Are the NY Knicks defensively competent?

Joe Frazier at the Knicks game
in a badass Cowboy hat

Last night the Knicks laid the smack down on the Utah Jazz 131-109. Gotta love beating up Mormons. As good as the win was though, I have recently heard and seen a few people complain about how horrible the defense has been since the Melo acquisition. Given how initially upset I was with the trade, you would think I'd be one of those critics as well, but I've actually been quite impressed with the Knicks defense over the past few weeks. First let's start with this game. 

Never Ending Sports Rumors = Cornbread?

Have you ever loved a food which you only ate every so often? In my younger years, that food for me was cornbread. I never planned on eating cornbread, but every so often I enjoyed the pleasant surprise of coming across some cornbread on my plate as a side to my meal. One day though, I made the crucial mistake of telling my mom I LOVED cornbread.

After that I received cornbread on my plate every few days as a side to either my lunch or dinner. This was a terrific development (being 10 years old at the time). It eventually became a problem however as it didn't stop there. My mom quickly noticed how much I enjoyed it, so she kept buying it until it eventually got to the point that I had it everyday as a lunch and dinner side. I guess in my moms mind, it was a better option than candy or potato chips.

Meh... Not a fan

Eventually, the sweetness and deliciousness of cornbread wore off. Be that as it may, I still ate it, as it was better than anything else on my plate. My mom's cooking isn't the best. Alas my mom didn't notice that I grew sour to the idea of having cornbread with every meal and what was worse, everyone else in my family began eating it since there was always some in the kitchen. I had created a tipping point of sorts. So my mom kept buying more.

After a while, I couldn't help but be disgusted by the sight of cornbread. It became this symbol to me of over-saturation and the idea of ruining a good thing. From that point forward, I wouldn't even look at it, let alone, touch it. 

Eventually, everyone else in my family began reacting the same way and a year after that, my mom stopped buying cornbread. Why did she wait so long to stop buying it? I assume that it made her job easier as she didn't have to worry about thinking too outside the box on which supermarket items to buy. Real tough, I know. But in all seriousness, I'm fairly certain she thought this at the time.

It may not seem like it at first glance, but I have just described the state of interactions between fans and sports journalists when it comes to reporting sports rumors. Like cornbread once was for me, sports rumors pertaining to transactions used to be this little side dish fans got every so often that was the perfect complement for the actual sport itself. It was generally small and left you craving more, only you wouldn't get another one until just the right amount of time had passed. 

So did ESPN just expect the Nets to lose or the Nuggets to win?

The world wide leader posted on its main page this morning and I can only assume, the past 12 hours or so that the Nuggets beat the Nets last night. Only problem with that is the Nets trounced the Nuggets by 16 points. This could simply be a clerical error but that fact that it hasn't been fixed yet says the ESPN web editors are focusing on the wrong details when it comes to broadcasting sports news. Ever since The Decision, ESPN has dropped a level or two when it comes to journalistic integrity. They seem to focus on irrelevant stories such as "Melo clears air on texts" or "Melo didn't say he didn't want to go to the Nets". ESPN claims they are just shedding some light on the current Melo trade story but in truth, they are just giving us petty gossip. They need to stop worrying about shedding light on the Carmelo Anthony story line and start focusing on actual facts when it comes to news stories. If I wanted a rumor or gossip mill, I'd pick up a copy of The National Enquirer.