Monday’s Weekly Knicks Notes: Week 19

February 28, 2011 – Kevin Burke

What a week for a Knicks fan, huh? It was an even bigger week for a Knicks hater. Last week’s acquisition of Carmelo and Chauncey provided hope for the faithful fans of the orange and blue, but also supplied an endless amount of ammo to those who believe Amar’e and ‘Melo hold the ball too much for this to work in a Mike D’Antoni system.

It was key for them to get their first win as a new unit. That came when they defeated the Bucks 114 – 108 after Carmelo received an ovation that almost ripped the roof off of The World’s Most Famous Arena.

Then last Friday, what I feared actually happened. They lost on the road to the hapless Cavs, the league’s worst team. I kept trying to find excuses such as “It’s not like that was Game 7 of the Finals” and “The Lakers just lost to them too” and “They haven’t even really practiced together yet.” Those really are just excuses, but the real reason they lost is actually just another excuse too to be honest. The Knicks have a tendency to play down to the competition because personnel-wise, the Cavs aren’t nearly as talented as the Knicks. By the time they woke up, it was too late.

That loss to the Cavs was bad and embarrassing. Above all, what it did was allowed the nonbelievers to continue to doubt the move. Amar’e had 31 points in that game and Carmelo had 27 so it was thought that perhaps they were fighting for shots. Just the opposite because you want your two star players to score at that level. It’s just that they surrendered 115 points as a unit to a team who just traded away their best player, Mo Williams.

That led to one of the most anticipated regular season games of the year when the Knicks traveled to South Beach. Before the game, the ESPN crew, which consisted of Bruce Bowen, Jon Barry and Michael Wilbon, all predicted that the Heat would win behind an outstanding game by Dwyane Wade. I don’t put much stock into the fact that they were all wrong on both accounts because nobody is an expert at this, but those three guys are definitely in the know regarding the NBA and they counted the Knicks out. Perhaps the loss to the Cavs led them to feel this way. Who knows?

Before the game, Jon Barry said that he expected LeBron to be focused and not that animated. I knew that wouldn’t be the case because LeBron was in a joking, jovial mood during shoot around when the Heat made their visit to Cleveland back in December and it doesn’t get more hostile than that. Therefore, we should all realize that’s how he is before games. This game was no different as he was taking trick shots in the layup line. Right before tip-off when guys slap 5 with one another, LeBron even stopped to give ‘Melo a hug and whisper something in his ear. It actually looked like Carmelo meant business and wished that LeBron didn’t do that because it took away some of the intensity.

The Knicks got off to a slow start in that game but ended the half on a 16 – 0 run capped by a fall away 3-point bank by Bill Walker as the buzzer sounded. Naturally, that was much to the delight of Spike Lee who was sitting courtside in his usually Landry Fields jersey/dress.

The second half was back and forth and the game came down to the final minutes which we all wanted. Carmelo headlined the traded, deservedly so, but for some reason, people were acting as if Chauncey was a throw-in. His savvy is a joy to watch. The 3 that he hit in Wade’s face late in the game, which for all intents and purposes sealed the game, is why his is Mr. Big Shot. And let’s not forget about his steal either where led the fast break and dropped it off to Shawne Williams who chose not to dunk the ball and subsequently missed the layup.

While Chauncey’s play down the stretch was instrumental, so was Amare’s block on LeBron’s layup in the final minute. Not bad for a guy who supposedly doesn’t play D. Also, Melo’s defense on LeBron in the final quarter was key too. He forced LeBron to take a tough 3. If last night was any indication, these guys certainly can play defense in order to make an impact.

Because of the Kendrick Perkins trade, the East is wide open. The Knicks are 2 – 2 against the Heat, 2 – 0 against the Bulls and 0 - 2 against Boston (They lost both against the Cs by a combined 6 points). That’s not a bad showing against the best teams in the East, and now their team is eve better. Just sayin’.

If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook

Vote for Raven in the Captain Morgan 2011 BracketMaster Challenge

February 26, 2011 – Kevin Burke

Last week we told you about the Captain Morgan 2011 BracketMaster Challenge that The Hoop Doctors are participating in. In case you missed that announcement, it is an online bracket style tournament hosted by Captain Morgan and their partner in this, Spike.com. The tournament ends on April 4, where 32 Morganettes from across the country representing the North, South, East and West are going head-to-head in their quest to become the Ultimate Morganette.

Our Morganette is Raven and she is competing in the West region. Aside from being a Morganette for 2 years, Raven is extremely talented. The Seattle native plays the piano and saxophone, and loves to dance. In fact, I spoke with her yesterday and found out that she does a mean Michael Jackson dance impersonation. She’s so good at it that she has actually won multiple competitions for the best impression of the King of Pop. She’s also into event planning where she designs layouts and is a creative director for photo shoots. The fact that she’s now a Morganette and is into fashion makes it tough to believe that she is a former mascot as well, but she was. Come on, how can you not appreciate something like that?

As part of my conversation with her, I also found out that she likes to have fun too. Her record for most shots thrown down in a single evening is 22. That’s Hall of Fame status if you ask me. And they were all kinds of shots which illustrates her versatility. Almost like a Power Forward who can bang on the block and step out and shoot 3s too.

We’re still in the first round of the tournament but time is running out and Raven needs your votes so that she is assured a spot in the Sweet 16. Head over to bracketmaster.spike.com to fill out your complete bracket again, while remembering to vote for Raven in the West region. This is the last call to vote for Raven as first round voting closes this Wednesday, March 2. This time around, you can also now text your vote for Raven, who sometimes goes by Stephanie. Text “Stephanie” to 44686. As a reminder, by completing the bracket and voting for Raven, you are entering to win prizes including a $15,000 grand prize package.

Once again, here’s the video of Raven, who sometimes goes by Stephanie as she does here, telling you why you should vote for her in the West region.

Stephanie Raven
Tags: Stephanie Raven

Stephanie Raven | Girls | SPIKE.com

Female HS Player Scores Luckiest Hoops Shot Ever[Video]

February 25, 2011 – Allen Moll

The game of basketball is filled with oddities, abnormalities, and luck just like any other sport. In baseball we’ve seen a routine fly ball careen off of Jose Canseco’s melon and over the fence for a home run. In football, there is the Steelers Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception.

When it comes to hoops, the most recent event occurred when we saw the amazing Blake Griffin almost decapitate himself on an alley-oop attempt by jumping so high, he smashes his skull on the backboard just last week.

But what about the high school ranks? Even though the footage of this California Prep schooler shattering a backboard is downright awesome, I can do you one better.

For this, let’s show some love for the ladies as I’ll take you to some amazing footage from a junior varsity girls game in Ohio where an unsuspecting young lady attempts to make a pass to her teammate but comes up with the most unbelievably luckiest hoop of her career, as the rock somehow ricochets off an opposing player and falls through the hoop. Unfortunately the refs waved off the shot since it hit the metal supports holding up the backboard but it’s entertaining nonetheless.

Check out the Luckiest Basketball Shot Ever:

Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.

LeBron and Carmelo Force the Nets to Overpay For Deron Williams

February 25, 2011 – Kevin Burke

I can’t exactly say I saw that coming. Then again, neither can Deron Williams. In somewhat of a surprise move, the New Jersey Nets dealt for the aforementioned former Jazz Point Guard. While Williams is plenty talented, the Nets probably surrendered too much for his services. But it isn’t their fault. It has more to do with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony than anything else.

In this deal, Utah receives Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, two first round picks and cash considerations. The Nets will only receive Deron Williams. In a separate deal, the Nets sent Troy Murphy and his expiring contract to Golden State for Dan Gadzuric and Brandan Wright, but that deal was done more for monetary reasons than anything else. Let’s focus on the Deron deal.

Back before LeBron exercised his right as a free agent last summer and relocated to South Florida, there were reportedly only a handful of teams that were legitimately in the running to land him. They were the Cavs, Heat, Bulls, Knicks and the Nets. The Cavs, Heat and Nets followed the Knicks’ lead and began clearing cap space in advance of the summer of 2010 in order to make sure that they had enough money to sign the most coveted free agent in the history of the league. Although these teams were technically in the running, I didn’t find it likely that LeBron would land in New Jersey. Although they were the best team in the East not that long ago, they have fallen off significantly with the help of a 12 – 70 record last year and the loss of guys like Jason Kidd and Vince Carter in years prior. And the Nets don’t get much love on New York sports talk radio even though the Prudential Center is some 30 miles or so away from Midtown Manhattan. They have quickly become a less than desirable team for star players to go to.

Once The LeBron Show ended, it didn’t take long before The Carmelo Show began taping episodes. Carmelo’s ordeal was long, drawn out, painful and finally came to an end earlier this week when he was dealt to the Knicks. Once again, the Nets were active participants in this saga, but I never considered them to have a legit shot because of one reason: Carmelo didn’t want to play there and wouldn’t sign that 3-year, $65M extension which was definitely a deal breaker.

Even when Mikhail Prokhorov said several weeks ago that his team would no longer be actively pursuing ‘Melo, I didn’t believe him, because who makes a formal announcement that they are no longer going after a player? They just stop doing it. They don’t tell people that they’re going to stop doing it. I guess that’s how they get down in Russia.

So as of Monday night, the Nets swung and missed on both LeBron and Carmelo and their biggest acquisition (the draft notwithstanding) from last season was Jordan Farmar, unless you think Sasha Vujacic is a better player. They had to do something. Missing out on Both LeBron and Carmelo put their backs against the wall because they cleared all this cap room and they’re right on the outskirts of a major market. The most major market. So they were forced to pull the trigger on a star player with the trade deadline looming.

I think Deron is the best PG in the league not named Derrick Rose so I don’t need to be convinced as to how good of a player he is. But man, they gave up a lot for him. Devin Harris, who has shown to be a bit injury prone of late, is 27 years old and is averaging 15 and 8. Derrick Favors is 19 and has incredible upside. That doesn’t even take into account the draft picks that they’re giving up, which are critical for a team in rebuilding mode. Williams is definitely better than Harris, but not three additional players better. But again, they had to do this.

Word has it that Deron actually found out that he was traded by watching SportsCenter. That’s how much of a shock it was. He was reportedly saddened by the news. This move is extremely risky for the Nets because Deron will be a free agent after next season and if he wasn’t thrilled about leaving Utah for New Jersey, there’s no guarantee that he’ll resign with them during the summer of 2012. He could leave for New York in fact, which would leave the Nets in a worse position than they were in yesterday. To say this is a gamble is putting it lightly. They are going to have to make this guy feel special for the next year and a half. They need to fill his head with personnel promises to convince him not to leave. I wish them luck.

But, how about Utah? In a matter of weeks, they lost their longtime head coach Jerry Sloan and longtime assistant coach Phil Johnson to retirement, and now their All-Star PG. They received some good pieces back in exchange for Deron, but that’s a terrible month for a city with only one major sports team in town.

Deron Williams Traded: What was Utah Thinking?

February 25, 2011 – Joshua Sexton

It was argued back and forth for almost six months if the Nets or Knicks were going to acquire Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets. One day a deal would seem inevitable. Other days it seemed like nothing more but a mere fantasy. On Monday, all of the Carmelo Anthony trade drama was put to rest when the small forward was traded to the New York Knicks.

It was announced on Wednesday, Deron Williams had been traded to the New Jersey Nets. However, with this trade there was no back and forth, will he or won’t he drama. This one was not preceded by six months of here say, but this trade was more of the seven seconds or less variety. It makes fans wonder if the Nets’ front office was not scorned over losing out on Carmelo Anthony, decided to get drunk, picked a random NBA team, and called to make an offer for their best player. In other words, what were the Utah Jazz thinking?

In return, the Jazz received Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, two first round draft picks and cash. Not a bad haul by any means. However, was it worth trading arguably the best point guard in the game for? At this point, the only reason people can point to for the Jazz trading Williams is the organization didn’t want to go through all of the drama the Cavaliers and Nuggets did with losing Carmelo and LeBron. Considering Williams is not a free agent until the summer of 2012, isn’t that mindset somewhat pessimistic and hasty?

It has not even been a month since Jerry Sloan suddenly resigned after coaching the Jazz for 23 seasons. After coach Sloan left, many fans and analysts felt Williams may have had a hand in the coach leaving. For a second, let’s pretend that Williams did have a hand in Jerry Sloan resigning. If the franchise picked Williams over Sloan so to speak, would they have traded him three weeks later? Wouldn’t they have traded Williams at the beginning of the month and kept their hall of fame coach?

Unless Deron Williams is secretly one of the biggest locker room cancers in the history of sports, I just can’t wrap my head around this trade. Now, Utah has neither Deron Williams or Jerry Sloan. I am sure the fans in Salt Lake are outraged, After all, the Jazz are the only professional team in the state. Unfortunately, it may be along time before the Jazz see the postseason again.

It looks as though the NBA has a dangerous trend going on. Recently, we have seen star players leaving small market franchises and fleeing for big markets to join other stars. Cleveland, Phoenix, Denver and Utah are all potentially lottery bound for years to come on the account of losing their star players to bigger markets who can pay numerous stars.

Unlike the Cavaliers or Nuggets, the Jazz didn’t put up an effort to keep their best player. Unfortunately, Utah may have started an even more discouraging trend: Instead of living in fear of the big market teams luring your best players through free agency, the small market teams can now just expect the worst and trade their best players without having to deal with a free agency fiasco. Some may think this is smart and resourceful. I look at it as bad for the league.

Joshua Sexton is a lifelong basketball fanatic, who watches as many games as possible. In addition, He has played and coached the game at the high school level. He has recently started writing about the game of basketball.

Duke Gets Commit From “Singler Clone” Alex Murphy for 2012

February 25, 2011 – Allen Moll

What does the NCAA’s active winningest head coach on the nation’s defending national championship squad do to replace his unquestioned team leader, 4 year starter, and former Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four upon graduation?

That is the daunting task soon to be faced by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who in addition to trying to repeat as national champions, will have to make do next season without program stalwart Kyle Singler, who graduates and will undoubtedly be taking his talents to the NBA.

Coach K and staff have hit the recruiting trail pretty hard this past year to secure commitments from 4 elite level prospects like Austin Rivers, Michael Gbinije, Quinn Cook, and Marshall Plumlee, all of whom are ranked among the Top 40 Players in the country. Three of those recruits(Rivers, Cook, and Plumlee) have been selected to participate in the prestigious 2011 McDonald’s All American Game taking place in Chicago, on March 30th.

To the delight of Blue Devil fans everywhere, Cameron Indoor will be now be the future home-court of Alex Murphy(St Marks, MA), arguably a Top 10 player in the 2012 Class, as one of the nation’s very best junior HS players. Fans may also be happy to know that there are rumors floating around that Murphy may decide to reclassify to the 2011 Class in order to play immediately next season. Getting a player early is nothing new for Duke as Andre Dawkins’ decision to reclassify early nearly 2 Summers ago is paying dividends already in just his sophomore season.

Getting back to Murphy, he is a consensus Top 15 player by all scouting sources and can be somewhat described as a Kyle Singler clone since he is described as having a tremendously high basketball IQ to go along with excellent size(6’8 and 215 lbs), and the now prototypical inside-outside game that the Dukies like to get out of their usually supremely skilled front-court players. He’s also is developing a nasty reputation for dunking on opposing players, no matter what the size, like recently when he banged on the 7 foot tall 2011 Pitt signee Malcolm Gilbert..

Here is his evaluation from ESPN:

Strengths:

Murphy is a very skilled with that has great size for the small forward position. He scores with athletic slashes to the rim where he can finish with either hand. Mid range pull ups and opens threes are also good weapons for Murphy. He is an excellent ball handler and passer with a matching basketball IQ. Murphy is a good decision maker and does a great job of taking what the defense gives him.

Weaknesses:

Murphy must add strength and should be more aggressive given his skill set because he could add to an already productive output. Murphy could be a better rebound and a more consistent shooter from behind the arc although his is pretty good at this stage of his game.

Bottom Line:

Murphy brings great size, skill and feel for the game to the small forward position. He is a match up problem because of his size and even could be a face up power forward in a small line up.

Alex is able to reclassify only because he repeated his freshman year. But even if he doesn’t, Murphy will be a key piece in yet another elite level recruiting class in 2012 with recent news that another Top 20 rated player Rasheed Sulaimon also will be in the fold after committing to Duke while on campus recently to watch the most recent Duke/UNC clash. They are also reportedly in the mix for Shabazz Muhammad, who is arguably a Top 3 player in the suddenly loaded 2012 Class.

Check out Alex Murphy in action:

Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com,mUpperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.

Melo and Chauncey Play Key Roles in Their Victorious Knicks Debut

February 24, 2011 – Kevin Burke

The orange headband was reminiscent of his days at Syracuse, and his game was just as effective as ever. Carmelo Anthony made his much anticipated debut as a Knick last night and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Neither did Chauncey Billups who has somehow managed to be regarded as a throw-in in this trade. Both newcomers were instrumental in helping the Knicks get by the Bucks last night, 114 – 108, in front of an excited home crowd.

His familiar #15 is hanging in the rafters at Madison Square Garden. So is his next choice of #22, which was his high school number. Therefore, ‘Melo subtracted 15 from 22 and ran out of the tunnel wearing #7. When he emerged, he was received by the warmest reception you can imagine from the crowd in the jam packed arena. “I never experienced anything like that before. That was a hell of a moment for the fans to react the way they did”, said ‘Melo in the postgame conference. If he can maintain his 27 point, 10 rebound performance, he’s sure to receive many more of those.

Chauncey was also well received by The Garden faithful on his way to 21 points and eight assists. He was even serenaded with a “Chauncey …Billups” chant at one juncture of the game when he was at the line.

But what a past couple of days for those two guys. ‘Melo arrived in New York on Tuesday night and both he and Billups were introduced in a pregame news conference. They didn’t even have the opportunity to practice with the team which is why I was somewhat surprised that they played. Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said he only had time to implement a couple of plays and expected an All-Star game type of flow. It wasn’t quite that up-and-down and you could barely tell that it was a completely new team that is unfamiliar with one another.

The last time Carmelo played a regular season game was last Wednesday in Milwaukee against these same Bucks, as a member of the Nuggets of course. He lit Milwaukee up for 38 and this game looked similar to last week’s for Anthony.

Amar’e fouled out in this contest and that’s where the problem previously laid with the Knicks. The offense stood still when Stoudemire was out. Not anymore. It became ‘Melo time as he was able to knock down a few timely Js late to secure the win. Problem solved.

The Knicks played the Bucks back in November and lost by 27 as they were only able to put up 80 points on the scoreboard. With this new team, they were able to add much more to that total now that there is another certified scorer on the roster.

At 34, Chauncey still plays as young as ever and for some reason he resembled Derek Harper out there. Not by his style of play, but strictly appearance alone. Maybe it was the throwback uniforms and the bald head. Whatever it was, he proved that he’s still a top notch PG and that he was a very important part of the deal too. There’s still room for improvement for this team but they are certainly headed in the right direction. Now that the honeymoon is over, it’s time to get to work.

UConn’s Walker Among Rare Trio Attempting to Average 20-5-5 For Season

February 24, 2011 – Allen Moll

This 2010-2011 NCAA basketball season so far has been filled with so many outstanding individual moments from players like BYU’s Jimmer Fredette, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, and Texas’ Jordan Hamilton. But 3 other Division I players have a chance to accomplish something special that has only been done by three players total over the past 12 seasons, being that they are very close to averaging 20+ points, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ assists for a collegiate season.

Since the 2000 season, amazingly only Hofstra’s Speedy Claxton(‘00), Morehead State’s Ricky Minard(‘04), and Ohio State’s Evan Turner(‘10) last season have averaged 20-5-5 for an entire season, proving it is truly a rare feat. This season, UConn’s Kemba Walker, Cleveland State’s Norris Cole, and Duke’s Nolan Smith are all on par to at least stand a chance at achieving the historic milestone by season’s end.

Norris Cole

Cleveland State

Senior

By now you’ve probably heard of Cleveland State’s outstanding point guard Norris Cole. Just last week he made national headlines for dropping 41 points and an amazing 20 rebounds on Horizon League foe Valparaiso to join Blake Griffin(‘09) as the only players in the past 15 seasons to tally 40 points and 20 boards in a game. He is among the finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, annually given out to the nation’s best point guard and should be one of the many names called during the 201 NBA Draft this June.

On the season, Norris is averaging 20.9 ppg, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.6 assists and barring a total collapse should eclipse the historic 20-5-5 mark in his sleep. Considering that fact that he and his Viking teammates are in the hunt for a Horizon League title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, Cole should be in attack mode for the remainder of the season. Surely his squad will rely heavily on the senior guard to pad the stats in an effort to get back to the “Big Dance.”

Nolan Smith

Duke

Senior

Surely Nolan Smith can’t be happy that teammate Kyrie Irving went down with that horrific toe injury earlier this season but ever since the freshman phenom has been out of the line-up, Smith has been tearing up the hardwood to the tune of nearly 30 ppg as one of the nation’s hardest to guard perimeter players. The 4th year senior who played his high school ball at the famed Oak Hill Academy is actually the son of former 9 year NBA veteran Derek Smith. Nolan has become an especially great player in his own right, helping to lead the Blue Devils to the 2010 National Championship.

This year, the former McDonald’s All American has been forming an impressive all around resume that will surely bode well for making it as an NBA player somewhere next season. For the season, Nolan is averaging 21.4 ppg, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.4 assists. He has grabbed 5 or more rebounds in 14 games this season, so it’s entirely possible for Nolan to finish the year with a rebounding average above 5 boards. Although Smith has a number of very talented players surrounding him on the Duke roster and as long as Irving remains out, Nolan will be counted upon heavily to jump-start the Blue Devils’ high powered offense.

Kemba Walker

Connecticut

Junior

Coach Calhoun’s offensive dynamo has been outright spectacular this season and probably ranks at or near the top of everyone’s NCAA POY Rankings. The former New York City stand-out at Rice HS has finally learned how to channel his immense potential by being much more efficient in his junior season. With a number of upperclassmen leaving Storrs after last season to either graduation or the NBA, Walker has taken the reigns to lead the Huskies back to national prominence and a much deserved ranking among the Top 25 teams in the country. He has been dynamic as team leader and leading scorer until the rest of the young Huskies develop into prime time players.

This year, Kemba has ranked among the Top 10 in the nation in scoring virtually all season, even leading the entire nation for a good chunk of the early portion of the schedule. For the season, he is averaging 22.9 ppg, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists. Kemba has shown the ability to reach double figures in assists on a number of occasions this season and even notched a triple-double on December 3rd, making it entirely possible for Walker to reach the desired 20-5-5 mark for the season.

Austin Rivers Destroys Defender, Gets Tech for Taunting [Video]

February 24, 2011 – Allen Moll

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers’ youngest son Austin Rivers is just bananas. He has had such an outstanding senior year at Winter Park HS in Florida that he overtook other top flight prospects like Michael Gilchrist(St Patricks) and Anthony Davis(Perspectives) to rank as the consensus #1 overall player in the 2011 HS Class.

He appears to be the total package, possessing a virtually unstoppable offensive game marked by the dual ability to seemingly effortlessly drain buckets from behind the arc or drive right by you on the way to another poster dunk, probably followed up by an and-1 continuation. One thing he has shown this year is an added toughness in that he is not afraid to back down, no matter which player stands in his path to the hoop.

What I also like is his amazing confidence since he is the type of player that knows he’s that good and appears to have no problem letting you know, just like when he guaranteed he’d score 40 before a recent game, then promptly went out and dropped 43 points in only 3 quarters on a hapless Sunshine State rival.

This year, behind Austin averaging a ridiculous 30+ ppg, including a season high 46 points against Montverde Academy around Thanksgiving, Winter Park has been as hard to beat(24-5) as any squad in the nation this year. Many fans venture within driving distance to pack tiny HS gymnasiums just to catch a glimpse of the college ranks’ next big thing.

With high school hoops playoffs starting up, there was no doubting that Rivers would again take his game to another level as all elite level ballers do. Never was this more on display when his teammates began their quest for a Florida State Title with an opening round match-up against an unsuspecting foe that never knew what hit them. Winter Park went on the road to face Lake Howell and came away with an 80-52 victory behind another spirited effort by Rivers, who scored 25 points, grabbed 7 boards, and came up with 2 steals.

The game’s most electrifying play came when Rivers rose up to receive an alley-oop pass from a teammate, and promptly posterized an opposing player who proved to be a step late and a few inches short of denying Rivers. What has gotten people talking is the fact that after the facial, Rivers was given a technical for hanging on the rim and staring down his victim still laying on the floor.

You be the judge. Should Austin have received the tech?

The Hoop Doctors Podcast: Episode 43

February 24, 2011 – THD Podcast

This week on THD Podcast Kevin Burke discusses the latest happenings around the league…

If you often find yourself too busy to watch The Hoop Doctors Podcasts, get them on the go for your iPhone or iPod! Subscribe to our Podcasts in the iTunes Directory, free of charge. Also, if you have any questions you’d like answered by Kevin or any other member of The Hoop Doctors team, feel free to email them to admin@thehoopdoctors.com and we will be sure to select the best of the best to have answered by Kevin On-Air next week or in a future episode.