess the third-best record in the league.
The Knicks already have lost to the Bucks twice this season in their two previous matchups, the second of which eliminated them from the In-Season Tournament.
The Knicks advancing to the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals resulted in them having to face the Bucks five times this year.
“Each time you play, you learn more,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said Friday. “They’re playing at a very high level. One of the most explosive offenses in the league. When you have a guy like Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and [Damian Lillard] and [Khris] Middleton and they’ve surrounded them with — you add [Brook] Lopez in and all the different weapons. [Cameron] Payne has done a really good job. Bobby Portis. They’re deep. Their numbers tell you how good they are.”
The Bucks entered Friday night’s slate of games averaging the second-most points in the NBA (124.4) and with the league’s third-best offensive rating (120.2).
The Rangers hit the mark with their on-ice ceremony honoring Mika Zibanejad ahead of his 1,000th NHL game Monday night.
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On the Queens side of town, the reno began in earnest almost as soon as Francisco Lindor grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. That ended a 4-0 loss before a rare sizable crowd at Miami’s loanDepot Park last Sept. 27, all of them there to witness the final death rattles of an epic baseball calamity.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is being paid handsomely for his breakout season.
Next comes the harder part. Mostly because it can’t get any easier.
It was Kids Day at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but for the Rangers, it’s been All About The Kids for months.
PORT ST. LUCIE — From the moment he was told he needed surgery on his left hamate bone, Francisco Lindor fixated on the recovery time. Trainers provided the Mets shortstop a six-week pathway to return to play, and Lindor was determined to hit every marker.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.