THROWBACK : Bernard King

Bernard King was nasty. MSG Network in New York has been running this "Vault" series, where they go through old tapes that have been long forgotten, and today, they broke down some old Bernard King tapes. I remembered he'd come back from a terrible injury, but not that he went on to become and All-Star with the Bullets.

It's guys like Bernard King that make it hard to think that athletes aren't role models. Someone like King is a reminder that obstacles are made to be gotten through or around. I hope the kid from the Clippers, Shaun Livingston, can benefit from Bernard King's courage.

I really shouldn't talk about baseball on a basketball blog, so I won't. I also do not want to, in any way, make it seem like I have some dark info on B.K.'s past. But I will say, wouldn't you rather hear Bernard King took steroids to return to an All-Star career or that he used steroids to become an All-Star?

FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED:

Bernard King: He averaged 22.5 points over 16 seasons, but the explosive scorer was at the peak of his powers (32.9 ppg in 1984-85) when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in March 1985. That cost King a whole season and much of his explosiveness, but he adjusted and made a successful comeback with Washington, earning a final All-Star slot in 1991 at age 34. King sat out the 1991-92 season with more knee problems, then played just 20 games for New Jersey the following year. Great career, all things considered? Until King makes it into the Naismith Hall of Fame, it counts among the curtailed.

BASKETBALL MAGAZINE WATCH

DIME #39:
k.o.b.e.

Interesting that the Dime dudes went with Kobe on their latest cover. I ain't mad at it.

Knuckle-Up Knicks!

It's a wonder it didn't happen earlier in the season. The overtime antics of Nate Robinson and Zach Randolph is the current example of the team "looking bad." The N-Y-K circus doesn't appear to be coming to an end either, the Knicks have been silent during trade season and have really been forgotten about, or put out of mind, since the NY Giants scored their Superbowl success.
Hard to imagine things getting any worse for the Knicks. They are the forgotten franchise in basketball's greatest city. No one knows when they play, rushes home to catch their tip-offs or spends a penny on their memorabilia. It's really no wonder that the NBA has been trying to move the Nets to Brooklyn. It is so obviously the only way New York could have a winning basketball team.

Somewhere down the line, I hope to pen a SLAMONLINE column entitled "Where are all the NY Basketball Fans"-or something. I am fascinated by how few people really care about the Knicks. It is a pain to believe, or even try to swallow, the fact that more men in New York City were hanging on the edge of their lazyboys watching American Idol than the Knick game.

Somewhere in overtime Nate Robinson and Zach Randolph got into it. It seemed like they were talking shit back and fourth, but then Randolph stepped over the line and gave Nate a cool-down via a cup of water, backwash and all I'm sure. Nate sent a towel flying back at Randolph, which caught Z-BO right in the side of the face.

However silly the two Knicks looked, they managed to spare the few fans paying attention their usual piss-poor effort and ended up actually coming away with a victory, for only the 16th time this year.