Act 1.1.1 @ 01:37 - LaVine's first of the contest. The buzz begins

Act 1.1.2 @ 02:32 - Drummond reacts to LaVine's dunk. This is a fellow participant

Intermission - Drummond's windmill from steve nash soccer pass. Leave it if you're in a hurry, but I love the fact that Steve Nash is still around. Also, props to whoever got Tracy McGrady. He is goign to be a great NBA elder statesman.

Kenny and Chucks running commentary through this is amazing. Kenny [with Reggie Miller] breaks the dunks into a science. Between the two of them, they see everything in the dunks the first time. Beginning at 06:57 the TV crew talks about watching bad teams (like the Denver Nuggets). Kenny and Reggie say that's their job and Chuck says he refuses to watch bad teams. Hilarity ensues.

07:09, Reggie remembers where Chuck went to college (Auburn) and releases a delicate burn. Amazing that they know where each other went to school, 25+ years ago. And delivered as the lead up into a missed dunk. Nicely done.

08:36 - 09:09 Amazing banter between Kenny and Chuck.

Act 2.1.1 @ 10:11 - Gordon makes you realize there's a contest. LaVine is not just allowed to walk away with the trophy.

Act 2.1.2 @ 10:17 - Reactions to that dunk are hilarious. The speculation after every dunk before the scores get handed out begin here and yes, the mascot was standing on a hoverboard.

Act 2.1.3 @ 10:36 - Also begins the live review (oxymoron?) of the dunk. The inflection in Kenny's voice is priceless as he watches the dunk for the second time. The team begins to realize that this Gordon kid is for real and you can feel the excitement mounting.

Act 2.1.4 @ 10:59 - This says it all, and one of the best parts of the dunk contest, the reactions. I was hooked when I heard the term "fart smell face" The reaction to the dunk leaves the other contestants looking like they just saw a 10 car pile up on the freeway

Act 2.1.5 @ 11.21 - Shaq messes up big time

Act 2.1.6 @ 11.26 - The TV crew begin speculating why.

Act 3.1.1 @ 12:30 - Commentary here is great for LaVine's second dunk.

Act 3.1.2 @ 13:14 - Dikembe's response to the the dunk. I love Dikembe

Act 3.1.3 @ 13:30 - Shaq makes up for his earlier mistake (sort of)

Act 4.1.1 @ 16.21 - Championship Round 1, Gordon is up. Kenny knows something special is coming...

Act 4.1.2 @ 16.27 - Maybe the best dunk of the night. It gets better with every viewing. Shaq has no question this time. It is always an amazing dunk when the dunker himself has to explain what he did

Act 4.1.3 @ 17:33 - Dikembe's reaction again. This guy is an icon

Act 5.1.1 @ 17:42 - LaVine's counter. Solid

Act 6.1.1 @ 19:11 - Two dunks of the night!

Live chat: Knicks vs Miami @ 1pm, 3/2 on ABC

I'll see who's around to have a chat with me during the game.

Live chat: Knicks vs LAC @ 1pm on ABC

A few of us will be watching the Knicks and LA Clippers play and have a little chat.

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Knicks and the K-Gang: the first 2 months

The first two months of the Knicks season has wrapped up with the Knicks at a very respectable 22 and 10 record (through 1/4/13).  I went back and took a look at how the K-Gang did, comparing it to the Knicks and my expectations overall.  Details for the K-Gang are here if you would like to find out more about our little contest and standings are updated at least weekly here.  

As a group, I was surprised that we did so well in the first quarter of the season (20 games).  It may have been because we were optimistic about the Knicks and they proceeded to start out of the gate hot, being the last team to lose their undefeated status, but we finished the quarter at a respectable 58% correct rate against the spread.  Since then we have come back down to earth, only posting a 39% correct rate.  I went through our picks and if we picked the Knicks more than 50% (5 or more out of 8), we only posted a 13 and 12 out of a possible 32 games.  There were 7 even splits which yield a "no decision" (nd).  However, if there were at least 6 picks for a team in any given game, the K-Gang posted a 10 and 6 record.  Not too bad. 

The fortunes of the K-Gang and the Knicks look to be closely related.  After a great November start, the Knicks seemed to regress a little.  Part of that was their 3 point shooting percentages came down drastically, but this may have been due to the many injuries they sustained.  In the chart below, you can see the Knicks points for (PF) and points against (PA) had a decent difference throughout the first four weeks but the gap would close as the month of December and their averages for the last two weeks were very close to league average.  Hopefully, the team stays healthy in the new year and makes another run like we saw in November.  It certainly is more fun when the Knicks are winning.

Back to the K-Gang.  Because the spreads only come out the day of the game and the K-Gang did not want to check in every day for a game, we opted to pick the games only once a week.  For this reason, the spreads were calculated internally and could vary from the spreads at gametime.  One major cause of the difference, besides the inexperience of calculating spreads, was the inability to accurately factor in injuries.  There was a lot more variability in estimated to actual spread as the season moved on.  This could have contributed to the K-Gang being less accurate in their picks for the month of December.  I would wager that underestimating Raymond Felton's contribution played a major part of that as well.  He was playing great until he went down with a broken finger. 

Nonetheless, there was some consistency to the K-Gang and that is the current leader.  Justinhas ended the week either on top or with a share of the top spot for 7 out of the 8 weeks.  He led the league with a 12 and 3 record for the month of November punctuated with a 9 game winning streak at one point.  Naturally, he was the easy choice for KMOTM (K-Man of the Month).  As stated, December was a little rougher.  We had co-KMOTM winners in Beau and John T, but they only finished the months with an 8 and 7 and a 6 and 9 record (note: record is not the only factor for KMOTM), respectively. 

All in all, these two months have been a good time.  I reconnected with some friends that I have not spoke to in awhile and am a little more consistent with the other people on the list.  I am hoping that we improve in our picks as this year goes on and a possible increase in K-membership next season or even for the second half of this season.  Here's to a fun 2013.  

K(nicksametrics)-Gang and the Lin-derella Season

Quick post to point everyone to the Knicksametrics Gang (or K-Gang) page.  This lists all the current standings for our contest.  After the first 2 games, only Beau G remains undefeated.

Knicks have been very impressive these last two games, beating the Miami Heat and the Philadelphia 76ers by a combined 34 points.  The defense has been strong and Carmelo is leading by example.  As I had posted in May, Carmelo may be poised to take the MVP this season.  This is am uphill battle because LeBron and Kevin Durant will be maintaining their great games, and there will be other contenders to the throne. 

Speaking of contenders, can the Rockets be good this year?  I like Harden and Lin in the backcourt, along with Omer Asik playing defense and grabbing rebounds.  In fact, they are one of the five teams that I have chosen for my NBA League Pass Choice because I am expecting an exciting season with them.  I also expect Daryl Morey, GM of the Rockets, to make another big trade before the deadline.  They will have a "Lin-derella" season but will end up losing in the first round of the playoffs. 

I also want to thank Iman Shumpert for bringing the 80s back.

I have never been this into the first few games of a new season before.  This should be fun.