Special Knicks night came out of nowhere — but at the perfect time
NY Post
This is one of the lures, isn’t it? This is one of the reasons we keep coming back, even as the seasons seem to grow longer, because there are no scripts in sports (despite the occasional official/referee/umpire conspiracy theories that arise from time to time). There is no plan.
One day you show up at a ballpark in the middle of May and a tired ex-fastballer named Dwight Gooden reaches back 11 years or so and throws a no-hitter out of nowhere at Yankee Stadium. One night you go to a football game in the Jersey swamplands and Odell Beckham Jr. plucks a football out of the sky with one hand and you can’t believe your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you.
Every now and again, every once in a while, you get to see something you never saw before. Before Wednesday night, the Knicks had played 6,175 games in their history. Included in there were a whole bunch of games involving an iteration of the franchise well known for winning two championships but better known for being perhaps the most unselfish team in the sport’s history.
Never had two teammates turned in triple-doubles in the same game.
The Rangers hit the mark with their on-ice ceremony honoring Mika Zibanejad ahead of his 1,000th NHL game Monday night.
PORT ST. LUCIE — For now, Craig Kimbrel is choosing Mets purgatory.
‘Freak of nature: Zion Williamson’s resurgence could pose a Knicks problem versus motivated Pelicans
Zion Williamson is slimmer and healthier for his trip to MSG.
Don’t blame Mikal Bridges for his paltry stats. Blame the role.
Almost a year to the day after a goaltender interference call against Kyle Palmieri lost the Islanders a game against the Blue Jackets that started their season’s death spiral, they were on the wrong end of another controversial call against those same Blue Jackets that might have had the same effect.
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.