The Metsian Podcast: Joy to the World, Buck Showalter Has Come to Flushing

From the desk: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

@THE_SamMaxwell    CTMetsFan    BTB_MikeII

BUCK SHOWALTER
Named Manager of the Mets

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Peace on Earth

Stay Tuned

From the desk: BROOKLYN TROLLEY BLOGGER

I'm on an unscheduled break as family and business come before pleasure and hobby.  But please know I am very grateful for the support of my followers and visitors to this blog.  Thank you all.

In the meantime, I am elated over the election of Gil Hodges into baseball's Hall of Fame.  However, I am also somewhat dismayed that former Brooklyn Royal Giants members Grant "Homerun" Johnson, Dick "Cannonball" Redding, and John Donaldson was not distinguished with the same honor. 

The Brooklyn Nets are tops in the Eastern Conference, but I fret they live a precarious existence.  Across the river, the Knicks have yet to match last season's level of defensive mastery.

Chris Kreider continues having a brilliant season (and it's about time).  An increase in team physicality is serving the Rangers well.  With 37-points to date, they are playing on par with the NHL's top contenders.  The Islanders opened the season on a 13-game road trip with a 5-6-2 record.  On November 7, they lost the first of eleven consecutive games until finally defeating the Senators on December 7 at Ottowa - a whole month after their previous victory.  The Isles have played six games in their new home, including one against the Rangers, and have yet to win at the newly opened UBS Arena.

Baseball?  Check out our most recent episode of THE METSIAN PODCAST with guests John Saponaro and Matt Ibanez, hosts of the TIL METS DO US PART PODCAST.  The show initially aired on 4 DEC 2021.

I'll be back ...

Thank you,

Michael

BrooklynTrolleyBlogger

Bedford & Sullivan Podcast: Gil Hodges Hall of Fame Panel w/ Baseball and BBQ Hosts Len Aberman and Jeff Cohen, and Brooklyn/LA Dodgers Pitching Legend Carl Erskine

From the desk: THE QUIET MAN

BEDFORD & SULLIVAN PODCAST

A Sam Maxwell Production

GIL HODGES

Hall of Fame Panel Discussion

Featured:

Jeff Cohen and Len Aberman 

BASEBALL AND BBQ PODCAST

and

Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers Pitching Legend

CARL ERSKINE

a/o: Dec. 1, 2021

HALL of FAME 

GOLDEN ERA VOTE

DEC. 5, 2021

Brooklyn Nets: Flatbush Outlasts Knicks in Season's Opening Battle of the Boroughs

From the desks: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH & KICKIN' CANS DOWN 33RD STREET WIT' JIMMY

EAST RIVER SHOWDOWN

I - BKN 112; NYK 110

A Decisive James Harden Leads Flatbush Against Manhattan Rival

I preface this game recap acknowledging that RJ Barrett left after just nine minutes on the floor, and Coach Thibodeau, for lack of sufficient effort on defense, essentially benched Kemba Walker.  Meanwhile, Flatbush likewise entered this game somewhat rearranged, with Blake Griffin no longer in the starting lineup, Joe Harris out pending ankle surgery, and of course the controversial missing man variable.  

Thus lay the pretext to a tightly contested one-point margin of victory.  In the final second of the game, the team that possessed the ball got off one last desperation shot, missed, and lost.  That's how closely Tuesday's first showdown this season played out between the host Brooklyn Nets and the East River traversing Manhattan Knickerbockers.

After every game, top players around the league are unavoidably confronted by media and their microphones.  They ask questions, even ones they know sometimes are circumstantial or even uncomfortably unanswerable, yet in return, expect some level of inside info.  It's part of the job.  My point is, James Harden can say anything he wants insofar as telling the media he's still learning when to distribute, orchestrate, or personally seize upon a given possession.  But I say all that is just talk for the sake of talk.  For James Harden knows precisely what he's doing.  It's about other players not named Kevin Durant following Harden's lead and finishing.

Thrust into the starting lineup by Coach Thibs, Alec Burks, and Julius Randle for the Knicks, and Harden and Kevin Durant for Flatbush are the measures of this game.  They were the only four with 20+ shot attempts and topped all other players in minutes.

James Harden led all scorers with 34 points and secured a game-high ten rebounds with eight assists in 40 minutes.  He was 11/20 from the field and a more customary 9/10 from the line.  Otherwise, Harden knows turnovers continue marring his overall performance; this time, he committed a game-high five.

Kevin Durant was 0/5 from beyond the arc but made up for it by shooting 9/9 from the charity line en route to 27 points while (importantly) tying for a game-high nine assists in 41 minutes.  Together with Harden, they accounted for 61 (54.4%) of Brooklyn's 112 points.

Alec Burks led the Knicks with 25 points in 39 minutes, and Julius Randle added 24 points and posted team-highs of nine rebounds and eight assists in 40 minutes.  Together, they accounted for 49 (44.5%) of the Knicks' 110 points.

The Knicks outrebounded the Nets by four and put up six more shots than Brooklyn.  This continues to be a troubling trend for me, but the Nets bailed themselves out, again, outscoring the Knicks by a margin of eleven at the line.  And whereas the Nets were outscored in the paint, they outscored the Knicks off fast-break opportunities.

Manhattan had five players score in double-digits.  Derrick Rose scored 16 points in 36 minutes, and with 0.17 seconds left in the game, Evan Fournier tied the game at 110-110 as part of a 13 point night.  But James Johnson's free throws put the Nets back ahead by two.  Afterwhich, Even Fournier missed on a last-second attempt.

The Nets had four players in double-digits.  Cam Thomas led the bench effort with 12 points in 21 minutes.  However, the Knicks bench outscored Flatbush by a nine-point 36-27 margin.

If a 15-6 record makes me anxious ... it is what it is.  Teams nearing (or even matching) the Nets in shooting percentage are very problematic as Flatbush continually allows the opposition more possessions and overall shot opportunities.  

It's been my pet peeve all season.

Defense is the main issue with the Knicks.  They went from being elite defenders last season to the middle of the pack this season.  It's quite the conundrum when this team last season in the playoffs lacked desperately for points.